Day 14, januari 21, The HAL Antarctic Experience Day 1

Good sleep, but when we wake up, it's a small world. Dull and gray, with rain at 1 degree Celsius. In the distance, there's an island with snow on it, but you have to look closely. We'll see what the day brings. At least we start by hoping for better weather.

After the shower, we have breakfast in the Lido, and then the captain announces that the route has deviated. The island we passed was Palmer Station in the Lemaire Channel. The wind was blowing strongly there, and it's a narrow channel, so it wasn't safe to navigate. The next on the agenda is the Neumayer Channel. It's started snowing now, and the wind is picking up, so it's a bit of a puzzle for the captain to navigate. The part of the itinerary that we skipped this morning will be revisited later in the program, weather permitting, of course. Quite literally in this case. The captain also had contact with a British expedition ship for consultation. The plan is still to visit the post office later today. Interesting, a post office here! 😦

We head to The Crow's Nest, and as we make our way there, passing by the indoor pool, it's noticeably chilly in that area. Once we arrive at The Crow's Nest, it's quite crowded again.

A jolly goodmorning. We are shortly swinging to starboard into the Lemair Channel. Some icebergs and ice that comes from the glacier. Weather opening a bit. Have a nice day on the beautiful, elegant Oosterdam.

This is the last information announced at 09:25. So, we head downstairs to see if we can catch a glimpse from our balcony. However, another announcement follows, stating that the bow is opening up and there are penguins to be seen. Therefore, we layer up again and head to the Lido Deck (9th floor), as there might not be enough to see from our balcony, and the bow area (4th floor) is likely to be very crowded.

From our  balcony

Once outside, we start to feel the true Antarctic atmosphere. Although it's still heavily overcast, there's slightly better visibility, and we can see thick layers of snow and ice on the mountains beside us. We also spot some penguins, albeit tiny dots on the rocks, but with the zoom, we can bring them quite close. It's 1 degree Celsius, raining, and windy. Quite chilly for the hand operating the camera button on the right. The left hand gets to stay warm inside the glove.

The captain turns the ship, and then we get a better view because we've found a good spot on the starboard side. It's quite remarkable to observe the penguins going about their business, even though they appear small due to the distance. They're still very charming. They are Gentoo pinguïns.

Then we continue our journey towards the Neumayer Channel, which will take us approximately 2.5 to 3 hours. This timing works out well because there's a Q&A session with our resident scientists Jim and Neil, assisted by Kevin, at 11 o'clock. They will first discuss the photos they took yesterday and this morning, and then everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions until 12 o'clock.

In the cabin, we hang up the still slightly damp jackets and spend half an hour before heading to lunch at the Lido to be ready for the next views on time.

At 1:30 PM, we reach the Neumayer Channel. Shortly after, the captain announces that the bow is opening, so we bundle up and head downstairs. There are already quite a few people in the corridor, but the door isn't open yet. It takes a while, and finally someone comes with the key. Then there's another delay, and it's announced that it's not happening because the bow is too slippery due to the snow. Hm, so we head back up to the 10th deck midship. It's actually a good development because here you're somewhat sheltered from the wind, and now that it's still raining with some snowflakes mixed in, you can also stand under cover for a bit.

The visibility starts to improve, and as we go further into the channel, both the weather and the views get better. Kevin announces that it's very special that we can go through here so easily; usually, it's not possible. We're either very lucky or he's a very good salesman 😜.

It's actually an advantage that it's not completely sunny, although we do hope to experience that one of these days because then the blue ice is much better visible. And there's a lot of blue, in cracks, hollows, sometimes almost caves, and we even see an iceberg, completely flat on top and, although it's hard to estimate, it's certainly the length of the ship (the Oosterdam is 238 m long) and about as wide (so about 40 m) and about ten meters high, which is a beautiful baby blue.

It's not extremely crowded here, and we alternate between looking left and right. We also see penguins swimming and diving, although they are tiny dots and because they are so fast, they are virtually impossible to photograph. There are only a few of them, and you never know where they will resurface.

As we proceed further into the channel, it becomes more beautiful and narrower. We first see small and later larger icebergs, which are also clearly visible underwater with their beautiful color. At one point, Jan filmed a section that he found interesting and got bonus points. In three parts, a huge chunk of ice came down. It was amazing to see. Although it was far away, so without the characteristic sound. 

The babyblue ice floe

Here a chunk of ice collapsed

Strange place to put a bench, we think

After the turn, we sail back into gloomy weather, and by now, we've cooled down quite a bit. So, we head back to the cabin via deck 4, where we only stay for a few minutes. In the cabin, the clean laundry is neatly folded and hung, impeccably ironed, even the undershirts and jeans. We tidy up the laundry, and then I'm craving a hot chocolate, so we head back to the 10th floor, this time to The Crow's Nest, where we settle on a bench. It's perfect timing because there's nothing particularly interesting to see outside at the moment, and it's raining heavily again. Lucky us. 

We dine in the Lido, enjoying a peaceful meal at a table for two. It's so quiet here today. Where has everyone gone? Quite peculiar. The rest of the evening, we relax on the couch at the Billboard with Meagan and Gabe. They mention that they'll be performing on the Mainstage the day after tomorrow, so we make plans to attend. After their last show, we decide to give our bodies some rest. We bumped into Ron in the elevator today. He mentioned that Ann is doing a bit better, and he has tested negative again. 👍

Next day