Well – we are actually on board the Fram and on our way! Unfortunately the Wi-Fi is not brilliant on the ship so there will only be occasional photos and I will have to reduce the quality.
There is a gap of a day because I could not get Internet access until Tuesday. So – this is being uploaded on Tuesday 18th…
Monday morning we were up at 5.00 for early breakfast before leaving for the small internal airport. When we got down to the lobby there were 100 people who seem to have arrived from nowhere! All nationalities are represented. The flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia took 4 hours and the plane was packed – all with people on the trip (including some crew).
On arrival we were taken on a tour of the Tierra del Fuego National Park – and posted a card from the Post Office at the ‘end of the world’. Saw our first birds – unfortunately we don’t know what they are (need help from out friend Carl Chapman!). There was a yellow finch, an ibis and some geese (Upland and Ashy-headed we now think).
Then, off to the dockside to meet up with the MS Fram. She looks comfortingly big – though she is small in terms of cruise ships. Some security to go through as we embark and then to cabin 317. In estate agent speak it is ‘neat’ – but well-organised and comfortable. Rocky the penguin sits looking out of the porthole – pining for the ice. We had a chance to wander around the ship to get our bearings before the all-important safety briefing – everyone seemed to be paying more attention than they do on an aeroplane!
After our first meal on board we all met with the captain and his staff and then were introduced to the 10 or so ‘experts’ (ornithologists, geologists, photographers…) who will make this trip such a good learning experience.
Unpacking was done carefully with everything stored away – very shipshape. We have promised ourselves that we will be very tidy. Indeed, if we exist in this space for 2 weeks we may cancel our home extension plans.
The weather is unbelievable. Monday evening was balmy and sunny; today, Tuesday, is cloudier but the wind is just a breeze and the sea is flat calm. You would get more seasick walking across the Tyne Bridge. I would love to regale you with stories of 40 foot waves and being lashed to the mast to stop being thrown overboard but it is not the case. We are happy to have settled tummies and no drama!
At breakfast, after a reasonable night’s sleep, we saw our first penguins – just brief glimpses of some rockhoppers swimming by the boat. Tomorrow, on the Falkland Islands we will get very close to a good number of birds. Later we captured our first decent bird photographs – see below. We know what it is – but do you? You will have to check Carl’s comments, which I am confident he will make on the blog.
We also attended lectures which were to help prepare us for our first landings tomorrow (Wednesday). We will be using the Polar Cirkel boats (just 8 people at a time) as we visit two of the outlying Falkland Islands. We are promised albatross, cormorant and penguin colonies and many other birds as well.
Another task was to get fitted with our special rubber boots which we have to wear when setting foot on Antarctica later in the trip. We were issued with our weather proof jackets yesterday. In future we will be out bird watching looking like Tweedledum and Tweedledee in our matching gear…
So – it is mid-afternoon on Tuesday and we are off to the Internet Café to see if we can load this up. Hopefully it will be successful and you can continue to follow our adventure.
Adult Dark Morph Southern Giant Petrel - cracking shot. If you send/publish photos of the birds seen on Tierra del Fuego I'll take a look at them for you but perhaps the experts on board will help if the internet connection is not as good as you would like. As a blind guess the Ibis is probably a Black faced, The Geese could be Ashy headed, Kelp or perhaps Upland. You have a choice of Yelow Patagonian or Yellow bridled for the finch.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're having a great time.