We are traveling on a National Geographic – Lindblad cruise to Antarctica. Our ship is named the National Geographic Endurance. That is the same name as Ernest Shacklton’s ill-fated ship that was trapped and sank in the Antarctic ice in 1915. Miraculously, his entire crew survived. I hope that we will have a more successful voyage.
We expect the cruise to be very safe. It’s no longer the era of crazy individuals who had difficult expeditions and then decided to do it over and over again.
Purpose-built for polar navigation, the Endurance is an ice-class Polar Code PC5 (Category A) vessel. A “Polar Class 5” rating indicates that a ship is capable of operating year-round in medium first-year ice, which may include some older ice chunks,
The ship has an X-Bow design, which is an inverted version of a standard bow. The X-Bow’s shape was inspired by the head of an orca. It reduces noise and vibrations, and provides a smoother ride in rough seas. The X-bow also allows for better forward and straight-down views and doesn’t spray water on the decks.
We have a capacity of 138 passengers. My unscientific survey says that most people on the ship are Americans, but also a few from Australia, Canada, Britain, and other countries.
This ship sails year round. It moves between the Arctic and Antarctic with cruises at points in between such as the Azores and Galapagos.
We did the safety drill. They have four lifeboats that each carry 60 people, more than enough for the passengers and crew.
We’re currently riding on swells about 6-feet high. They are using the term “Drake Lake” today instead of “Drake Shake”. Our expedition leader says that it is smoother today than expected, and it should be even calmer tomorrow as we get further south. Even with calm seas, there is enough movement on the ship that I have to be careful not to fall down as I stagger around. They say, “One hand for whatever you’re carrying and one hand for the ship.”
The captain said that we are a day ahead of a weather depression, actually we’re between depressions – perfect timing. Skies are mostly overcast. Light rain falls occasionally.
My Fitbit watch detected no sleep last night, I guess because of the movement.
The ship is moving at a speed of 15 knots (about 17 miles per hour) using 3 of 4 engines at near maximum speed each.
There are two guaranteed stops – one we just left in Ushuaia and the other when we return. Everything else is a “maybe” depending on the weather and ice conditions.
When we reach the Antarctic Peninsula, we will sail through Marguerite Bay and continue south. Our actual planned first destination two days from now is Horseshoe Island. See if you can find it on a map.
We will spend six days in Antarctica. We expect to pass the Antarctic Circle which is at 66º30′ south latitude. It is only possible for this ship to go that far south at the end of the summer season when some of the ice has melted.
At 11:00am today we have progressed to the point below
Google Maps location doesn’t work well down here. It still thinks I’m in Ushuaia.
This ship was built in Norway in 2020. It flies under the flag of the Bahamas. The Endurance feels brand new. Everything is in good working order. It is exceptionally clean.
We have door locks and key cards that operate in double taps. One tap to unlock the door and a second to lock the door. I didn’t understand this at first. I closed the door and walked away without tapping, leaving the door unlocked. When I returned, I had to tap the card twice because unbeknownst to me the first tap locked the door.
I also like the Elkay water bottle fillers. They fill a bottle super fast in less than five seconds.
The ship never feels crowded. Any lines are always short and fast-moving. There are always open seats in the restaurant and space at the railing for wildlife sightings.
Shipboard Wi-Fi works well and is fast, except for the few times that it doesn’t work at all. The Internet signal is provided by Starlink. Basic Wi-Fi (email and social media access) is included with the cost of the cruise. I purchased an upgraded package for Internet browsing and sharing large files.
Like all of the Lindblad fleet, they are using a disinfection technology called “Purity Now.” It is a combination of two synergistic products, ACT CleanCoat and ACT ECA System. Tests have demonstrated that when ACT CleanCoat is applied to surfaces (sprayed on), they become self-disinfecting and decompose microbes like bacteria, viruses, airborne mold spores, and volatile organic compounds. This process actually purifies the air. During the 1-year trial, guest-reported illness dropped by 50%. They’ve also reduced water usage fleetwide by approximately 1.1 million gallons annually.
We’ve had a couple of humorous dessert snafus. At lunch the waiter asked if we wanted vanilla and chocolate ice cream mixed. We thought he meant combined like a swirl and told him “no.” He brought the flavors in separate glasses.
At dinner a different waiter announced to our table that dessert was a hazelnut cake with vanilla ice cream, but said that we could have other ice cream flavors. We told him which flavor we wanted, and then he brought most of us ice cream only. Edward had been the only person smart enough to say that he wanted cake, too. The rest of us just assumed …
We have presentations every few hours in the Ice Lounge. The first one was about photography. I learned about selecting a specific zoom vs pinch zooming when I take a photo. There are several dozen 4-foot screens so everyone can see the videos.
This is an expedition ship, so we have no large swimming pools, water slides or Broadway-type entertainment. However, I encountered some unusual things that I have never seen on a ship.
Any passenger can walk onto the Bridge at any time, unannounced, 24 hours per day.
Our captain is Aaron Wood. He has been sailing for 25 years and captain with Lindlad for the last 8 years. Captain Wood joined his first ship, a cargo ship, at age 16. Each Lindlad ship has two assigned captains, but only one works at a time. The captains work 2 to 3 months onboard then take 2 to 3 months vacation. They rotate seasons of working from one year to the next.
This expedition ship has two crews, one that runs the ship, prepares and serves food, cleans the cabins and, takes care of our onboard needs. The ship’s doctor’s name is Brenda. The other crew is an expedition team that will take us out in small boats called zodiacs and onto the ice and manage our interaction with Antarctica. They will teach us about the environment here including the ice and the animals – birds, whales, etc. These crew members circulate among us and are friendly.
This season is great for humpback whales, as the ice is breaking up. They tell us that we will see molting penguins but maybe not big groups of them.
In the afternoon we sailed past a group of longfin pilot whales. These whales grow up to 25 feet long and weigh as much as 5,000 pounds. They can dive to 600 to 700 meters to feed, and then surface every 5 minutes to breathe. The whales exhibit white spots. They feed mostly on squid. Females are in charge of the group. Pilot whales live 40 to 60 years.
A group of long-finned pilot whales is called a pod. These pods are often made up of 10 to 20 whales, but can range in size from a few individuals to over a thousand. Scientists only use the term “pod” for a group of whales that are related and have a social structure.
A naturalist showed us a zoomed-in photo that showed a black mark on a pilot whale about the size of a hand. He said that it was a healed bite from the round mouth of a cookiecutter shark. The name “cookiecutter shark” refers to its feeding method of gouging round plugs, as if cut out with a cookie cutter, out of larger animals.
In the early evening our captain said that the fog we are now seeing is the result of the coming together of South American and Antarctic weather systems. As you cross the Drake Passage from Ushuaia you will notice a sudden drop in temperature about one day into your trip. This dramatic temperature drop applies to both the air temperature and the sea temperature. It is a sign that we are headed south.
You might have heard news stories about the world’s largest iceberg, A23, that broke loose in 1986. This iceberg is twice the size of London. It got stuck on the seafloor and then trapped in an ocean vortex or whirlpool. It’s now headed toward South Georgia island in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is certainly not a danger to our ship.
Seabirds of the Southern Ocean
To identify birds the naturalist recommends starting at the beak. He said that they also use the Merlin app to identify birds by sound.
The snowy albatross spends years at sea. It has the largest wingspan of any living bird reaching upwards of 11 feet. It can live over 60 years.
There are other types of albatrosses: wandering, black-browed, grey-headed (only 6 1/2 feet wing-span), light-mantled. In seabirds you don’t see much difference in plumage male vs. female.
The Cape petrel looks like a flying piano keyboard. The word petrel means “little peter” for the apostle Peter who walked on water. Petrels look like they are dancing on the water as they feed.
Southern fulmars digest food in a second stomach and regurgitate it for their chicks. A chick can double in weight in a night if they are being fed by both parents.
Hunting, plastic pollution, predators, and climate change are killing off the birds. We have lost 30 to 65% of the birds over the past 50 years. This is a worldwide phenomenon.
The only species of gull down here is the Kelp Gull. They’ll feed on almost anything.
Skua fill the role of raptors. They eat other birds’ eggs and steal their food. This is a dark bird with white flashes on the wing.
The chances are pretty slim that we will see an Antarctic tern because they already have started migrating north. Some terns can fly almost pole to pole. Why do most animals migrate? They are following the food.
Round or Flat
I asked our captain about round vs. flat earth. He said that ALL of the principles of navigation are based on the round earth. He stated that our world is definitely not flat. South of the Antarctic Circle, during the middle of the southern hemisphere summer, the sun stays up 24 hours a day and goes in a virtual circle in the sky just above the horizon. I have seen that same phenomenon in northern Norway in July. This behavior is due to the tilt of the earth’s axis toward and away from the sun depending on the time of year.
I have personally left home and traveled continually to the east until I arrived home again. So I proved to myself that the earth is round.
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