Friday, January 31st, 2025

It was Wanda’s birthday, so most of the gang, including the lady herself, were in the lounge when Ali did the wake up call.

A donation from me and Lucie, to the South Georgia Heritage Trust, had bought a mention of the birthday during the announcement which, somewhat surprisingly, also figured in its German language equivalent. Mein Gott !!

We had also bought a card in South Georgia, which the gang had all signed. I think Wanda was touched, or possibly disoriented, because she put maple syrup on her bacon. I contented myself with Weetabix, bacon with egg and beans – and some fruit ….

The Plancius had, meanwhile, anchored in the bay of Half-Moon Island. A landing site had already been selected on a shingle beach because, at the end of the landing, there was to be the “Polar Plunge”. Further along the island were the buildings of the small, Argentinian, Camara Base. The lights were on, but there was no-one home. Need I say more ?

Half Moon Island

According to the ship’s log, our position was 62°35.5’S / 59°54.4’W

It was quite a chilly morning, very cold on the boat.

We landed without incident but were warned to roll up our trousers as there was a lot of mud. There certainly was a lot of brown, sticky goo everywhere, but I do not think it was mud.

We hiked off to the penguin colony which was chiefly Chinstraps, with the odd Gentoo. Susie, for once donning her botanical (as opposed to Krill), hat, pointed out to Lucie an interesting algae and then the same algae with a fungal content which, as I am sure you already knew, thus rendered it a lichen. If you ever wondered what girls talk about amongst themselves when they get together, now you know !

Lucie also spotted, with her botanical eye, a tiny yellow flower which was yet another lichen, or possibly an algae. Do not ask me which, I am not Charles Darwin !

At another point on the island, there was supposedly, a Weddell seal. Although I had been told I had seen one already, whilst still in South Georgia, it was so far away that it had been merely a brownish dot. Who knows, it might even have been a South Georgia pipit. We walked along the shingle and there it was. The Weddell seal really does have a cute face – a bit like a cat. It had big eyes with which it gazed somewhat quizzically at its growing audience.

I am not a geologist, but on that beach, in particular, I wished I had known more about rocks. There were literally millions of pebbles. They were of all sizes and of an unending array of colours and patterns. I would have liked to have known why that was.

A whale of some kind had obviously met its end on the beach, huge rib bones were scattered far and wide. There were also a lot of odd pieces of shaped wood. Many of these were of considerable vintage – I would have bet that, could they have talked, theirs would have been quite a story.

As we had been warned, our boots were absolutely filthy. It took a lot of communal effort to clean them of (what we still prayed was) glutinous mud. The following day, we would need to hand them back.

As I said earlier, Half-Moon Island had also been chosen, by Ali, as the location for the expedition’s “Polar Plunge” ….

Passengers had been invited, should they so wish, to strip to their swimming costumes and dive into the zero degree water. I was tempted, but Lucie persuaded me to see sense. There was a surprising number of takers though, including Dave from our gang. Most people jumped in, put their head under (a requirement) and were back on the shingle in a few seconds. Dave ambled down the shingle, dived in head first and then swam casually back and forth for some minutes. VERY impressive !

Then it was back to the Plancius where there were shivering people everywhere and, a short time later, we had lunch. I had beef stew which was a wonderful thing to be eating whilst watching Dave still trying to shake salty water out of his ears.

Yankee Harbour

After lunch, it was time to suit up for the very final time. I was almost sad as Lucie helped me struggle into my wellies and life-jacket. Then it was into the Zodiacs for what was quite a long ride to a natural levee in a place called Yankee Bay. The high ridge of piled stones made the inside of it a wonderful and sheltered natural harbour. Again, I wondered how this impressive barrier had been formed.

As I walked up the rocky beach, Lady Fate decided it was time I had a little slap ! Our life jackets had a strap that passed between our legs to keep it in place in the event of a sudden immersion. I undid this, and the next second, I tripped on the trailing strap – and went sprawling …. Fortunately, I have a long, long history of such stupidity and was thus able to break my unsightly plunge with both hands. Nevertheless, my knee gave a boulder a good smack which, regrettably hurt me far more than it did the boulder. It was a bit sore, but there was no blood.

Our intention was to hike to the glacier to stand in some snow – and it was quite a hike on a difficult and pebbly terrain. We passed the large (and smelly) Gentoo colony and came to a extensive area of what may well have been glacial moraine. It was a huge expanse of rough, broken rocks. At the far end, the snow of the glacier gleamed brightly white.

After already coming the proverbial “cropper”, I approached this cautiously. Wendy was behind me and a few times I helped her over particularly treacherous climbs and descents. Then, practically at the very last second, when the going had finally eased, there was a cry from behind me and I turned to see Wendy laying dazed on her back. Her hands and, more worryingly, her head were bleeding. We tried, to no avail, to lift her, but she had landed with her head below the level of her feet, so, in the confined space, that was impossible. Ali appeared and assumed control and Szymon rushed over with the medical kit. Luckily, Wendy seemed only a bit dazed, but her ear was bleeding merrily. As I know to my own cost, blood thinners will do that to you !

Even at stressful moments like that, there was humour.

Szymon: Wendy, do you have a tattoo in your ear ?
Wendy: Yes.
Szymon: Thank God !

While Wendy recovered her equilibrium, we walked to the edge of the glacier with Amanda. It was the very leading edge and, therefore, really more of a snowfield. But, there was snow, we were in Antarctica, cameras out !

Ali and the Eva-Marie, the doctor had begun to gently walk Wendy back to the Zodiacs. There was a white snowy patch below the rocks, so Ali suggested that Wendy stand on it for her “snow” photo. Of course, it was not a patch, it was a drift – and Wendy sank into it up to her knees. It really was not her day !

We trekked carefully back through the moraine with only one more small tumble – regrettably by me ! Luckily, grim experience and quick reflexes saved more embarrassment, but if Lucie had been wearing her glasses, she would surely have been looking at me over the top of them.

Wendy got a Zodiac all to herself, a sort of nautical medivac. We had now caught up with Dave, so the four of us proceeded to the far end of the levee where there were, reportedly, several Weddell seals.

It was quite a walk and, on the loose pebble surface, not easy going. But it was so, so, worth it ! The Weddell seals were there, they were close to the path and they were simply beautiful. To be only a few metres from something like that almost stops your breath !

We walked reluctantly back to the Zodiacs for our final ride – and, as we did that, a Humpback whale surfaced in the bay. What a finale !

Back on board, we checked on Wendy. She had three stitches and a big padded bandage. She was a bit embarrassed, but she is from Newcastle upon Tyne and was made of tough stuff. She assured us that she would be at dinner – as that was going to be Wanda’s birthday party. The Plancius had, meanwhile, raised its anchor for the final time. It set off north towards the dreaded Drake’s Passage. Lucie and I leaned on the rail and took a few pictures as the Antarctic faded from sight. It will never fade from our memories.

With the “expedition” part of our trip over, a sort of party fever had gripped the passengers. The bar was busy, with a predictable rise in volume and Ali’s recap was almost drowned out.

There was a short presentation on types of ice by Koen. As I said, never think ice is simply frozen water, It has a whole field of science to itself.

This was followed by a talk on Antarctic colours by Susie. It is not the white wilderness of our imaginations, believe me. Sea water immersion produces a range of blues and greens, but there are other colours too. These are predominantly down to the presence of algae and lichens, so Lucie was happy.

Then, Szymon gave a simply hilarious talk on scientific efforts to determine the psi pressure a penguin had to generate in order to expel its poo the distances it manages. YES, you are reading this correctly ! Obviously, variables, such as poo viscosity, expulsion height and, rather distastefully, anus diameter, all come into play. Unbelievably, the research led to equations being formulated, published and independently verified. If you live in Germany and you wonder where your tax Euros go, now you know !

If you care, the answer is usually 5.7 psi – the tyres on your bicycle are 15 psi.

For those who simply cannot help themselves, you can download the full article here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225635587_Pressures_produced_when_penguins_pooh_-_Calculations_on_avian_defaecation

Dinner was a bit of a riot. Quite a few passengers were drinking and we even had a bottle of sparkling wine at our table !

The gang of six were joined by Wanda’s Chinese cabin mate, Ya Ping, so perhaps the collective noun “gang” was a bit unfortunate. She is, by both nature and ethnicity, inscrutable, so who knows ? I hoped that I was not, as a result, placed on some list in a Beijing police station …..

The main course was a very good rack of lamb. Chinese New Year was a current subject which, as I was born in the year of the sheep, caused a lot of mirth. Then, the cake came for Wanda, accompanied by the usual cavalcade of dancing staff and mass clapping. The chocolate cake was diced and distributed far and wide. Almost everyone on board seemed to know Wanda !

After dinner, there was a short video presentation on the Polar Plunge. Oddly, Dave, who had been by far the most impressive swimmer of all, scarcely figured. It seemed you needed to be young, cowardly and stupid to get lens time. Those who just got in and did it without squealing and frantic protestations were not worth pointing the camera at !

The Plancius was now steaming steadily north. It had left the sheltered waters and we were approaching the delights of the Drake Passage, where would would spend the next two days. The sea was already noticeably rougher.

The expedition proper was over, we hoped the sea-sickness was not about to begin !