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Sailing Antarctica
On February 8th we embarked on the adventure of our lives, a 20 day trip to the Peninsula of Antarctica. We never imagined that we’d be able to make it and even less on a sailboat! Don’t you need an icebreaker for that?? Well, not in summer!
Any concerns we may have had vanished after 5 minutes onboard the Icebird. Cath, our experienced captain, and Olly, the first mate, gave us the brief of this beautiful sailboat and we stocked the «supermarket» (a cold hatch dedicated to keep fruit & veggies cold) with enough food to survive for months. Special mention to “Lambie”, a whole Patagonian lamb that we took and was slowly salt-soaked with Antarctic spray – it was pretty amazing.
The Icebird – 60ft of beauty
Our first navigation took us from Ushuaia (Argentina) to Puerto Williams (Chile), via the astonishing Beagle Channel. With all due respects to Ushuaia, we believe that the most Austral town claim should go to Puerto Williams, nestled in the Dientes de Navariño. If we hadn’t had to part the morning after to go to Antarctica, Sal and I would have happily stayed there for a week!
Puerto Williams town – Dientes de Navariño in the top right corner
We were facing 4 full days to sail the feared Drake Passage (cruiseships usually take 1.5 days), so we farewelled the American continent in style, having a party at the Micalvi bar, an old steamer sunk by the land and full of flags and sailor memorabilia where we had a few more piscos than we should have had with the locals.
Olly, Sal and I and the local bartender
A few piscos after we got creative with the camera…
From then on, the real stuff started. We set-up rosters for cooking, cleaning toilets and cabins and also for the 3hr watch (followed by 6hr rest). Sailing continuously – mostly on autopilot – we had to keep an eye out for other boats, wind speeds and direction, the barometer, our position aaaand, after crossing the 60º latitude and officially entering Antarctic waters, keep an eye out for icebergs! You don’t want to end up making the news or inspiring a sequel for Titanic…
They are big… and they attacked us while we slept!
Dusky dolphins rode our waves in the Beagle Channel
The 1st day was especially challenging for those not used to sailing. While the waves of the Drake Passage could have been worse, 3-4 metres were enough to keep us rocking and made us seasick despite the tablets we took. On the second day the winds stopped and we had to motor most of the way… grey sky, waves, rain, spray and a few birds were the only things we saw. By the 3rd day we had recovered our appetites and continued killing the time reading, chatting, making teas and, in my case, carving wood.
Latitude 60º – officially in Antarctica!
This last hobby I started in Puerto Williams. While the rest of the crew were showering and completing paperwork at customs, I spent close to 45min sweating and sawing a nice chunk of wood with my swiss army knife.
Day 1
For almost a week after, I spent the time on watch and other spare time carving a ring to propose to Sal!
Day 3
Travelling with a real ring for almost a year would have been just silly but I didn’t want to propose empty handed…
Day 5
so I thought that Patagonian wood, a pearl I almost swallowed eating seafood in Chiloé and a volcanic rock from Antarctica would do the job. Then, I just had to find the right time to bend the knee…
Day 7 :)
In the meantime we had finally arrived to Antarctica! Olly land hoed 15min before us.. we were trying hard to see something in the horizon…but we only had to look up to over 2,000m where the peaks of the mountains raised over the clouds, way more mountainous than we had imagined.
Land ho! Tierra a la vista!
From then on, we saw plenty of icebergs!
It was a beautiful day with blue skies and the first sight of the contrast between the silky waters, snowy peaks and glaciers and clear sky is a memory that we will never forget. We entered the Antarctica Peninsula sailing near the Melchior Islands.
Antarctica has 97% of the world’s fresh water. Put all the rivers, lakes and snowy mountains in the world and that only adds up to 3%!!
The first penguins we saw!
Argentinian Base
Our first mooring in Antarctica was in Paradise Harbour (I was so excited that I started singing along and versioned Guns ‘Roses’ Paradise City). The name makes justice to the place and Sal and I couldn’t help but jump in the kayaks to start exploring the area.
Paradise Harbour
More reflections at Paradise Harbour the next day
Among our duties, we also had to help with the lines when mooring or anchoring. Winds can change direction and force unexpectedly so we usually set 3 to 4 lines to ensure a quiet night… later on you’ll see how 4 lines are not even enough sometimes!
Olly and I setting the lines. The bow line knot has been mastered!
Once in the kayaks, the first thing we looked for were penguins and seals and let me tell you, there were plenty! After humans, they are the most populated species in the world. Seals are fat and cute, usually napping on a little iceberg and barely disturbed by our curious eyes.
Crabeater seal napping on an iceberg
Sorry… did we wake you up?
Glacier reaching the water at Paradise Harbour
Penguins were loud and stinky! Sooo stinky. Forget the majestuous and spotless images from National Geographic, the babies sleep on their own poo.
Gentoo penguins – they look like this 90% of the time
OK, after a swim they look pretty cute
They need to lose the first feathers before they go for a swim
We also spotted this colony of cormorants
On the way back to the boat we made sure to bring some iceberg ice with us. The gin tonics tasted much better with it!!
The day after we were on a mission to take Ronda (Steph’s Honda that she’s travelling the world with) to land. Using the boom as a crane, we moved the bike to the dingy and landed on a small beach.
On a mission!
It wasn’t a long ride, but Steph is probably the first woman to ride a bike on Antarctica, congrats! If you want to see some of her adventures, check out her blog.
Mission accomplished – Congrats Steph!
The day after we were invited to visit the Gonzalez Videla Chilean Base. While the Antarctic Treaty prohibits military operations in Antarctica, Argentina and Chile have a few navy bases around, which are justified in case there’s an emergency.
Gonzalez Videla – Chilean Base
Group photo!
Pretty cool place to spend 6 months
The guys there spend 6 months in Antarctica by themselves so you can imagine how well they received us… especially the girls. The Chileans were really nice, they had us for lunch, showed us around the base and shared great pictures and their knowledge.
Penguin colony by Gonzalez Videla base
The day went by and we ended up having them for BBQ dinner on our boat… and more drinks. Steph even managed to get the name badges from two officials after daring to mast-dance in the cold cold night.
Cozy dinner on the boat
Interestingly, on these human bases penguins have found a safe spot from predators, so their population keeps increasing. While the bases look very nice, the penguin stench is powerful and even impregnated our clothes for a few days. Most of the penguins we saw were gentoos… however, every now and then we spotted the classy chinstraps. Sadly, Emperor penguin colonies are only found further into the south pole.
Albino gentoo penguin feeding its chicks
Can you spot the Chinstrap among the Gentoos?
Chinstraps were our favourite!
The days went by spotting more seals, humpback whales and even a family of orcas (you can recognise the dad by the huge dorsal fin).
Humpback or Minke whale? still finding it hard to figure out
Orcas – only 2 out of the 7-8 members of the family
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Crazy iceberg formations near Planeau Bay
The kayak trips were epic, it’s really cool to see the penguins porpoising towards you. After a few mechanical issues that the Chileans helped to fix, we started making our way towards Vernadsky, the Ukrainian base.
We had to wear fashionable dry suits to kayak – Cath was an excellent guide
On the way there we passed the jawdropping Lemaire Channel, with big black snow covered mountains on either side and icebergs in the water.
Lemaire Channel
They called the 2 peaks on the left “Eunice’s titties’” after the secretary of a Falklands Islands / Islas Malvinas Dependencies Governor!
Sal and I were on kitchen duties, so we had a full Spanish themed day with sangria, paella, tortilla and tapas.
We offer catering services to any boat going to Antarctica
That afternoon we went for a hike to Peterson Island, where we found the sneaky Adelie Penguins.
Views from the top of the hill at Peterson Island
Adelie penguin by itself… they’re becoming rare in this area as the gentoos are taking over
Weddell seal scratching
Sal, Olly and I climbed to the top, we had a great view of the Pleneau Bay, which we also visited by zodiac the next day.
Pleneau Bay
Those seals are picky with their food
Yes, you
The day we reached the Vernadsky Base we kayaked in the morning and visited the Wordie House in the afternoon, an old British Base that has been well kept and maintains the decorations and materials from the old times (coffee tins, sunlight soap, typewriters, weather gauges, dog cards, gas mask, etc).
Old tins still unopened at Wordie House
On the other hand, there are plenty of abandoned bases… which goes against the Antarctic Treaty (countries are responsible for removing them if they’re not being used), but you can imagine the costs involved. We also took a couple of tobogans to the top of the hill and had pretty close races. Heaps of fun.
That was a close race Olly!
Close to dinner time, we went to Vernadsky base. Cath told us about the sauna that the Ukranians had built there so, after asking for permission, Olly, Sal and I took a few beers and had a great time there. Our challenge was to beat the 5 rounds between sauna and Antarctic waters (1ºC)… so we took our time and raised the bar to 7 rounds.
We performed 7 different jumps… we rate this one the best
I’ll never complain again about cold water in the Mediterranean or Australia. After a shower, we felt 20 years younger.
1 week among penguins – Sal is becoming one of them.
The Ukranian scientists were quite impressed so, in a gesture of caramaderie, gave us a round of home-made shots for every round of Sauna/icy water that we had done. Luckily, they had also prepared a traditional Ukranian dinner that helped to digest (special mention to the smoked-cured meat, so good!).
Sunset at Vernadsky
Great fun at Vernadsky! lingerie provided by tourists…
The Ukranian scientists taught us a few things that night, from some of their marine biologist projects, to some contorsionist tricks that involved twisting your body around a chair and trying to grab your drink just using your mouth without touching the floor.
This is how it’s done, looks easier than it is
As you can imagine, lots of us ended on the (carpeted) floor. Similarly to the Chilean base, there’s some serious work going on in Antarctica.
This is how we roll (#1) – ouch
This is how we roll (#2)
We followed our adventure sailing to Port Lockroy, a famous spot were the British have a wonderful base that serves both as a museum and a post office. They make an absolute fortune selling postcards and stamps!
We named the second peak from the right “the cinnamon roll”
Fellow sailors
Time was ticking and there hadn’t been a single suitable time to propose. Determination kicked in and I confided the secret plans to Cath, who allowed me to make a quick call to Sal’s parents. As you can imagine, the satellite communication from a sailboat to Australia wasn’t particularly clean, but it was enough to share the plans, a few laughs, and secure the approval from the headquarters ;)
We arrived to Cuverville Island, where our fellow travellers felt lazy and preferred to stay having tea on the boat.
Cuverville Island
Sal and I were eager to explore the area as usual, so Cath trusted Sal with the tender… and served me the chance I was looking for on a gold platter. We took the tender ashore and started hiking up the hill, passing a colony of gentoo penguins… one of them performing a courtship dance, very appropiate. At the top we had a great view of the channel and a bit of a sunset. Even the penguins had helped with their dance!
View from the top of the hill at Cuverville Island
On the way down from the hill we were happily engaged but we realised that the tide had come up. The tender, still tied to the rocks, was just floating on the icy waters.
Engaged!
I started running as fast as I could, passing the horrified colony of penguins right through the middle, until I reached shore. Sal started enjoying her condition of fiancée and sent me off to catch the dingy, the knee high water going into my boots and cooling my legs off after the run. We finally made it back to the boat, one of us shaking, but happy as and with one more anecdote to share.
Starting to experience the tough life
That night we slept on the boom of the boat in a really warm sleeping bag. We were hoping to see the stars but it started snowing on us so we had to zip up the sail cover.
Our bed for a night!
The day after we motored all the way to Enterprise Island. It was beautifully calm, we had some blue skies and we saw lots of whales along the way. We even saw some that were using bubble circles the trap the krill while they scooped them up.
Trapping bubbles
Humpback whale
We ended up tying up to an old whaler shipwreck, kayaked around the area and saw lots of unfriendly fur seals, chinstraps and shags.
Shipwreck mooring
The day after we woke up early to prepare the boat for 100 nautical miles sail to Deception Island. 20 knot winds and big swell made it similar to the Drake crossing only with blue sky, sun, icebergs and antarctic coastline in sight. Finally, the wind and waves were getting too strong and the tender was getting damaged by rollers, so we had to give up and moor in the shelter of Trinity Island (uncharted territory).
Fur seal posing for the photo
A few night-watches after, we set-off at 5am and arrived to Deception Island, an old volcano, just after lunch. We anchored at Whalers Bay in the caldera, surounded by hills of volcanic ash, with seals frollicking on the beach and old, derelick abandoned buildings and silos. Sal and I went for a hike with Cath to see the chinstrap colony, but a snowstorm set in and when we got to the highest point it was all grey so we had to return.
Rushing back to the boat
That night was the hardest as we had to change the anchorage 3 times. The last time, we were awoken by the boat alarm at around 4am because we had run aground. Sal, Steph and I dressed up quickly and climbed the boom in the middle of a snow storm. Olly swung us out 180 degrees over the icy water to tilt the boat and set us free. The whole thing sounded like a joke… a Welsh, an Aussie and a Spaniard climb the boom in the middle of a snowstorm…
About 15min after we came down and had hot chocolates to warm up. The good news is that the island looked epic the next day after the snowstorm, so we climbed the highest peak for beautiful views of ash covered mountains with snowy veins.
Deception Island
Deception Island
Unfortunately, the next day we had to make our way to King George Island, where a flight was waiting for us in 48hrs. After so much work, Deception Island gifted us this beautiful sunrise as a farewell:
You can find the biggest base in Antarctica (Base Frei) on King George Island, with premises from different countries (Russia, Chile, China and South Korea).
Base Frei, the biggest in Antarctica
Steph, Olly, Sal and I went for a wander and, on the way to shore, a huge leopard seal came to play with our bubbles. The seal popped its head on the side of the tender a couple of times and it looked as if it wanted to jump in, it was definitely interested in us and playful… but it was also the most terrifying experience of the trip. Leopard seals are huge!
hello there…
…got anything to eat?
Iván showed us the Chilean base where 8 men stay year round and 23 during summer (November to March). We played Chilean pool (they have everything to keep themselves entertained!); later, Sergio, a 26yo pilot showed us around the airforce base, including a catholic church, residential areas for the families and even a dome gym.
Steph looked like Kenny from South Park… so we snowballed her
Our flight was cancelled due to the weather conditions, so we got an extra day in Antarctica (wohoo!). The morning after was beautiful and our flight was confirmed, but we still had time to visit the only orthodox church in Antarctica that the Russians built not long ago, where we were welcomed by the long-bearded priests who were singing and ringing the bells.
Orthodox church in King George Island
Shortly after we had to pack and clean up for the next group of travellers joining the boat and a pick-up took us to the landing strip, where a Brasilian Hercules had crashed on the runway a few weeks before.
Our plane on the left… and the crashed Hercules.
Our flight to Punta Arenas was smooth and we waved goodbye to Antarctica as we saw the last icebergs and mountains poking through.
We will never forget!
Arriving back to Chile felt like waking up from a dream and we had to get used to the backpacker life again quickly. A bus heading to Puerto Natales, our next destination, was passing by as we picked up our bags with just one spare seat, so we made the most of it and rushed to our next destination!
Coming next, the W Trek in Torres del Paine!
Argentina III – Hiking, glaciers & the end of the world…
Back in Argentina for the second time, although now much further south, we woke up on the overnight bus to an incredible sunrise over the dry pampa (plains) with towering mountains in the distance. We were reaching the much anticipated hiking capital of Argentina!!
Our first views of Argentinan Patagonia
We used El Chaltén as the base to visit Fitzroy Mountain otherwise known as Cerro Chaltén (Chaltén Hill) which comes from an indigenous word that meant smoking mountain, which is quite fitting as it’s almost always covered with cloud and they thought it was a volcano. It’s situated in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field and interestingly while it is considered part of Argentina, in the surrounding area of the map there are at least 50kms of border that is still to this day undetermined because Chile & Argentina can’t agree with each other. In fact, El Chaltén the town, was created in 1985 to help secure the disputed border with Chile and the government were practically paying people to move and set up there. Now it’s worth a fortune thanks to the tourist dollar, but luckily for the National Park its extension has been capped so it can’t get any bigger.
El Chaltén Town
On our first day apart from stocking up on a camp stove and gas, which we wish we had bought earlier in the trip (so handy!!), we did a bit of a warm up walk out to El Chorillo del Salto. It’s a pretty, but crowded with tour-bus tourists, waterfall a few kilometres out of town – and was worthwhile to get the legs moving again. When we got home however, I made the most disgusting discovery of the trip…somewhere along the Carretera Austral in Chile…I had managed to pick up headlice! After a very quick trip to the only Pharmacy in town and enduring the incredulous looks from the discreet Pharmacist (…in front of the whole queue of customers in Spanish…What?! the lice treatment is for YOU?!) I rushed home to cure it!!
El Chorillo del Salto
Lice free and all stocked up with porridge, sandwiches and pasta for dinner, we set off for a two-day hike to Laguna de los Tres. About 8kms in, we set up the tent at Poincenot Camp, leaving our big bag inside before continuing for the steep part up towards the lake and mountains. Glacier feeds the bright blue lake and Mount Fitzroy towers behind. With a little more walking up a small mound to the side, we got to the viewpoint for Laguna Sucia (dirty lake) and huddled behind a big rock out of the wind for lunch while being mesmerised by the beauty of the surroundings.
Best tasting water ever!!
Icefall from the glacier
On the way back to the campsite, we took detour down the riverbank another 3kms to the Glacier Piedras Blancas. To get to the actual glacier, we had to climb, crawl and jump over and inbetween big white boulders which was heaps of fun!
The following day, we woke up to rain, no magical sunrise and mysterious noises and whistling which came from some scary looking predatory birds that were hanging out around the camp. We packed up the tent in the rain and set off towards Laguna Torre, passing tight trails through scrub, Madre & Hija (Mother & Daughter) lagoons, more beautiful rivers and streams and forest on the way. There were lots of rainbows around, and the weather sort of cleared up as we went on, but clouds stayed around the big mountain peaks.
Upon arriving to Laguna Torre, another lake backed by striking mountains and fed by a glacier, we attemped to hike further along a ridge to another viewpoint. However, howling, gusting winds were trying to push us off the ridge and after few hundred metres with frequent stops to crouch or hold onto rocks to stop from being blown away, we abandoned the attempt.
We enjoyed the area so much, that after arriving back in town we went straight to the bus stop to change our reservation and stay another day. With that sorted out, we hit the local Parrilla tenedor libre (free fork = all you can eat) for a celebration!
On our last day in el Chaltén we hiked to Loma del Pliegue Tumbado, a 20km round trip with a 1km elevation gain, to get our last chance for a different view of Fitzroy Mountain and to enjoy the area.
There’s rarely a lack of clouds around these mountains!
Next stop on the way down Argentina was El Calafate, a very touristy town and not a place we would recommend to visit, however to its credit, it does have an excellent icecream shop!! We didn’t go there for the town though, it’s the closest big town to the Perito Moreno Glacier.
Spot the Rhea (South American version of the Emu) in the middle – best camouflage ever!
Perito Moreno Glacier
Perito Moreno is spectacular! It’s a massive (250km2 in size and 30kms long) arrow-shaped wall of ice coming down from the mountains, pushing into the turquoise Lake Argentina. It is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that is actually advancing – the pointy part of the arrow moves 2m a day while the sides move 40cms. Despite this, the most impressive part was seeing and hearing sections falling off into the lake, the cracking noise is impressive and the resulting wave also.
Small chunks are constantly falling off
This little owl had a prime glacier viewing spot
With only 3 days and 870kms to go to get to Ushuaia for the boat to Antarctica, we were in for the killer bus journey to the end of the world! Starting at 3am, one bus change, a ferry ride across the Magellan Strait, two border crossings and 18hrs later we arrived in Ushuaia. From the outskirts it looks a very industrial area with docks and shipping containers, but once in the city it has a certain isolated beauty.
Commerson’s Dolphins played in the ferry’s bow waves.
Argentina likes to claim that Ushuaia is the end of the world…
English Pirate Boats are prohibited from mooring in Ushuaia! The Falklands/Malvinas Conflict is still a controversial topic – no agreements reached as yet!
Apart from borrowing gear and preparing for Antarctica, we fit in a visit to the Glaciar Marcial with a Dutch couple from the hostel. After Perito Moreno it wasn’t impressive, but the views of Ushuaia were great.
Glaciar Marcial
Ushuaia & the Beagle Channel from the Martial Glacier
Packing for Antarctica was pretty simple in the end because we had no option but to take all of our stuff as it was another one way ticket flying into Punta Arenas, Chile after the trip. So after helping pack the Icebird (our sailboat) with supplies and getting another passenger’s motorbike onboard for the trip down to Antarctica we were set for the biggest adventure yet!!
Preparations on the dock
Kayaks check, food check … motorbike check
Stay tuned for more from the icy waters of Antarctica!!
Love Xavi & Sal
one way ticket 