Day 23, Waterboat Point, Antarctica Day 3

Day 23, Waterboat Point, Antarctica Day 3 – 12 Dec

During the evening we headed back thru Neumeyer Channel and then east, south-east toward Waterboat Point. Chile maintains a base here during the summer season named Gonzalez Videla. The plan for the day is to visit this base starting at 8 AM with the first group and ending up with the last group at 2 PM.

Jan and Iggy briefed the passengers over the main public address system before the first group was scheduled to leave. We learned that the landing would be much easier as the base had a small gangway, but that the path to the main buildings would be uphill and over ice and snow. Jan recommended people use trekking poles, but this is from an abundance of caution as I would find the terrain quite manageable without any poles. Jan also commented that the Chilean base personnel operated a small souvenir shop selling hats, T-shirts, keychains and more. They also sold a post card and stamp for $5 USD and post it from Antarctica. They accept USD, Euros or Chilean Pesos.

While the first group was scheduled to leave at 8 AM, they announced that they were ready for the first group at 7:45 AM – fifteen minutes early. We were in the second group scheduled for 9:30 AM.

Today was cooler, about 34 degrees, light winds (3 knots) and overcast skies. The expedition team told us that today’s weather was more typical of what we should expect with the great weather we experienced yesterday the pleasant exception. On the other hand, there are some days which are worse, so you learn to take it as it comes.

Purple Group – Come on Down!

We were already dressed and ready to go when our purple group was called fifteen minutes early. We were out in the hallway as soon as Jan announced they were ready for our group.

It took 15 minutes to walk to the boot station, change into our boots, walk down to Deck 3 and then board the Zodiac. Boarding the Zodiac was much faster today as everyone is more familiar and comfortable with the procedure.

As we sped off toward the shoreline, we spotted a humpback whale that was cruising along the surface.

Gonzalez Videla

We arrived at the base in a few minutes and discovered that there was a nice gangway – with an actual red carpet – that would stretch out to the Zodiacs making the disembarkation a breeze.

Once ashore there was a frozen path, with a combination of ice and frozen mud leading the way to the small compound. The distance from the Zodiac to the main buildings was about 100 yards.

Along either side of the path were rocky outcroppings, covered with nesting penguins. We observed the penguins up close walking across our path, gathering pebbles for their nests, raising their heads to call out and displaying every other penguin behavior you might ever see.

Once again, we were given an hour to roam around. This place is pretty small. It would probably take about 15 minutes to cover every open path. At the top of the rise, there is a larger building with an observation tower – open to guests – that is also the living quarters for the personnel stationed here who all appeared to be members of the Chilean Navy. The observation tower is on the second floor of the main building, accessible via a very steep staircase, actually more of a ladder than stairs.

Across from the living quarters was a small museum, a small single room dwelling with historical pictures on the walls and a guest book by the door that we were enthusiastically encouraged to sign upon entry. Most of the room was filled by several tables displaying a variety of souvenirs, from T-Shirts to Key Chains and everything in between.

Throughout the base were a number of Chilean Sailors, eager to help and quite friendly, but with varying degrees of English proficiency.
Outside the museum there was a pole with small directional signs labeled with city names and their approximate distance and direction from the base. Below the sign, already a popular spot for photographs, were 2 sea lions, sleeping and completely oblivious to all the adjacent hub-bub.

Our hour was up and we headed back to the Zodiacs for the short ride back to the ship. Along the way we spotted the humpback whale showing its fluke before diving below. The expedition team has asked all the guests to try to capture whale fluke photos as they use them to track whale movements since whale flukes are like fingerprints that can identify individual whales.

Back on the Ship

Back on the ship, they hosed off our boots with high pressure water to clean them before we stepped into the cleaning solution tub. After entering the ship, we are directed to the aft elevators to take us to Deck 5. The inside of the elevator is covered to protect the walls from the returning guests who may be a little dirty and wet. The elevator floor selection buttons are covered with a piece of sheet metal that only allows the buttons for Deck 3 or 5 to be selected.

Helpful crewmembers are in the boot changing room to assist with removing our boots and stowing them back in our locker.

The Chilean Base personnel loaned the ship two stamps that were available at Guest Aervices on Deck 7 to stamp in our passport if we chose. Guest Services retrieved our passport from a drawer and asked us to choose a page and then they stamped our passport with the two stamps, together taking up about ½ a page.

Chilean Navy Visits the Colonnade

As we were eating lunch in The Colonnade, we spotted about 6 sailors from the Chilean Base enter The Colonnade and head down the buffet line. I am sure they enjoy cruise ship visits just as much as we enjoyed visiting their base.

6:30 Briefing

The expedition team held the 6:30 PM daily recap and briefing in the Grand Salon. They showed some slides of where we landed and where we would be heading tomorrow: Neko Harbor.

Luciano discussed a book by Thomas Wyatt Bagshawe called “Two Men in the Antarctic” which is a memoir of two men’s experience at Waterboat Point back from 1920 to 1922.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon – there is a paperback version for about $18.

Two men in the Antarctic : an expedition to Graham land, 1920-1922,

They mentioned that they spotted a leucistic penguin in the afternoon, but we missed it since we visited in the morning.

The Restaurant

We enjoyed dinner this evening with Bart and Sharon from New Zealand and had a wonderful evening. Bart was an accomplished Cricket player and he attempted to increase our understanding of one of New Zealand’s most popular sports. Unfortunately, he didn’t make much headway, but we had a wonderful time discussing the game.

Halfway thru dinner, Iggy announced that they spotted a few Orcas on the port side of the ship. People raced to the windows to try and catch a glimpse but were generally unsuccessful. A few people may have spotted a fin or two, but it was generally unsatisfying.

We took a pass on the evening entertainment: Liars Club. This is where a few of the guest entertainers spend a few minutes giving elaborate and hopefully humorous definitions of obscure words and then the audience tries to guess which entertainer is telling the truth.

Early to bed tonight, the purple group will be the first off the ship in the morning.

This entry was posted in Antarctica

• Waterboat Point