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Introduction

My interest in birds and other wildlife began, here in Suffolk, over 30 years ago.

It has taken me all over the UK as well as to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. As well as the birds and other wildlife that I have encountered, the experiences have been about the places themselves and the people I have met along the way.

The one place on Earth that I had wanted to visit more than any other for the last 10 years was Antarctica; my partner, Louise, and I were fortunate to be able to make that trip last December.

In 1993 I saw photographs taken by some friends who had visited Antarctica. I was struck by just how unusual it seemed - quite different from anything I had experienced - and the more I thought about it and read about it, the more fascinated I became.

Whereas the Arctic is essentially frozen sea surrounded by continental landmasses, Antarctica is a huge continental landmass surrounded by the Southern Ocean.

Adelie penguin by Louise Baker

Antarctica is bigger than Australia and it is the coldest, driest, highest and windiest continent on Earth. The winds that blow and the ocean currents that flow, uninterrupted around Antarctica, effectively isolate it from the rest of the planet.

Undiscovered until about 200 years ago, the history of Antarctic exploration includes the heroism of figures such as Scott and Shackleton. Even now, getting there is no minor undertaking.

Stephen recording his audio diary
Many people visiting Antarctica as tourists do so on what are known as expedition cruises. These are on smaller vessels than conventional cruise liners and we chose to travel on such a vessel because its smaller size, with fewer passengers, allows for greater flexibility and more landings ashore. We travelled aboard the Akademik Ioffe, an ice-strengthened Russian acoustic research vessel that was built in 1989.

Like ours, most expedition cruises depart from Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, which is situated in Tierra del Fuego in southern Argentina. Getting there involves flying from Gatwick to Madrid (2 hours) to catch the connecting flight to the international airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina (12 hours), and then travelling across the city to its domestic airport for the flight to Ushuaia (3 hours 50 minutes).

Setting Sail..

Day One - 4th December - Setting Sail

The Beginning of Everything

Anvers Island by Louise Baker

Ushuaia is a city of about 45,000 people lying at a latitude corresponding with northern Scotland and scenically it is similar to the western Highlands, with rugged, snow-capped mountains, extensive forests and great fjords. Being there at the beginning of December meant that the day-length and climate were similar to those of northern Scotland in early June.

Emblazoned on the harbour wall are the words "Ushuaia: the end of the world; the beginning of everything". Having hoped to one day make this trip this somehow seemed to encapsulate our sense of anticipation as the Ioffe slipped her mooring that evening and eased into the Beagle Channel.

The Ioffe is a quiet, warm and comfortable vessel and she is kept in immaculate condition by her Russian crew. Meals are taken in a communal dining hall, which doubles as the lecture theatre, and there is a bar, a lounge and a library. In addition, passengers are allowed access to the ship's bridge and its outside wings, which allow for a commanding view. Access is also permitted to the other decks so there is always somewhere available from which to enjoy the view, take in some fresh air and look out for birds and other wildlife.

Akedemik ioffe by Louise Baker

The first evening saw us sailing east from Ushuaia along the Beagle Channel on our way to the South Atlantic and the notorious Drake Passage, which separates South America from the Antarctic Peninsula. The conditions were calm as we cruised along this stretch of water, with Argentina on our port (left hand) side and Chile on our starboard (right hand) side, but we wondered what the Drake Passage would have in store for us as we settled into our cabin for the night after a lifeboat drill, the introductory talk by our expedition leader, Bill Davis, and the first of many delicious dinners

The Drake Passage..

Day Two - 5th December

The Crossing

For most people, visiting Antarctica involves a sea crossing. The shortest such crossing is from Ushuaia to the Antarctic Peninsula, but even this is over 600 miles (the next shortest is more than twice that distance) and it takes two full days.

This crossing, sailing south past Cape Horn into the Drake Passage, can be one of the roughest in the world and, even though we knew the Ioffe to be one of the most stable expedition cruise ships currently in operation, Louise and I were prepared for the worst.

A "wake up call" over the ship's public address system (which has a speaker in every cabin) heralded the beginning of our first full day at sea and, although the ship was rolling gently, a quick look out of our cabin window revealed a relatively calm sea.

Our cabin, on the port side of the ship, was warm and comfortable with a single bed, a sofa bed, plenty of drawers and cupboards for storage (all with secure latches, in case of rough weather), a writing desk and bookcase, a refrigerator and an en suite shower and WC.

However, expedition cruises are not to be squandered sitting in your cabin when there is a full programme of talks given by the expert expedition staff to attend and the chance to enjoy the birds and other wildlife of the Southern Ocean.

The talks are aimed at giving passengers an insight into what it is that they are about to experience in order that they can get as much as possible out of the trip and they are delivered by the ship's expedition staff, all of whom are very experienced in working in the polar regions, with many being leading experts in their fields.

On the first full day at sea the talks were about the Birds of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, Sir Ernest Shackleton's legendary expedition of 1914/15, Penguins, and Photography in the Antarctic.

Seabirds' mastery of their environment epitomises the Southern Ocean, perhaps none more so than the albatrosses. During the course of the day we saw four species of albatross, including several Wandering Albatross, the longest-winged of all birds with a wingspan of almost 12 feet.

Blue iceberg by Louise Baker

At the other extreme we also saw Wilson's Storm-Petrels, with a much more modest wingspan of 13-16". All of the seabirds of the Southern Ocean, however, are superbly adapted to flying with as little physical effort as possible by riding the air currents.

Late in the afternoon we saw our first whales, two Humpbacks, which appeared at the surface close to the ship on its starboard side. Impressively large, sadly, they disappeared as quickly as they had surfaced, and made off at right angles to our course. Although early in the season, we hoped that we would see others.

The Drake Passage, first icebergs, and first sighting of Antarctica..

Day Three - 6th December

It becomes markedly colder as you cross the Antarctic Convergence (the demarcation between the colder waters of the Antarctic and the warmer waters further north) and we awoke to a sunnier morning with snow on the decks and slightly more sea swell. The temperature, which had been gradually decreasing the previous day, had now dropped below freezing to minus four degrees Celsius.

Talks about Marine Mammals (seals and whales), Living and Working in Antarctica and the History of Antarctic Exploration helped to heighten the sense of excitement as we closed on the Great White Continent. Between the talks (and meals) we continued to revel in our adventure, watching the seabirds, looking out for whales and eagerly awaiting our first icebergs.

Standing on the ship's bridge, her stability was impressive as the winds touched Force nine and occasional waves broke over her bows creating rainbows in the spray. In the afternoon most of the 99 passengers came to watch in amazement as two huge icebergs appeared on the horizon, some 17 miles distant, and grew ever larger as we approached them over the next hour and a half.

When we passed abeam the sheer scale of the icebergs was quite awesome: hundreds of yards long and probably 200 feet high it was like sailing past the precipitous cliffs flanking two white islands.

Camping on ice! By Louise Baker

As we approached the icebergs we were surrounded by large numbers of seabirds including a stunning Southern Giant Petrel of the white form, the all white Snow Petrel, and perhaps as many as four Antarctic Petrels (the much rarer cousin of the Cape Petrels that had accompanied the ship since we entered the Drake Passage).

In the evening we caught sight of the Antarctic for the first time as snow-covered Mount Francais (over 9000 feet) on Anvers Island glowed pink in the low sunlight. Already, it was easy to appreciate that 98% of the Antarctic is covered in ice, and as we came into the lee of the Antarctic Peninsula itself the wind (unusually blowing from the East) dropped and the sea conditions calmed.

The scene was one of tremendous beauty and grandeur and, with no other ships in sight, we had a real sense of privilege to be witnessing it.

Lemaire Channel..

Day Four - 7th December

Anvers Island

An earlier (06:30) wake up call invited passengers to gather on the fore deck for a mug of hot chocolate before breakfast and we rolled up the blackout blind to be confronted by brilliant sunshine, calm sea, and a spectacular landscape of high, rugged, glacier-bound mountains. We had arrived!

Overnight the ship had sailed around the southern side of Anvers Island and was about to enter the southern end of the Lemaire Channel.

Like a natural, icy Corinth Canal, the Lemaire Channel is only navigable by the smaller expedition cruise vessels. Having seen photographs of it in just the sort of "perfect" conditions that we now found ourselves in, it was hard to grasp the reality of what we were experiencing.

We saw our first penguins, a group of about fifteen Gentoos, in the water close to the ship, and then our first "penguin on an iceberg", a lone Adelie.

Although vessels like the Ioffe get you closer to the Antarctic than traditional cruise ships, there is only one way to make a landing ashore: by Zodiac. These small rubber-hulled boats take about a dozen people and are powered by an outboard motor.

Crabeater seal by Louise Baker

You access them down a gangway from the side of the ship and are helped aboard by one of the expedition staff (who drives the Zodiac and acts as your guide) and a crewmember. Lifejackets are provided and must be donned before stepping on to the gangway and worn at all times whilst in the Zodiac.

However, before entering the ship's "mud room" to select a lifejacket in your size, there is the small matter of what to wear to keep out the cold (and possibly sea spray). In my case it was underpants, "Nora Batty" woolly tights, one pair of socks, long johns, another pair of socks, fleece-lined waterproof trousers, a thermal tee-shirt, a thin, long-sleeved roll-neck, a jumper, a fleece, a waterproof coat (with hood), a woolly hat under a fleece-lined lumberjack hat, two pairs of gloves with washing up gloves over the top pair to keep my hands dry, and a pair of wellies.

In addition, sunscreen and sunglasses have to be worn to protect you from the intense sunlight and to prevent sub-blindness. As you can imagine, this highly fashionable outfit, topped-off with a lifejacket, gives you the mobility and elegance of a tortoise walking on its hind legs! Nonetheless, it kept me dry, warm and comfortable and everyone else looked just as comical!

For our first Zodiac cruise, Jacques Sirois, the expedition's French-Canadian bird guide, was our "driver" and he detailed the "man-overboard" procedure before we set off.

Although the sea was calm and the sun was shining, the wind on our faces was cold as we motored through the ice-strewn waters around Plenau Island enjoying the dramatic scenery, including spectacular icebergs, the wealth of birds, and our first Crabeater and Weddell Seals.

Of course, when returning to the ship, you have to shed most of what you put on for the Zodiac cruise otherwise you'd boil, and we soon got into the routine of "rugging-up" and "de-rugging" as the Australians aboard described it.

After lunch, we made our first landing, at the appropriately named Winter Island. Breaking through the sea ice, we landed close to Wordie House, with snowdrifts up to roof apex level, site of the British Faraday Research Station that was abandoned in favour of new buildings on the adjacent Galindez Island in 1954.

We climbed to the top of the gently sloping glacier to take in the view and the peace and quiet. On the way back down to Wordie House we passed a faded wooden sign that proclaims the Island to be "British Crown Land".

Having set foot on terra firma for the first time in two and a half days, it was soon time to re-board the Zodiac for the short trip to the nearby Ukrainian Vernadsky Research Station.

Vernadsky occupies what were the British Faraday Research Station buildings - having been sold to the Ukrainian government by the British government in 1996, for £1 - and the scientists there continue the climatological research started by the British in the 1950s.

Have you paid and displayed?

The British heritage is clear as you walk up to the buildings from the landing site as, attached to the one of the walls of the first building you reach is a Welcome notice board, attached to which are an old-fashioned Bus Stop, a Have You Paid and Displayed? car park sign and a You Are Entering A Neighbourhood Watch Area sign.

Touring the station with one of the scientists we learnt of the measurements that are made on a daily basis of, amongst other things, the extent of the hole in the Earth's ozone layer (which was first discovered here and appears to be getting smaller).

Entirely cut off from direct contact with the rest of the World for up to nine months at a time (including the long, dark Antarctic winter), the scientists undoubtedly enjoy the occasional visits from expedition cruise passengers. There is a bar (complete with billiard table and dartboard) and the World's southernmost souvenir shop.

This was the furthest South we ventured, 1600 miles from the South Pole.

Meeting the Penguins..

Another brilliantly sunny day, and virtually flat calm conditions, saw us back in the Zodiacs for a cruise among the Yalour Islands before landing at our first penguin colony. There were hundreds of Adelies nesting here and, as we were to see elsewhere, and in relation to other species, these birds were nesting on the areas of exposed rock.

Their nests are nothing more than piles of stones and there is quite a bit of heated activity as they steal stones from one another. As in other seabird colonies, each bird's nesting territory is just out of pecking range of its neighbours, so they are pretty closely packed on the small areas of exposed rock that are otherwise surrounded by ice, sometimes hundreds of yards from the shore.

Chinstrap penguin by by Louise Baker

They are highly vocal, too, regularly breaking into loud braying calls as they stand with their bills pointing skywards and with their flippers outstretched. Even this early in the season, the colony smelled like a pig farm with essence of fish!

The birds seemed quite unconcerned by our presence and, whilst we did our utmost to keep a respectful distance from them, they didn't seem to mind walking past us on their way to or from the sea.

The Adelie is one of only two species of penguin that are confined to Antarctica and, at about 2' 4" tall, is one of the smaller species. The head and upperparts, including the uppersides of the flippers, and the upper tail are black and the underparts are white. There are broad white rings around the eyes, the black bill is suffused with red and is relatively short and stubby and the feet are pink.

Of course all penguins are fast and highly manoeuvrable in the water, but on land their waddling gait, with flippers held out as if walking a tightrope, is very comical to watch.

Back aboard the Ioffe lunch was a delicious barbecue served on deck in brilliant sunshine, with members of the crew sporting incongruous Caribbean outfits, as we made our way to Peterman Island. There was a vast majority show of hands for camping on the ice, despite the fact that tents were not involved…

Peterman Island is, quite simply, one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I have ever seen. Even if, heaven forbid, you took away the wildlife, you would still be left with an awe-inspiring experience. Standing on top of the glacier looking across the sound to the impressive, glacier-bound peaks of the Antarctic Peninsula in brilliant sunshine was really to experience the Antarctica of the imagination. The moment demanded turning in a complete circle to take in a view that was, frankly, almost too much to comprehend.

As well as Adelie and Gentoo penguins and Blue-eyed Cormorants, we saw our first Pale-faced Sheathbills here. These birds are the only ones in Antarctica that do not have webbed feet and they live around seabird and seal colonies as non-aggressive scavengers. About the size of a domestic hen, they are completely white, with pink skin around the face and a greyish conical bill, legs and feet. They are only present in Antarctica during the summer, flying back to the South American coast for the winter.

As well as kayaking, one of the activities offered as part of Antarctic cruises on the Ioffe, weather permitting, is camping on the ice. Well, let's face it, you're only likely to have the chance to do something like this once, so, this was definitely not an opportunity to be missed.

After dinner we were taken by Zodiac back to Winter Island, where we were given a "bivy bag", a ground mat, a heavy-duty sleeping bag, a cotton sheet sleeping bag, and a snow shovel. No tent.

Camping on ice with no tent!

We had to dig a shallow rectangular pit in the snow and place the bivy bag (like an outsize sleeping bag made from thin tent fabric) in the pit. The ground mat was to be placed into the bivy bag, the sleeping bag was to be placed into the bivy bag on top of the ground mat and the sheet sleeping bag was to be placed inside the sleeping bag.

We were then shown the "facilities", which consisted of a wall of snow built around a blue barrel. In the event that anyone needed to go to the toilet during the night, that was where they had to go, as it is not permissible to leave waste of any description in Antarctica.

We then set about digging our pits and preparing our "beds" as instructed. Having done so, it was then a question of stripping off to the thermal tee-shirt and long john layer as quickly as possible, getting in, and zipping up the sleeping bag and bivy bag. Despite the temperature being below freezing, within a few minutes I was warm and relatively comfortable and, even though it barely got dark at all, was able to get to sleep.

I woke up at half-past one in the morning. It was no good; I was going to have to use the facilities. Having unzipped the sleeping bag and the bivy bag, I managed to extricate myself from the sheet sleeping bag and pull on my frosted wellies. What a dashing figure I must have cut, stomping across the snow in a tee shirt, long johns and wellies (looking like the "Jesse's Diets" character from The Fast Show).

Louise and I managed to last until half-past five, before getting up, packing our gear and being taken back to the Ioffe by Zodiac, by which time about half the participants were left (the last hardy soul was still sound asleep at 7:30 and had to be woken up).

Landing on the Antarctic Continent proper

Day Six - 9th December

Having returned to the comfort of the Ioffe, the morning was spent at leisure, making our way north through the Lemaire Channel to the aptly named Paradise Harbour.

After lunch we cruised among the brash ice, enjoying close views of the nesting Cape Petrels, Antarctic Terns and Blue-eyed Cormorants, before landing near the abandoned Argentinean Almirante Brown Research Station. The more adventurous passengers climbed to the top of the glacier and tobogganed their way back down the hill to the landing stage, whilst we enjoyed the amazing view of this natural harbour, encircled by the mountains and glaciers, in brilliant sunshine.

On this, out third consecutive day of glorious weather, someone asked one of the expedition staff whether he had ever known it to be so consistently good. He recalled one previous cruise when they had enjoyed four consecutive days of good weather. Would our good fortune continue?

We had superb views of more Gentoo Penguins here, nesting around the landing area, swimming alongside the Zodiac and resting on floating ice. These birds are bigger than the Adelies, standing about 3' tall, and they have a longer, orange-red bill with a dark tip, white marks from above the eyes that just meet on the top of the head, and brighter orange-pink legs and feet. I watched one of the ever-inquisitive Sheathbills fly out across the harbour and land on the ship.

Dinner was interrupted when four Killer Whales, or Orcas (as they are often called), were seen near the ship. I have never seen a dining room with over a hundred people in it empty so quickly as everyone rushed to the bridge and the open decks to see these animals.

Femaler elephant seal by Louise Baker

There were four of them, including a male with its three-foot-high dorsal fin quite close to the ship and they moved slowly from right to left across the bows, close enough to see the yellowish-white markings on their otherwise black bodies.

At up to 27' in length, and weighing up to five-and-a-half tonnes, these animals exude tremendous power, truly befitting their place at the very top of the Antarctic food chain. The yellowish hue to what I was expecting to be white markings is staining caused by diatom algae. Seeing the Killer Whales so well was a fine end to another superb day.

Orne Harbour and whales close enough to touch

Day Seven - 10th December

Another calm day, albeit with high cloud, saw us making our second landing on the Antarctic Continent proper at Orne Harbour, where we climbed the relatively steep-sided glacier to reach the Chinstrap Penguin rookeries on the exposed rocky outcrops.

Intermediate in size and bill length between the Adelies and the Gentoos, the Chinstraps also have rather higher-pitched calls. Unlike the other two species, the black on the heads of these birds was confined to the crown, with the exception of the narrow black band that extends from the nape, down the sides of the face and joins under the chin. This almost makes the birds look as if they're wearing a policeman's helmet, and the name Chinstrap is very apt. Unlike the Adelies and Gentoos, which have dark eyes, the Chinstraps have amber eyes with small black pupils.

These birds are intrepid climbers and we saw them jumping out of the water at the foot of the glacier and then undertaking the long climb up to their nests, several hundred feet up the glacier.

Later, cruising past Spiggot Rock, we saw five Southern Giant Petrels, one of which was feeding on a seal carcass. These birds, the Sheathbills and the Skuas perform an important function, scavenging all sorts of waste.

In the afternoon we set out for another Zodiac cruise in Wilhelmina Bay. We had seen two Antarctic Minke Whales reasonably well from the ship and we hoped to have good views of them from the Zodiac.

There was extensive sea ice in the bay and many huge icebergs and we had not long moved off from the Ioffe when we located the whales. For the next hour and a half they both spent quite a lot of their time investigating the half a dozen Zodiacs arranged in a large ring formation with their engines switched off.

Most views of the whales were obtained when they surfaced to breathe, often close enough to hear the rush of air being expelled through the blowhole. On other occasions the whales would spy hop, which is when they surface almost vertically so as to bring their heads out of the water to see what is going on at the surface.

Most thrillingly, however, on several occasions these great animals passed right underneath our Zodiac, close enough to have scratched them on the back if we'd been able to put our hands in the water. Like the Killer Whales, the pale areas on the Minkes were stained yellow by algae.

Although the Antarctic Minke Whale is one of the smaller baleen whales, i.e. those that feed by filtering krill and small fish from the water, these animals were still about 25' long (the Zodiacs are 18' long) and probably weighed in the region of seven or eight tonnes. To have such a close encounter with these gentle giants was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the cruise and we felt very privileged to have been the object of their harmless curiosity.

The atmosphere at dinner, as the Ioffe steamed north towards the South Shetland Islands, was one of euphoria at our encounter with the Minke Whales and the sense that it had been a fitting finale to our time in Antarctica proper.

The South Shetland Islands lie off the north west of the Antarctic Peninsula and we made our first landing of the day at Half Moon Island. Again, the conditions were very calm, but it was overcast, with light snow falling from time to time as we explored the island. All the usual seabirds were present here, including nesting Kelp Gulls.

We also saw our first Southern Elephant Seal, a female hauled out on the beach below a Chinstrap Penguin rookery, and two Weddell Seals. We often had to stop to give way to Chinstraps as they made their way at a leisurely pace to and from the rookeries on the higher parts of the island.

From Half Moon Island the Ioffe cruised to the Aitcho Islands for what would be our last shore landing.

Having landed, we enjoyed close views of eighteen Southern Elephant Seals, including a huge male who was keeping a close eye on his harem of females.

These animals are a pinkish-brown colour and the males have hugely inflated noses. Elephant Seals are enormous: males may be over 18' in length and weigh over 7000 lbs, whereas females are about a third shorter, though still weighing up to 1600 lbs.

Whilst the Zodiacs were driven to the other side of the island to collect us we took the now customary walk up to the top of the glacier. Among the birds nesting here were Southern Giant Petrels and Subantarctic Skuas as well as several Gentoo and Chinstrap Penguin rookeries.

Once more we took in the spectacular scenery of sheer cliffs, glaciers and icebergs and agreed that this unnamed island in the Aitcho archipelago was as beautiful a place as Peterman Island and Paradise Harbour in the Antarctic Peninsula.

So it was with rather mixed feelings that we climbed on to the Zodiac for the last time and made our way back to the Ioffe. Before climbing the gangway to wash our boots in the "mud room", however, we undertook a leisurely circumnavigation of one of the huge tabular blue icebergs near the ship.

Grounded in 1200' of water the iceberg was easily 200' high and 750 yards in length and breadth. The caves in its cliff-like sides and the clearly visible strata in many shades of blue provided a final opportunity for the photographers to add to their collections of memorable images of this truly amazing wild place.

Drake Passage and Cape Horn..

Days Nine and Ten - 12th and 13th December

Once again, we were blessed with a calm crossing of this most feared stretch of ocean and we reacquainted ourselves with the albatrosses and other seabirds that we had seen on our journey to Antarctica and had rather distant views of three Southern Right Whales.

As well as a talk summarising our experiences during the course of the cruise, which was illustrated with photographs taken by the expedition staff and passengers, we also attended presentations covering the Political influences that have been brought to bear on Antarctica and Conservation of Antarctica and its unique wildlife.

On the tenth day, when the temperature registered above freezing for the first time in a week, there was a very real sense that we had left behind a place that had provided us with unique experiences. Louise and I were in no doubt that this Expedition Cruise to Antarctica had been everything that we had hoped it would be, and much more besides. For me, the fulfilment of this long-held ambition had not disappointed in any way.

As we crossed from the West to the East, from the Pacific in to the Atlantic, to round Cape Horn the conditions could not have been kinder, with warm sunshine, a light breeze and a calm sea.

Four Sei Whales off the port side of the ship gave us our fifth species of whale, and six Rockhopper Penguins swimming in the sea off Cape Horn were our fourth species of penguin. Northern Giant Petrel was also added to our tally of bird species and as we made our way north towards the Beagle Channel two Dusky Dolphins raced towards the Ioffe and played in her bow wave for several minutes.

As we anchored at the mouth of the Beagle Channel on the evening of 13th December there was a dramatically leaden sky inland, split by a spectacular rainbow. After the storm clouds cleared there was a stunning fiery sunset: a fitting end to what had been a thrilling, awe-inspiring, humbling and hugely enjoyable adventure.