1st January 2008

Antarctica Wildlife: Whales, Penguins, Petrels & Albatross

Antarctica Wildlife Photos on Flickr: Whales, Penguins, Petrels & Albatross

I’ve organized photos in different sets including whales, penguins, petrels & albatross.  Learn more about Antarctic wildlife in the coming weeks.  I’ll add some references to each instance where we saw the wildlife on our Antarctic cruise December 10-20, 2007, and facts I learned about each in the next few days.  Be sure to subscribe, to the right, and read the updates.  Below is a humpback whale we saw on our way to Antarctica, on December 12, 2007.

Antarctica Humpback Whale
Humpback whale in Antarctica

Antarctica Penguins: Favorite Moments on the Antarctica Cruise

My Absolute Favorite Thing to Do in Antarctica : Watch the Antarctica Penguins!

I am still organizing Antarctica photos, preparing videos and uploading them to YouTube, however the coolest thing to do in Antarctica for me was to watch the penguins.  They are beyond cute, a little stinky I might add, but once you get over the guano smell - you can’t help but love these little guys! 

 Gentoo Penguin: Antarctica Penguins
Gentoo Penguin in Cuverville Island, Antarctica

We saw gentoo penguins & chinstrap penguins.  I’ve posted some pics here of gentoos, but there are pics of both on Flickr if you click the link to the left here.

 Gentoo Penguins : Postcard Perfect
Postcard Perfect Penguins

I missed the Adelies, sadly, whom have experienced a steep decline in population due to global warming and climate change.  Over a 70% decline in Adelie penguins is believed to be due to egg mortality as a result of Adelies nesting on sea ice.  Warmer temperatures, ie global warming, creates more snow, believe it or not.  If enough snow falls, Adelies are often buried in the snow while they nest - and as a result are forced to abandon their eggs in order to survive themselves.

I’ve created a Flickr photo set of the Antarctica Penguins.  You can jump to the Antarctica Penguin Slideshow on Flickr.  View Options, or Click on the “i” to view titles and descriptions if you want.  I just wish I could figure out how to add some music….

YouTube Video of Gentoo Penguin Rookery in Cuverville Island, Antarctica
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3bNQsmSmuI

To learn more about why you should care about Antarctica and climate change - I’ve compiled some more research I’ve collected for those who have more questions.

20th December 2007

Antarctica Cruise Pictures: Abercrombie & Kent Explorer II Antarctica Cruise Images: Flickr

Quick Note: Antarctica Cruise Photos Going up on Flickr Now

I’m in the process of uploading, tagging, organizing and labelling my favorite Antarctica photos from the Abercrombie & Kent cruise on Explorer II.

Visit www.flickr.com/photos/bizresearch and click on the Antarctica set.  Enjoy!

Journey Home from Antarctica, Rapid Re-entry & Reflections

December 19-20, 2007

Departure from Antarctica, Journey Home And Rapid Re-entry

For the first time in ten years I had a true vacation. It ended rather abruptly today. But that aside, I have had the most wonderful vacation one could possibly imagine. I have seen an amazing place, had intellectual, introspective, and challenging conversations, and learned more than I could have hoped for. Antarctica is no more than just a mere fantasy – it is now a memory and a reality, one of which I’ve survived for those of you that thought I just might sink (including my own fears of such). I’m so glad I did not listen to the naysayers.

The Drake Passage was so calm, my last two nights’ sleep were restful and soothing. It could not have been a better way to sleep as the ship is just that perfect size where you can feel the light rocking. I think there is a sadness coming off of a trip like this – it’s weird but if you have a smooth Drake, and you’ve already experienced Antarctica and some of which it has to offer, you’re actually not looking forward to seeing land. Land comes with communication with the outside world, something that I’ve managed to escape for just over a week.

Cape Petrel in Antarctica Drake Passage - Drake Lake
Cape Petrel in Drake Passage: Drake Lake Calm

As a business owner, guest lecturer and public speaker – this has been well deserved time off. I’ve always found that if I ventured to a place where there is a Starbucks, I’ve not “shut down” entirely. Antarctica makes it very difficult to stay connected. If you work for Palmer Research Station or McMurdo or any other base for that matter, or if you work for the ship, you’re likely to have some communication with the outside world. However, if you’re a tourist, even one who invested in an Iridium satellite phone, you’re likely to suffer without Web access for ten days.

Personally, if I had Web access during the Antarctica portion of the trip, I’d likely have not truly enjoyed all Antarctica had to offer. As it was, I had to struggle with seasickness (nausea only) and a 24-36 hour bug and quarantine. What was left was enjoyed on the water, near the penguins and icebergs, or in the lecture lounge, or talking or eating, or reviewing my photography for the day. You begin to feel a little talked out in the Drake Passage, so you start looking for something else to do – you’ve read your book, you’ve journaled, you’ve emailed your blog, you’ve watched a couple of movies you’ve already seen, you’ve organized your photos – now what?

Type A – I know. But despite that status of always needing to accomplish, and simultaneous desire to be connected again, when you are – and you hear that an account needs your attention – it’s like you come crashing back down again. It’s good to feel needed, but on my own time, please? So today, I sat alone at dinner with papers spread out on the table in the dining room, and tried to find the needle in the haystack. I wished I had web access, and lamented as I purchased international phone time for client and employee-related phone calls. I received faxes, waited on emails only never to come, waited for international calls to connect, satellite phone messages to come through… If only I could “look at what I needed” live, in person….. blah blah blah

That addiction to work comes right back with a frenzy and yet, I was doing so well on my 12-step program. I am thankful for my team, my colleagues and friends for helping to make this happen – truly I am. If it weren’t for 20 years of hard work, this recent dream of Antarctica and hanging out with penguins would be no more than a trip to the zoo five miles down the road. So, I toast my 20 years of working independently, being out on my own, and being able to make the decisions in life to afford such a luxury of escaping to Antarctica.

On our way home today, we listened to a one hour lecture on the different types of whales seen in the Southern Ocean (to be posted separately) only for it to be interrupted by a whale sighting of sei whales (I think??). Explorer II (now Minerva) was extremely accommodating to allow us to capture photos or merely memories of whales feeding and blowing at the water’s surface. We paused there for close to an hour, crowded around the sides of the ship, looking over the water at the whale’s surfacing for a moment’s photo.


Sei Whales on Drake Passage Journey Home from Antarctica

We began to organize our belongings and to say our goodbyes to the people we met along the way. Imagine such fascinating characters on a cruise to Antarctica:

A woman who is late 40s, has worked in Chernobyl, lived in Russia, on her way back from a couple of months in Palmer Research Station on various projects; an avid photographer at heart; she traveled alone

A man who coordinates projects in Palmer Research Station and works the rest of the time in Colorado; can lead some fascinating conversations on a variety of topics ranging from history, to spirituality to life in general; he traveled alone

A woman who has traveled the world and has helped with tsunami and disaster relief; she traveled alone

A devout Catholic woman who says the rosary every day, and doesn’t say much at all but is present at every meal and every lecture; she traveled alone

A British couple who can lead some fascinating conversations; well traveled; well accomplished and a great gatherer of friends and colleagues; and it’s rumored can lead a late-night karaoke session with the best of them at 1:30 in the morning;

Two Alabamian women who roomed together and have been friends for many years; one of whom was fascinated with my poppy seed story and prompted me to tell it more than once; both of whom were fascinated with my fertility interests; both of whom had some wonderful stories to tell about so many different highly intellectual topics;

A Minnesota woman who had a strong accent, read her books, smoked on deck, and rarely was seen with anyone else; she traveled alone

A large contingency from Alabama along with Jim McClintock, our lecturer

A couple from Houston, Texas; she works in maritime insurance; he is studying Spanish; their next trip – Jordan of all places;

A woman who wants to be a captain of her own ship; and sails in the Bay area

Two women from Rome, Italy; she was the lawyer on the original Explorer II deal; the younger of the two fascinated by a couple of men on the cruise, and studying nuclear physics and learning to write programs in PHP and open source code;

A man from California who has been educated in Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth Climate crusade, works in real estate, and has a fascination with old movie houses; he traveled alone

A couple from Washington DC, Bethesda area, who previously lived on Capitol Hill, and worked in law; they knew Barbara Olsen, and know Ted Olsen

A couple from somewhere; the man proposed to the young woman up on one of the mountains in Antarctica at Cuverville Island;

Most couples were from the UK, some from Australia and some from California, Washington DC, Alabama, and Texas –

One woman from Ohio; who swam in the freezing Southern Ocean at Deception Island, photographed penguins on the icebergs and rocks, was often seen in the piano bar chatting and laughing in late night conversations, and on deck taking photos and talking to others; she traveled alone


And yet, I was not alone, not once. I could sit down for a moment, to read a passage, or ponder on the day’s lecture or events, and within five minutes – one person would offer to join me, another, and within a few minutes – I had a crowd surrounding me – It was such a fascinating experience…tonight, while walking around at 1:30 in the morning, after having talked until we could talk no more, I savored the last walk through the corridors alone, into the restaurants and lounge areas, darkened and locked up, and sadly thought of my early morning departure. But thank you God for it all – and for a very safe and fine voyage to and from Antarctica. Thank you. Now I return to Buenos Aires for some work and fun, and then back home to my beloved four-legged creatures all of whom wonder where I’ve gone. Be well Misha, Max, Monroe, Cody & Lucky – be well – I’ll be home soon – and I miss all of you.

18th December 2007

Elephant Island, Point Wild, Chinstrap Penguins, B-15 Iceberg, Drake Lake

It’s Tuesday morning and we’re getting ready to hear Jim McClintock give one of his last lectures on the Antarctica cruise. We’re all nicely relieved as we’re experiencing the calmer side of Drake Passage, which is commonly referred to as Drake Lake (gentle swells). We were dreading the return through the Drake Passage, as we experienced Drake Shake (up to 35 feet waves) on the way down to Antarctica. Yesterday I did not feel as inclined to write as it was our last day of icebergs and Zodiac excursions. I wanted to savor the day in its entirety.

First we saw the B-15 iceberg, which I wrote about a year ago. I had no idea I would get to experience the B-15 iceberg, which was repeatedly and erroneously referred to as T-15. The B-15 iceberg broke out from McMurdo Sound in Eastern Antarctica in 2000, causing a lot of havoc to the penguin colony in 2002 and 2003. It has currently settled in the Northwest Antarctica peninsula, close to the Drake
Passage. I’ll see if I can get a precise location, and its movement.


The famous B-15 Iceberg which broke off in 2000 from McMurdo Sound

I took both pictures and video of this 28 mile long iceberg, which is both artistic as well as inspiring. There are many icebergs that have broken off, making navigation tricky but well worth the photo opps.


Iceberg Afloat in Antarctica - Possible Break from B-15?

Jim’s Lecture Topic on Antarctic Diving

Wetsuits were the only diving options for early explorer Antarctic divers.  Early regulators stopped working mid-breath. Now you have drysuits, freeze-inhibited regulators, long underwear, a thinsulate suit, a drysuit which has air pumped into it, ankle weights which keep your feet down and waist
weight belts. There are tenders in the Zodiac boats to help you get in and out of your gear, making sure everything is intact. There is regulator redundancy in case one fails.

Divers look out for leopard seals, immediately getting out of the water just like a penguin does. There is actually a leopard seal recall device, which emits an underwater siren. Divers come up back-to-back so they can keep a watchful eye on the leopard seal. McMurdo Station, on the Ross Sea, is as close as you can get to the South Pole in an Antarctic dive. A drill will create a hole in as little as 15 minutes to check out marine invertebrates.  However, sometimes it’s necessary to get further out in the field. They take drills that look like augers, and blow 100 pounds of dynamite, however only 1% of the energy goes into the water. The rest blows into the air. Care is taken to ensure the safety of marine mammals in the area. It takes about 3 hours to clear out all the ice. Once they get past the claustrophobic eight or nine feet of ice, they can see an ocean of amazingly pristine clear underwater life.

Yesterday, after we saw B-15 as well as numerous break-off icebergs in various shades of light, we ventured into Elephant Island. For the third time in 17 years, our cruise was able to take Zodiac excursions in and around the icebergs, and within close reach of the chinstrap penguins up on the icebergs and rocks in the area. Typically weather prevents this type of excursion. We did not land, however, we went in and around the icebergs and rock jetties.

Penguin Rookery - Chinstrap Penguins in Elephant Island Antarctica
Chinstrap Penguin Rookery in Antarctica’s Elephant Island

Elephant Island is quite famous for Shackleton’s journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia. His team of a few men journeyed from Elephant Island in a 20-foot open boat, surviving the Drake Passage’s storms including a hurricane.  The other men left behind at Elephant Island survived four months (I believe) staying under two overturned boats in horrible conditions. They arrived in
April, which was just after many of the penguins had left. This is the beginning of the fall to winter season in Antarctica so you can only imagine the conditions.

I took a lot of pictures and shot a few video clips of the island, few of which I’m excited about as I really needed a higher powered zoom lens. I have a 300 meter lens, and probably could have benefited from a 500m lens. I took my tripod, but used that for the videocam and was thankful I had it with me. I
will be posting these when I get back to Argentina in the next few days.

Chinstrap Penguins in Elephant Island, Antarctica
Chinstrap Penguins Atop Ice Floe

Make sure you subscribe to LauraThieme.com so you know when I post the updates. You can also subscribe to both our Flickr and YouTube communities so you know when updates are posted there as well. Perhaps Stephanie can insert links to make it easy for you to find where to do this.

We saw our only Antarctic sunset as we were departing the area last night. We actually had some darkness last night, which was somewhat of a relief as Antarctica has 24 hours of light. You realize how much your body does need darkness to truly rest. Many of us mentioned this morning at breakfast that we finally slept last night, 8 days into the voyage. In fact, I am having a hard time staying awake right now. The gentle lull of the waves in the Drake Passage was making it harder to pay attention in our lecture.

After my rest

It’s an enjoyable two day journey back to Ushuaia, considering we’re experiencing Drake Lake. I have cruised with my parents on the Chesapeake Bay- and often they will refer to the Bay as “glass” - as if it is smooth as glass. Today, the ocean and the wind currents are treating us well - it is nearly as smooth as glass. It makes for very gentle cruising or sailing today. There is such a gentle swell, for which most would indicate that no Dramamine is required. I’m glad I chose not to take anything and am feeling absolutely no seasickness whatsoever.

Many talk about the desire as well as ability to reflect upon their journey to Antarctica on the return. I’ve only been on one other cruise, and that was to the Bahamas. I did not care for the Bahamas cruise whatsoever, however, if you’re into an intellectual crowd, who is well-read, well-studied,
introspective, opinionated, and accomplished - this is the cruise for you.  Numerous Brits and Australians and select Americans are on board. Antarctica’s cruise, on a smaller ship of 400 or so people (crew and passengers included), enables lively discussion about various matters in life. Conversations after dinner in the piano bar have been most enjoyable with my new British friends.

I’m quite interested in the aspect of the single female explorer here and wish to delve into that topic even further. What is it about a single female explorer who chooses to go to the ends of the earth, on her own? What is her profile? Is there a “profile”? What do we have in common? More to come on
this topic.

I’m signing off - and trying to capture two days in one. I’ll be in Ushuaia as early as tomorrow night due to the calm weather. However, I won’t be really online checking emails and such until the weekend. Let me know your thoughts on the blog - by writing me personally or by commenting here.

16th December 2007

Voyaging Home from Antarctica

We have one stop remaining but the thought of returning home is on many a mind
tonight.  A bit of sadness, a bit of trepidation with thoughts of what lies in
between here and home and that is Drake Passage.  We had 35 feet waves coming
through - and many of us were sick - however many were not.  At this point, the
majority of the sites to be seen have passed, books have been read, and
solitude, or boredom, settles in.  How do you handle solitude? 

I saw a rather tattered looking sailboat in Pendulum Cove at Deception Island
today - you could almost feel the need to catch its breath in calm waters
before it ventured back out again.  One expeditioner indicated it had likely
come from Ushuaia, Argentina.  This amazes me, because I think of 35 feet waves
and how a sailboat must do 360s and perhaps risk losing everything including
life to make it through these waters.  I am thankful for my strong ship.  She
looks big in the Cove, and personally I am thankful for it.  She’s not so big
that she can’t get into see some of these areas but she’s big enough to handle
harsher winds and seas.  I can hear when she brushes up against some ice
however, and it always unnerves me a bit as I lie in my bed writing at night. 

Solitude is a precious but precarious thing.  What you do with solitude is what
has to be managed carefully.  For some, they can not handle being alone - I’ve
dated a few men actually who can not handle solitude for more than an hour.
They absolutely have to be in the company of someone, a woman or friends, at
nearly all times.  I, on the other hand, am happy to be in quiet times for
approximately 40 % of the time, however, if I don’t see people for a day, I get
a little stir-crazy. 

I would probably not pass the mental test of solitude in Antarctica.  I can
only go one day a week at home without seeing people.  Imagine days, weeks or
months without seeing anyone else, or anyone new, or groups or crowds of
people.   We do personality profiling and predictive indexes in our office.
I’m extroverted however enjoy time alone to think, to analyze, to write.  It’s
when I get my best work done and feel worthwhile.  But I still need to feel the
presence of others.  At home, I’ll go to a Starbucks - here I’ll go to the one
of the lounges where people are reading or chatting.  I feed off their energy,
good and bad - thus desire to be around positive people in general.  

Light, water and food are necessary energy sources.  Imagine 24 hours of
darkness; alternatively 24 hours of light.  How does your body react, or how do
you think it would react?  Some do not handle lack of light very well.  There
were a couple of stories told about the importance of being careful who you
hire in Antarctica for the winter, for the periods of darkness where few people
come about and there is no outside energy source, other than fuel for heat and
inside light.  Imagine living in a large dark closet for 4-6 months, with only
a lamp.  How do you ensure you hire people who can handle this kind of stress,
especially after a tough day, or around someone they don’t care for?  The lead
expeditioner told a story about a cook and another employee not getting along -
one chased the other with a hammer - or something like that - and ended up
getting prosecuted in Hawaii and went to jail.  If he went to jail in Hawaii,
perhaps he’s actually much happier, who knows?  Although I hear the scorpions
there are quite large - yuck!

It’s interesting as I write this entry, content in my solitude to be away from
the crowd tonight. I received a call from one of the ship’s officers whom I had
met earlier today - who asked if we could have a drink upstairs.  He is
married, with two children.  We talked about why people are drawn to Antarctica
- including him.  He had the opportunity to work other cruises, but wanted only
this cruise to Antarctica.  He’s been doing this particular cruise for five
years, but has been in the business for 20. 

A couple of others arrived to chat with us, however, I found myself wanting to
pull away, to get away from the chatter and look within, quiet in my cabin down
on A deck, where I could lie in bed, write, and feel the soft waves pushing up
underneath my belly, into the bed, and then slowly collapsing.  The motion of
the ocean’s waves - it can be oh so soothing, and then it can thrash.

People are beginning to exchange business cards to stay in touch.  I have
chosen not to carry mine despite the norm, keeping them safe in my cabin.  The
sooner I bring out the business cards, the sooner life returns to normal.  I
turned over one person’s card presented to me today and had the strangest d‚j…
vu.  About four years ago, I met a man named Jay.  For a few short months, we
were involved.  I often think of him, and have talked occasionally with him in
the past year.  Well, today, this business card on one side read the couple’s
wife’s name and her contact information, and on the other, the husband’s name -
the writing was so similar - and caused me to recall Jay who had four years ago
presented another person’s card to me having written his name in similar
writing style on the flip side.  I still have his card tucked away at home and
often come across it, usually as I’m looking for something else rarely finding
what I’m actually trying to locate. 

Jay, a man who has the most amazing eyes, smile, and legs I have ever known.
However, as I’ve learned in life, just because you meet the most amazing person
one day who seems as if they will be your soul mate; life changes, and perhaps
your destiny changes into something else.   I think of where I was a year ago,
for example, on the eve of having some serious surgery so I could maintain my
fertility.  I had a boyfriend with whom I was unhappy, was facing surgery, very
discontent with various situations in life - and now one year later, I am
healthy again, voyaging across the oceans to and from Antarctica, taking polar
plunges, climbing mountains, making new friends from all the over the world,
more than content to be on my own again, and discovering another continent,
including what’s on the outside as well as what’s on the inside.
 

The Polar Plunge in Deception Island, Antarctica 1 reply

Quote of the day:  It’s just that there are some things women don’t do.  They don’t become Pope or President or go down to the Antarctic.  Harry Darlington,  chief pilot of the Finn Ronne’s 1946-8 Antarctic Research Expedition

I did it!  I took the Polar Plunge, which is a short dip in the Antarctic’s Southern Ocean.  I walked to the top of the mountain crest, to what’s called the window, looked out over the steep, sheer drop to the ocean, took a couple of shots, walked down, and then jumped into water, where you can only survive
for just 3 minutes!  I can promise you I did this for less than 1 minute! 

My butt is still thawing out… :  My butt is always cold, but now it’s really cold.  TMI some of you are saying, right?  So, we had a challenge between our two groups of who would have the most number of polar plunges within the two groups.  We had the luxury of going last, and truly won the challenge without question.  Our group had over 30 who made the polar plunge, whereas the first
group had only eight insane people. 

I was absolutely determined to climb, take photos, and then plunge into the icy waters.   It was quite cold and very windy.  We were to swim between ice flows and up to a small iceberg.  The nurse was nearby, as were all of the support workers with towels, and a video camera capturing the moments of complete and utter insanity.  What fun!   We then dressed back into our clothes right on the
icy beach, which is not an easy task I might add, and journeyed back to the ship sitting in the cove in Deception Island. 

I dared to have my nurse, who I had gotten to know sooner in the week, videocam me in all my glory or not.  I shivered down into my apricot and fuscia colored 2-piece, with my sarong tied into a scarf around my neck, my wool hat, dark sunglasses, and the required socks.  I prepared to make the run into the water - only to look up and see that Joanne was helping another woman - kinda funny.
I cried out to her and asked her to hurry up - giggling - and all of a sudden the ship’s professional video recorder hopped up to partake in the fun of recording the event - so I ran to the water, hopped in, shimmied up, and ran out - trying to make a real ordeal of it which isn’t hard being a ham such as
myself.  I do have a video of this event and want to sell it to the highest bidder on ebay!  What do you think?

After plunging into the water, and returning - I felt my heart pump a helluva lot harder for a minute, and wondered if it would rally to the challenge - and thanked it for being so tough, and still having my youth about me.  I was thus even more impressed with those of all ages who jumped in - skinny, fat, young and old - no matter what, 30 or so of us did the Polar Plunge, for which we are
sent a certificate upon completion.

Our 12 Noon Lecture Recap
Deception Island & Active Volcano, Antarctica - Last Eruption circa 1970
20 or so eruptions in the 20th century

Bob our lecturer -talked about Port Foster being named after Capt. Henry Foster which arrived in a naval ship in 1829.  The farther you are from the center of the world, the slower the pendulum - changes in gravity were monitored here, and thus it was named to Pendulum Cove.  Foster didn’t fare very well as he drowned on the way home.  After his visit, little visited until 1900s when the
whalers arrived

Height of whaling in 1920s when you could have several whaling ships anchored at one time.  We captured photos of the processing area.  You can still see two lines of boilers, and some barracks, as well as whale artifacts and two wooden boats.  Another notable historic event was the first flight - a single engine flight in the 20s, which took 11 hours - sorry can’t recall the destination.

In 1967, the area began to receive seismic activity.  Seals and chief bills left. An eruption did occur eventually.  All survived.  After the second eruption, the British left for good. 

It’s lunch time Sunday - and I’m now peacefully tired out.  The ship is rocking again in open seas, as we make our way to Half Moon Bay, where we might stop to see some chinstrap penguins, weather permitting.

Tomorrow’s plans:

We have no idea, all depends on the weather and the local resident B-15 iceberg that is 27 miles long - “we’re going to poke around up there ” according to our expedition leader.  Just keep me away from the hitting the icebergs, where the Explorer I is rumored to have sunk please - A true expedition - it’s not far from Elephant Island, there is Cape Lookout, or Point Wild, or perhaps the east side of Clarence Island, where there is a great chinstrap rookery.  At this point, we’ll be in the infamous Drake Passage again.  Yes, we’re all timing when to put our patches on.  We’ll be pulling into Ushuaia in just four days.
So in the event that tomorrow is busy getting ready to head back into Drake, and I’m out of touch for a day or two, say a prayer for safe voyaging please. 

And to recap on today’s quote - women have come a long way haven’t we?  There are 40% female researchers in comparison to the male researchers at Palmer Station.  Look at Petri, who has been coming to Antarctica and leading expeditions for 18 years.  She also has a website.  Hannah, another female researcher, is staying here for the next four and a half months, and she is on her second contract.  She is only 32.  Most of the single people on this ship are women, of all ages and heritage.  Women are capable of amazing things,
given the chance.

15th December 2007

Land Excursions, Laziness & Learning at Cuverville Island & Enterprise Island

This morning, I literally rolled out of bed and dressed for the Cuverville Island 8:00 Saturday excursion at 7:45. Vintage Last Minute Laura.  With the light lasting 24 hours now, it’s difficult to sleep and after last night in Lemaire Channel and staying up until well after 2 a.m., it was a true effort to start the day of excursions.

I saw an entire Gentoo penguin colony and absolutely loved it. Gentoos are not
as adversely affected yet by climate change as Adelie penguins.  This penguin shown below has two eggs, as Gentoo penguins lay two eggs, although one chick will typically not survive.


Gentoo Penguin Atop Nest of Two Eggs: Her Partner is in Front
Kinda Funny - He was taking a little walk around her as if to stretch his legs

I have yet to see an Adelie, and will no longer be able to do so, as they’re more likely to
live in the southern part of our trip, which we are well beyond and heading now
northward to Argentina again. I’m fascinated by penguins despite the guano
smell, which is beyond foul. You do become accustomed to it within time, but it
is initially overwhelming the further into the island you get. I took a lot of photos and look forward to sharing them with you soon.

I missed Enterprise Island due to a long, big, fat nap. Ah the pleasure of
getting away. I missed seeing the Bahia shipwreck which I would have liked to have
seen as well as a crabeater seal which was seen by one or two zodiac boats.

One of our lecturers and expedition leaders is ornithologist (”birder”)
Patricia Silva from Uruguay, who has been in the region for 18 years and
specializes in seabirds which include petrels and penguins. She has a website,
www.patriciasilva.com.ar - Sorry website under construction…. She works for Mar del Plata which is located in Buenos Aires Province. I’ve enjoyed her recaps on the expeditions as well as listened to her on the Zodiac boats.  Patricia - get your website up and running?  do you need help - we can help - see www.bizresearch.com


Patricia Silva Lectures on Penguins

How do Antarctic mammals keep warm in such extreme environments? Bradycardia
enables the heart rate to decrease 90% after it leaves the surface -as well as
layers of blubber and lots of food.

Polar explorers suffered terribly from scurvy - when sailors were eating
nothing but fish and protein but lacked vitamin c - black gums, rotting flesh
and odor radiating - teeth fall out - skin hemorrages, turns red and eventually
black. Joints get painful, ulcer, breathing becomes difficult,
hypersensitivity of the senses, becomes nostalgia, and then scars reopen. If
you have large scars - they might reopen - can you imagine such a dreadful
thing? Bob Burton, our historian lecturer, recounted his scars and he has many at the age of 70+. He said if this happened to him, he’d “literally fall out of” himself.

James Lind aboard the Salisbury in May of 1747 had 12 patients and those who
had 2 oranges, 1 lemon compared to 1 quart of cider, and other things - did the
best - A Treatise of Scurvy - a rather painful account written by Lind where
you can barely find the “fruits” of the literature. Citrus fruits cured scurvy
early on, it was discovered. However, when the British got control of the West
Indies, lime was used. What they didn’t know is that lime did not have much
vitamin C as oranges and lemons. So, hold the tonic water with lime, please -
and make that a lemon will you?

Shackleton, Scott &Wilson all died of scurvy according to some reports.
However, our lecturer said that there is nothing to indicate so in their
journals that they suffered from scurvy. Most animals make their own vitamin
c, but guinea pigs, monkeys and we do not. Ascorbic acid creates collagen,
which holds your teeth in as well as your scars together. Our lecturer ended
with always drink your gin and tonic with a lemon and this will be enough
vitamin c every day.

Patricia (Petri), our Uruguayan lecturer who now lives in Argentina (shown above), talked about penguin behavior. They live in huge colonies, spending only 20% of their time on land each year, and compete for space, nest sites, mating, and synchronize for maximum effect:

” Visual - aggressive or offensive, submissive or defense, and then
displacement, preening, head-shaking, or wing-flapping
” Sexual behavior - courtship, ecstasy, bowing, mutual preening, copulation
displays - right now she says you can see younger penguins practicing - they are still
too young to produce but enjoy having “fun” as Petri said it.  I have a picture of them practicing nesting, but not the other stuff……

They played the Happy Feet clip where the penguin sings My Way at the top of
the mountaintop. A few moments of humorous music and Americanized penguin
antics, if only cartoon, felt quite good and perhaps stirred a little
homesickness for my own pets.

One of the lecturers then talked about last night in the mountains in Lemaire
Channel, as well as the excursions today. He talked about where we’re headed
now - our first stop will be at Deception Island. It is an active volcano,
which is about 8 miles long. We will enter the little hole in the crater,
which is Neptune’s Bellows - 6 a.m. photography would be excellent. We’ll drop
anchor in Whaler’s Bay. My group goes out later, around 9:30, thankfully.

We get to do the polar plunge in Deception Island in the supposedly slightly
but no so much thermal waters - the young anxiously awaited the moment the
older, well, they all agreed they would be happy to be voyeurs and no more.
I’ll check in after that.

One of the nicest things about this cruise is the number of people who venture
to Antarctica on this cruise alone - mostly older people on their own, however,
some women my age who are doing this on their own for various reasons. I’ve
met a lot of British people, and was invited to sit with them last night in the
piano parlor for some good story exchange. I enjoyed it immensely. Time to
fall asleep or try to do so.

14th December 2007

Arthur Harbour, Palmer Station, Lemaire Channel & Una’s Tits

 (These are Antarctic mountains - really!)


Una’s Tits: Antarctic Mountains in Lemaire Channel

We woke early and ventured out before 8 a.m. this  morning on zodiac tours.  I hoped my quarantine which had been lifted for Palmer Research Station would be in effect also for the zodiac tour.  I was in luck and allowed on the tour, where we were able to see elephant seals war with one another in the water and otherwise lay around and do nothing.  It was snowing, and there was some swell in the harbour, however seeing our first glaciers and melting snow were so amazing that you quickly forgot how cold it was.  We returned and had a chance to warm up and rest. 


Glacial Snow Melt: Global Warming, Climate Change Observed

Around 3:30 this afternoon the climate change challenge group went out to Palmer Research Station in our Zodiac boat.  We received a more in-depth tour than the rest of the cruisers, allowing us to see the camera in its new workstation, as well as seeing the lab where various krill and other sealife were kept and monitored.


Climate Change Challenge Participants on Abercrombie’s Antarctic Cruise Tour Palmer Research Station

The research scientists have a pretty tough life.  It’s amazing to see their living conditions - you really have to love the science of Antarctica to make such a tough commitment to wintering or living a life of contained quarters.  Some of the scientists have worked in Antarctica for 18 - 25 years or more.  Basically their entire working lives.  They have such pride in their faces as they talk about their work, as well as concern for climate changes and global warming.  One person talked about Adelie penguins and how they’re likely to not be around in some areas in five years or less.  I could see emotion well up in the researcher’s eyes.  We’ve seen so few that perhaps it’s already noted in our areas a decline of 70% makes it harder for tourists like us to see while passing through.

After Palmer Research Stations we went on to Lemaire Channel.  The captain indicated we would have an impressive night and he was right.

Lemaire Channel Sunset here is around midnight, although you never really see the sunset here, at least not on our cruise. We’re about 65 degrees latitude.  Sunrise is around 2:25 a.m. or so, however,
there is no darkness - it’s like twilight during those two hours.  Apparently, you can see the sun bop below the horizon and bop back up around 66 degrees latitude on the antarctic circle.  Don’t quote all my details - i’ll add in references when i get back when possible, or feel free to comment and add your
own insights to this.Lemaire was impressive.  All of a sudden you see those volcanous mountains which have been named by a couple of men who used to come down here for quite some time - they named these impressive pointed mountains after a woman’s breasts - that’s not the real name
though - they’re actually called Una’s Tits. 

The mountains are just amazing - it was worth going against my doctor’s request that i not have anything other than tea to drink - it was worth a cognac - indeed!  Everyone was outside in their parkas, grabbing their cameras, and taking in the cold yet spectacular views - Abercrombie & Kent’s Explorer II does an amazing job of taking you into some beautiful places.  We’ve also been lucky because this is the first time this year that they’ve been able to get into Lemaire Channel due to ice conditions.So, I’m going to turn in.

Tomorrow we head to Deception Island and then begin our journey back to Ushuaia.  That represents something bittersweet - no sadness - settles in. This is an amazing journey that you should not miss - and yes, do come prepared for seasickness - but the sites are well worth it.

Good night.

13th December 2007

Penguins, Antarctic Landing, & Quarantine


Good news first - I got to see my first gentoo penguins this morning. We
landed at Paradise Bay at 8:30 a.m. this morning. I wasn’t sure if my feeling
poorly was due more to having an early morning and not sleeping well, or if it
was simply due to not feeling well. I took some pictures in a restricted
environment but didn’t want to go too close to the rookeries, where the gentoo
penguins were nesting. Two gentoos came right up to us, and it was pretty
cool. They put their wings back as if they’re checking us out - and it’s
really cool to watch. As soon as I have the ability to upload photos, I’ll
show you more what they looked like.

When you get out of your Zodiac boat, they grab your forearms and pull you up,
saying “Welcome to the Continent of Antarctica”. I wondered how people feel if
they are arriving by boat to a country.

I didn’t go far up the mountain as I was not feeling well. I did not want to
get so sick that I would miss the rest of the week’s excursions, so I took it
easy. The air is so cold and wet, despite the fact that the actual temperature
was only around 32 degrees. But the wind was 22 knots and the waves were quite
choppy. They served us champagne around the corner, which was quite festive
although the last thing I wanted at that moment. I drank it to be polite, and
then handed some of it back. At one moment, as we were in the Zodiac boat, one
of the ladies that I had befriended - we joked about how we were nuts and would
gladly welcome a trip to Hawaii or Costa Rica next. I told everyone that we
were getting nice hot bubble baths when we returned - we all laughed. One man
who was on the boat only had jeans on, and they were absolutely drenched. We
knew he had to be quite cold and perhaps even totally miserable.

Who discovered Antarctica? It goes back to 1819, William Smith spotted land,
which is now the South Shetlands. He spotted land again in 1819, and landed
and placed a flag on the land. Many explorers set foot on other parts of
Antarctica shortly after that.

We’re on the ship passing through Neko Harbor on our way to our next
destination, which is Palmer Research Station. I’ve seen three icebergs with
penguins atop them. We are cruising in a no-wake environment and right now the
water is without chop at all.

So, I came back to my room, took a very hot shower, and covered myself in three
layers of comforters and blankets, afraid I was going to get sicker. I
justified my antics with the knowledge that I had seen Antarctic native
penguins for the first time and that was worth it. However, several hours
later having missed the second excursion figuring it was better to not get even
sicker, and having slept all day - I finally called the doctor. I was afraid
they would quarantine me, and surely they have. But thankfully it’s only until
we reach Palmer Research Station tomorrow. I’ve taken very few photos however,
we have three more days here and I imagine there will be plenty more photo
opps. The Russian or Eastern European doctor came to see me in my room - he
was quite cute too - so any time I have to see him, I have decided it could be
worth it.

We’ll be arriving around 7 a.m. - we should get to go around 8:30. Let’s hope
I’m feeling better.

12th December 2007

Arrival in Antarctica

I feel like I am slowly but surely renewing my body’s energy source. A
combination of sleep, Dramamine, food and a calmer sea state this morning has
enabled activities including breakfast, lectures, and photography.

I took some photos outside of cape & giant petrel and whales. There were
penguins as well swimming through the water, but if I saw them, I didn’t
recognize them as penguins as they are very small and look like jumping fish.
I enjoyed taking photos with the new digital Canon 40D on three settings:
automatic, action and manual. I did the best with the action photos and will
soon review them on my computer.

There are about six naturalists in yellow parkas outside during designated
times with various cameras, a couple with major zoom lenses. I find it
difficult to use the zoom on deck, because it constrains your images to a small
region, which is difficult if you are watching birds soaring over the ocean
back and forth. It was pretty cool to hear the naturalists become excited, if
not “geeked out” by seeing a particular type of albatross or a whale for the
first time, or to be able to point it out to a newcomer to the crowd.

I heard a nice presentation from Lecturer Jim McClintock this morning on
climate change and its affect on marine life. Adelie penguins seem to be the
most drastically affected, declining 70% in population over the years (I need
to get the exact yearly range later). Adelie penguins release their eggs on
rocks and incubate by laying on them. However, in recent years there has been
a lot of snow. Adelies will remain on their eggs until they are deeply covered
in snow with only a small hole to breathe out of - the adults are fine however
the eggs do not survive. Gentoo and chinstrap penguins on the other hand, have
increased their populations in the warmer temperatures and do not seem to be
adversely affected by climate change and global warming. With warmer
temperatures, there is more humidity in the air, and thus more snow in this
region.

We have arrived in Antarctica this evening - perhaps a sign of a good
expedition ahead was the excitement of humpback whales near the ship. Explorer
II slowed quite a bit in order to enable us to take pictures. We paused for
nearly an hour or more to take in the sights. I wish I could show you my
photos while I’m here but as of yet, my Iridium satellite phone is not able to
connect fast enough to make this possible. I hope that All Road Sat Co

I do have several photos of the humpbacks, up close and personal, and really
enjoyed this. I’ve uploaded all my photos taken thus far to my computer and am
excited about the opportunity to share these with you, when possible. They
were quite curious about the boat and spent about an hour or more crossing in
front of the boat.

Tomorrow, at 8 a.m., we board the Zodiac boats and go on shore, with a wet
landing. We’re wearing waterproof pants, donated rubber boots by the ship,
parkas, layers of clothing and lots of camera gear as you can imagine. I’ll
take the tripod tomorrow as you never know what opportunities exist.

So, I’m going to go to sleep. I’m sorry this is not yet a live posting, but
hopefully my excellent technology colleagues can help me to make this possible.
In the meantime, I’m hoping for a receptionist to help me take my USB device,
send it in an email to Karen and Stephanie, and allow Steph to post two entries
or so at a time. When there is a will, there is usually a way.

Without a doubt, this is a beautiful if harsh country. It’s nearly midnight
and it’s quite light outside, perhaps looking like it’s 9:00 on a summer
evening. No sunset or sunrise seen yet.

11th December 2007

Seasickness and getting through the Drake

Many of us are seasick, including me.  I’ve spent the entire day in bed, with
one excursion out on deck and lunch.  Alben, my room attendant, has really been
looking for me.  Most people around me did not make it up for the Captain’s
dinner.  I like the fact that they have the lectures and events covered on
Channel 2 TV in your room, so if you’re too sick to make it up to deck, you can
still watch the television.  However, you know when you’re really sick because
you don’t want to talk, write, photograph, videograph, or watch any TV for that
matter.   Thus the brief notes above, it was all I could muster up considering
the circumstances.

The swells in the ocean have gotten increasingly more intense.  For those of
you who have cruised in rough seas, perhaps you don’t deal with the intensity
for so long.  I think eventually, regardless of how strong your body is, you
have the likelihood to get seasick on this trip.  Seasickness can come in
different forms - it’s not always a form of elimination - in fact you’ll begin
to wish you could actually get “sick” because you just want the “sickness” out
of you.

When you get up to go to the bathroom, or consider going for a walk, you are
often slammed into your door while going through Drake Passage.  Doors are
slamming everywhere in people’s cabins - not the cabin door, but bathroom and
cabinet doors.  You secure them only for them to open up under a bad swell.

If you do venture outside for a little fresh air, you will begin to see the
birds in the area follow your ship’s wake, which has become increasingly icy
blue.  This is apparently plankton, krill, or something (I’m still learning and
since I’ve missed the lecture.) and you can see the birds diving into the wake
and surrounding waters to pick up on the activity below.

Taking pictures of these birds doesn’t really excite me, like some
ornithologists (bird watchers) and naturalists.  Or, it’s because I’m too
seasick to care about them.

Okay, let’s hope for a good night - the end of Drake Passage, a safe journey
into the islands in the morning.  It’s supposed to be better around 7 a.m. - I
personally am praying and hoping it will be.

Global Climate Change Lecture - A Very Brief Recap

Ice is nature’s own temperature measurement
Ice is telling a very compelling story

Many famous places known for glaciers, beautiful views and ice have serious
retreating ice, if not, have lost all of their ice in the recent decades.

Glacier Bay - Southernmost Alaska
Kilimanjarao - retreating ice in all three cases
Sea ice in the Arctic - retreated

Ice has been retreating for many years now, however, the rate at which the ice
is retreating has increased.  Specific statistics were not offered.

10th December 2007

Laura is going through the Drake to Antarctica 1 reply

Hi Everyone,

Its Stephanie again, giving you an update on Laura’s trip to Antarctica. Laura’s web connection and her phone connection have been spotty in coverage, so I’m filling in for now. Laura boarded the Minerva (formerly known as the Explorer II). She and many of the passengers have already become sick due to the rolling effects. This is also known as going through the Drake. However, I think she can better describe it:

“The ship restaurant was at eye level with the waves at times, and then would tip to the other side. The rolling that they talk about is when you lie in bed and you can feel your ship cabin bed go in 360- degrees in a rotation - but just imagine doing that for 24 hours or more.”

The ship has a log, which gives updates.

Laura has also taken pictures and will upload them to the Flickr site as soon as she is able.

A Short Trek About Ushuaia & Departure to Antarctica

I’m recapturing two days of entries, the italicized are moments aboard the ship
as I was trying to catch up on my daily journal entries. I boarded the ship
around 4 p.m. Monday afternoon and arrived in my cabin on A deck, which is
quite nice. I have a nice picture window to see what we’re passing by.

Getting anywhere fast in Argentina proved to be difficult, including the little
town of Ushuaia. Los Cauquenes is a ski chalet-like new hotel development on
pebble and dirt roads on the other side of town. It is about a 15 peso ride
($5), so not that bad, but be sure to have a piece of paper that says exactly
where the place is located when you get in a taxi. That way, if they don’t
understand your “version” of Spanish, you’re in luck. I was in luck today, as
I had a photo saved on my digital camera that I was able to show the taxi
driver. Once he read the sign in front of the hotel, which was saved in a
digital photo, he knew where to take me.

I find that when you travel to other countries, as long as you try to speak the
language with respect to the natives, most of the time they are more
accommodating. Very few people spoke English where I was today, so I was
thankful for my limited Spanish knowledge which managed to get me through the
day. It’s funny, when you speak in Spanish, you pause to think of the word in
English, and then you forget the word in English. I once heard a professor
say, when you can think or dream in Spanish, you’ll be in good shape. Well,
the only things I can think of in a foreign language are the simple phrases,
that I’ve said a million times. And I have dreamt in foreign languages before,
but I’ve found it meant nothing when I woke up - I was no more bi-lingual than
when I went to sleep. Perhaps it’s a part of your brain waking up while you
sleep, only to retire once your brain awakes and its dulled in part by the rest
of your daily thoughts that we process over and over again, like what to wear,
what to do, and how to go about our day.

View YouTube Video on Antarctica Departure from Ushuaia, Argentina


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvjhYDLJJnM (if image does not load)

It’s totally dark outside right now, but the ship is swaying a little more. I
have this tv monitor on in my cabin which says that we are at a course of 117
degrees, with a speed of 14.4 knots, is that right? 14 knots, or 144 knots? I
know nothing about this stuff. Relative wind is 4 knots, air humidity is 86
percent. We are 593 nautical miles to Paradise Bay. Our sea state is 3, water
temp is 9 degrees C, and air temp is 10 degrees C.

Boarding the ship began at 3 p.m. I was on board around 4:00 and more than
excited as we prepared to depart. At the hotel, I met two people, Judy &
Fritz, who were traveling separately and were preparing to depart as well.
Judy is British and is a seasoned shipmate which is encouraging. She is
absolutely fascinating, single, perhaps late 50’s I’m guessing - never married,
no children and extremely well traveled. The most interesting trip perhaps?
Sri Lanka - not just once but four times. She works in disaster relief, and
thus has had some amazing experiences. She actually helped in 2005 and 2006
with tsunami relief.

I can hear things beginning to rock around in the cabins, oh boy! I wonder if
I’ll be able to sleep tonight…

Judy has also been to various islands to help with disaster relief efforts,
sometimes spending six months or more. Her single status makes this far easier
as you can imagine. I had dinner with her and enjoyed her stories.

I met Evette, who is from Australia. Antarctica was no more than a mere dream
until family heirlooms were stolen, none of which could be replaced, and the
insurance settlement helped to pay for a portion of her trip. She is also
traveling by herself. She has children, and is often busy taking care of the
kids, who are 18 and 21. It is just now that she is able to do this, as her
children approach older ages where she can travel in such an extraordinary way.

I just heard something big crash outside my cabin door, in the corridor.
Hmmmmm. I’m sitting up in my bed, near the window, feeling the sway of the
ocean’s waves gently rocking the ship. I’ve felt far worse chop in Mom and
Dad’s boat, as it’s far smaller, but still big considering it’s just crossing
the Chesapeake Bay, which is known for occasional storms. But to me as long as
I know I’m safe - it’s all a bunch of fun. But, Drake Passage is hardly fun
for the ship’s captain - it’s serious business.

I met Mavis & Duncan, Brits who were fascinated by my new Canon digital camera.
I have to admit, we’re all checking out each other’s camera. I’ve
surprisingly only seen a handful of zoom lenses walking about the deck -
perhaps they’re waiting to bring out the big guns later. I’ve been impressed
with everyone I’ve met - fascinating stories.

Fritz is a chemical engineer who is probably 80, I’m guessing. He is German,
and is accompanied by his daughter, whose name I’ve forgotten. Fritz has
written programs and talks about Pascal and Basic. His daughter is a
cardiologist and lives in Birmingham. She is also quite fascinating. The
topic of typos came up and how typos in some industries can be deadly,
including a misplaced comma. Another couple - Linda & Jay - they’re from
Houston, Texas, but Linda is from Ohio. She’s been in Texas for quite some
time now, but I enjoyed having a cappuccino with all of them tonight and
learning more about what they do and who they are. Fritz is a championship
chess player, so if I’m lucky, he’ll let me bore him for an hour in the library
playing chess sometime this trip.

Okay, I’m going to try to sleep. I haven’t gotten to sleep before 2 a.m. yet
on my trip, but will try to do so tonight - it’s only a little after 1 am here.
The curtains are beginning to sway back and forth in my cabin - air temp
outside is still 10 degrees Celsius and wind at 4 knots. I have no idea of the
waves’ size - that’s not on my monitor, I’m afraid.

9th December 2007

Ushuaia Bound - What Not to Wear

I stayed at Los Cauquenes Resort & Spa, which I would highly, highly recommend.
They were absolutely overly accommodating and worth every dollar. Their
wireless connectivity is a little slow, but it works reliably so you can work
away if you’re catching up on last-minute details before you head out to the
mountains or to the Antarctic. I had a massage, which I would also recommend.
Their spa is beautiful, the most beautiful part being the open area for the
pool - I’ll go back and get a photo if I can when I return to Ushuaia, post
Antarctic.

I mostly traveled on Sunday - so have little else to report, other than my
previous blog post.

Ushuaia, Argentina - Los Cauqenos - A lesson in Spanish

Ushuaia, Argentina:  Los Cauqenos

Lessons in Spanish & What Not To Wear

Hi everyone - I have three blog entries to post but I think I’m going to do them over at Bizresearch.com tomorrow, if, if, if I have time.  I did post, as Stephanie said, one other entry that was  www.bizresearch.com/searchmarketingblog

I’ve been journalling on my computer when I don’t have web access on long plane flights.

In the past five days, I’ve booked some serious mileage - from Columbus to Chicago to Miami to Buenos Aires to Trelew to Ushuaia - and now, tomorrow, on to Antarctica.  You can see the Google maps on the locations to Buenos and Ushuaia.

I am suffering from some nasty blisters on my feet after walking 12 hours with colleagues yesterday in Buenos Aires.  I knew it was going to be bad, however, when do you get to walk in Buenos Aires, or BA, as I heard one lady refer to it today.

So, feet and shoes are an issue already and I haven’t even boarded the boat.  Not good.  More on that later - how do you handle blisters - what are you supposed to do - open them, yeah, I know nasty stuff.

So Ushuaia - how very very cool here -  I tried to embed my photo from flickr - but no such luck - you’ll have to go there yourself at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bizresearch/2099135669/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bizresearch/sets/72157603420861069/

When I left Chicago, I was dressed for cold knowing I would end up in 80 degree weather in Buenos Aires.  I was fine but a little warm along the way.  I had heard Ushuaia could be temperamental but also could be warm.  Not!

If you plan to go from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, Argentina - take this suggestion from me who looked like a funny oddball today:  dress warm or have stuff handy.  I definitely looked like a first-timer in the baggage claim area.  With shorts and sandals, it was cold outside - in fact it reminded me of Chicago weather earlier this past week.

So, jeans at a minimum, coat handy, and your hat ready to go when you get off the plane in Ushuaia.  It’s a trekker’s haven, so expect to see lots of backpackers here.  You feel like you’re one of them, getting off the plane with your backpacks.  I have some heavy duty trekker waterproof padded backpacks for my camera that I bought a couple of weeks ago.  I quickly changed into my winter gear in the bathroom and felt like one of the crowd in no time flat.  Only one problem - somehow I forgot my favorite Clarks in Buenos Aires - these feel like slippers.  I had read different stories on what Ushuaia was like, so I was unsure of the roads and sidewalks.  I’ll show some pictures in town tomorrow and hopefully be able to post but no guarantees - I’m getting into uncharted waters (for LT, not for the ships).

So the boots I have - they were killing me no matter what.  All of a sudden a guy appeared - his name is Lance - and asked me if I spoke English.  I was relieved.  While I’ve spoken broken spanish for years, and always acclimated quickly when travelling - I was having a hard time getting a taxi here.  Lance, a backpacker, asked if he could share a taxi ride with me in to the downtown area.  I’m staying at Los Cauqenos, which is a 4 star hotel, and a bit odd for a trekker’s paradise. 

So, I said sure, why not?  He packed in with me - by the way - this guy he had two backpacks I believe and that was it.  He had no idea where he was going - he was here for the adventure - no one to accompany - just here.  I found out he was a doctor, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to chat. 

The taxi drove through the small downtown area, which made me think of log cabins and snow in West Virginia - it’s a tiny little town, but is the capital of the province and apparently for Antarctica, which I have to check the accuracy on that.

So the guy drove us up to Hotel Kenos and said here you are - it hardly looked like a 4-star hotel.  In fact, it looked like a hostel, not a hotel.  I said “cauqenos” again - slower.  Taxi guy said “Hotel COWKeynos” - oh that is on the other side of the island.  Whoops!

Lance jumped out at the tourist information stop to get info on the National Park and the taxi driver and I went on to Hotel COWKeynos spelled Los Cauqenos - the driver had me pronounce the word several times.  I didn’t mind the diversion because I met someone new and saw the downtown before heading on to my hotel.

Los COWKeynos is beautiful - a log cabin type large hotel (relative to the rest of the hostels in the area)  that you’d think you were headed out to ski all day - it’s perfect before heading out to Antarctica.

Wireless - thus the connection - I haven’t used my Antarctica time too much with my satellite phone.  I’ve made three calls and let me tell you it’s not so great in urban areas - but the more open and desolate it gets - the better the signal.

But good ol cowkeynos (lol) - they have wireless at no additional cost, great food, warm environment, and a beautiful room. 

My initial photos - are posted.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bizresearch 

I have two new sets - one for Buenos Aires and one for Ushuaia.

Okay for tomorrow - if you’re wondering what I might be going through the next couple of days - click on the blog entry i did regarding voyaging to Antarctica through the Drake Passage.

Laura arrives in Buenos Aires, Argentina 1 reply

Hi everyone,

This is Stephanie M. Cockerl, Laura’s resident blogger assistant, giving you an update on Laura’s journey to Antarctica.

Laura arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is enjoying the architecture as well as the cuisine before she hops on a plane to fly to Ushuaia, Argentina. Then she will get on the Minerva (formerly known as the Explorer II.) Its was renamed to after Explorer ship went down a couple of weeks ago.

8th December 2007

Sleep Deficit Hits - a 12 - Hour Personalized Walking Tour from Berto

I had a wonderful walking tour led by Berto, his girlfriend and Andran all day
long.  They picked me up at my apartment with one warning the night previously
- wear good shoes.  We walked the entire day about town.  Berto’s girlfriend,
Debra, was an absolute delight.  I’ve been invited back for some of her cooking
when I return from the Antarctic.  Berto’s passion is Buenos Aires, perhaps
before programming.   He loves the city and was the perfect tour guide with
lots of details about every little detail in town.  I have no idea how much we
walked but figure a walk for 12 hours, that’s longer than a marathon, right?  I
would have loved to have had a pedometer on my feet.  Within a few hours, the
first blister formed.  But who’s counting?

I saw parts of Buenos Aires including San Telmo, La Boca, Microcentro and a
couple of others I can’t remember at this moment.  All three of these newly
founded friends were extraordinarily accommodating at every moment.  I had
heard Argentinians were into conversation and friendship, and this is true
based on my first experience.  By the way, I am writing this as we approach the
Drake Passage, leaving land in sight, and I just heard the first wave crash
against the outside of my ship, on A deck level.  The ship is beginning to move
a little more.  We are all in great anticipation of what we will have Drake
Lake or Drake Shake.

We started our day in a bookstore caf‚, which was previously a theater - the
old-style theater we rarely see any more today, unless you go to see a show, or
an opera.  I have pictures posted on Flickr and look forward to Berto adding
some comments on this place.  I could have stayed in the bookstore for hours,
however, Berto was on a mission and that was to show me as much of Buenos Aires
as possible.

Notable Spots Along the Tour:

Tango, right?  Yes, I was able to pass by some couples dancing tango, or
learning how to tango.  The woman you see in the Flickr picture(link), against
the window, she is teaching an American man to tango, however, he did not want
his photo taken - imagine that?  I wouldn’t either.  I also saw another couple,
who is posted on Flickr, in an outdoor caf‚, another place I would enjoy
pausing to eat at.

I can hear what I think is satellite navigational equipment up above me turning
every so often.

We saw the contaminated river, which was so polluted tires stood up at a 45
degree angle.  This I found to be quite sad, and wished I could have a positive
impact in some way.  But previous efforts have not been successful due to
corruption and other reasons.  The odor next to this river is unimaginable by
the pier.  You don’t want to linger for a moment’s notice.  We walked by the
storefronts and houses, which are like brightly painted red and green shipping
cargo containers shaped into block houses, side by side.  I don’t imagine lead
paint is a concern; however, I couldn’t help but wonder.  This area was pretty
fascinating because it is so cultural and unusual for an American to see.
However, trash blows in the wind - some don’t even bother to put trash in a
trashcan.  I picked up one trash bag blowing around, which was by my feet, and
some looked at me quite strangely.  What was funnier or more sad depending on
your point of view, is when I went to place the trashbag in a trash can, it was
turned up side down and open.  In Buenos Aires, trash cans are hoisted up three
to four feet above the ground.

Our ship is beginning to rock more.  Should I look outside my window and check
out the swells?  I’m almost afraid to look, but as I lay in my bed right now I
can feel the beginning signs of rolling.  I just took my Dramamine as the patch
that I got from the doctor is a bit late in the running.  However, I noted the
patch could affect your vision and should not be taken by people with poor
circulation or with a risk of stroke, so I’m opting out for this way to
Antarctica.  Instead, I’m opting for less-drowsy Dramamine.

Without thought, people toss trash in the wind - perhaps that mindset of “well
everyone else does it, what’s one more piece of trash” is what needs change
most of all.

We took the bus to another part of town and then walked to see the Recoleta,
which is the famous cemetery in Buenos Aires.  Now this I was extremely excited
to see, and could only have imagined being able to do this had I been on my
own.  Despite my aching feet and a desire to walk a little slower, once Berto
told me we were on a short time constraint since the cemetery would close at
either 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., we hightailed it to La Recoleta.

I had heard there were over 70 cats that were fed in this cemetery - making the
strays look a little better off than typical.  I couldn’t wait to see the cats
in the cemetery.  I also wanted to see Eva Peron, but sadly, I suppose, I was
excited about seeing the cats.  See my pictures on Flickr.

We saw Eva Peron’s tomb, which is absolutely amazing, and then meandered for
the rest of the hour.  I took a lot of photos, and was fascinated by what I
saw.  I’d like to go back and spend a couple of hours or more just reading all
the signs.  I’ve always been fascinated by cemeteries as it represents lives,
lived and lost, and the history it now represents.  Entire families are
represented in these tombs.  I have a picture of one casket that appears to be
a baby’s dwelling - it is so small.  It also appears to be sitting precariously
on the edge, inside the tomb.  Or, perhaps it represents family jewels - who
knows?

Some tombs have been vandalized or abandoned, while others have sanctuaries
prepared with candles, photos atop mantles inside the tomb.  Some have white
linen lace adorning the entrances of the tombs, and you’re in some cases unable
to see inside the tomb.  I was surprised to not see rats (thus the cats’ job)
or crows wandering about.

I’d love to return on All Saint’s Day around dusk to see if I capture any orbs
on a digital camera.  Imagine the field day inside then!

We finished our day with a great cappuccino outside La Recoleta, which was a
wonderful resting spot after a long day’s walk.

Now here’s the funny thing - Berto was nice enough to give me directions back
to my apartment where I was staying.  Right on this street, left on this
street, and after this street, take another left - and you’ll be there.  Two
hours later, and many, many blocks further pounding blisters deep into my skin,
I was home.  A few groceries along the way and a couple of gifts.  It was all
in all an outstanding day - and thanks so much to those who made it happen.
There is absolutely no way I could have seen so much in one day with any tour
guide -

Okay I’m going to take a peek outside my window - I’m attached to my satellite
with the hopes of connecting if only for a few minutes - but no such luck yet -
I’ve connected and verified user/pass connection only to lose the connection.
I’m using my magnetized booster antenna which is affixed inside my cabin’s
picture window on A deck, but as of yet, not enough to make communication for
long enough to do anything, including hit the send/receive email button.

It’s not bad - the whitecaps are showing in the dark, but nothing too bad yet.
My Iridium shows 5 bars, but it comes and goes.  I understand you need 5 bars
to really transmit for the Web, so if it’s touch and go, not great for Web
connectivity - we’ll see. By the way, definitely get the booster - because
without it, inside my cabin, I am getting little signal at all.  So, get at
least on A deck, and get the satellite phone antenna booster.  Who knows how
successful this will be but this is research and development, eh?  I’ve hung
out for a little while with an Aussie today, thus the “eh?”

Friday Night - Who Needs Sleep?

I was invited to dinner and other activities Friday night with the technology
company. They were so incredibly gracious. They were willing to do anything
that I wanted, all 10 or 12 of them, but I thought it was more polite and also
perhaps more interesting to experience their normal routine. I finally learned
what they were keeping me from me - what they really wanted to do was karaoke -
ah ha! It was great - very enjoyable to watch them compete against two other
tables. The loudest table wins a pitcher of beer. Rodrigo was definitely the
loudest -and quite funny to listen to if you can get into a mood of whatever
happens, be in the moment and just enjoy it.

I found all of the folks to be very warm towards one another - not at all
political or unkind in any way - truly enjoying one another’s company and
perhaps, antics to some degree.

We went to dinner after this - Argentinians eat late in the evening, around 9
or 10 p.m. which is fine because lately with five animals, one of whom is a
puppy, and three older animals, my time is limited at night. I often eat later
than 9 p.m., which is hardly healthy if you are not walking it off for two or
three hours later. But in Argentina, you might walk or dance it off for hours
into the night, getting home around 6 a.m

Buenos Aires en route to Antarctica

I flew from Chicago to Miami to Buenos Aires.  I met four people going to
Antarctica in the customs line at the EZE Buenos Aires Airport.  An older
couple was going to Antarctica, or “by Antarctica” in a large cruise ship.
They were going for three weeks.  They were leaving out of Buenos Aires.

The other two people were father and daughter, and they were voyaging to
Antarctica for 10 days on the Lindblad Expeditions cruise.  They were initially
supposed to go a month or so ago, but the expedition had to cancel for
mechanical problems.  The young woman, approximately mid 30 to late 30s, is
named Jennifer.  She’s an ad exec in New York, and deals with search engine
marketing and optimization quite a bit.  I enjoyed talking with both her and
her father about their plans for the trip, and what their expectations were.
They were flying the same day down to Ushuaia, and then planned to travel out
this weekend.

I arrived at my friend’s apartment in downtown Buenos Aires.  Wow - what a
city.  I don’t really care for such large cities - there are 5 million in the
inner circle of Buenos Aires and 15 million people in the outer circle of
Buenos Aires.  When you fly away from Buenos Aires, if flying during daylight,
imagine New York City without the tall buildings.  The tallest buildings were
about 10 or 11 stories that I saw, although I think I might have seen a few
that were perhaps 20 stories.  All in all - Buenos Aires is flat, very flat.

I was beyond exhaustion and working on a major sleep deficit for three days, if
not perhaps longer than that.  I took a shower, quick nap, and then went to my
friend’s office.  I was quickly impressed by the company, its environment and
its people.  Despite having just one hour scheduled, I ended up spending
several hours that afternoon and evening with this technology company.

There is a promenade that reminds me of Stockholm, only longer and dirtier in
the Microcenter in Buenos Aires.  It’s called Florida - you can get to it from
Lavalle - but be prepared - this area is claustrophobic - you can not walk
quickly without watching every step - the sidewalks exist, however, there are
broken stones - so bring comfy walking shoes and be prepared to just go with
the flow.  It’ll also take you one hour to walk from Esmeralda to Lavalle to
Florida - due to weekday chaos.  Weekends are much, much better so wait until
the weekend to do heavy walking if possible.  There are few crowds then.

What is very cool on Florida Avenue is the carnival-like atmosphere - such
strange walks of life, and performers - I was unable to spend time on pictures
here, but when I return if possible, I might be able to grab a picture or two.
From flute players, to bandolinos, to street tricks, to strangely dressed
frozen mimics - which were absolutely stunning and worth slowing down to take a
shot - only I was running late due to the time it took to walk from place to
place.

If you’re disturbed by homeless children and dogs (who isn’t?), be prepared for
this.  I saw women carrying three children, or sitting and begging for three
homeless children.  I saw another woman carrying a young girl that seemed to
have cystic fibrosis or something similar.  This is hard to watch - but harder
to see that these women have such poor lives with their children.

5th December 2007

Iridium Satellite Phone Challenges for Antarctica 1 reply

I’m a little nervous that I haven’t left the United States yet, and I have as of yet been unable to get my Iridium satellite phone to work.

Iridium Satellite Phones - the challenge of using bulky satellite phones and cables to blog live from Antarctica.

Satelline Phone Rental Vendors: 
Global Information Technology Services - Iridium Satellite 9505A,
All Road Communications (my vendor) - Iridium’s Satellite 9505A Package - Iridium Phone Specifications

I tried connecting with Iridium satellite service from Worthington, Ohio.  One of the biggest challenges with connecting to the Web via satellite, if you’re new to this like me, is that you must have an open air connection.  It’s not like a cell phone, that it works inside most of the time.  Forget trying to have a phone call on B deck, right?  Thank God Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) upgraded me to an A deck (for a fee of around $1,000 or so) with a picture window. 

My vendor, All Road Communications, says that I need open air communication, and thus sent me a cone-shaped antenna to “stick outside my window”.  Can you see that? Visually, I can’t.  I just can’t see the connection, literally.  It’s not like I’m going to secure a satellite cable connection outside my ship’s picture window without a little help from A&K’s cruiseship technical crew.  I hope they’ll be able to offer some help with this, or insight.

I have tried connecting from my home in Columbus, by a sliding glass door - no signal there either.  Talking to others who have some form of GPS system, like a tom tom - they say I need to be outside in the open air, or in a car-like setting, where it’s affixed to a window.  At this point, my cone-shaped antenna doesn’t easily connect to my window, regardless of where I’m at.  I also imagine it’s only going to be more difficult to do this wherever I’m at on a ship.

I’m in Chicago right now, which is very urban - to the point of this post on when Iridium satellite works best.  There are still limitations — service doesn’t always work in dense, skyscraper-filled urban areas or below tree canopies — but users can regain service if they move to areas where they can get direct sightlines to the sky (ComputerWorld).   This is excellent feedback, because in all cases above I’ve been surrounded by offices or by trees.  There are lots of trees in Worthington and near my house.

To make things more challenging - let me show you the cords associated with this, after I post them to Flickr.  It’s not like you can walk around with this solution in your purse or backpack.  The cable is worse than your home cable wire. 

However, hopefully, in open air seas, this will be easier - no buildings to offset satellite communication access, just weather.

If you want to send me a text message, you can do that here:  Iridium Text Message - I keep getting a server error when I try it - let me know if you try - you can post comments to this post, as well as post a text message

Here’s my satellite phone (don’t worry - they advertise free incoming sms messages):

8816-4146-6435

You can also try www.iridium.com - see text link at the top?  Send text message, 160 character limit.  This worked - my secretary also had an issue with sending through All Road’s website - so opt for Iridium’s site - plus it’s a greater character limit (by 20 whopping characters).

Okay, I have to prepare for sessions and do some administrative stuff now.  Ciao for now!

3rd December 2007

Antarctica Countdown 1 reply

Okay, I’m getting excited.  I have a few things left to do, as you can imagine, finish up client projects, prepare presentations for speaking in Chicago, and pack the last few details.  Equipment details is perhaps more important to me than clothing, although that’s crucial as well considering the destination.

I’ll be speaking at SES Chicago Wednesday and Thursday.  I’ll be headed then to Argentina, with a scheduled boarding time of 3 p.m.  At that point, I think I’ll be super excited.  No time left to worry over the details, just time to board and live in the moment.

Penguins, whales, albatross, petrels, waves, and more!

I have a satellite phone, although I can’t say how well it’s all going to work.  But this is my first voyage, perhaps next time I’ll have better communication assistance from some good friends. 

In the meantime, say a little prayer while you’re at it - will ya?

Thanks.

2nd December 2007

Antarctic Cruise Expedition Stories: Thank You Lindblad!

Antarctica Cruise Expedition Stories: A Wonderful Post from Expeditions.com & Wonderful Stories to Read

A wonderful blog post came in this morning to me - from Lindblad Expeditions regarding the Explorer, aka The Little Red Ship (http://www.expeditions.com/Remembering_the_%91Lit382.asp)

Thank you so much for this post and sending it my way.  I read the greeting to your web visitors more than once, including the PDF attachment which is linked at the bottom of the entry.  I also went on to read the other entries including the daily expedition report, which I found very helpful.

http://www.expeditions.com/DER_Details113.asp?MainDER=146116&DailyReport=146115&SearchSource=Main&Ship=5

http://www.expeditions.com/DER_Details113.asp?MainDER=146116&DailyReport=146144&SearchSource=Main&Ship=5 (re Drake Passage and sea sickness)

For those of us who have never gone, and were driven by the environmental changes and interest in penguins, we need to hear more stories like this - I loved every one of them and wish I could sit and listen to more.  Thank you, thank you.

I respect the Lindblad’s contribution to exploration, the Little Red Ship herself, and to continued expeditions.

Laura

1st December 2007

Antarctica Penguins

Antarctica Penguins Here I Come!

A couple of years ago, I watched March of the Penguins.  For a very long time, penguins have been well thought of in our family.  First, it was known that penguins mate for life, so Mom and Dad always liked them.  Actually, it does not appear that Emperor Penguins mate for life, however, perhaps others do.  Emporers suffer quite a bit in order to mate, and the man has it really rough in the winter, holding an egg on his toes, during numerous winter storms.  An inflatable penguin gift got passed around for a few years amongst family members.  It always made for a good joke.  I always got a kick out of watching penguins, wherever I was. 

A year ago I saw An Inconvenient Truth and Emporers of the Ice, and became very interested in going to Antarctica to see the penguins, and to discuss climate change from personal experience. 

In just a week, I’ll be in Argentina.  From there, I leave for Antarctica, and the penguins will be hopefully part of our naturalist photography journey.  I’m very excited about seeing penguins, and taking live photos of them, as well as some video to post to Flickr, and YouTube.

I’ve read today in our paper that the diesel oil leaking from the sunk Explorer might affect 2,500 Adelie penguins heading back to their mating spot.  Weather in the area has made it difficult to contain.

The Explorer ship sunk approximately 4,000 plus feet to the ocean’s floor.