Apparently, a large part of the world actually celebrates Christmas on Christmas eve. So, after leaving the Drygelski Fjord, we headed to the dining hall for our “Christmas” dinner. It’s extravagance was thrilling. They had food carvings and displays made of food, including a whole roasted pig, a 3 foot long boat made out of watermelon, yuletide cakes that looked like real logs with meringue mushrooms and chocolates and a present cake. Our set dinners were seated with Gerald and Young from Arizona, a retired couple.
After dinner we headed to the observation deck to make Christmas ornaments for the tree. Then, we headed for bed and waited for Santa to come :P
Christmas day was a “regular” day on the ship. Except that Santa had left some MS Fram Antarctica t-shirts J Other than this, we attended our 4 lectures and after-dinner briefing on our next destination, the South Orkneys. I must say, Christmas in Antarctica is much more pleasant than Christmas with the relatives! And much more exciting as well. Normally we open our presents before Christmas because we go to Vancouver so it would be logistically illogical to cart wrapped presents there just to bring the un-wrapped ones back. My cousins from California on the other hand seem to have the opposite idea and most often spend several hours on Christmas morning opening each individually wrapped gift. No, this year we instead learned about penguins and seals and ice.
Boxing day is one of my favourite Commonwealth holidays because for the most part it’s a day of rest and you get to go out and just enjoy the peace and the Christmas season in an inner-reflective type of way. This Boxing day however, is spent in Antarctica on the Argentine islands, the South Orkneys at (60°35′S 45°30′W). Here, we toured the one of the Argentine research bases, called Orcadas that was established in 1904. This was one of the first stations to be set-up and does basic research on weather, such as daily temperature as well as basic measurements on the magnetic field. The magnetic pole moves over time, so it is bases like this that help to monitor the shift in magnetic field.
Orcadas is of course run by isolated generation. There is redundancy in all of their systems, as this is one of the few stations with year-round occupants. Researchers, doctors and military personnel typically stay on the base for a year at a time. They have radio telegraph and giant antennae that look like large wire spider webs suspended from metal posts (there were 2 antennae). Their contact with the outside world is minimal, although they do have a helicopter pad (keeping in mind that the nearest Argentine city is 1502 km away to Ushuaia). The base is surrounded on two sides by the ocean and one side by a rocky and ice covered cliff soaring upwards into the sky. A small cemetery marks the memories of those who were lost. Some of those people disappeared, and were never seen again.
A few stray penguins ran along the rocky beach. We also saw our first Adelie penguin, which probably runs the fastest out of all the penguins we had seen so far.
Despite the desolation, Base Orcadas welcomed us (in Spanish) with open arms. They have a small museum about the research they conduct there and a little bit of the base’s history. In their kitchen, they had a miniature gift shop, which is strange when you think about how few of visitors they have each year. There was also a TV and cookies and coffee that they had prepared for us guests. I don’t know how anyone could have taken any of those cookies! They need them! They live on a life-less, barren, isolated island beyond the edge of civilization. We did buy some badges from their gift shop though, each for about $10 USD.
On December 27, the weather became dark and snowy. It’s a strange feeling to watch the ocean while it is snowing and seems to defy a bit of logic. You may not understand this until you’ve been at sea when it’s snowing hard. This is a day at sea with lectures on Shackleton, penguins, adaptations and whaler history. In late afternoon, the Fram crept up to the rocky Elephant Island. This is not an island that is easy to land on. Elephant Island was named after elephant seals and is located at 61°5 S 55°11 W and has historical importance to the Shackleton journey. After Shackleton’s men abandoned ship they were left stranded on unstable ice flows. One night, the ice cracked in the middle of their camp and they had to rush and move everything to the larger flow. Eventually they decided to take the lifeboats and attempt to land on an island. When they missed their target due to the Waddell current, Elephant Island was their last hope before they would be swept off to sea.
They managed to land on Elephant island, which is hostile rock, ice and frozen ocean spray. There is no shelter, and the caves that were visible fill with water on high tide. By this time, many of the men had gone crazy and many were no longer functional as crew men. 22 marooned members of Shackleton’s crew survived there for 4 and half months while they waited to be rescued while the remaining 6 men left with Shackleton is the larger of the life boats to make a journey across the open ocean to South Georgia where they eventually made it to the whaling station. With the help of the whalers, Shackleton was able to rescue the remaining men at Elephant Island after several failed attempts. We watched Elephant Island in the snow storm from the safety of the Fram, remember those of Shackleton’s crew and their amazing survival story.
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