November 1st 2023 I set out for the biggest travel adventure of my life. Other than when I lived in England this is the longest I have been outside of Norway. It's also the furthest I've ever travelled. I set out for a long journey that started with a couple of flights to get to Santiago de Chile, one of them being the longest flight of my life. I'm not going to get into my stay in Santiago now, but I might get into it in a later post. In this post I'll focus on the 3 weeks I spent on board MS Fram bound for some cool destinations, including Antarctica.
The trip started with one night at a 5 star hotel in Santiago before a morning departure to the south. I will say that I don't feel I belong at a 5 star hotel, but that's what is included in the package from Hurtigruten (now HX). After a chartered flight to Punta Arenas in southern Chile we got into buses and got a bit of a guided tour around the city before it was time to board the ship. (I was in the last bus to board the ship and got an extra stop on the guided tour.) It was really strange handing over my passport before boarding the ship that would be my home for the next 3 weeks, but in hindsight I realise they needed everyones passports for the first two destinations on the journey and for re-entry into Chile.
We set out in a beautiful sunset headed towards out first destination; the Falkland islands (or the Malvinas in Argentina). But before arriving we would have a full day at sea, a day that shook most of us a bit too much, litterally. I've never been seasick in my life, but this day was too much for my body and I ended up getting ill, just like most of the other guests, and some of the staff, on the boat. We did get 10 meter waves or so, I guess that was just too much so soon on the journey. But when we arrived in the Falklands the weather cleared up and we had an amazing day. We started with a walk on Carcass island where we saw loads of cool birds including our first penguins of the adventure. They were quite far away though and I have to admit I did think «Are they all going to be that far away?», luckily I got my answer the next day.
After lunch we got a second hike in the Falklands, this time on Westpoint island. We saw a couple more types of penguins and more cool birds. Even though we were far away from the penguins on this first day it was a beautiful day in lovely spring weather and I got some nice photos of some pretty cool birds including a type of Albatross. Because of the bird flu we had to keep a 5-6 meter distance to the birds, something that wasn't always easy with some of the curious birds, but we tried to back away whenever they came closer. Other than the penguins the caracara became a favourite of mine on this trip. In the Falklands it was the striated caracara, they were a little curious and not too bothered about having us around, they were just a couple of meters above my head several times and one landed a few meters away and showed me how to bathe in dirt. A great start to the adventure.
The next day was also nice, but a little colder. We were taken to a beach, on Saunders island, where we were told where we could go and then got quite some time to explore. I got my answer about the closeness to the penguins as we were finally only 10-20 meters away from several types of penguins. The landscape was stunning, I spotted a couple of dolphins in the waves from the hill side (after someone pointed them out to me), and we saw loads of birds. It was an amazing day and I got to get fairly close to Gentoo, Magellanic, Rockhopper and King penguins. The King penguins weren't very active as they were molting, but it was cool to see them on the beach.
In the afternoon, as we were moving on we got some dolphins playing in the water around the ship. My photos aren't the best but I did capture it and it was really fun to watch them. I also learned in a lecture that all the dolphins in this part of the world are black and white, meaning they're a lot easier to spot in the water than the ones we have in the north. Our last day in the Falklands was to be spent in Stanley, the capital. I joined an included guided tour, which didn't really have the right focus for me, but I'm sure others found it interesting. I found a couple of geocaches, sent a postcard to my mum and walked around in the lovely weather for a bit. I also made sure to get photos of the sea lions we'd noticed on our way into town from the ship. Then I headed to a pub. I ordered some chips (fries) and saw that they had my favourite cider; strongbow dark fruit. A couple I'd started getting to know the day before came into the pub too so I joined them outside in the sun. The weather was really just the perfect spring weather. After the pub we went to another pub where we met more people from the boat. And for a while we just sat, enjoyed the spring weather and chatted. Before we had to go back to the ship I went to the supermarket, with a couple of people from the ship. This was our last chance to go to a proper supermarket for more than 2 weeks! So I got some chocolates, snacks and some love hearts. (They had all the British stuff.) Then we got the bus back to the ship before dinner.
The next couple of days were sea days. We had some mandatory briefings and boot cleaning. One of the Norwegians on the expedition team had a fairytale telling one of the evenings, I quite liked his translation of a well known Norwegian fairytale. I also actually went to the gym on one of the sea days, briefly.
After a couple of days at sea we arrived in iceberg land, a lot of the icebergs we were seeing were huge and had come up from the Antarctic, we were still a week away from Antarctica though. But we were finally in South Georgia, the reason I chose this particular cruise to get to the Antarctic. We didn't get to go on land on this first day, and the weather wasn't the best, but we did do a little zodiac cruising in a bay where we saw some seals. After the little chilly outing I decided to try the hot tub before dinner, and then had a couple of drinks in the lounge after.
Our second day in South Georgia was my favorite day in this destination, the weather was also perfect. We started the day with a zodiac cruising in a bay, here we got to see Macaroni penguins, our fifth type of penguin, also the only time we saw these. I struggled a bit with taking photos of them because we were in a zodiac and there were a few people on my boat with huge lenses, they kept getting in my shot. (I honestly think those huge 40-60 cm lenses shouldn't be allowed on zodiac cruisings, only during landings.) I did get lucky with a couple of penguin shots though, and also got some good ones of seals and shags (it's a type of bird).
After lunch we arrived in Stromness and we got to do a landing. We were devided into 6 boat groups for the journey and 3 groups were going first, on this day I was lucky to be in the first group. (They rotated, so I'd had less time on land for some landings in the Falklands because I was in one of the last groups to go ashore there.) Stromness was just amazing. The fur seals and the Elephant seals had taken over the whole beach area. There were some sad remnants of an old whale station but we weren't allowed to go close to it anyways so as soon as we were ashore it was easy to ignore it, and focus on the beautiful animals that were surronding us. The landscape was beautiful too. As soon as all three boat groups were ashore we moved along a river together, with the expedition team trying to keep the fur seals away from us. You do not want a bite from an antarctic fur seal, and they can get aggressive. We did see some tiffs between the male fur seals. We made our way towards a small King penguin colony, away from most of the fur seals. From there we had a choise of a hike, a rushed one, or to stay «by» the penguins. I like hiking, but I hate being rushed so I chose to stay. And I'm glad I did. Since the King penguins were molting we were told to stay quite a bit away from them, but it seemed a couple of them were done with the molting and they didn't get the memo about the 5-6 meter distance. It sort of felt like the penguins sent two representatives to check us out and say "hi". It was quite an experience, all of us backing away from a couple of curious penguins who kept getting closer. It felt a bit like we were being shepherded around by the penguins. One of my favorite memories from the trip.
The next day we were going to the only place in South Georgia where we'd see people not from the ship. Grytviken used to be a whaling station but is now basically a museum, there is also a research base there. After the ship had been inspected for rodents we were cleared to go ashore. Because of the bird flu and alien plant species we couldn't just wander around anywhere. (They're trying to get rid of the alien plants.) But we could visit the museum detailing the life in Grytviken when it was a whaling station, a lot of stuff were Norwegian. We could also visit the church, which was built in Norway and then shiped to Grytviken for assembly. (And no, I'm not proud of this part of Norwegian culture and history. It was and is grusome how a lot of Norwegians treat animals.) We could also visit the post office, so I sent a card for my mum. It took nearly 2 months to arrive. They also have a small gift shop, something I was not aware of beforehand. I was really happy to be able to get a souvenir shot glass as I collect them, I get at least one glass in every country I visit. After the visit to these buildings we got to visit the graveyard where Ernest Shackleton is buried. There were also some molting King penguins on a patch of snow next to the graveyard and I got a really cool photo of a couple of them. Then we passed the seals back to the zodiac, and got to see some playing really close to the boat, which was so cool. This was all before lunch though.
During lunch the boat moved a bit south towards a glacier. While we were in Grytviken the weather had been quite gloomy, but on our way towards the glacier the fog was lifting and the clouds around the mountaintops behind the glacier were really cool.
We ended up not being able to get very close to the glacier though, because icebergs from Antarctica were filling up a lot of the bay. We did pass some, but not too many. As the sun was coming out the scenery was becoming quite magical. The calm waters with cool icebergs, a seal playing in the smaller ice bits, and the sun glistening in the water. The photos really doesn't do it justice. It looks nice in the photos, but actually seeing it was just absolutely magical. We got to do a zodiac cruising inbetween the icebergs, while trying to keep a safe distance. The cruising was pretty cool, I was in the later group for it though and the first group definitely got the best lighting for this one. But it was still cool. And I took plenty of photos. In the evening I went to the lounge and was joined by a couple of girls, so I had a nice evening chatting with the girls.
The last day in South Georgia was a foggy one. We did a ship cruising in St.Andrews bay so that we could see the huge king penguin colony there. Unfortunately the bird flu attacking the Elephant seal pups meant a zodiac cruising would be unpleasant, but they still wanted us to witness the colony a bit further away. And it was unbelievably big, we couldn't really see the end of the colony, it just kept going along the beach and over the hill. After a couple of hours at the bay the ship started to turn to head out of the bay. Another girl and I decided to run to the back of the ship to get a better look at a smaller group of penguins that had been to the side of the boat, but as soon as we got there we realised we'd done something stupid. We were surronded by white birds. I'd seen these on deck a few nights earlier and already knew it was difficult to stay 5-6 meters away from them. The Snowy sheathbill are curious and I'd say a little naughty. At this point, they were a few meters away all around me. After managing to get back from the railing, I got some cool photos of some of them, while keeping a distance. As we were heading south I think about 20 of these birds followed us, they were sitting all over the other deck. As we were heading further south on the island the landscape reminded me more and more of northern Norway. We entered a fjord at the tip of the island and got one last zodiac cruising in South Georgia, in Larsen harbour. Here where we got to see a seal type we hadn't seen yet, the weddell seal, in the beautiful landscape. It's incredible how much the landscape changed from Grytviken to the southen end of South Georgia, I almost felt like I was in a Norwegian fjord.
As we were sailing away from South Georgia I enjoyed some cocktails and good conversations after dinner. Before entering antarctic waters we had a sea day, I actually went to the gym again for a little bit, and we had some mandatory things, but around that I spent a lot of the day being social with some of my new friends.
When we arrived in antarctic waters our first stop was Signy island. We had some people from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) on board and we were leaving some of them at the base on the island. So while they were getting settled at the base the ship moved a couple kilometers south to find a landing for us. Not a lot of people get to set foot on this island as most ships will sail past, but because we were letting people off there we got to go ashore, which I think is really cool. The weather wasn't the best, it was snowing and it was a bit windy, but the experience was still cool. We were told this might be our only chance to see Adélie penguins (we did get lucky later though, so it wasn't). I don't think these penguins are used to seing people, and I definitely feel that most places were «cleaner» than this. We did a landing in a small bay with rocky terrain, it was a bit slippery because of the sleet type snow and penguin guano, so we had to be careful. There was also a big seal skeleton close to the water and we could see parts of penguins everywhere, like bones and parts of wings and feet. That part was a bit sad, but it is the way nature works. We also saw a few Skuas bothering the penguins and apparently one did get away with an egg. We couldn't go far at this landing, it was just a little bit of a path from the water up between two areas the penguins were breeding. We saw both Adélies and Chinstraps here, so two new penguins for us. I don't think the chinstraps had eggs yet, but several adélies seemed to be nesting. Despite the weather I got some pretty cool photos, and the penguins didn't seem to be too bothered by us.
After dinner I went up to the bar with my wine from dinner and planned on going through my photos, I was soon joined by some of my new friends though. We'd gotten quite a bit of snow on deck so some of us went out there to get a couple of photos, some more dressed than others. (I don't have a big desire to be naked in the snow.) It was a lovely evening and I ended up chatting with a new friend until they started vacuuming around us around 11 pm.
Since Signy Island, which is a part of the South Orkneys, is quite a bit away from the next set of islands we had another sea day after it. I think it's great that we got to split it up though, instead of having two sea days in a row. I spent some time on deck photographing birds, and also saw a few whales. It was a pretty cold day on deck though. After about two weeks on the boat we got to Half moon island in beautiful weather with interesting lighting. This was the first of many days (well, only half the first day though) where I got the Easter feels. Which makes sense considering it was spring there. Going to the montains at Easter is a big thing in Norway and the warming sun combined with the snow gave me the feeling of that. We got to go for a little walk on Half moon island, it was absolutely beautiful and the Chinstrap penguins running around were so cute. I got some really cool photos of them, some more clean than others.
After a great morning on Half moon island we moved on to Deception Island and the weather turned. I went for a walk on the island and took some cool photos of the penguins at the beach, then joined up with a friend. We'd been told we could do a polar plunge despite the snow storm and we sort of talked each other into doing it. We had both put our swimsuits on under our clothes and we didn't know if we'd get the chance again. We didn't want to do it alone though, so we waited for some of the others we knew were doing it as well. The worst part of the plunge wasn't the actual plunge, it was running on sharp and cold volcanic pebbles to get to the water, and then trying to get the clothes back on as I was loosing feeling in fingers and toes. They set up the tarp for our clothes too far from the water in my opinion. I did get a great video of the plunge though as a fellow traveller said she could film it and I was the last one to go in. She really understood what she needed to do, so she followed me while filming and got everyone comming out of the water as I was going in. And we did feel a bit of a rush from the whole thing later. After a quick rinse in the shower back on the boat I went to the bar for a hot chocolate with baileys and was joined by my polar plunge partner. Then we went to dinner, and had several glasses of wine. We did deserve it, and also felt the cold a little still so thought the alcohol might help.
The next morning was an interesting one. I went out on deck around 7 am, there were others out there too and we spotted a whale. I didn't get the best photos but it's always fun to see them.
After breakfast I went out on deck again, we had stopped and the expedition team was checking out the situation for the landing, and in the meantime a lot of us were outside checking out the scenery. That's when I spotted a seal on an iceberg, we later got an expert to confirm the type and I believe this is the only Crabeater seal I saw on the trip. I spent quite a lot of time on deck, taking photos as I waited for it to be my turn to get in a zodiac. We were waiting to be able to go ashore on the Antarctic peninsula at Orne harbour, our only landing on the peninsula, and I was in the last boat group. The ice was really thick and the boats were struggling to get through. After getting ready to go they told the last handful of us to go out on deck, again, and wait as they wanted to get the kayakers back on the ship before getting us out. (There were a few pricey extra activities to choose from on the boat, I didn't do any of them, but the kayaking was one of them.) When I was finally in a zodiac I think it took us 20 minutes or so to get through the sea ice (it could be more too though). I walked a little up the hill to get the view and take some photos before heading back down. It was a beautiful view and a different experience. As I was starting to go back down the hill we heard a sort of scream, it was a Weddell seal, apparently letting us know it was there on some ice in the water. I managed to get a couple of photos before it disappeard under the ice. Then it was time to get back to the ship, because of the long wait time and the thick ice we didn't have that much time on land. It still took a while to get back but this time two boats were sort of following each other and that helped a little as they would take turns being in front.
Again the ship moved during lunch and by the time we got to Cuverville island the weather was absolutely perfect. I was in one of the later groups to go ashore though so I spent some time on deck taking photos and watching penguins porpoising before it was my time to get ready for the landing. The little walk on land was beautiful. I don't think I'd ever get tired of watching penguins waddling around, and the scenery was just amazing. The sun was pretty warm so to a Norwegian it definitely felt like easter and I was actually a bit too warm with the expedition jacket on. When I'd gone as far as we were allowed to in both directions I went down to the beach and got a few photos there before I was ready to get back to the ship. It was getting late and the sun was starting to get a little lower so it was starting to glisten in the water and I got a few cool photos of a gentoo penguin with the glow around it. The little zodiac trip to and from the ship was also pretty magical in the perfect weather, with the sun shining on the icebergs and in the water. It really is difficult to convey the beauty of these things with words or photos, it just doesn't really do it justice.
After dinner I went up on deck to catch part of the sunset, and it was beautiful. Because we weren't going far the next morning we were moving really slowly before becoming stationary and the water around us was so still. I did actually spot another Hurtigruten ship in the distance but when that disappeared we were «alone» in the calm waters of the Antarctic.
The next morning I actually went out on deck a little passed 5 am, it was a little chilly, but beautiful. The plan after breakfast was Danco island which was just a little past the island we had visited the day before, so we passed that in the morning and from deck we could see probably hundreds of penguins around us in the water. It was another perfect day and the gentoo penguins were porpoising around in the water and jumping to try to get up on land. It was both funny and sort of sad to see so many of them hit the snow «wall» and fall back in the water. I spent a lot of time on deck watching them and trying to get some good photos of the porpoising before it was my turn to go ashore. They're so fast in the water so it's really difficult to get good photos of it. When I got ashore I walked up the hill and enjoyed the view. It was a good angle to watch the penguins waddle up and down too and I got some pretty cool photos of them. If I was allowed to sit down I could sit and watch them for hours, but we were given a time to get back to the ship and weren't allowed to sit down. (Because of the bird flu.) We were given permission to do a polar plunge again though, had I known that a few days earlier I would have chosen this beautiful day instead. Actually, if I had put my swimsuit on under my clothes I probably would have done it again. Despite switching from the expedition jacket to a slightly thiner jacket I still got really warm, so it sounded refreshing to do the plunge on this warmer day. But I didn't have the swimsuit on so I didn't do the plunge again.
As the ship was moving on from Danco island I spent some time on deck because of a virtual geocache, I needed to spot a specific island. But I got more than just that, I also spotted a whale. And this humpback didn't stay down very long at a time. I'm not entirely happy with the photos, but the experience was awesome. I saw the whale pretty close, and got to see it dive three times before it was too far away from us. In the afternoon we got a little zodiac cruising, it wasn't the most exciting one we got. I think some of the other groups were lucky and saw a seal in the water though. Then, after dinner, the campers were let off and onto an island. This is one of the add-ons that costs quite a bit. A lot of the people I'd gotten to know were doing the camping though. In order to give them the feeling of being alone we let them off and then the ship was moved just enough that they couldn't see it. It was a beautiful evening with beautiful reflections in the water, and I took quite a lot of photos on deck before I went to the lounge to be social.
The morning was just as beautiful, with completely calm waters and the islands, mountains and ice-bergs were all being reflected in the water.
We headed south towards the Lamire channel as soon as the campers were back on board and I spent a lot of time on deck or in the lounge where I could quickly run outside if there was something interesting outside. The lamire channel, aka the Kodak gap is pretty cool, I'd never heard about it before, but got some cool photos and videos of it. We were never promissed any more activities in Antarctica but it was insinuated we might get something if we made it through the channel with no issues. So when we got beautifully calm waters and seemed to sail easily throught the channel I did get my hopes up a little.
We also spotted a couple of beaked whales as we got through the channel, no one got a good view of exactly what they were before they disappeard, but I tend to see things like that as a good sign. We were through the channel just before lunch was over, naturally I wanted to be on deck for the channel, not in the restaurant, so I nearly ran to lunch when we were through the channel and the whales had gone. I was still eating when we got the announcement that we would indeed get a landing. So when I had eaten, I started getting ready for one last outing in Antarctica. And it was another magical one. When I got ashore the expedition leader told us since we had «fixed the weather», they had to fix a landing. I don't know how we fixed the weather, but we sure did get some perfect days. We were also told there were some Adélie penguins at the end of the «road». We were allowed to walk towards a nesting area for Gentoos, some Shags (a type of bird) and some Adélies on some rocks, but we had to stop a bit away from it. I couldn't see what birds there were with my own eyes, but I've got a decent camera so I used that to see what was there. On my way back towards the area where the zodiacs were coming in I got lucky. One Adélie had broken away from the group and crossed the path behind me. I make sure to walk slowly, take it all in and look behind me so I noticed it coming towards me.
This was actually the first time I noticed a penguin move on it's belly, using the feet to propel itself forwards, and it was going fast. It would only do this for a few meters at a time though and got up inbetween, meaning I got some cool photos and a video before it disappeard among some Gentoos. After this I did actually notice a few other penguins moving in the same way, but not as fast. By the way; the gentoos were basically all over the place. We were never allowed to go too close to their nesting areas, but they kept passing us on their «highways». As I was starting to get ready to head back to the ship, not that I ever wanted too, I got lucky again. I spotted an Adélie, possibly the same one as earlier, amongst the Gentoos. My camera battery died, but the penguin actually stood still while I changed the battery and then I got one of my favorite photos of the trip. The Adélie penguin in the foreground with Gentoo penguins, mountains and icebergs in the background. It just perfectly captures the stunning landscape, the beautiful animals and the perfect spring weather. The perfect end to a wonderful adventure.
Not that the boat trip, or my travel adventure, was over, but it was a perfect way to end the Antarctic part of the adventure. The evening and the next few days were spent being social and on deck. We spotted whales in the distance, I took loads of photos of the birds that were following the ship and spent the days and evenings chatting with new friends. This was not the end of the adventure for me, but it was the end of the part with Hurtigruten and my new friends. The story continues in another blog post later. Conclusion: This is not a cheap holiday, but to me it was worth every penny! It was amazing, magical, beautiful and full of cool and surreal experiences. Words can't really explain the feelings I am left with. I also met some really cool people on this trip and I hope to see some of them again. If you are considering a trip like this and you're hesitant because you're alone, don't hesitate. You will meet people to talk to on a trip like this. I will probably recommend a smaller ship though as I think it's easier with a smaller group. There were about 150 guests on the Fram on this particular journey, and that is more than enough people. I would say timing might be essential to your experience, but there are also positive and negative sides to each part of the season. Now, we were lucky to mainly stay ahead of the bird flu as that was an issue for the 2023/2024 season, it might not be for the next season. As we were early in the season we didn't see that many whales, we did see some, but I've talked to some people who have been a little later than me, and they have said they saw a lot of whales. We got to see lovely penguins on mostly white snow, later in the season one might see the chicks, but the areas might also be quite muddy from the guano. Either way, it is an adventure that stays with you.
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