Antarctica … Dad’s seventh continent, the boiling waters of whales and the story of survival

When you wake up and see a beautiful sunrise from your balcony window, the best thing to do is to don your swimsuit and find the nearest hot tub to take in the clear colors painting the towering mountains at the end of the world. Right? Well, that's how I spent my first morning in the port of Ushuaia, on the Norwegian Star, our home for the next 14 days.

We left Ushuaia later that evening, heading for Paradise Bay, Antarctica, but it would take us a day to get there, so we had plenty of time to check out this 2,000-passenger ship. I have never really traveled on a cruise ship before, other than the three-day party cruise down to Ensenada, which I don't think counts, so I was excited to explore its 12 bars, 11 restaurants, showroom, five hot tubs, gym, spa, and center pool. But first…our new friends, Tim and Linda’s room. They had a corner suite with floor-to-ceiling windows. Do we know how to pick friends or what? As an added bonus, we got to share their good friends, John and Jane, who joined them for this portion of the trip. So grateful for their generosity and friendship.

Paradise Bay

The next morning, after traversing the Southern Ocean all night, I awoke early, like a kid on Christmas morning, excited to see my first glimpses of Paradise Bay in Antarctica, and saw…a wall of white out our window. We were socked in with fog. After living in Alaska for 17 years, I understood there are no guarantees with weather, no matter how much you are looking forward to it, so I decided at least to enjoy the crisp Antarctic air from the hot tub. Being in a swimsuit while people were walking around in parkas and snow boots was quite fun. Dad dressed warmly and walked the decks also. Then, all of a sudden…the fog cleared, and like a show curtain pulling back, we were presented with blue skies, calm water, and the awe-inspiring beauty of the mountains of ice. We got to see Antarctica in all her glory…mind you, I was still in the hot tub. What a way to see it!

Roughly an hour later, the fog returned. Nevertheless, we kept observing a variety of wildlife and art-like icebergs drifting past, such as gentoo penguins jumping out of the water like schools of fish, as well as orca and humpback whales, and elephant seals.

Stole this photo from a fellow passenger with a much bigger camera

Check out how penguins swim.

The Seventh Continent

Around midday, we caught our first view of the true continent of Antarctica; earlier, we had only seen islands, but now we observed real land on the Sanavirón Peninsula in Paradise Harbor.

At age 89, Dad finally got to see his seventh and last continent. He got so excited that he took his shirt off.

Paradise Harbor is also home to Brown Station, an Argentine Antarctic base and scientific research center named after Admiral William Brown, the father of the Argentine Navy. It was established in 1951; during the years it slipped into inactivity, but since 2007, it has been occupied during the summer conducting research on biology, limnology, biochemistry, animal and human physiology, pathology, ecology, oceanography, meteorology, and many, many other ologys. Throughout the years of research and observations at Brown, more than 100 scientific papers were published by the Argentine Antarctic Institute.

A76C - iceberg ahead!!!

We travel through the night, moving toward Elephant Island. Around 10 am, we passed a portion of the largest iceberg in existence, A76. The piece we saw, now known as A76C, broke off in May 2021. Before A76 broke into three pieces, it was 110 miles long and 16 miles wide, with a square mileage of 1667, making it bigger than the state of Rhode Island. The one we passed, A76C, which is ironically the same square mileage as Reno, was only 16 miles long and 7 miles wide. I have a whole new respect for icebergs.

A76C iceberg

A Boiling Sea of Fin Whales

As we approached Elephant Island, the onboard naturalist got on the loudspeaker and excitedly told us that there were whales all around the ship—not just any whales, but the fin whale. The fin whale population was decimated by over-harvesting, with estimates suggesting nearly 725,000 of them were taken from the Southern Hemisphere alone between 1905 and 1976. Looking out on the water, it looked like the sea was boiling. There were blow spouts everywhere, and these suckers were huge. They are the second largest whale, after the blue whale, measuring up to 85 feet long. Seeing their slick, long bodies pierce the surface of the water right below our balcony made me giddy with excitement. The naturalist said she thought it was a pod of about 500, and we were extremely lucky to witness it.

Elephant Island ... the home of the stranded crew of the Endurance

I mentioned in a previous blog the incredible story of Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance, but it needs mentioning again. As we were in awe of the fin whales, we approached Elephant Island. Again, as luck would have it, the fog was just beginning to lift as we rounded the corner to Point Wild, a narrow sand and rock point on the north coast of Elephant Island. Here, we got a spectacular view of this historic cove and saw, through binoculars, the memorial that honors the survival of Shackleton's crew after the Endurance expedition's ship was crushed in the ice, which was the bust of Captain Luis Alberto Pardo, who commanded the Chilean Navy cutter Yelcho, which rescued the survivors. Here is a quick timeline of this incredible story.

I don't think people are made like that anymore. Not one of the crew died during that adventure, and we were lucky enough to see the actual spot, guarded by hundreds of penguins, where the remaining crew survived for 187 days.

This journey to Antarctica was unplanned. I intended to visit relatives in Argentina, while Dad was eager to explore the Chilean Fjords. However, the only ship available at our desired time also included a trip to Antarctica. This unforeseen adventure surpassed both of our expectations. Experiencing the breathtaking, majestic, untouched beauty, observing locations where men faced incredible challenges to explore our world, and witnessing the variety and diversity of wildlife deepened my appreciation for this planet more than I imagined, and sharing this with my Dad made me realize the true value of this experience. I am grateful.

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