Heading to Antarctica

"In the Wake of Scott and Shackleton" 

Voyage #1471 on Spirit of Enderby / Professor Khromov

11 January - 8 February 2014

  This blog is an edited version of the Expedition Log written and circulated to all passengers by our historian, Dr David Harrowfield, since I lost my own diary I had written on my IPad. I have chosen to keep in some of the extra historical details for the record, and descriptions of our meals since David did enjoy his food, and others may be interested.

(The course dotted line is the Sun-tropical Convergence; the fine dotted line is the Antarctic Convergence, where the water temperature drops several degrees)

Days 1-2. Saturday 11; Sunday 12 January – Invercargill, Bluff, the ship and crew 

Noon position: Latitude 46^o36’South; Longitude 168^o.31’East; Air temperature: 14^oC. Intermittent sunshine and light rain during day.

Our  point of departure for the Ross Sea in Antarctica was the southern-most city of NZ, Invercargill. We flew in from Tasmania the night before to stay at the Kelvin Hotel where we had a dinner and introduction to some of the crew (but  most were having R&R since the ship had only arrived back that morning from its previous expedition) and the passengers.

About all Invercargill has to offer is a lovely Queens Park and Museum with a good display on the Sub-Antarctic Islands including some birds in aviaries and a live Tuatara. This lizard is really a small dinosaur that is a master at camouflage, being almost impossible to see when it sits unblinkingly immobile. Some visitors were able to touch Gunther and were surprised how soft the leathery looking skin and spines along the top of his back felt. The oldest Tuatara in the Museum is estimated to be over 110 years of age and has a vicious bite that could take off a finger.

After lunch we headed further south to the Port of Bluff (see photo) to board our ship.

Our ship, Professor Khromov was named after a Russian meteorologist since the ship was built as a Meteorological Research/Expedition vessel. Heritage Expeditions renamed it Spirit of Enderby after an early sealer/coloniser of NZ Sub-Antarctic Islands. It was full-up with 48 passengers and about 50 staff and Russian crew. It was comfortable without being luxurious, and the two (NZ and Aussie) chefs fed us very well.

Looking down from level 600 onto the aft deck with the life rafts. 

Captain Dimitry Zinchenko: a very dour Russian with a droopy orange moustache who never spoke and I only saw him smile once.

Our Expedition team:

Rodney Russ (Expedition Leader; coordinator lectures and landings; Zodiac Driver). From NZ, he has been doing these trip for about 15 years so was very experienced and knowledgeable.

Agnès Brenière (Cruise Director; her dulcet tones were our wake-up call: ‘Good morning, Good morning, breakfast will be served in fifteen minutes….’ and Zodiac driver).

Samuel Blanc (Lecturer - birds; expedition DVD; Zodiac driver) –he and Agnes were lovely French couple.  Samual was an excellent lecturer. After their trips they travel around Europe lecturing about their trips to support themselves.

Trudie Baker; (NZ Government Representative, Department of Conservation), friendly New Zealander.

Dr Eric Tan (Expedition Medical Adviser/photographer (His Antarctic trip not on there yet); Australian Singaporean, He travels the world working as expedition doctor so that he can photograph more birds with his canon-sized Cannon.. (see his past photos at www.mountainsbeyond.org ; photos from this expedition to be added soon).

Ekaterina (Katya) Ovsyanikova (Lecturer- Marine biologist; compiler bird and mammal species log; Zodiac driver); young Russian woman from Wrangle Is. Not the most  friendly guide so I was pleased to hear she is moving on to do her PhD in NZ on Orcas (killer whales).

Dr David Harrowfield (Lecturer - History; compiler of expedition log; on-shore historic site interpretation). Recently retired, very passionate about Antarctic discovery history so quite inspiring although he gave quite boring, old-school-style  lectures. The best parts were his anecdotes about how he weasled various historical artefacts away from their owners! I hate to think what his house looks like since even pieces of broken boards or empty rusty tin cans of pemmican were considered valuable artefacts.

Chefs Michael and Bruce with Russian waitresses Natalia (very motherly, with not much English but good on sign language and willing to help us learn  Russian; she sent ailing Frenchman Samuel to bed simply by saying: “You, bed!” ) and Zoya, a very plain Russian girl with no English but a bright smile when she wasn’t feeling seasick..

Passengers: Majority New Zealanders, about 10 Aussies, four Brits, an Irishman and two American women. Most were middle-aged or retired with one young English girl accompanying her father and a couple of younger couples.  Not a great party set although the Happy Hours before dinner were well attended in the Saloon/Library.

 The library had an extensive collection of history and bird books but almost nothing on the plants of the sub-Antarctic Islands or the marine life except the marine mammals. It was the only other place on the ship to sit and read or enjoy tea and coffee apart from our cabins. Too cold on deck except for short periods when well-rugged up.! The other place we spent time outside our cabins was the Bridge, where we could check the charts for our location (latitude and longitude) as well as the air temperature, weather forecasts, but mainly to watch the waves breaking over the bow, and for bird and whale spotting. There were always some birds swooping around the ship, souring up and down the wave crests. There was usually one of the bird experts (crew or passengers) there who could help identify the albatross (sooty, black browed, white capped, Royal, Wandering, Campbell’s, etc.) or the petrels (Giant, Cape, snow, Antarctic, storm etc.) and every evening Katya recorded all the sightings of the day. The challenge was to try to get a good look at the birds with binoculars, or a photograph as the birds swooped and soured around the ship, or the whales that surfaced briefly to blow and show a dorsal fin. Even though the crew kept the windows very clean, for the best photos we had to step outside the Bridge on to the deck, but could not stay out long.

After boarding the ship and finding our cabins, (ours on the 4^th deck with a small window, two lower bunks and ensuite) Expedition leader Rodney welcomed us and introduced staff. We cast off on schedule at 4.30. It was interesting to see the Bosun (Yuri) and crew working at the bow including putting in a case, the ship’s bell. Two Pilots guided us out of the Port. As soon as we put our nose out into the Southern ocean the huge seas hit us, tossing around like a cork the little Pilot Boat following us, making it difficult to get the Pilots off the ship..

For our lifeboat drill, where we actually had to board our allocated life boat on deck, we sheltered behind some islands, We then enjoyed the first of our magnificent dinners, with baked salmon or venison stew, roast vegetables or salad served. Course was set at 9pm for the Snares Islands where we hoped to arrive about 7am. To Starboard the coast of Stewart Island was visible through mist and steady rain. This evening some New Zealand Fur Seals were seen and bird life included Cape Petrels; Stewart Island Shags; Sooty Shearwaters and a Royal Albatross. With sea conditions expected to be a little rough, we were advised to retire early in preparation for an interesting morning.