Voice Report from Bill Adler in Antarctica

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[Ed Note: Bill Adler is a NowPublic Guest Editor. He is currently on a voyage to Antarctica; these are his voicereports].

29.11.07 

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This is Bill Adler calling from the Academic Shikowsky in Antarctica. I thought I'd describe a little today what life aboard the ship is like. I've been giving reports about the weather, about the things we've seen, but not about the daily life. Our day can begin anywhere from 5am until 630am when we are woken up, we have breakfast in the ships dining room, and although a little cramped, quite spacious, the seats are bolted down, of course. After breakfast, we may have a landing - which means we'll have to go to ashore to one of the outlying continents at about 8 or 9 am. And to do that we'll done our water proof pants, our water proof boots, our Arctic parka, and any layers on. And life jackets of course. To get ashore we take a zodiac boat which is an inflatable boat with a hard bottom. It can actually push aside ice pretty well, only small pieces of ice though. We walk down the gangway, on to the boat and head ashore. Oh i forgot, before we head ashore we decontaminant our boots by putting them through a chemical wash to be sure that we don't bring ashore any foreign material. and the same thing on the way back. The islands we visit are populated heavily by [unclear] today in fact we saw quite a few penguins, so we'll then go ashore anywhere from an hour to three hours depending on the environment and the weather. Yesterday we hiked up a couple of glaciers. Today we walked around an island and saw a lot of penguins, which we hadn't really seen much before. Then we'll get back aboard the zodiac [unclear]. Remove all of our layers, then it's time for a meal and if the boat isn't rocking too heavily then we'll all enjoy that.

Maybe have another hour or two before the ship moves to another position. And then we'll visit land again seeing new sites, new places to climb up and to view. There might be a third landing, depending on the day. If the day begins at 5am then there certainly will be [unclear].

The evenings [unclear] which are also small and then after dinner or sometimes before dinner we'll have a daily briefing to discuss where we've been and what we are doing tomorrow. Tonight in fact a number of us will be going camping on the continent which will be quite a treat and a tremendous experience. And then after that the evening winds down maybe around 1030 or 11 o'clock then people try to sleep. It doesn't get[dark] here at all this time of year, the sun does set but it never gets dark. It's a comfortable ship. As i mentioned in an earlier report the Academic Shikowsky is one of the smaller ships and everyone here gets a long - wonderful people from around the world.

If you are going to visit Antarctica a smaller ship is definitely the way to go. You get a shore more often, only 100 people are allowed ashore at once so we all go together, you get to visit more places and it's simply a closer experience.

I hope to call in later today. This is Bill Alder from Antarctica.
 

28.11.07 

Report #9 

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This is Bill Adler calling from the deck of the academic shikowsky we're in Antarctica where we've been for several days. It is 9 o'clock in the evening and it's very light and it will be this way until about 1 o'clock in the morning and will get light again at about 3 o'clock in the morning. And instead of talking today I'm going to put on some of the passengers who are going to introduce themselves, their names, where they are from, and talk a little about what it's like to be on a vessel on the way to Antarctica and what it's like to be in Antarctica.

I'm from Perth in Australia. Yes, I'm here with Bill, I'm just sitting on the deck. It's 8:22. It's just amazing, it's very bright, oh we've got the PA thing happening. And we think we've seen some whales - I haven't seen a whale - it's my birthday today so they are putting in a special effort and they put on a cake and we've got a BBQ. It's just great, it's the best birthday I've had in a long time. And there are lots of penguins porposing past, porposing is like jumping in and out like a porpoise, and they are very cute because when it is very clear near the shore you actually see the white stripes dashing under the water it is very very cute. They are the cutest little birds.

I'll put you on with [unclear]. Hi this is Peter Crab (?) from Australia. Once again, here on the deck in Antarctica, it's just an amazing experience the weather today has gone to blue sky absolutely calm weather, the reflection off the cliffs - the glaciers coming down the side, ice burgs floating around us, penguins jumping past, a couple of whales have just gone past, I'm just blown away from being down here. I'd recommend it to anyone. I'll pass you back...yeah come down.

This is Bill Adler again, we had a wonderful evening. My first BBQ in Antarctica, something you'd never imagine. We woke up at 5am this morning to do some hiking on a glacier, which was nice but we all could have used some extra sleep. Tomorrow I'm sure will be as exciting as today. Well this is good bye from Antarctica. 

Report #8 

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This is Bill Adler calling from the deck of the Academic Shikosky in Antarctica. Today was perhaps the most exciting day in Antarctica, even though we got up at 5am and it had been light since about 230 in the morning none of us minded as we actually made landfall on the continent for the first time. We had been on the outlying island before.

We hiked a glacier which was stupendous, the views the mountains, the ice, colonies of penguins. This is the nesting season for them. Watching them on their nests with their eggs was just spectacular. We are currently sailing through a place called Paradise Cove. There is floating ice around us, medium and small pieces and a couple of large ice burgs.  We're surrounded by ice covered mountains, water is nice and calm which is always pleasant. It's actually a little sunny here, something we haven't seen much of.  We are looking forward to another adventure I'm sure very soon.
 

27.11.07 

Report #7

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This is Bill Adler reporting from the Academaic Shikowsky. We are off the coast of Antarctica after the storm has passed. Everyone is smiling, it's smiling today, it's sunny today. I thought I'd put on some of the other passengers today that can talk a little about their experiences and what they've seen as well. So I'm going to pass the phone and they can say their names, where they are from and how they've enjoyed it. Hanaha Tell (sp?) from Bristol in England, Patrick Man, I am Hanah's husband we live in London, This is Zack Taylor, from Jackson Mississippi in America, we've been having a wonderful time we are surrounded by the ice and the sea, last night we got to some [unclear] around the ship around 11 0'clock at night we were able to walk out and see that because it stays fairly light up until that point it gets lighter as we go further south. We've seen a lot of wild life, lots of penguins off the deck, off the sides, and it's been a really incredible experience.

This is Patrick and Hanah again. We got married about 9 days ago we have come on this trip on our honeymoon. So far it's been an amazing experience, it was rough through the passage but thankfully that's behind us now. We've just today for the first time reached the Antarctic Peninsula. This morning we had a lovely 2 hour cruise on a small inflatable boat around a harbour where we saw some glaciers and small icebergs. There were some penguins nesting [unclear] it's just been a beautiful and unusual environment for us to experience.

[unclear] the view is amazing [unclear] the weather is very calm and you can see for miles.

That's about it for now, I'll put some more passengers on later. Looks like it's going to be nice weather for a couple days but you can't really tell as the weather comes quickly. But today everyone is smiling - which is a good sign.

Report #6

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This is Bill Adler aboard the Academic Shikowsky. We are almost at Deception Island but we are not going to make landfall today. The wind speed has picked up it is an estimated 67 mph, a very significant gale. [unclear - phone cuts out]. 

26.11.07

Report #5

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This is Bill Adler. I'm calling from the deck of the Academic
Shikowsky. We are off Deception Island, we were supposed to make
landing today but we probably wont because we are the middle of a huge
wind storm [unclear], winds are between 35 mph to 40 mph with gusts up
to 50 mph. We need to be able to pass through an opening of about 200
meters wide called Neptune [unclear] in order to make land fall, but
the winds are very strong and the sea swells is so significant that
chances are, we won't be able to do that.



The Deception Islands are part of the South Shetland Islands just off
the coast of art Antarctica which we were positioned. This morning We
did make land fall, another part of Shetland Islands which was actually
quite [unclear] we to leave because of the approaching storm but we
were able to see elephant seals and chin strap penguins. The penguins 
would slowly walk to the beach, where they would pick up a pebble.
Bring the pebble back every time, because they are nesting. And, this
is what the chin straps do all day long.



In any event, we are gonna stay here off the coast of Deception Islands
for a little while and we will finally decide if we are gonna be able
to make it through, and I'm going to go back in side because the wind,
and freezing rain and snow makes it too cold to stay out much longer.

Report #4

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This is Bill Alder reporting from the bow of the Academic Shikowsky. We've just had two sightings, the first sighting of land - the South Shetland island or at least part of them are in view. The crew and the passengers are ecstatic that we're soon going to be somehwere that is not moving. And we just had the first sighting of the ship's doctor in 24 hrs no body appears as immune from sea sickness which has been quite a common occurrence on this trip.

We are not too far where the Explorer sank a few days ago and as a result of that tragedy we paid a lot of attention to the lifeboat drill, usually those are the type of the things you just go to and smile and don't think about much. But since we had our lifeboat drill just two days after the explorer sank everyone paid attention.

Well there are the South Shetland Islands and it is very nice to see land finally. Hopefully we will ve on land in a few hours where we can approach part of the island with the zodiac craft. This is Bill Adler.

Report #3

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This is Bill Adler calling again from the Academic Shikowsky we're just several hours now from Antarctica. We just had our pre Antarctic safety and ecology briefing. The ecology briefing to help protect the continent including things like watching out for [unclear].The safety briefing it is a dangerous place with glaciers, seals that will bite you if you get too close and other interesting and hidden dangers. I thought maybe I'd mentioned a little bit about this boat. It is one of the smallest boats you can take to Antarctica. There are 46 passengers on board boat has 6 levels, 3 for accommodations, 3 for operations, it is Spartan but comfortable boat. The cabins are tiny they are shared with a  few single rooms. There is [unclear] a dining hall, you have to admire the kitchen staff who not only serve in high seas but cook in high seas. The crew is Russian, the passengers are from all over the world, Sweden, Netherlands, united states, Scotland, Australia, and the UK, to name some countries. Everyone is here with the same idea which is to see Antarctica to experience what we haven't experienced before, tourism to Antarctica has increased in the past years. And this year a projected 28K visitors will come to Antarctica. right now we are still in the drake passage. we should be leaving this part which is rough soon and entering in to the arctic waters. right now there is horizontal sleet which is blowing across the deck on which I'm standing. Not the most comfortable condition in the world but you have to be outside for the satellite phone to work. That's all for now.

Report #2

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This is Bill Adler again, calling once more from the deck of the Academic Shikowsky, where it's cold windy and the waves are high. I'm standing here with Andrew Nicholson, one of the passengers, who I'm going to put on. And he's going to have the sat-phone and give some of his impressions of the voyage.

Hello this Andrew Nicholson, I'm just looking out on to the southern ocean, where you can just see nothingness, remoteness, the absolute horizon, the waves, dark blue of the ocean the fantastic sea birds, petrels  are here to accompany us. But other than that there is a feeling of remoteness and vastness as we are the only vessel on the ocean as far as we can see, there is nothing else here except for the waves rolling past us and the grayness of the sky meeting the sea. There is a fantastic sense of being at the bottom of the world of being remote and out of touch with everything else, that sense of being close to nature, a slightly scary sense of being so close to nature - knowing that you are very far from land and isolated on this little steel drum of a boat that rolls significantly in the swell almost like a pendulum but obviously this boat has done this trip before and there is a sense of confidence there in the background. I just want say this is a fantastic experience and I've always wanted to go to Antarctica and see this and it's really lived up to expectations. The vastness and just being really close to the elements.

This is Bill again we will call again when we reach Antarctica as everyone is looking forward to making landfall.

Report #1

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This is Bill Adler calling from the deck of the Academic Shikawsky enroute to Antarctica - this is day 3 of our voyage and it's certainly a long way from there to here. It's a good ship to travel on to Antarctica, it'sone of the smaller vessels that travels from the southern tip of Argentina to Antarcitca. The advantage of a smaller ship is that you get to know the crew the other passengers better than on a bigger ship. The disadvantage is that when you travel through the passage you understand why it's such a rough sea. It's been a quiet trip so far. Most of the other passengers have been, for lack of a better term, lying down for a portion of the trip. But the truth is it's exciting nonetheless. We've been followed by the albatross for most of the journey through the strait. Last night at about 10pm local time we saw our first iceberg. Usually you don't spot them that far north of Antarctica. We expect to make landfall at about 4pm this evening local time, which will be exciting. I think everyone here is looking forward to spending the night at a place with little or no motion. This is Bill Adler, I'll call again from Antarctica.