You Can't Go Wrong

7 February 2009

It’s odd the things that your memory retains. I studied mandarin for a short time a few years back. I learned how to order food, inquire about public transport, haggle and discuss ones family. We have a small contingent of Taiwanese passengers on this voyage and a large contingent of Japanese. I know my limitations in Japanese. I can’t go wrong with numbers and ‘thank you.’

I was finally in a position to utilise my vast mandarin vocabulary and I found myself at a loss. I googled my brain for certain words and phrases, however, my bablefish stopped working some time ago. So it came to pass that I was determined to use the only phrase I retained. There isn’t much cause for my phrase. I cruise glacier faces, circumnavigate icebergs and point out penguin, seal, bird and whale species and spin the odd yarn while at the tiller of my inflatable cruise ship. So I decided to deploy my entire vocabulary in one hit and exclaimed to my Taiwanese passengers; “I am a country bumpkin” in fluent mandarin. Well there’s nothing like a halting attempt to cross language barriers to make new friends. They thought it was the funniest thing they’d heard and after that there was much mirth and laughter on board even if we couldn’t discuss the finer points of petrel behaviour.

The second day of our crossing of the Drake Passage was the most benign day I’ve ever had on the Drake Passage. The swell from the previous day disappeared entirely and the wind dropped to a whisper. Late in the afternoon the enormous peaks of Smith Island, loomed to our port side. Smith Island is the western outrider of the South Shetland Islands and one of the most spectacular in the island group. The highest summit, Mt Foster, stretches 6900 feet into the heavens straight out of the ocean.

We were accompanied by two Antarctic Petrels for a large part of the second day of our voyage. Apart from the Light-Mantled Sooty Albatross it is my favourite bird of the region. It is a striking bird and the pair of them put on a wonderful aerobatic display. In addition we were accompanied by a number of Wandering Albatross.

The next morning we woke outside Orne Harbour to the sight of huge snowflakes floating silently down. The snow stopped in time for our landing on the continent. Many of us lay down in the snow atop a summit and stared for miles and listened silently to the groans and creaks of glaciers and the calls of Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins echoing around the bays. One lucky zodiac had an encounter with an Orca and three humpbacks turned up for the parade.

Once all were back on board we made for Paradise Bay. Along the way we spied two extremely active Minke whales.

After lunch half of us landed at the Chilean station at Waterboat Point and the other half took to cruising along the glacier front and amongst some deep blue bergs. At the station there is a little museum and a large colony of Gentoo Penguins with the usual accompaniment of opportunistic Skuas and Snowy Sheathbills.

During the landing a tall ship passed by. She is a splendid ship and evokes images of the heroic age of exploration.

After weighing anchor at Waterboat Point we passed through the Errera Channel and the Lemaire Channel heading south to our next destination the Ukrainian Station of Verdansky. We were treated to a staggering display from two humpbacks at the northern end of the Lemaire Channel immediately adjacent to the well-known landmark “Una’s Tits”. The ship’s depth sounder indicated large swathes of krill were in the water. The whales flipped, flopped and fed and on two occasions leaped right out of the water. Once again, another great day in Antarctica.

David Sinclair