I arrived in twilight darkness at 10 PM. I had been traveling since 6PM the previous day. There was supposed to be someone there to meet me, but I didn’t see him. I took a cab which wound its way around the city and up the seriously potholed mountain road. Here I was alone with a stranger on dreary and rainy night climbing up into the Andes Mountains. I thought “is this where I will meet my end, brutally murdered by my cab driver at the foot of the world?” No. He took me directly to my hotel.
I passed my test. On to adventure…Well, after several delays. There was a lot of hanging around.
But then two days later we sailed into sunny weather and lots of cool things
I had been reading a book about the interior of the Antarctic continent. I am drawn to vast forbidding landscapes. But this trip was more about the Antarctic peninsula which is considerably warmer and more diverse. This glacial landscape was a pleasant surprise for me. I loved sitting on my balcony on the ship in the morning and seeing icebergs and unpopulated (by humans) landscapes.
We were not allowed to land until we had a second round of Covid tests. Even though we'd been allowed on board two days earlier only if we tested negative, several people tested positive on the second round. This landing spot was gorgeous and my plan had been to climb to the top of that hill in the background of this picture. Age and lack of agility dissuaded me after I fell in the deep snow twice and had trouble getting up. In my mind I'm still that 40 year old woman who tirelessly climbed up the Great Wall of China the hard way carrying 38 lbs of camera equipment (1981). My body disagreed. Forty years later, I acknowledge my limits and loved what I could see and photograph. It was magnificent.
Deception Bay looks like a cove encircled by small islands. The entrance is very narrow and very ice choked. It was actually formed by the collapse of a volcanic caldera that filled with sea water. The edges are the exposed rim of the volcano, not separate islands.
What struck me as odd about this was that the South Georgia had just reopened the museum there, and there was a church to visit, but tourists were not allowed. Ah, life in the time of Covid.
Whaling was a big industry in the South Georgia Islands. Every part of the whale was a valuable commodity. Of course once the seamen had a whale, they would have to break it down into its useful parts to transport it back to the home country. Whaling was slowly discontinued throughout the twentieth century, and the following pictures show what has been left behind. Fun fact: wealthy people burned whale oil in their lanterns because it didn’t emit black smoke and soot.
Old Whaling Stations
It was interesting to discover how the land takes back what is its own. What is left is animals. I hadn’t realized that we would be able to walk freely among penguins and seals. Most of my photos were taken as we strolled on the beaches that were their turf.
Penguins are pretty but my heart belongs to seals.
We had a variety of weather. I note that the Antarctic summer is warmer than a New York winter. The landscapes and the light were more perfect than I’d hoped for.
Most of the off-ship special expeditions were canceled due to Covid and/or, part way through the trip the parent company of the cruise company declared bankruptcy. But I did do one trip—underwater in a 3 person submersible. It was postponed twice and by the time I got to make the dive there wasn’t much to see.
I arrived in the rain…but left in the sun.
I had a long trip home. A 6 hour wait in Ushuaia. A late night arrival in Buenos Aires. A full day in the hotel and midnight flight to New York.
It was a long trip. Covid’s social restrictions made it sort of solitary for me. The travel time was loooooong. But I’m glad I went.