Sorry this post has taken a little longer to put up than the others.  After a day of touring I started my VERY long journey back to the Great White North.  Four flights and a couple of days later and I’m officially back in Chilliwack.  While I had good intentions of writing this while on the plane, I think I was subconsciously putting it off because I’m not ready for it to be over.  And writing about my final day on the island means this chapter is coming to a close.  That said, although this particular part of the journey may be over, I do plan on posting a few more posts in the next couple of weeks.  As I go through pictures and notebook and as I tell stories to family and friends and overall just reflect on this amazing journey, I’m sure there will be a few nuggets that I’ll want to share.  So stay tuned….

Ok, here goes.  The final morning on Easter Island started with a gorgeous pink sky, birds chirping and light rain falling.  These few days on the island have reminded me of life in Costa Rica in so many ways, and it’s really made me feel at home.  The sounds and the smells have made me sleep just as soundly as the rocking of the ship and I’m definitely going to miss both!  

From there, we moved around the crater’s edge to Orongo, the primary site for the birdman culture.  This was the place that Patricia was first called to back in 1976.  She told us the story of having just returned from working in the Atacama desert, and getting the phone call asking her to go to Easter Island for a 6 month contract.  Without even unpacking her bags, she and Claudio immediately set off immediately. The best part of it was that she was actually pregnant when she left for Rapa Nui!  She thought she’d go to the island, work for 6 months and be back to the mainland in time to have her baby.  That obviously didn’t happen and her mother sent her sister over to help her with the delivery (she then met a Rapa Nui man and stayed on the island herself).  Patricia had four children on that island, giving each of them a traditional Rapa Nui name, and to this day each of them identifies themselves as Rapa Nui. As we strolled along the edge of the crater she spoke about her kids growing up at this site, playing along side of the restoration project.  She would often assign them identification/classification jobs, so the kids grew up with this first hand knowledge of the island and its history as part of their every day lives.  What a childhood that must have been!  

As far as the history site goes, this is the site of the birdman culture.  When we think of Easter Island, we typically think of the giant stone heads and little else.  Ata has done a great job of helping us to see that there are two distinct chapters in Rapa Nui history.  The first chapter was one that was characterized by the Moai statues.  Each of the clans on the island had altars that represented their link between this world and the spiritual one.  However, as the generations passed there was a shift from spirituality to representing the power held by the elite (they termed it mana).  The Moai statues got larger and more numerous, the number of required workers grew, the strain on natural resources increased until the whole system reached a breaking point.  The birdman culture, which is often referred to as the second chapter, is seen as a response to this.  It was a way for the working class to rise up and take the power or the mana into their own hands, and in some ways it created a unique democratic-ish society. 

I can attest to the fact that the Moai statues are impressive and awe-inspiring.  If you wanted to introduce a new religion/way of operating, it would be pretty difficult to surpass the awesomeness of those statues, yet the village site at Orongo does just that.  Set on the edge of the crater, overlooking the ocean and three small islands full of nesting seabirds, it’s the perfect place to capture the imagination.  It was here at this village that the birdman culture was created. 

This morning started out with lots of rain and lots of horses.  It was that amazing tropical rain that you think is coming down heavily… until it comes down even harder.  Our timing was perfect though because the torrential downpour let up just as we were pulling into our first site.  The rain had the unexpected effect of drawing the island’s wild horses to the roadways to drink the water that was collecting there.  Ata wasn’t lying when he said there were likely 10,000 horses on the island… they were everywhere.  He said their numbers increase due to lack of predation, however they are kept in check by limited food resources, so it’s only the toughest horses that now make up the population.  Though I teach my students  about this type of scenario, I don’t often relate it to “domesticated” animals.  

I took the opportunity on this morning’s drive to ask Ata some questions about the tourism industry on the island.  I was interested to learn that only 40% of the park entrance fees are actually directed back into the park, the other 60% goes into Chile’s general fund for other park areas of the country.  This low amount is offset by two things; first, the great amount of pride the locals take in their island and secondly a forward thinking mayor.  Apparently the locals take a lot of the oneness of upkeep and maintenance on themselves.  In some ways, the whole island is like a reserve, so while in other areas upkeep inside a park border is done by staff, here it is done as part of their own property care.  The office of the mayor receives funds from the Chilean government for operation, and it sounds like he is willing to match funds for proposals put forward by young professionals on the island. 

In the last 10 years, there has also been an overhaul to the islands garbage procedures.  Prior to that it was primarily dumped in a heap and burned.  Today, there is an intensive recycling program in which every last possible recyclable piece is removed and compacted. Twice a year a 20 ton compacted pile is sent to the Chilean mainland and sold for processing into other goods. 

Our first stop of the day was Ranu Raraku, the quarry from which all of the 1000’s of statues on the island were carved.  At first I was disappointed to see a number of busses full of people pull up at the same time.  We’ve been completely spoiled and are often the only people at many of the sites that we’re visiting.  However, that changed when I found out that they are on a 34 day National Geographic world tour!  Hmmm, maybe I need to start saving up for this one…

The quarry was fascinating as there were statues in all stages of the carving process, many abandoned midway when the society that was working on them collapsed.  Ata described the process of carving the majority of the statues out of the mountainside from a standing position, using the removed fragments of rock to create a ramp on which to slide the near finished statue down to the base of the hill for final carving and then transport.  It’s believed that the carving process primarily occurred during the rainy months (june/july) because the moisture softened the rock and made it more flexible, which had two results.  It was easier to cut with their stone tools and the flexibility made it less likely to develop fractures during the carving process.  Experiments show that it likely took a few years for the carving process to be complete which is particularly impressive considering the number of statues on this island! 

As we passed one of the groups, Ata spoke to one of the guides leading the other Nat Geo group and it was at this point that we made the connection of who he was.  Yesterday he mentioned he had archeologist parents, but he didn’t tell us WHICH ones… turns out that he is the son of Claudio Cristino  and Patricia Vargas, who along with Edmundo Edwards make up the chief archeologists in the island’s history!  No wonder is so knowledgeable!  Imagine growing up in that household and the theories he must have heard!  When we gave him a hard time for not telling us, he said that he wanted to be judged by his own merit, not that of his parents (totally understandable), but now that we know, we’ve been privilege to a couple of “inside stories” that I was able to film and will use in my Ecotourism class.  

Our next stop was the site Tonariki.   Many years ago, this place was devastated by a tsunami that had tossed, broken and buried many of the statues.  In the 90’s, it was decided that this would be this would be the first site that would be completely restored and Claudio Cristino would be the one to head it up.  This was a tipping point on the island, and it was the restoration of this particular site that renewed the Rapa Nui people’s pride in their culture.  Interestingly enough, due to its proximity to the quarry, there is the belief that this particular altar may have been erected for the stoneworkers of the time and so it makes for an interesting cyclical comparison.  We spent about 30 minutes (again some of the only people there) wandering around, mostly in silence, absorbing the enormity of this place.  

Our final stop of the afternoon was pretty blew my mind.  Take all of the history and culture of the monuments that we’ve been visiting, add palm trees, white sand and clear blue pacific waters and you have paradise!  Yup, that was my afternoon.  Swimming in the shadow of these historic statues in a location that had been reserved for the kings or the heads of the clans.  I don’t quite know how I’m going to return to the real world! 

Fortunately I wrote most of the above post this afternoon before we went to dinner.  We’ve just come back from dinner with the one and only Patricia Vargas and I think my mind has officially been blown.  To sit there at dinner with THE person who is responsible for the archeological discoveries on the island and listen to her theories and explanations of the whole process was so incredibly special.  I’m not going to go into it here because I think I need to let the whole experience mellow in my brain a little bit before I write about it, but what I can say is that was probably one of the most memorable dinners I will ever eat!  And tomorrow morning I get to do it all over, as it will be Patricia who takes us out and explains the birdman culture to us.  Better go rest up so I’m fresh!  

Tepito o te Hanua - The Naval of the World 

If I was at all worried about not being able to fully appreciate Easter Island after the immenseness of Antarctica, today proved me wrong.  As we toured various archeological sites today I was amazed at just how complimentary the two locations were in terms of my Ecotourism course.   While Antarctica appealed to my passion for environmental and ecological topics, Easter Island is appealing to my imagination and my desire to understand other cultures.  I’m trying hard to soak it all in (I took 14 pages of notes!!) but there is still so much I have yet to learn!  I will try to keep this post a moderate length but I don’t even know where to start! 

I suppose I should start with last night.  I had zero expectation for New Years Eve as I was travelling by myself and was totally content to have a quiet evening appreciating my surroundings.  So it was a complete serendipity to have a fabulous evening with a couple of new friends from the ship.  There were two long tables laden with every type of seafood you could imagine, prepared in every way you could imagine.  The backdrop for this feast was a sunset over the pacific that were equal in beauty to those in Costa Rica.  The night finished off with a champagne toast and fireworks at midnight before heading to bed.  It was a perfect start to 2015.

Breakfast this morning started with a very good lesson.  We are currently on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 1000’s of miles away from the nearest land, and while the island was once very prosperous and populated with countless seabirds, overexploitation lead to its collapse a few hundred years ago.  Since that time, production on the island has been limited and there is a high dependency on the daily flights from the mainland and weekly cargo ships to bring supplies. Because of this things can be quite expensive here (even just lunch here can cost $20+ for a basic sandwich).  Also, once something is gone, it’s gone until the next shipment.  For instance today Jackie ordered an egg for breakfast, but because of New Years celebrations there were no eggs.  Something we take for granted in Canada, and yet unavailable here until the next shipment comes from Chile. 

At 9:30 we left for the days adventures and drove first to Vinapu, a ceremonial site with monolithic stonework reminiscent of the Inca civilization in Peru.  The 7 min drive to the other side of the island was a quiet one with the only other cars on the road being the little Jimny 4x4 driven by tourists (these must be the rental cars of Latin America as they were all over CR as well).  Our guide, Ata, provides us a very interesting perspective on what we are seeing.  He is a local of the island and grew up with parents who were both archeologists.  He is doing an excellent job of balancing what the archeologists assume from their findings (and all of their competing opinions) with the oral history of the native Rapa Nui people of the island.  Other features of interest at this site were the remains of some “top knots” red stones hats that were placed on some of the statues, and the only stone carving in the shape of a woman on the entire island.  You could also see the extreme difference in the flora on this side of the island as it’s exposed to much stronger winds and harsher weather.  Vegetation was limited to grasses, thistles, a plant that looked like Labrador tea (I’ll have to figure out what it is tomorrow) and Guyaba.  I’m used to Guyaba growing in trees 15-20ft tall, but the tallest of these was about 3 feet tall, with fruit no bigger than my thumb.  A perfect example of the harshness of this island that the Rapa Nui had to deal with once the protection afforded by trees disappeared a few hundred years ago.  

Our next stop was Akahana, a site by the sea containing the remains of three different altars and a small cave dwelling.  There were also circles of rock that can be seen all over the island, including in front of my cabina at the hotel.  Ata calls them greenhouses as they help plants to grow.  Basically they are one-foot high structures that protect seedlings from the direct strength of the wind and the evaporation that it causes.  By the time the plant has grown as tall as the brim, it is an established plant and better at withstanding the elements.  Ata explains that this structure mimics the calderas of the volcanoes on the island where the same increase in plant growth can be seen in the protected areas.  There appeared to be an old road running through the area, which Ata explained was the old highway.  Between 1992-1997 as the Rapa Nui people were reclaiming their identity and pride in their heritage, they recognized that having a road running right through a historical site wasn’t ideal.  So during that time they moved the island’s main highway away from any alters and allowed the old one to return to its original state.  

As we drove south to our third site, I asked Ata about the number of archeological sites on the island… there are 30,000!!! Very impressive for an island of only 177 square kilometers!  There are 100’s of statues, and a 1000+ alters, all in different levels of repair.  This basically meant that as we drove through the countryside, the majority of the rocks that we could see actually had archeological significance.  And believe me, there are a TON of rocks scattered in the fields.  There is history on this island EVERY direction that you look.  I also realized just how fortunate we were to have Ata as our guide when Deb commented, “oh that’s a pretty house” and Ata replied, “That’s my uncle’s house”.  As I said above, I much prefer having a local who is directly tied to this are as our guide. 

Our final stop of the morning was at a single statue on a piece of private property.  The notable thing about this statue, wasn’t the statue but it’s surroundings.  Behind the statue (but hidden by trees) there was a disco that was still going strong from the festivities of the night before. This provided a bit of an odd contrast as we took pictures of this ancient statue while listening to reggatone in the background. 

Now I’m not usually one to write about food or take pictures of food, but I’m going to bring up food for the second time in this post.  I ordered Rapa Nui Ceviche for lunch and it was probably one of the best meals I have ever had.  Unlike Ceviche that I’ve had in past, the locals do not marinate the fish in lemon juice in ordered to “cook” it.  Instead it is added last minute (along with the onion, cilantro etc) as more of a marinade or dressing. So essentially, it ends up being a fusion of tuna sashimi and ceviche, two of my favorite foods in one!  I don’t think I every want to come home. 

Our first stop after lunch was my favorite.  It was been fascinating to see the alters and statues in person, however, the caves of Sector Ana Te Pahu were a great surprise.  After the last volcanic eruption that occurred between two and three thousand years ago, 300+ lava tube caves formed an extensive network in this sector of the island.  In some cases there was a large opening to the cave where the tube had collapsed, and these large openings ended up being “greenhouse” areas.  In other places the opening to the cave was the size of a manhole and offered more protection to the Rapa Nui who would have lived there.  We spent some time walking through a three hundred meter section of one cave, learning about cooking, water collection etc in the cave system, as well as the religious experience had by sensory deprivation in the darkest sections of the cave.  

Our second to last stop of the day was Ahu a Kivi, also known as the 7 explorers.  This was the first alter to be restored on the island and is unique because it is the only one in which the Moai are looking out to see rather than looking inland.  There are a number of different explanations for this, one of which is that they represent 7 stars that might have lead the original explorers to the island. 

Our final stop of the day was Panu Pau, the red scoria quarry where the hats or top knots were carved from.  The small hike to the top provided views down in to the quarry, where these large round cylinders were in various stages of being cut out, stopped by the collapse of the society that was excavating them.  It also offered views of the town, two of the three volcanoes and a number 80+ cinder cones that cover the island.  All around you are reminded of this island's volcanic origins! 

Well that's all for tonight!  I wish I could have uploaded more pictures but each one is taking at minimum 10 minutes to load and I need to go to sleep!  

After another 30 hours of travelling, I am finally on Isle de Pascua! The 4-hour flight from Santiago, Chile was for the most part over water.  After watching endless blue for hours, it was rather amazing to see a 177square kilometer island pop up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  My first impression of the island is that it’s far more treed than I expected.  While it doesn’t’ have the larger species of it’s past, the area that we landed seemed to be quite lush with moderate sized trees and bushes.  I’m told that the other half of the island will be quite a contrast to this. 

Our flight landed to sunshine, 25 degrees and a tropical breeze off the ocean, talk about polar opposites (pun intended).  The plane dropped off about 2/3rds of its occupants with the rest simply stretching their legs before getting back on to fly to Tahiti.  I am now travelling with another couple from the ship, and a third gentleman will join us tomorrow because our flight was full by the time he booked.  Our Lindblad representative met us with leis and then loaded us into an air-conditioned van for the 15-minute drive to our hotel.  Driving through town we passed fruit stands loaded with tropical fruits and men selling tuna on the side of the street.  The town itself has a very upbeat and bright atmosphere and seems like it would be a lot of fun to wander around in.  Our guide, Ata, tells us that there are between 6 and 7 thousand permanent residents on the island with 40% of them having Rapa Nui blood.  In comparison, there are ~120,000 visitors per year making tourism the primary (and possibly only) economic driver on the island.  Another interesting statistic is that there are approximately 10,000 wild horses on the island.  With no predators on the island their numbers have ballooned and they can be seen everywhere. 

The hotel itself is a set of 19 stand alone cabinas that over look the ocean and one of the Moai sites.  My cabina opens with a view to the ocean and I have an outdoor shower.  I’m feeling very spoiled right now! 

After a bite of lunch and some relaxation time, Ata picked us up and took us to our first Moai site.  There were three different alters at this location and they were framed by breaking waves in the background.  As seems to be common in the last couple of weeks, I was blown away by the enormity of what I was looking at.  As Ata pointed out, these are more than just statues; they are the history of a people.  Ata spent some time explaining the significance of various stone structures, and we had some time to walk and take pictures.  Tomorrow we will meet with the archeologist and hear more about the process of uncovering and interpreting these sites. 

As I sit here, having a hard time believing that this is all real, I can’t help but reflect on my year/life and be incredibly grateful for all of the opportunities that I’ve had.  I have been so fortunate to have been involved in such an great program and met so many amazingly talented people.  2014 has been quite the ride and I can’t wait to see what 2015 has to bring! 

For now, it’s time for me to go and get ready for tonight’s festivities (pictures will have to wait because the internet is too slow).  We are having a dinner here on the patio at the hotel with a number of the other guests, followed by fireworks over the bay.  Wishing everyone a fun and safe New Years!  All the best in 2015.

Oh and a very special Happy Birthday to my favorite 6 year old in the world! 

Shortly after breakfast this morning we were called to the deck to get our first glimpse of the land that makes up the tip of South America.  We were a little ways West of our starting point in the Beagle Channel, which meant that we had to round the infamous Cape Horn, cruising past Chilean coast line.  

The day has been a mellow one, going through pictures, listening to talks and reflecting on the awesome experience that we’ve all just had.  Although my journey is not quite done yet (I’ll be in Easter Island as of December 31st and blogging from there), this first stage of my adventure is definitely coming to a close.  Many of us have talked about the need to get home and decompress before being able to truly grasp the enormity of what we’ve just experienced.  While I feel the same, I’m also aware that I am about to have a second such experience, and I want to do justice to both trips.  Does that mean I need to doubly decompress when I get home? 

Yesterday’s interview with the video chronicler was a good opportunity for me to start the reflection process, as one of the questions that he asked was what was I most surprised about the journey.  I think coming to Antarctica I expected the ice, I expected the vastness, I expected the adorable penguins all over the place.  What I didn’t expect were the people (and of course this is when I can hear my dad chiming in and saying “of course it’s the people, P over T).  I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to share this adventure with so many amazing people; my cabin mates, the naturalists, the crew and the incredibly diverse cross section of guests that are on board the ship.  Although I will be coming home with a wide variety of resources that I can integrate into my lessons/teaching, I think what I will value the most from this whole thing are the connections I’ve made.  It is nice to know that when I’m back at home, that I will only be an email click away from this incredible community and the resources it has to offer. 

Final highlight of this trip was a late in the afternoon call over the loud speaker to say that there were Sei Whales off our bow.  These speedy 15m giants spent a solid 20 minutes feeding in our area.  The water was so clear that you could see them swimming below the surface, which meant that everyone had their cameras pointed in the perfect spot right as they came to the surface… well everyone but me.  I was on one of the top decks when the call came and didn’t have my camera which was on one of the bottom decks.  I didn’t altogether mind though, it was kind of nice to just appreciate them without worrying about whether I got the perfect shot or not. 

Tonight we will dock in Ushuaia and have the evening to explore before our final sleep on the boat.  Tomorrow morning is an early one as we have to catch a plane to Buenos Aires and then after that another to Santiago.  I have 8 hours in a hotel in Santiago and then the morning of the 31st I fly to Easter Island.  I probably won’t post much tomorrow as it’s a travel day, but look for the next set of posts as of the 31st/1st

Hasta Luego 

So I have to start with an apology for not posting last night.  I had every intention of writing my blog post in the evening like every other day, but failed to take into account the effect that the Drake would have on my plans.  Yesterday we said goodbye to continent and hello to the open water and may have forgotten that my seasickness patch takes about 4 hours to kick in.  If you’ve ever been in an airplane that hits an air pocket and looses a little bit of altitude quickly, then you kind of know what the Drake feels like.  Instead just imagine your stomach lurching over and over again.  So basically the idea of looking at a computer screen made me green.  I decided to go to bed and sleep until the medication kicked in.  It was also incredibly nice to have my first full night sleep in quite some time. 

Yesterday morning marked our final shore landing of the trip.  It was definitely a bittersweet moment; great because we were getting to visit Port Lockroy, sad because this was it.  Port Lockroy, originally established as a whaling station then converted into a base by the British during World War II, is now a civilian manned station, complete with a gift shop and post office.  There are four people currently living there, 3 Brits and an American.  Two of them came on board the ship this morning for a shower, hot breakfast and to give us an overview of the island.  He also brought the good news that a number of eggs had hatched on the island so that we’d finally be able to get some good views of baby penguins. 

The group was split in three, and our first stop was the rookery to see a mixture of blue eyed shags and penguins.  There were also a number of whale bones along the shore that made for some great pictures.  Moored in the same harbor was a sailboat and Eric told us that this was often times a starting point for some of the climbing that happened along the peninsula, or skiing that happened on the mountain on the other side of the harbor.  

After about 45 minutes we transferred to the other island that houses the post office and museum.  The museum was fascinating as it was the site of much of the original ionospheric research, from which it was determined that there was a hole in the atmosphere.  The gift shop in the adjoining part of the building seemed a little out of place in Antarctica (kind of like “Chez Monique’s on the West Coast Trail) but we all took the opportunity to buy official Antarctic souvenirs for families and friends.  As soon as our gifts were purchased, it was a rush outside to spend a final few minutes hanging out with the penguins.  The penguins on this island were likely more acclimatized to humans that most others which made for some great photo-ops if you were patient enough to sit until one happened to walk by you.  I have become so used to seeing penguins everywhere I look that it seems so hard to believe that these would be the last that I would see (for now…)

I cut yesterday a little short because I wanted to be able to just enjoy the evening without having to rush upstairs to do my blogging, but I feel that it was so amazing that I have to do a little recap first before I get into today’s adventures.  We had a fabulous dinner of lobster tail appetizer followed by a traditional turkey dinner and champagne for Nichole’s birthday.  It was a great dinner filled with good company and lots of laughs!  That has definitely been a theme of this trip; laughter!  I am so lucky to be travelling with people who like to laugh and have probably been in tears at least a half dozen times each day.   The night only got better as we shifted to the lounge where the “spice boys” serenaded us with a variety of karaoke type songs and all the guests had a great time dancing.  Fortunately the ship was anchored otherwise things could have gotten verrrry interesting. 

This morning we woke up in Neko harbor (one of the places that a glacier cam was set up by James Ballog) and I spent about half an hour in the quiet of the bow of the ship, taking in all of the glaciers and enjoying the near silence.   Taking a moment to reflect in this land of ice and sea was the perfect way to start the day.  

I think it’s been the experience of many guests on board the ship that it seems like each day is the best and you don’t know how they could possibly top it.  And then the next day comes and they find a way.  Well today held true to form and was by far my “highlight moment” for the trip.  Alberto, the undersea dive specialist found me and said that he was going out in a zodiac with the ROV (remotely operated vehicle) if I wanted to join him.  Of course I couldn’t pass up that chance and I strapped a go pro to my chest and headed towards the dive locker.  The zodiac is outfitted with a metal enclosed structure in which all of the computer equipment has to be loaded.  We quickly loaded up the equipment and were ready to head off in search of a good place to launch the ROV.  It can dive to about 1000ft, but it was recommended that we don’t go below ~800ft in case of complications.  

Shortly after we launched the ROV we had an unexpected (well sort of expected) visitor; a Minke Whale decided to come and investigate our boat!!!! He literally swam so close that I could probably stick my hand out and touch him!  And he didn’t just do it once!  For a couple of minutes he just kept circulating each time coming around for a look at us and putting on a show.  Needless to say it was awesome! 

After he had moved on, we also chose to move to a site with a little shallower waters, and started the decent once again.  I got to sit in the “cabin” holding joystick that controls the thrusters down, while Alberto and the zodiac pilot unwound the cable attached to the ROV.  We hit bottom at 79m (but eventually made it down to 81m) and got our first view of the bottom.  Right away we could see sea stars, brittle stars, sea anemones, sponges, tunicates, sea cucumbers and sun stars.  I couldn’t help but think of my students in Canada and I can’t wait for them to see the footage as it’s everything that we’ve been talking about for the last couple of months!   The best part was that Alberto was letting me drive the ROV!  It was by far the best video game I’ve ever played.  My first attempt at controlling it wasn’t so great as I had to learn how to fine tune the movements.  Once I learned that I only needed to move the joystick a small amount, my attempt at getting useable footage was much more successful.  It’s no surprise that the best footage came from Alberto, but I certainly collected some useable stuff.  It was fascinating to see all of the organisms (we also saw shrimp and fish) as well as the color changes that occurred as you moved up through the water column; from inky black near the bottom, to a green created by plankton where light could penetrate and eventually icy blue as we neared the top. 

When we got back to the ship we loaded the footage from both the ROV and the go-pro onto the screen and found that we actually had some useable stuff.  I hung out with Alberto for a while to watch the process but didn’t get to see the finished product until a little bit later and it was FABULOUS!  Definitely something I’m going to be able to use in my classroom and will post once I have reliable Internet.  Alberto may even use it for future expedition to teach people the basic idea of the ROV.   Tonight at the daily recap he presented it to everyone on board and people seemed to really enjoy it!  Obviously I was pleased!  

This afternoon was a landing at Dorian Bay, the site of the landing strip for Port Lockroy.  In addition to the penguin rookery (they are everywhere in Antarctica, you see bare rock and there will be a penguin rookery) there was also a couple of huts.  Both the British one that had been used to wait for airplanes when weather was bad and the Argentinian one were stocked, and the British one could be toured. 

This afternoon felt like the Antarctica that I had imagined.  There was wind and driving snow and visibility was way down.  I was very appreciative of our faux fur collars!  While standing and watching the penguins, I had an opportunity to talk to Stephanie (assistant expedition leader) about the effects of climate change on penguin populations and one particular point she made stands out in my memory as I write this.  Antarctica is a cold dessert and therefor the precipitation levels are typically very low.  As the climate changes there are seeing more days like today where there is precipitation in the form of snow.  Baby penguins start their life with a downy layer of feathers to help keep them warm.  However much like down sleeping bags, as soon as they are wet the feathers loose their ability to retain heat.  She says that as summer goes on, if there are many more days like today that the mortality rate for the babies will be quite high.    

After a dinner once again full of laughter we have retired to the lounge and are now watching South 80, a film made from the footage that Frank Hurley took during the time that that the Shakelton expedition was marooned, first in the Weddell sea and then on Elephant Island.  The fact that all the men, let alone the video footage survived is an absolute miracle. 

Happy Boxing day everyone!  

Christmas morning started early with an announcement that we were going to soon be entering the Lemaire Channel.  In the last couple of days many boats have had to turn around in the 7mile channel due to the heavy ice, but not our ship!  Built for icebreaking she did great, plus it seemed that maybe there was less ice today.  The scene was made perfect by a little sprinkling of snow, and the constant chorus of "Merry Christmas".  

I wasn’t sure how I would feel being away from family on Christmas morning, and as much as I miss them, the picture Steph sent of Lily and Cooper (niece and nephew) in their penguin pajamas, and the card from my parents made the miles not seem so far.  We were also able to manage a very sketchy facetime conversation as they were opening presents! 

I’m going to keep this particular blog short because I want to be able to focus on all the activities going on around here.  It’s Nichole’s birthday so we’re going to surprise her with a bottle of champagne and a stuffed penguin over dinner.  We started her off with a card this morning to make the day seem a little more special (which may not seem like much to you, but when you’re a long way across the world it’s a nice touch of home). 

This morning we made landing at a rookery that had all three types of brush tail penguins; Gentoo, Adele, and Chinstrap.  There were two penguin firsts today.  Our first spotting of Adelie and our first baby penguins!!!  I didn’t have quite enough zoom to actually get a good picture, but I have someone who is going to send me one and I'll post it another time.  So far I’ve been opting for hikes but this time I just wandered at the rookery spending my time with the penguins. I figured this was a perfect way to spend Christmas morning.

The afternoon was all about ice and seals.  We have been travelling south all day and have officially hit the Southern most latitude of any ship this year.  We spent hours mesmerized by the ice flowing by the ship, listening to the thuds and cracks as the ship plower through.  Thanks to all of the tips I’ve been receiving I’m actually created some pictures that I’m pleased with (Papa, you’d be proud!) 

Well it’s time for a lecture by Ed Stump and I don’t want to miss it!  Hope everyone has a great turkey dinner!  Merry Christmas! I'll think of you as I'm enjoying the music of our on board band the "Explorer Spice Boys 

Today’s theme is whales.  Killer whales, humpback whales, and whale-of-a-tale type stories. 

At 4:15am we were woken by the disembodied voice over the speaker in our room telling us that there were killer whales off of our port side.  I almost didn’t go down because I had only gotten to bed at 2:30 after finishing the blog and the DER.  The temptation to role over and go to sleep was strong, but it was the first good whale sighting and I wouldn’t forgive myself if I missed.  I rolled out of bed, threw on a sweater and headed out with my camera.  If I had been worried about what I looked like, all I had to do was look around at the others and realize I was fine!  There was a mish mash of robes, penguin pajamas, bright orange jackets and sweaters all huddled around the front of the ship, trying to get a good picture while half asleep.  Most of us had forgotten gloves in our haste to get upstairs and so it was a game to see how long you could last out in the cold.  At first the pod of Type A (large) killer whales was far off our bow, but after a time they swam directly up to our boat and surfaced numerous times not 20 feet away from us!  The challenge was predicting where they were going to come up next!  When I could no longer feel my fingers (I lasted about 35 minutes) before heading back down to our cabin to try and sleep for another couple of hours. 

Our first expedition of the day took us to a landing site at Orne Harbour.  We had 1000 ft (silly American’s using feet not meters) walk up to a ridgeline that gave us an amazing view Francis Mountain on one side and glacier on the other.  The glacier is actually one that is being monitored by cameras (placed by James Ballog of Chasing Ice).  Our mentor naturalists, Eric Guth, aka Ice Man is actually helping out with this project and was hoping to be able to fix a solar panel that had been blown off by the extreme winds in the area, and there was a chance that I could go with!  Unfortunately there wasn’t a zodiac available, but at least I can say I’ve seen that glacier with my own eyes!  At the top there was also a penguin colony so we spent about an hour getting a variety of pictures and watching penguins.  The best part about this whole experience was that I did it all in snow pants and a t-shirt!  It was better than spring skiing!  The temperature was probably around 10C today and with the reflection off of the snow it felt even warmer.  Although I put sunscreen on and wore glasses, I still managed to get a burn.  Only on the back of my right hand though, who remembers to put sunscreen on the backs of their hand! I have found that my favorite way to get off of any incline in Antarctica is just to sit down and slide.  This one was the best one yet and I felt like I was shooting down a luge.  The trick was to stop before you went straight into the water… don’t worry mom, I was safe.

At lunch, an announcement was made that it was going to be calm enough at Cuverville Island to be able to kayak as well as have a POLAR PLUNGE at 5:00! 

We were in a group that spent 1 hour at Cuverville Island and then did our kayaking.  At Cuverville we were given the choice of staying by the water and checking out the largest Gentoo rookery in Antarctica, or hiking up to the peak of the island (1000ft which is the highest one we’ll have a chance to hike up on this trip).  Is there any question of which one I chose?  We had exactly one hour before we had to be back at the zodiac so we kept a pretty good pace up a steep switchback trail.  We were rewarded at the top by 360 degree views of the area, including the ridge that we had just come from.  Again this hike was done in a t-shirt, only putting on my jacket to protect my arms from the sun on the ways down.  Too bad my right hand didn’t get that same sun protection.  Again, the descent was sitting down and sliding our way to the bottom, just in time to catch the zodiac back to where our kayaks were waiting.  

I partnered up with Nichole and we head off to check out the bergs that were floating around the island.  We were warned to stay away from glaciers and large bergs, and that rule was quickly reinforced by a berg breaking up near the place where we were boarding the kayaks and causing a big ripple of water to move towards us.  We kept our distance, but kept our eyes peeled for any calving events (when a chunk of the glacier breaks off… not talking about cows here).  We heard the thundering cracks repeatedly, but I’ve still yet to see the actual calving process.  We did however spot some Type B killer whales swimming along the other side of the channel!  We lost them for a while, but then they reemerged just off the bow of the boat as we were coming in.  I couldn’t help but think how jealous my dad would be if he were here right now. 

But there was no time to dwell on that; it was off to our room to put on swimsuits!  It was time for the dreaded polar plunge.  For my outfit, I decided to go with the flannel penguin shorts that Megan made me.  They were perfect!  Thank you Megan.  I'll post pictures when I get them. 

We were one of the last groups to go so we got to watch everyone come back from the platform on which it was being held.  I would say it was a pretty even split of people who thought it was the coldest thing they’d every experienced, and people who thought it was amazing and wanted to do it again.   When it was our turn, the four of us, Nichole, Mariam, Nina and I, all jumped together.  I was smart and chose the inside spot closest to the platform.  The shock of the cold water is instantaneous and it feels like a million pin pricks.  My only two thoughts were “it’s sure taking a long time to swim to the top” and “grab Lisa’s hand because she’ll pull you out”!  And just like that it was done.  A few seconds later I was wrapped in a big towel, sipping on hot chocolate with an bit of something special and pepperminty in it to help warm us up.   Although I had no desire to do it again at that very moment, I definitely enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to jump into 1degree water!

The polar plunge was the perfect activity for Christmas Eve. The music, the excitement over our bravery, the “special” hot chocolate all worked to create a festive mood.  This extended into dinner (which was a special Swedish smorgasbord, complete with meatballs, pickled cabbage and pickled herring) and the evening activity (a showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas).  Of course, not to be forgotten, the humpback whales decided to put on a couple of displays for us, completing this whale themed day.   It’s neat to see families here spending the evening drinking wine and playing games.  Even though I miss my family at a time like this, I feel incredibly fortunate to be travelling with some pretty amazing people who have quickly begun to feel like family.  This will definitely be a Christmas to remember and I’ve decided that my official Christmas present to myself will be being in bed by 11pm so that I get a full 8 hours of sleep, a true Christmas miracle. That is, unless I wake up earlier to watch as we pass through the Lemare channel.  Knowing myself, that seems like a pretty likely thing, so I’ll probably have to settle for 7.   

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from the Great White Continent!  I will be thinking of you all tomorrow. 

Side note:

I am writing this as we cruise down a channel and I can’t tell you how many bergs we’ve passed with anywhere from one to a dozen penguins just hanging out on top.  This is actually becoming commonplace, to the point where I no longer jump for my camera every time I see it.  I think I’m becoming a little bit spoiled.  

Before I get into today’s blog I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you who have posted comments or emailed me to say that you’re reading the blog.  Even though I can’t respond right now, it’s definitely motivating me to keep writing despite the fact that this is usually happening at midnight after an action pact day!  (this is also why there are some grammatical errors… I’ll fix them when I get home).  Tonight we were charged with writing up the Daily Expedition Report (DER) that will be sent out by Lindblad so my own blog will be fairly similar since it’s now 1:15am and we’ve just finished our writing!

We awoke this morning to the sounds of something scrapping and crunching along the sides of the ship.  We opened our porthole and found that the sea was a soup of “bergy bits”.  During the night we had made our way into Cierva Cove. 

I quickly dressed and started off my day with a coffee in the bridge.  There were only two other people there and enjoyed those few minutes of quiet, looking out at the mountains, glaciers and icebergs that surrounded us.  

We had a quick breakfast and then headed back to our cabins to prepare ourselves for our first zodiac tour around this bay.  I jumped into a boat with the two other Fellows, a family, our naturalist guide, Gabriella, and Patrick, the videographer who is charged with making promotional videos for the GTF program.  He wanted to get footage of us doing “teacher-y” kinds of things. 

The zodiac tours were our first chance to get up close and personal with ice and I was instantly struck by how dynamic it all was!  While I’m aware that glaciers flow, I guess I’ve never really stopped to think about the fluidity of ice in general.  In no way were sitting and watching a stationary structure.  First there were the currents and movements of the slush and bergy bits, moving and shifting through the bay.  While the larger bergs appeared to be more stationary, they too were alive with the crackling of internal air bubbles popping under pressure, and it is this popping that leads to the circular holes that could be seen by the water line of many.  Then there was the color!  It ranged from your traditional white along a spectrum towards vibrant blues.  Not what I was expecting at all! 

Within minutes of being on the zodiac a call came over the radio to say that a leopard seal had been spotted on one of the ice pieces.  While he lay motionless on the ice for the most part, he did give us a good yawn and visual of his gnarly tricuspid teeth specialized for filtering out krill which makes up 60% of his diet.  The cherry on top of this outing, was a little zodiac motoring towards us with a flag that read Hot Chocolate.  Hot chocolate delivery in the middle of the icy ocean is the way to go! 

After an hour or so we re-boarded the ship in order to let the next group get a turn on the zodiacs.  By moving up to the very top deck of the ship we were able to get a different vantage point on the ice we had just been looking up at.  We also had the opportunity to play around with the Ricoh Theta and get some pretty amazing 360-degree pictures of the area. After our morning excursion we listened to a presentation on ice and glaciers, which served to enrich our earlier experiences with the ice. 

We arrived at Enterprise Island, and found that the conditions were too choppy for our original plan of kayaking so instead we went out on zodiacs again.  It was definitely a wet and wild ride, especially towards the end, but it was worth it for the view of the shipwreck. 

Prior to dinner we treated to a number of different presentations in the lounge.  The National Geographic photographer on board spoke about using photos to tell a story, using her experiences in Alaska as an example.  This was followed by two of the naturalists on board teaching us more about Antarctic seals.  They encouraged us to become citizen scientists by providing them with our images of leopard seals that might be used for identification.  During the daily recap, they also surprised us with an extra excursion planned for the later in the evening. 

Orne Harbor held our first Gentoo penguin colony and marks are official first steps on the peninsula (it’s all been islands prior to now).  I chose the hike option which was a mile  1000 feet up to the top of Spigot Peak.  It was nice to have to work a bit to get to the top and was rewarded with spectacular vistas, including Antarctica’s version of a summer sunset (that said, it’s 1:15am and it’s still fairly bright outside and sunrise is scheduled for 2:15).  Other people chose not to go all the way to the top and instead sat by the “penguin highways” watching them go to and from the rookery and the ocean.  The best part though was definitely the ride down.  Again, bag strapped to the chest, head first and on my back is the best way to get down a hill in Antarctica!