Day 22, Dorian Bay – Antarctica Day 2

Day 22, Dec 11, Dorian Bay – Antarctica Day 2

I woke to brilliant sunshine streaming into our suite and at first, I thought I had overslept. It was 4:30 AM. I got up to draw the drapes to return our suite to a dim twilight and returned to bed for a few hours. In addition to being on the frozen continent, we are in the land of the midnight sun.

 

Neumeyer Channel

At 8:30 AM I headed up to the Deck 6 forward to observe our initial transit into the Neumeyer Channel enroute to our anchorage in Dorian Bay. Cold air greeted me as I stepped outside, but light wind and bright sunshine combined to make the morning quite pleasant. One of the expedition members commented that today was a perfect 10 on the weather scale and we were quite fortunate to have these conditions for our first landing on the continent. She went on to say that you will get such great weather only 10% of the time while in Antarctica.

The Seabourn staff set up a table serving hot drinks along with a variety of alcoholic beverages. The head chef was manning a waffle station that made long, thin, cylindrical waffles, that resembled a churro. They are served on a stick complete with the topping of our choice: cherry, whipped cream or chocolate.

 

Spanish Coffee

Earlier in the cruise during a similar early morning setup while visiting El Bruno Glacier, I overheard a woman order a Spanish Coffee. The staff proceeded to whip one up without asking a question. Having never heard of a Spanish Coffee, I looked up the ingredients and it was a little involved. Nevertheless, in the spirit of Seabourn where no request is ever too much, I ordered a Spanish Coffee expecting a similar response. Apparently, the person who knew how to make Spanish coffee was not here today and the staff present had no idea how to make one, and unfortunately neither did I. We had internet and I looked up the recipe online. The only ingredient missing was Triple Sec – the other ingredients, Rum, Kahilua, Sugar and water were available. I said never mind and went on about my business.
A few minutes later I stopped back and asked for an Irish Coffee, but the staff informed me that they were still working on rounding up a Spanish Coffee and in a few minutes, they produced a Spanish Coffee. I wasn’t sure what a Spanish Coffee was supposed to taste like, so I can’t really comment on whether this was a good Spanish Coffee. It tasted OK, but I probably won’t order another. The lesson here is to be careful of what you request, the staff will always strive to satisfy.

Dorian Bay

The scenery in Neumeyer Channel is classic Antarctica. Solid white mountains grace both sides of the channel, with only a few flecks a grey rocks poking thru here and there. The combination of the ship’s slow speed and calm wind made it possible to hear penguins and other wildlife as we glided thru the calm sea. This day will probably be documented on future Seabourn brochures as the views were breathtaking with perfect weather.

The Seabourn Quest coasted to a stop and started hovering in place, using her engine and thrusters (no anchor), around 11:30 AM. Shortly afterwards, the expedition teams put the Zodiacs in the water to scout out the precise location of the landing site. Jan announced that they would start loading the Zodiacs in about 30 minutes, around 12:30 PM. The landing site would be a flat boulder, so we would have a dry landing, but would have to navigate over possibly slippery rocks on the way to the snow and ice which would take us to the Penguin Rookery.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery and wonderful weather. Early in the morning, the sea was calm where the mountains images reflected on the water. Later in the afternoon, the wind picked up and small ripples in the water obscured the reflections. The lack of any wind and bright sunshine made walking on the open decks with only a light jacket comfortable.

Going Ashore

We are in the purple group and our scheduled departure time was 5:00 PM. They got a late start and fell further behind as the day progressed. Our estimated departure time soon slipped to 5:45 PM which would put us back on board around 8 PM. Keep this in mind if you book reservations at The Grill on Antarctica Days – there is a possibility you will be returning later than you expected. We didn’t have reservations and don’t know how The Grill handles last minute changes.

A few eager beavers always linger around The Club on Deck 5 so they can get on the first Zodiacs once their group is called. We planned on getting ready to walk out the door 15 minutes before our scheduled time and then waited in our suites. Once they announced our color group and we walked almost the length of the ship to the entry to change into our boots, we were probably in the middle of our group going ashore.

Two or three people, often the ship singers, greeted us at the door to The Club to make sure that our life preserver was properly secured. Behind the club, in the boot changing area, crewmembers were standing by to help us get into our boots. Our street shoes were stored in the same locker where our boots are kept.

Leaving the boot changing area, we followed the orange duck foot prints to the Port side of Deck 5 and lined up adjacent to the door that leads down a staircase to Deck 3. No one in our group used the elevator, but the elevator down to Deck 3 was available if requested. We waited on Deck 3 until our Zodiac was ready to load, before proceeding out to the loading platform, stepping into the cleaning solution, and then proceed to the Zodiac. To enter the Zodiac, we stepped up on a stool, then onto the edge of the Zodiac and down to another stool in the boat and finally on the Zodiac deck itself. Once inside the boat we did a sidestep and then sat down on the edge and slid over to the next person who was already on board. There are plenty of crewmembers helping and the whole process is very organized and we always felt very secure.

The boat loads quickly and when everyone was aboard, we headed towards the shore. Our driver gave a brief safety talk along with the expected procedures to follow when landing ashore. There are ropes ringing the edge of the Zodiac that we could hold on to if desired. This is not a requirement and we could easily have both hands free to take pictures.

There wasn’t any water splashing into the Zodiac unless we happened to hit a wave at a weird angle and that only happened once, briefly spraying the passengers with a very light mist. Our cameras didn’t need any protection, but I have been using a waterproof camera bag just because I brought one for the trip. On most trips we would be perfectly dry the entire time – but – it only takes one wave to change this theory – so it was best to be ready for a little water spray.

The Ship was hovering about 1 mile from shore and the ride took 5-10 minutes.

Landing

Getting off the Zodiacs at Damoy Point was a little more treacherous. The Zodiac was held up on the rocks by the Expedition staff. We scooched forward to the bow, then stepped on the forward edge of the boat using the stool. Here we had to take a giant step to a flat, wet, rock that turned out not to be slippery but it was a little unnerving. The boots provided have a great sole and good grip and we didn’t see anyone slip, but we took it slow and allowed the crewmembers to help.

A hardpacked snowy path lead up a short rise to a level spot where we could remove our life-preserver if we wanted to avoid the bulk and extra weight (4.2 lbs) and put it in a large blue barrel. On our way back, we would grab one from the barrel – it’s not important to get the same one we left in the barrel.

Other travelers have commented on the odor associated with penguin waste, and while you will certainly notice the smell, it wasn’t overpowering to me and no worse than what you might smell if visiting a farm. I became used to it in a few minutes and never really noticed it for the rest of our visit.

Since we were in the final group to go ashore, the path up the hill was well compacted and relatively easy to walk. I didn’t use poles or feel I needed them, but many people did have them and used them. It is like walking up the bunny slope and a ski resort. If you would feel comfortable making that walk without poles, then you will do fine here without them.

The temperature when we arrived was around 40 degrees with little wind. It dropped to 32 degrees with a light breeze by the time we left 90 minutes later. Winter days in the northern USA are far worse than you are likely to experience in Antarctica at this time of year. If you dress for 32 degrees with a 15 knot wind, you will be fine. The parka provided by Seabourn along with the puffer jacket was fine – even on deck with a 30 knot wind at 32 degrees. I wore a set of light (silk) thermal underwear, but it was probably not necessary. I wore a single pair of heavy socks and that was plenty for me. For gloves we wore a pair of Vallerret Ipsoot Photography Gloves – these have a nice feature where the tip of the forefinger and thumb fold back, giving us great dexterity to operate our camera or phone, while keeping 90% of our hand covered. There is a small zipper pouch on the back of the glove where I stored a spare camera battery – which was easier to get to then putting a battery in my large parka pockets.

Here is a link to where you can get them on Amazon.   Highly Recommended

I also bought one of these camera covers for my Sony A6300 – Easy to use and keeps your camera dry from rain and splashes

Another nice product for your camera is the Street Strap from Blackrapid. It fastens to your tripod mount and allows the camera to hang by your side giving you quick access

 

The trail we followed was about one person wide. Leaving the trail we risked having our foot slip thru the top layer of crusted snow and we would find our leg buried up to our crotch. It was easy to extract ourself, but we needed to be prepared for this to happen, since we weren’t using snow shoes.

Along either side of the trail were several rock outcroppings where penguins gathered to build their nests using rocks and pebbles. They would scurry back and forth across the trail and to and from the water. Each outcropping had about 50 penguins and they were very active.

The trail continued its slight rise for about 300 yards where it leveled off near a small outcropping. An expedition member was stationed there to answer questions and allow guests to view some penguins thru a spotting scope.

Damoy Hut

On the other side of the rise, the trail started a gentle downhill slope towards two huts, one blue and the other orange.  Called the Damoy Huts, they were built by the British in 1975 and regularly used until 1993 to facilitate logistics for expeditions.    They are now small museums, but still available for use as an emergency shelter should someone find themselves stranded. The huts had several bunk beds, a small propane stove and some canned food – which looked very old, but the expedition member stationed in the hut assured us it would still be edible.

Our entire cycle time from leaving the ship to our return is budgeted for 90 minutes. Fifteen minutes for travel each direction with one hour ashore. We felt that one hour was enough for us, but if you wanted to have more time ashore, you might find the one of the expedition cruise lines more to your liking. I don’t think anyone is really tracking who is ashore and if you were on one of the first groups, I suspect you could probably linger longer than one hour and no one would notice. Since we were on the last group, the expedition team members, wearing bright yellow parkas, swept the trail to make sure everyone was moving back to the Zodiacs on time.

Near the landing, there was a small pile of long cylindrical bags which I learned contained emergency shelters in the event people get stranded ashore due to rough seas or high winds and must hunker down for a while until the weather improves. The staff member I spoke to said he never had to use them when he was in Antarctica, but recalls them being used once on another cruise line for a few hours.

Back to the Ship

Boarding the Zodiacs going back remained a little treacherous, but well managed by the staff and is as safe as possible considering we were walking over wet boulders in Antarctica. We didn’t see anyone slip or hear of anyone suffering any injury.

It was about 8PM when we returned to the ship. The sky was now overcast, with the wind was picking up and the temperature dropping. After we got back on the ship, we were directed to step into a small tub filled with a soapy solution to avoid contamination of the ship with anything we might have stepped in while ashore.

The weather for the entire day ashore was fabulous for all groups and we enjoyed nearly perfect conditions.

The daily recap and briefing was cancelled due to our late return and Iggy (Expedition Team Leader) would brief everyone early tomorrow with our expected plan for the day.

By the time we changed and cleaned up it was 8:35 PM and we headed down to The Restaurant where we enjoyed another wonderful meal.

Back in our suites, we learned from The Herald, that our group – Purple – would be the second group ashore tomorrow at Waterboat Point with a planned 9:30 AM departure time.

Internet service and TV service were spotty throughout the day as our line of sight to the satellites would be hidden by the nearby peaks as the ship turned and moved.

This entry was posted in Antarctica

• Dorian Bay