2009 Antarctic Cruise

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The Ocean Nova was operated by Quark Expeditions. It was chartered for this cruise by Michael Reichmann, who runs the Luminous Landscape web site. The ship has a crew of 38, and normally carries 68 passengers. There are 5 decks, a Panorama Lounge on deck 5 near the bow, a Library on deck 4 at the stern, and open areas on deck 5 forward of the Panorama Lounge and at the stern. Passenger cabins are on decks 3 and 4. The bridge is on deck 4. In addition to the ship's crew, we also enjoyed the support of an expedition crew of 8. Each person had a specialty, e.g., whales, birds, history, geology, etc., as well as safety, conservation, and sea training. The leader, Brandon, has summered on cruise ships in the Antarctic region for about 10 years. This was his 80th cruise.

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A petrel, probably an Antarctic Petrel.

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Black-bellied Storm-Petrel

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Landing on Desolation Island, which happened after dinner. The above photo was taken about 9:30 p.m. The yellow parkas were provided by Quark, and ours to bring home. The inflatable boats are referred to as Zodiacs, the manufacturer's name. There's a wood transom at the rear that mounts a small outboard motor. The Ocean Nova carried 7 of these. The person in the red parka is one of the expedition crew. Dress for landings was headgear, parka, waterproof pants over jeans, and rubber boots over double socks. Over the parka we wore life jackets while on the water, but removed them when on shore. There are no docks. All the landings were as you see here: on rock.

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A Brown Skua taking off. These birds are predators, and eat penguin eggs and chicks.

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Fur seals playing in the shallows.

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A penguin rookery on Aitcho Island.

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Fur seals molt, and quite a few were on shore waiting for their insulating fur to grow back. Obviously they weren't very active.

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We were supposed to say 5 meters from the wildlife, although in practice about half that distance worked. The rule attempts to avoid disturbing the wildlife. However, if an animal approached us the rules allowed us to say put. In this photo a Gentoo penguin accepted Brandon's offer to nibble on his finger.

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An iceberg in Lemaire Channel. Because the Channel is just a mile wide, the water was quite calm. We cruised in the Zodiacs, meaning we drove the small boats in the channel without landing. This hunk of ice is 15 to 20 feet high. The blue color happens because, like water, the longer wavelengths of light are absorbed and their energy converted to heat, while the shorter blue wavelengths pass through or are reflected. Because of the overcast and rain, Michael and the Captain elected to change plans and, instead of continuing in this area, the Ocean Nova headed South. This is one of the advantages of a cruise focused on photography rather than schedule.

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We landed on Stonington Island, our southernmost landing. In his 79 previous cruises, Brandon visited this location only once, i.e., in 80 trips as a tour guide this was only his second visit.

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On a number of the islands we encountered abandoned facilities. The British built this site on Horseshoe Island. Some of the buildings are open, and we frequently could see supplies left behind, including dog food, coal, and canned food.

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The scenery in this area is nothing short of stunning.

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Seals frequently sun themselves on ice floes. This crabeater seal did not appreciate the Ocean Nova bumping into his floe and waking him from his nap.

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Blue icebergs near Horseshoe Island.

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The mountains reflected in ripples caused by the ship's passing.

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As we sailed North the Captain treated us with a passage through the Gullet, a very narrow, ice-choked strait between Adelaide Island and the Antarctic Mainland. At one point the views ahead and behind suggested no passage existed in either direction.

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Not all the floating ice is large. This piece was about 15 feet long.

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We cruised North through the Lemaire Channel, where we paused for a Zodiac cruise at 05:30. I took this photo at 07:45 p.m.

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Juvenile and adult humpback whales in the Lemaire Channel. Numerous times when wildlife appeared near the ship the Captain would slow and/or circle to provide us with the best possible view.

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On Peterman Island we encountered another penguin rookery. These are mostly Gentoo penguins.

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Mother Gentoo (I assume!) and two chicks.

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The Captain frequently brought the Ocean Nova near shore, in this case near Petermann Island.