Christmas & Boxing Day in Antarctica

On Christmas Day we took a really enjoyable zodiac cruise along the side of some thick sea ice. It was as though the penguins had an underwater trampoline. One second there was nothing, the next second there was a penguin 4 feet in the air landing on the ice. It was hilarious to watch. Our EL who was dressed from head to toe in red (including festive Santa hat) decided that we should disembark onto the ice... once she had determined that it wasn´t going to collapse under us.

Antarctica is similar to Galapagos in that the penguins have no fear of humans. They will come right up to you (no one has told them about the 5 meter rule). It felt really special to be out standing on a vast plane of ice, surrounded by penguins, on Antarctica, on Christmas Day. That´s one for when we´re grey & wrinkly.

Back on the Ioffe the captain had filled the large outdoor plunge pool with water from the surrounding Weddell Sea, i.e. icy cold, and invited anyone brave enough (or stupid enough depending on your perspective) to jump in and submerge themselves in Antarctic waters on Christmas Day. Who could resist? Well, quite a few as it turns out. Claire was going to do it but chickened out at the last minute. In the end only about 15 of the 100 passengers chose to do the plunge. We were presented with a special certificate stating:

"This Certificate is awarded to David Barry in order to honour the adventurous spirit that inspired you to immerse your body and soul into the icy waters of the Antarctic".

Oh, and in case you´re wondering, yes, it was bleedin´ freezing. Then it was time for a slap-up turkey dinner. Ok, it was nothing to compare to the one we prepare back home but hey, I guess turkeys aren´t as plentiful in Antarctica....at least I think it was turkey. After dinner we retired to the bar (& joined in a Christmas Carol sing along) where James, the 6 foot 3 inch Welsh on board videographer, was completely smashed. His brain was MIA so whatever came into his mind to say he would just say without that "is this an appropriate thing for me to say or not" stage kicking in. I won´t quote him here as there may be some minors reading this but suffice to say it was rich in dockland humour. Great guy, great craic. For our part we were pretty sedate. We enjoyed some drinks with our aforementioned friends, Claire had a bit of a boogie on the dance floor and we hit the sack around 2am.

We headed south through the Weddell Sea until just before 64th parallel ie 64oC South, where we were prevented from going any further by thick pack ice. Not wishing to reinact the voyage of the Endurance we turned the ship around & headed for Devil Island just a little further North. Here again we had a really great landing. The weather was clear, dry and sunny. There were penguins everywhere and lots of hiking options available also.

Remembering his childhood days of watching "Marys Make & Do" Dave had made a makeshift Irish flag from the back of a cornflakes box and needless to say, had to take himself off to the highest peak, in order to claim rightful ownership for Ireland. If you´re ever in the area feel free to stop by.

Dave got some great video footage of the penguins here too. You are supposed to stay back five meters so when he saw a procession of them coming his way he placed the camera on the ground, recording, and stepped back a safe distance. The penguins proceeded to walk straight passed the camera lens. It´s fab.

At this stage of our trip we were constantly seeing huge tabular icebergs. Colossal slabs of ice cut in almost perfect squares and completely flat on top. Some were a few kilometers long!!


Tabular Iceberg








More Tabular Icebergs...

More Tabular Icebergs
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A lonley Chinstrap!

Is it a bird, is it a plane... no it´s a flying penguin!

Xmas day, we land on sea ice!




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Gentoo Penguin










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Follow the leader










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Adelie penguin

A few people on the ship wrote an alternative 12 Days of Xmas, Antarctica style!

Having a little tipple with Mick & Nadya

Deception Island & Half Moon Island (Xmas Eve)

Well, after our long rest period in Ushuaia we finally set sail for Antarctica on board the Ioffe on December 21st 2007! We were walked down to the ship by Alecia (the woman who sold us the trip). Once on board we had to immediately hand over our passports. Odd. Needed for the ships manifest apparently. We got them back at the end of the trip. Hayley Shepperd, the Expedition leader (hence forth referred to as the EL) greeted us all aboard.

To our surprise, and delight, we had received a cabin upgrade! Instead of sharing toilet & shower facilities with an entire deck we would only have to share with our immediate neighbours. Each of us had a door to the bathroom in our cabin so when you entered you had to lock the other door from the inside (semi en suite). The reason for the upgrade was that there was a group of about 15 Michigan University students on a field trip & they occupied the full lower deck. Nice trip, eh? The normal price for our new cabin was $19,000, needless to say we were pleased as punch with this! The cabin itself was small. One bed to the left as you enter, bathroom on right, table & chair at end of bed with wardrobe & fridge opposite and couch (which miraculously transformed into a 2nd bed each night while we were at dinner) across the end of the room beneath a large window that we could open. That was our cabin. ......

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No time to look around, we were quickly called to the dining room by our EL (remember Expedition Leader) for a welcome buffet & run through of our planned itinerary. She did stress that we´d need to be flexible because weather & ice would dictate our route & activities. She also laboured that we had 2.5 days on the Drake Passage getting to Antarctica ie if you have sea sickness prophylaxis take it now!! We had none, doh!! On the last crossing, the ship had done, the waters were very very rocky. Guests disappeared to their cabins & weren't seen for two days except for when they deposited their sickness bags outside their door. We were told there is there is the Drake Shake & the Drake Lake. Pray for the Drake Lake. Apparently there are people who´d love to go to Antarctica but won´t because of the Drake Shake. Anyway, you´ll be glad to know, as we were, that we got the Drake Lake.

The entire crossing was fairly uneventful really. Some of the naturalists on board gave scheduled lectures of a distinctly antarctic theme eg Shackleton, Seabirds of the south, marine mammals etc. An old fella, Ray, told us the story of how he came to have a mountain in Antarctica named after him when he led an expedition back in 1963. Fascinating character. Claire particularly liked him because he had some Scottish blood in him, he liked his whisky in generous portions, and more specifically, he reminded her of her Dad. At the various meals, we guests, busied ourselves sussing each other out. After a couple of days our steady group consisted of 2 Ozzies (Rowan & Jo), 2 South Africans (Jan & Jay), 2 Canadians (Andrew & Francoise) and of course Mick & Nadya (Irish & Canadian). Great craic, great characters.

Our first sighting of land was the South Shetland Islands. We were to attempt a landing at Deception Island inside the caldera of the volcano. En route we passed our first icebergs. So beautiful the Captain (see picture opposite) was good enough to circumnavigate one of them for us. We´re not sure what was more impressive, the amazing berg or the Captains ability to turn this huge ship around a relatively small object and yet so close to it!

When we got to Deception Island the entrance to the Caldera was blocked by sea ice. Our ship was rated to break one year old sea ice so the Captain got us up close to see if he would still attempt to get in. Meanwhile we could see a sailing ship that inside that we later heard was trapped in there for several days as a result of the ice. After nudging some of the ice out of the way our Captain felt he would be able to get in, but as hings can change so quickly, he could not guarantee that we would be able to get back out again! Our EL decided that, rather than spend our entire trip on Deception Island we´d take a Zodiac (inflatable dingy) ride along the shore instead. This was most enjoyable and we got to see penguins entering and leaving the water, seals & some funky rock formations. Towards the end of the 2 hour excursion most peoples feet were becoming blocks of ice. Quickly, back to the ship for a hot shower, ah that´s better!!

Next we made our way to Half Moon Island where we did manage to land. It was gloriously sunny so Claire and I decided to take the long hike option, remember we had been cramped on the ship for the last 3 days. The island itself was beautiful. It had those real stereotypical Antarctic Vistas. We climbed to a high peak at one end of the crescent shaped island and simply enjoyed the incredible scenery. On our way back to the landing site we passed a humongous Elephant Seal. This guy was as big as a house, he was huuuuuge. The penguin rookery was also drawing much attention from the photographers.... and would be photographers.

Once back on board it was time to head for the Weddell Sea. This is where poor old Shackelton came a cropper on his Endurance voyage. One of the naturalists told the full story the following evening. He even gave a special mention to Tom Crean, the Irishman from Anascaul, who was instrumental in ensuring the survival of all 27 of Shackleton's men. I (Dave) was reminded of the fact that a certain supervisor at Wyeth (who shall remain nameless), still has my copy of Tom Creans biography "An Unsung Hero"!

Half Moon Island

The berg we circumnavigated

Take I
The berg we circumnavigated

Take II

Funky Rock Formations

The Elephant Seal... told you he was a big guy!! Apparently he is a juvenile...

The Southermost City in the World

Ushuaia, Argentina, 8 - 20 December 2007

So we would have almost 2 weeks in Ushuaia before departing on our cruise. We looked into the possibility of doing our trek in Torres Del Paine in the interim. Ultimately we decided it would be a little tight and didn´t like the thought of missing our departure to Antarctica. Funny that. Instead we contented ourselves with doing absolutely nothing at all. It was great. As we were now going to be long stay residents at La Posta we tried to cut a better deal with the owners. They moved us into a self contained apartment and agreed a 10% reduction in price. It was a 2 bed apartment so they tended to put solo travellers in the other room. Hence, we were only ever sharing the apartment with one other person.

In Ushuaia, we hit The Dublin pub night after night. Once with an Irish couple from the hostel (Niall and Katherine). That same night, at 4am the bar closed so we were turfed out onto the street. It seemed there was nothing else we could do....so we tried finding another open bar. We had a local with us who felt confident he would be able to find us a lock-in somewhere. Alas it was not to be. Back in the hostel we all devoured crackers with cheese and guacamole...not quite the haggis supper I (Dave) would have killed for.

We took a trip along to the Maritime museum. Again, we´re not big museum people but this place includes the old prison. It´s always fascinating wandering in and out of prison cells and reading about the most notorious inmates. Whilst there we met a Northern Irish couple we had just come off an Antarctic cruise...and they were on the same ship as we had booked!! They had nothing but good things to say. Claire had a look at some of their photos but I didn´t want to ruin the surprise.

Another day we took a trip to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park, 12km outside of town. Having been very lazy for the past 4-5 days our hearts really weren´t in it. Still, we trekked for about 4 hours along the Beagle Channel, then up to Lago Roca and then climbed a bit of Cerro Guanaco. It´s a nice day out but the park doesn´t offer much more spectacular views than we were used to seeing walking into town of a day.

Other than that our time in Ushuaia was spent sleeping, shopping, cooking, drinking, gambling (at teh local casino)...and generally taking it easy. Peter and Carol, our old Canadian biker friends, did show up 2 days before departure and shared our apartment. It was nice to catch up with them and share a few leisurely meals. Incidentally, they also booked an identical trip to Antarctica leaving on the Ioffes sister ship on 28th of December!


Tierra del Fuego National Park

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Tierra del Fuego National Park


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The Saint Christopher
This ship is a historic icebreaker, it went to Antartica as part of a rescue in the early 20th century. It sank & now its a live museum just in front of the city.
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It´s the end of the world as we know it....
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At the Port
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No offence mate but I really didn´t think we´d be sharing a single bed!




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I don´t know what you´re smiling about Claire, smuggling prosthetic ears is a very serious crime!





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La Posta is a hostel with deep Argentinean roots and customs. In the old days, the “postas” were located two or three miles from one another and the “Gauchos” stopped there to change horses which were for carting goods or mail delivery. The “Gauchos” were also offered hot meals and a clean bed where they could rest calmly. Then, they continued on their path. Many of the ornaments and furniture are old recycled tools which in other times were useful for Argentinean “Gauchos”.

Our itinerary for the Ice Factory

The ice factory that is the Weddell Sea has become synonymous with the torturous northerly drift of Shackleton’s Endurance expedition. Images of massed pack ice and human hardship add to the legendary status of this inaccessible sea. The journey is described as a true exploratory voyage, heading into rarely-visited regions, the course determined by the weather and ice.

The plan is to make landfall at the South Shetland Islands at the northern tip of the Peninsula, before testing the limits of the sea ice by pushing south into the Weddell Sea. Along the way, we’ll celebrate a ‘white’ Christmas – but with a little more luxury than Shackleton experienced!

We aim to visit Snow Hill Island, base for the Heroic Age Nordenskjold expedition, and Seymour Island, where scientists are still finding fossils of giant penguins. We’ll head south among the islands of the western shore of the Weddell Sea, in search of a rumoured Emperor penguin colony, as we virtually back-track along the route the Endurance drifted.

Heading north, we hope to visit Paulet Island, site of one of the Peninsula’s largest penguin rookeries and we’ll attempt the notoriously difficult landing on Elephant Island, home for many months to the Endurance sailors.

The Ship

The Ioffe was built in Finland in 1989 as a state-of-the-art research vessel.

The 382 foot, 1A2 Ice Rated, ship has been converted to a very comfortable passenger vessel carrying 110 passengers, all in outside cabins. The ship has traveled to Antarctica for many years. There is a fleet of Zodiac inflatables onboard to transport passengers to the landing sites.

The Ioffe and it's sister ship, the Vavilov, are 2 of the most advanced research vessels afloat. The Ioffe is impressive and neat as a pin,..which is referred to as 'Bristol Condition' in sailing terms. The ship is operated by an Ausrtalian adventure travel company that has been in the business for 25 years.

Ship Specifications

Staff & Crew: 53

Guests: 110

Length: 117.04m

Breadth: 18.28 m

Draft: 6.09m

Propulsion: 5,000 KW diesel twin engine

Ice Class: KM*L1(1)A2, Canadian Type B

Cruising Speed: 14.5 knots in open water

"Ice is the beginning of Antarctica and ice is it´s end. As one moves from perimeter to interior, the proportion of ice relentlessly increases. Ice creates more ice, and ice defined ice"- Stephen Pyne.

Closing the Deal

Being in Ushuaia, the gateway to the 7th continent we decided to set about finding ourselves a last minute deal to Antarctica. As it was Sunday many of the offices were closed. The Officina Antarctic was our first stop & luckily it was open. They don't sell trips but they could give us a list of all the companies who do & what boats would be sailing over the next 2 weeks. Like Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson we were now hot on the trail of that elusive deal. Over the next 2 days we went to about 5 agencies & what we quickly realised that the dream of a super cheap last minute deal was just that, a dream.

There was one boat, the Ioffe leaving on the 11th Dec - about which we´d heard great reports & that would get us back into Ushuaia on 21st but we were eager to have a truly white Christmas in Antarctica. Our focus then shifted to two boats leaving on 19th Dec - Polar Star & Antarctic Dream - both 10 day cruises. As we were waiting on info re availability our agent pulled another rabbit from the hat, "Christmas in The Weddell Sea". This would be a 12 night, 13 day cruise that would have us in Antarctic for both Christmas & New Year. It would be aboard the previously mentioned Ioffe before any celebrating could be done something else needed to take a trip southward...... the price.

Brochure price was $8.5 K however the last minute deal was $5,500 plus $240 (fuel surcharge) per person. The trip really attracted us but this was simply too much to pay. The agent said she´d see what she could do for us & to call back in a few hours. Time for lunch & board meeting....

What if the price doesn´t come down?

What if we cant get on another boat?

Should we take the 11th?

How long are we willing to wait in Ushuaia?

Two hours later we called back to the agent, she said she could offer it at $5,000 plus $240 (fuel surcharge) pp - this is what we expected. We weren't trying to play hardball but we had capped our budget at 5K max. We told her this & lucky for us her American boss happened to be in the office so she sent us away for a coffee so she could speak with him. We returned 1 hour later & she said "YES" they could do it for a a total of 5K pp! This constituted a saving of almost 3K each on the normal price for a double cabin. While the thought of paying out $10,000 stung a little we were absolutely over the moon!!!!

Then we had to go off & buy gear that would bode well for the Antarctic weather conditions!

Perito Moreno Glacier

El Calafate, Argentina, 6 Dec 2007 & 13 Jan 2008
Bus El Calafate to Ushuaia, 7 December 2007

As always it was again time to move on & we caught the 1pm bus from El Chalten back to El Calafate. The only thing we were keen to do here was visit the Perito Moreno Glacier (78 km from El Calafate).

We checked into our room in a lovely HI affiliated hostel. Claire was delighted to find a bath in our en suite, she hadn´t experienced a bath since she broke the rules up in Pucon & ran one for herself in the shared bathroom.
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Not too much to say about El Calafate, it appears to be a one trick pony - Perito Moreno. That said it is a good trick. The glacier was awesome, while we had seen some beautiful ones in El Chalten - Perito Moreno is on a completely different scale - it fills an entire valley as far as the eye can see. Huge chunks of ice calf off sporadically creating a thunderous roar. The man made walkways allow you to get down in front, up above & slightly to both sides of the glacier. Click, click, click.

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We spent about 4 hours at the glacier before sadly it was time to head back to El Calafate. I (Dave - Claire doesn´t agree on this one) would put the PM glacier in the same league as Iguazzu Falls & Salar de Uyuni when discussing wonders of South America.

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Getting back to the hostel at 10pm we were lucky to be able to stay in a cosy common area while waiting for our 3am bus! We got talking to two Cork lads (travelling for same amount of time as us) - they had some funny stories. They were robbed at gunpoint twice in Venezuela & once in Colombia. Okay maybe they were only funny stories in hindsight. They also did a few jungle trips where their bodies were devoured with bugs. Claire´s worst nightmare. The time went by quickly & before we knew it we were on the bus whizzing our way to the southernmost city in the world - Ushuaia.

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We hadn't realised that we´d have to cross into Chile then back into Argentina to get there - lots of border formalities & more stamps on the passport. You also had to eat or dispose of all (frutas)fruit, (verduras) veg, (queso) cheese etc before entering Chile.... we weren´t even getting off the bus in Chile! Everyone enjoyed a healthy breakfast of apples, bananas, carrots & even canned pineapple. The border crossings were quick & painless & we arrived in Ushuaia 1 hour early at 9pm. Our Aparthotel La Posta, was a 25 minute walk from center - what it lacked in location it made up for in everything else.

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Sleeping Beauty!

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Glacier Facts:

The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that are not retreating. Periodically the glacier advances over the L-shaped Lago Argentino forming a natural dam which separates the two halves of the lake when it reaches the opposite shore. With no escape route, the water-level on the Brazo Rico side of the lake can rise by up to 30 meters above the level of the main lake. The enormous pressure produced by this mass of waters finally breaks the ice barrier holding it back, in a spectacular rupture event. This dam/rupture cycle is not regular and it naturally recurs at any frequency between once a year to less than once a decade.

The terminus of the Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 km wide, with an average height of 60m above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 meters. It advances at a speed of up to 2m per day (around 700m per year), although it loses mass at approximately the same rate, meaning that aside from small variations, its terminus has not advanced or receded in the past 90 years. At its deepest part, the glacier has a depth of approximately 700 m.
The glacier first ruptured in 1917, taking with it an ancient forest of arrayan (Luma apiculata) trees. The last rupture occurred in March 2006. It ruptures, on average, about every four to five years.

The Perito Moreno glacier was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.

Captain Fitz Roy

Coyhaique, Chile, 27 -29 Nov 2007
Bus from Coyhaique to El Chalten 30 Nov 07
El Chalten, Argentina, 1-5 December 2007

From Chaiten we boarded what would be an 11 hour journey to Coyhaique. This is a really beautiful trip down the Carretera Austral with stunning scenery. It´s almost a pity to take a public bus as it seems to whizz past too fast. Once in Coyhaique we checked into Albergue Las Salamandras for 3 nights, 2km outside of town, cooked ourselves a good meal & hit the sack.

As we were about to head to Patagonia I took it upon myself to convince Claire we needed a tent, & once this task was completed to find and buy one. The purchase was finally made in a local supermarket, yes supermarket. Nestled between the canned fruit & dairy produce the store also had some camping equipment. So, for the princely sum of 24,000 Chilean Pesos (32 Euro) we had our top of the range two person tent which I´m sure will live up to the harsh Patagonian wind & rain, yelp!!!

Not too much to say about Coyhaique, we just took it easy for a few days. We watched "Touching the Void" in the hostel & decided we wouldn't take any solo attempts to climb previously unclimbed mountains. We booked our tickets, which would be our longest journey to date - though we didn't know it at the time.......

Leave: Coyhaique at 7am on Friday morning
Arrive: Puerto Ingeniero Ibañez, 9am
Leave: Puerto Ingeniero Ibañez by ferry
Arrive: Chile Chico (Little Chile)
Leave: Chile Chico by minibus (cross border into Argentina)
Arrive: Los Antiguos, Argentina
Leave: Los Antiguos by overnight bus at 4pm
Arrive: Rio Gallegos at 8am on Saturday morning Leave: Rio Gallegos by bus
Arrive: El Calafate
Leave: El Calafate by bus
Arrive: El Chalten at 11pm on Saturday night

We wanted to take the route called R40 direct to El Chalten but it is only opened during high summer (ie a few days from when we were travelling) so we had to take the circuitous route. Think of it as wanting to go to Donegal from Dublin but being forced to pass through Cork on the way!

Needless to say we slept like babies that night. So, the next day, showered & refreshed we set about preparing for our first solo camping experience. We were heading to the National Park (Los Glaciars) for 2 overnights in our new tent. El Chalten was very windy & prone to sudden downpours so this would be a real test! Claire was in charge of food, so she packed up enough supplies for 3 days in the hills.

We set off at 8:45 the following morning. Our route took us first to Laguna Torre, where we spent our 1st overnight & then over the base of Fitzroy where we would spend the 2nd overnight. Miraculously, Day 1 was dry & sunny! It was nice to put our tent up in the absence of wind & rain. Sure, clearly it wasnt the most expensive house on the lot but it survived 2 nights and paid for itself. We knew we´d have views of Laguna Torre & hopefully Cerro Torre (a huge slab of vertical rock which draws rock climbers from all over the world). What we didn't realise is that there would be a very nice glacier (Glaciar Grande) leading down from the mountain right to the shore of the lake. In the end we didn´t get to see Cerro Torre as the upper half remained constantly in cloud.

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After a few short walks , our evening meal & a few hands of cards we retired to bed. The temperature by this stage was dropping down, down & where it would stop nobody knew. Well, later on we did find out. It stopped at icy cold!! Claire looked like a female body builder on steroids with so many layers of clothes on. There wasn't´t a whole lot of sleep got that night, but again – thankfully the wind & the rain stayed away.

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The following morning, it made us feel better to hear others around the campsite talk of what a cold night it had been. Them with their fancy tents and their big fat sleeping bags. No time to feel sorry for ourselves, it was time to pack up our tent and belongings and start the trek over to the other campsite, Poincenot.

Another nice day for walking and we arrived at our destination without incident. Once the tent was up & we had food in our bellies we struck off for the Piedras Blancas (White Feet) Glacier. This trek proved to be a bit tricky as it involved more & more bolder hoping the closer we got to the glacier. Claire's ribs were still very sore & she found this activity only aggravated matters. Still she battled on & we were quickly rewarded with stunning views of the glacier. It was considerably more impressive than the one we´d seen the previous day. We both ate glacier ice. The ice melted in our mouth & our bodies absorbed the millennia old water & it became part of us. Quite a thought. With a little foresight we could´ve brought some Johnny Walker & Waterford Crystal tumblers. Next time.....

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The walk back to the campsite was long & we were both tired & grumpy. It was definitely much milder than the previous night, that is - until the sun went down. It didn't get quite as cold but it still necessitated full battle gear to be worn in the sleeping bag. While we didnt sleep much it felt good in the morning knowing that tonight we´d sleep in a comfy bed in a warm hostel with hot showers. Funny how you have to experience hardship to appreciate the simple things in life.

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Our last excursion before heading for home was up to the Laguna de los Tres. This was a tough hike uphill to a lagoon located at the base of Fitz Roy himself! Fitz Roy is the most famous landmark in the region. Like Cerro Torre it´s very popular with rock climbers & like Cerro Torre it spends most of it´s time hidden in cloud. This walk provided the most spectacular 360 degree views of our 3 days, 2 nights in the National Park and we even got good views of old Fitzy boy so we felt privileged.

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We then dropped back down to the campsite, packed up & headed back to El Chalten. Once there we stopped into a microbrewery for some home brew & a bowl of pumpkin soup. Ah bliss, hot food again. We then hit the hostel where we both collapsed & slept for about two hours. Next on our way to full recovery was the hot shower followed by fresh clean clothes then the "piece de resistance".... the Argentinian Steak dinner washed down with a bottle of vino tinto. So feeling brand new we continued to splurge in a local bar where we guzzled beer & baileys until we eventually staggered home feeling very happy with ourselves indeed. While we may have suffered some hardship in El Chalten we came away with far more happy memories as a result of our experiences. Steak & wine never tasted so good.
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Fitz Roy

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Which Way?

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Claire beside Glacier Grande