Lemaire Island pictures

Here are a few pictures from our walk up Lemaire Island

A full day traversing much of Lemaire Island in snow shoes

Roping up was needed mainly for the crevasses

The strong breeze died away and we were sweltering by the first peak

Looking down towards Paradise Harbour

On our way down about 7 pm

On the way down in windless coditions

Long shadows

Picking our way through the brash ice of Paradise Harbour

Smoking across the Shaky Drake

On the way down to Antarctica, Spirit of Sydney's engine took up smoking and quickly developed the equivalent of a 40 a day habit or more specifically more than a litre an hour of oil. Although we had been able to use the engine throughout the trip, things seemed to be getting worse as the days went on. We had been able to trade favours for spare oil but out confidence in the engine was not high as we left Vernadsky for the return across the Drake Passage.

Now on our return on a stunningly fine calm morning, we crossed fingers and toes, fired up the generator and pressed the starter motor. Oil in the cylinders meant that compression was very high and every amp was needed to crank. Reluctantly the engine gave one revolution and then another and after a long spell of whining eventually clattered to life.

Untying the six shore lines at Vernadsky was briefly delayed by three crabeater seals basking on an iceflow by the line, but eventually we were on our way motoring back through a windless Lemaire Strait. Often called the Kodak Passage, it is a stunning fiord with numerous bergs and fields of brash ice, all glistening in the sun. Catching a whale logging (sleeping on the surface) was an added bonus.

In a slight breeze, we motor sailed into the Drake in enveloping fog. As soon as the wind was strong enough, we cut the motor.  It restarted a couple of times when the wind dropped, but the last time it cut out as the wind rose. We all wondered if it had drawn its last breath.

Over the next two days the wind gradually rose.  We were keeping as far west as possible for the expected strong winds near Cape Horn and were often sailing quite close hauled. Our confidence in Spirit increased steadily as we caught sudden wind increases with full sails set, at one point 30 knots with full Main, Stay Sail and Genoa.  Spirit healed over hard but otherwise behaved impeccably. It wasn't quite so good for those sleeping below as they were now either lying on their lee cloths (safety nets on the bunk side) or on the side of boat. Sails were reefed several times and by the time we hit gusts of 48 knots we had three reefs in the Main and a partly reefed Stay Sail only. Throughout these conditions, Spirit took every blow like a champion and jumped back up for more.

I was struggling a bit with sea sickness as were some of the others.  The sea were not big by Drake standards, at worst only a 3m swell (which is 6m from crest to trough), but the angle of attack sometimes made for an awkward motion. By the fourth day I was feeling pretty good and a day of mostly sunny, if sometimes squally weather lifted spirits all round.  We had been having problems with the heaters since we started the crossing and were not using them, so it was good to dry out and warm up.

As we neared the entrance to the Beagle Channel we were suddenly becalmed.  Caught in the strong current which was pushing us towards the shore we needed the engine and the engine decided it would not share the love.  There were a few anxious moments as we brought the zodiac up on deck and started to assemble it (in order to fashion a tow or extra propulsion), but fortunately the wind came up and we were able to sail clear.  When the wind later died we were taken in tow by a friendly fellow expedition yacht for several hours and eventually entered Ushuaia Harbour as a floating spectacle, propelled at two knots by our zodiac tied alongside.

A team of engineers was onboard a few hours later, committed to a complete engine rebuild within seven days. The cause appears to be a turbo failure leading to valve guide failure and so on. With any luck, Darrel will be able to put these issues to bed and get Spirit back down south as soon as possible.

We have been enjoying the extra two days in Ushuaia, visiting Glacier Martial yesterday and  Estancia Harberton today.  But they will be a separate blog.  Its late.

Below are a few photos now that we have Internet access.

Paddling near Nansen Island

Chinstrap Penguins on Deception Island

A colder morning

Spirit of Sydney tied up to the wreck of the Guvernoren

Nansen Island - part of our 23km paddle

Lunch on a rocky islet near Nansen Island

Brash ice 

Safely in Ushuia

We have arrived in Ushuaia after an adventure filled Drake Passage and seeong the legendary Cape Horn through 4 metre swells. Enjoying dry land, hot showers, stable deck and non-rocking bed, a shower space more than half the size of a telephone box and personal space.

More details and photos tomorrow after celebratory dinner.

Ross

Antarctic Science

11:30pm 19 January 65°s

Arriving in the Argentine Islands we weaved through ever narrowing
channels to a small basin that was half choked with ice. Another yacht,
the Jonathon had arrived a few minutes before us and broken up some of
the ice for the first time this season and after some discussion we
elected to moor in front of them. This involved putting out six shore
lines, three to each side and the anchor. After we had been anchored
for an hour or so we realised that, due to the tide and wind we also
needed to put a barrier line across the channel to stop the bergs
bashing us about. Despite the barrier line we were regularly rocked
by bergs bumping the boat and there were several expeditions in the
zodiac to nudge them out the way. Leo was a star at this and would leap
on them and pull them through the shore lines, at least until one rolled
while he was on it.
Vernadsky Research Station invited us over for what proved eventually to
be two fascinating evenings. It began with a tour of the station and
particularly the science labs. Vernadsky was one of two stations that
was involved in the discovery of the ozone hole and the staff all
appeared dedicated to advancing their areas of science. It is the only
Ukrainian station in Antarctica and by comparison with many countries
appears to run on a meagre budget. All the staff are based there for a
full twelve months and the base is only resupplied on the annual change
of crew. So they greatly appreciated our beer and fresh veges and a
supply of 2017 movies and TV shows. A map of the Ukraine has pride of
place and the staff were great ambassadors for their country. So much
so that several of us have added it to our wish-list of places to visit,
despite the tension with Russia.
Evening life at Vernadsky centres around the Faraday Bar (the British
sold Faraday Station to Ukraine for one pound, after which it was named
after the prominent Ukrainian scientist, Vernadsky. We played a
Ukranian version of pool and sampled the shots of locally made pepper
vodka, but mostly we enjoyed talking to station staff about their work.
Liam and I enjoyed being shown around the met station by Sasha. The
temperature while we were there varied from 0.3°C to 1.5°C. January is
the warmest month and 11°C has been recorded but the Jan average is
about 2.5°C.,
The station doctor had restored an old sailing dinghy, stitched a sail
from a table cloth and rebuilt an old seagull outboard that the British
had left behind. He was out sailing/motoring each afternoon, standing,
holding the sail and the outboard and flying the Jolly Roger. As a
paediatric surgeon he was somewhat underworked but was greatly enjoying
the Antarctic assignment.
Stormy weather was predicted later in the day and we were cautious about
kayaking, but in a brief fine spell we launched the kayaks to explore
the Argentine Islands. It was heavily overcast and the breeze got up
quickly making for cold and unpleasant kayaking conditions with a sharp
chop, so we limited our excursion to two hours. That was still time to
paddle up close and personal amongst the icebergs and inspect the
crabeater seals, antarctic shags and dive-bombing skuas.
In the afternoon we walked over Galindez Island (on which Vernadsky is
located). The large Gentoo Penguin colonies were fascinating and we
spent hours watching them. The oldest chicks were fledged and there was
still one bird sitting on an egg. We have way too many penguin photos
to bore you all with. Huge icebergs of all shapes and sizes surround
this archipelago of low lying islands including one standing almost 50 m
tall with a sharp peak like a finger raised in defiance. Mountains rise
behind the island to over 2,000m providing a stark backdrop.
Attempting to leave the Vernadsky bar at midnight last night we were
distracted by a king penguin arriving in the Gentoo colony. It was
still light enough for photos and the penguin was recorded in great
detail. At the wharf pancake ice was forming on the sea. This thin,
fresh ice is probably a layer of fresh water freezing on the surface.
Snow and wind greeted us this morning, justifying a lie in after the
second late night at Vernadsky. The forecast is for a good weather
window for the Drake tomorrow so we tied the kayaks down on the deck, a
particularly wet, cold job. Then the wind dropped and the cloud thinned
enough for another tour of the Island. This time we also visited Wordie
House. Now an Historic Hut, it was originally built and manned from
1947-1954 and was more like an NZ tramping hut. It replaced a hut
washed away in 1946 by a tsunami. Life would have been cramped with the
bunks in the living room. Our assumption that the hut was named because
the inhabitants penchant for scrabble proved wrong, it was named after
Shackelton's Chief Scientist.
Tomorrow we start our journey back across the Drake Passage. Forecast
is for a gentle start and a strong assisting wind for the rest. We may
have time for a day a Harberton in the Beagle Channel before we arrive
in Ushuaia.


Ross – with over the shoulder editing by Rob and Phil and assistance
from Jonny Walker

Blog 7 Camping sans tent

Vernadsky Station – 65° 14' S, 64° 15' w

The wind and low cloud hung around most of the day on the 16th providing
a chance to relax, catch up on diaries and cook meals for the return
across the Drake. By mid-afternoon the wind had eased sufficiently to
head up onto Harbour Glacier for a camping night. A small bit of
confusion in Ushuaia meant that two tents had been left behind, so we
decided to use the opportunity to practice survival skills.
The route up onto the glacier followed a narrow ridge and we roped up
for glacier travel at the shoreline. There was a cool breeze blowing
and the light was often very flat. Ross knew from the previous trip that
this gentle tongue of the glacier was inclined to be crevassed and we
watched carefully for slight depressions and small holes indicating
bridged crevasses, probing carefully with a ski pole when in doubt.
Although there had been a lot of talk of crevasses and preventions taken
against them, until now they had been a threat only in our minds. We had
seen evidence of crevasses on previous trips ashore but we hadn't
encountered any face to face. That changed on our short jaunt up Harbour
Glacier as a few of us found ourselves taking deep steps into unseen
holes, despite keeping a close eye on the terrain. Then Ross at the head
of the group went into one up to his waist! Jeanne did a great job
anchoring him and Ross was glad to have the rope on. Eventually he
managed to extricate himself from the crevasse, but we decided this was
the end of our walk as the light was flat and dull with the wind still
keen.
With one three-person tent between six, we needed to get some shelter
established for our overnight stay. The tools at our disposal were five
snow shovels, the gear we had carried up, and a large supply of snow.
The first step was digging a trench into the snow (and piling up what we
dug onto the windward side to set up a wall). Next we dug out a camping
pad for the tent in an alcove next to the trench and got the tent set
up. To establish the rest of our 'base' we extended our ski poles across
the trench and laid tarpaulins, pack liners, and whatever else we could
find over the top. It was remarkable how calm it was in the snow trench
given the winds blowing over the top.
After we had some semblance of a camp set up, we got some water boiling
from water we had brought up supplemented with snow. After picking out
our preferred dehydrated meals, we got them 'cooking' and had a gourmet
feast! We let Darrel know our GPS coordinates in case anything went
wrong and settled in for the night.
Two skiers came past our camp on their way to support an overdue
climbing party (that we spotted in the distance}. We advised them of
the crevasses, and while the leader had a rope and harness the second
climber didn't, so he borrowed Mike's and under instructions from the
leader, roped up immediately. It was just as well as he fell into a
crevasse 20 minutes later. Mike has named his harness "Bing" (the
skier's name) in honour of the event. We saw the climbers' tracks
leading down into Port Lockroy and their yacht was gone in the morning.
We all claimed to have slept well when Mike woke us at 7:30am to say the
tarp was leaking onto his sleeping bag. The overnight snow was melting
on the roof. In windless conditions we walked back down the ridge,
admiring the monochrome scenery of black sea and rocks against
contrasting white snow.
Back on Spirit by 10am we motored in the calm, overcast conditions down
the Peltier Channel beside the Fief mountains with their freshly snow
plastered peaks. The Lemaire Channel contained numerous icebergs of all
shapes and sizes and large patches of brash ice, so we zigzagged slowly,
stopping to observe humpback whales and later crabeater seals resting on
iceflows. The scenery was truly spectacular despite the overcast
conditions, and we all spent most of our time up on deck.
Our destination was Vernadsky Research station in the Argentine islands,
but that story will need to wait for the next blog.

Ross/Liam
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The Agony and Ecstasy

16 January, Port Lockroy

A remarkable day yesterday – from which we are still recovering. Our
aim was to climb the main peak on Lemare Island which is listed on the
chart as being 2,490 ft high. Dropped off from nearby Waterboat point
where we were anchored beside Gabriele Gonzales Videla Base, we spent
the usual amount of flaffing time getting tied into ropes for glacier
travel and fitting snowshoes before starting up the hill. We were also
distracted by Gentoo penguins wandering through our skinny band of rocky
beach and a weddel seal keeping a weary eye on us as he basked 10 meters
away.
The route looked rather daunting and indeed there were adrenalin moments
for each of us. It was not very technical and by mountaineering
standards not that exposed, but we were acutely conscious of both our
inexperience with snowshoes and our isolation from rescue services. The
slope gradually steepened, but with the deep, soft, wet snow the biggest
challenge was maintaining traction as there was little risk of sliding
down the hill. But once we reached the narrow icy ridge the steep
drop-offs on either side and strong breeze raised pulses a little. But
things quickly changed and by the time we reached a rocky ridge near the
first summit (2,200 ft) the wind had died and there was some topless
sunbathing while the sweat dried. The sun was out and the views
stunning with numerous icebergs below us and mountains completely
surrounding us with their glaciers ending in the sea in jagged ice cliffs.
We continued on through a broad gentle valley and after a relaxed lunch
in the snow attempted the main peak finding comfortable routes between
crevasses. At 4pm we decided that everyone was a bit too tired to
continue and we turned around maybe an hour short of the summit. The
trip down the hill and back to the rocky ridge was fun for everyone. We
were following our footprints, the snowshoes were working well and
confidence was high. At the ridge we changed to crampons as the
snowshoes were uncomfortable on steep downhills. This worked well until
the last slopes where the breakable crust meant that every second step
was knee deep.
Shortly before we got back to the beach Darrel had radioed that we were
invited to a BBQ at the Chilean base, sometime after 8pm. It was almost
8 by the time we were all on board Spirit, so it was a sprint to anchor
and lay out shore lines before grabbing a large ribeye steak and a slab
of beer and heading over to the party. Food was purely meat: rare
ribeye steak with some pork and chicken served continuously for 3 hours.
There was no other food and it was tough for the vegetarians, but great
for the carnivores. The workshop had been converted to a makeshift bar
with the forge as a BBQ, music videos projected onto an old screen and
dartboard. It was a vibrant atmosphere and after an adrenalin day we
all probably drank more that we should. About 11pm there was a
spectacular sunset with the snow and rock lit in soft orange light.
Standing outside in the penguin colony, observing our route and the
penguin life and reflecting on our day, it all seemed very special.
Today began rather slowly and we had quite a bit of work to do sorting
gear from yesterday, weighing anchor (a big job as there were two long
shore lines out that had to be rolled back onto their deck drums. We
motored down Paradise Harbour and up the Fergus on Channel, sometimes
pushing slowly through brash ice and dodging numerous icebergs. Shortly
before the south end of Weinke Island we spotted humpback whales and
then stopped in calm conditions to observe a pod of orca.
We had planned to paddle up the Peltier Channel, but the wind rose, the
cloud came down and it started snowing lightly, so we opted to observe
the steep grandeur of the channel from the yacht. With its mixture of
glaciers calving into the sea and towering rocky peaks it was still
dramatic.
As we motored in calm conditions for over six hours there was time for
everyone to have a very refreshing shower. The shower space is in the
head and very cramped. Fresh water is made on board by reverse osmosis,
a process that requires considerable electricity and the water is heated
with waste heat from the engine so showering is only possible when the
engine is running and its reasonably calm. Having washed ourselves we
decided to do our first clothes wash and had just started this when we
got the opportunity to visit the Port Lockroy historic base. That put
dinner plans back somewhat and we finally ate a superb lasagne at 10pm.
I am writing this while on my anchor watch from midnight till 1am. We
are swinging at anchor in willy-wall conditions with 15-25 knots of
wind. It's light outside so I can mostly observe conditions from the
saloon, regularly checking the depth and wind strength.

Ross

Starship Enterprise – Kayaking amongst icebergs

11/1/18 - Day 11

Today we explored Nansen and Enterprise Islands by kayak. The first
part of our trip was in the lee of Nansen and in almost windless
conditions we were wowed by steep and stunning ice-scapes. Progress was
initially very slow as we constantly stopped for photos. The shoreline
was mostly ice cliffs that would periodically calve into the sea with a
thundering crash. These were slightly alarming moments as a big calving
can create a large wave. Avalanches would also occasionally crash down
from the peaks as we had 30 cm of snow yesterday.
Places to safely land without risk of being hit by falling ice were not
that common but we found a small island/large rock with a snow dome and
sufficient beach for lunch. Completely sheltered from the wind on a
cloudless day we ate lunch in shirt sleeves.
From here we entered an area of brash ice that was lots of fun to
paddle through. Under the warm sun the ice blocks were constantly
popping – almost like the sound of parrot fish chewing coral. We
eventually turned back near the end of Nansen Island and retraced our
steps, with a bit more speed now that we had photographed ourselves out.
Occasional odd shaped large bergs would require a stop and a leopard
seal briefly delayed us, but mostly we paddled steadily on mirror calm,
deep, black water.
Our circumnavigation of Enterprise Island provided quite a contrast as
we were exposed to the stronger winds and chop of the SW breeze. For a
while we paddled through Iceberg Alley, a region of stranded icebergs.
It was stunning, but uncomfortable to stop for photos in the cross chop.
By the time we returned to Spirit of Sydney we were back in the sun and
shelter after a 23 km paddle. The crew had cooked us dinner and scooped
a block of ice out of the sea for the gin and tonics, making a great end
to an amazing day.
Ross
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