Neko Harbour was to be our first landing and it was on mainland Antarctica. The day started early with a bang as MS Fram negotiated through lots of ice. We could feel the thrusters and then more crunches as she hit more ice.
Good morning Antarctica!
The sun had yet to rise when Fram arrived and then I was out on Deck 7 at the stern. Around the ship Gentoo penguins were swimming past on their way back to the colony.
On the morning of the 27th February MS Fram stopped at Neko Harbour. Later we would sail to our second landing at Dorian Bay.
The views were breathtaking as I looked around at the mountains on three sides. To the side of the ship was a glacier. This was probably the source of all the small icebergs around the ship. I worried about seeing the sunrise because of all the clouds but when it came it didn’t disappoint. The sun’s rays lit up the mountains.
How landings worked on MS Fram
This was our day of landings and we were unsure about how the system would work for getting passengers onto the landing. From our lectures we understood that only 100 people at a time would be on a landing. The whole process ran incredibly smoothly. It worked something like this.
The landing was divided into two periods with a break in between. In the first period the group who were going cruising on the larger Polar Circle boats were called first. These were were assigned groups based on their signups at reception. For the landings, the next group to be called would be the later cruise group who would go on their landing first before cruising. Once the cruisers had left then the Boat Groups were called in order.
For the first landing the order was 1, 2, 3, and then 4. After the break it would be 5, 6, 7 and lastly 8. The Polar Circle cruise group who had been on the landing would be called to put on their full suits ready for their cruise. The early cruisers would be called after the break for their landings too. The kayakers would be called when everything was ready for them and their trip slotted in with all the other comings and goings.
Sound complicated?
Not really, we all knew which group we were in either a Cruising Group, a Kayak Group or just with our Boat Group.
The guy at the top of the pontoon steps would announce over the ship’s tannoy who was next to come and get changed to depart. The only difference was the kayakers and cruisers had to have more time to put their body suits on.
Preparing for our first landing
After breakfast we waited for our boat group to be called. This would be after the break in transfers. We went back to our cabin and put on all the layers of clothes and went back to sit on Deck to wait for ‘the call’.
When Boat Group 5 were called it was down to Deck 2 to retrieve our Muck Boots from the racks and to get life jackets. This was the first time of getting ready and could best be described as chaos. the space was full of passengers from our group trying to sort themselves out and returning passengers. The returners were having as many issues as us getting their Muck Boots off and sorting themselves out.
It was immediately obvious why thin socks were the best option. Putting on the boots on was hard enough with thin socks. Then add the complexity(!) of having to put the boots inside your waterproof trousers only made the whole affair difficult.
Putting on the life jackets may have been demonstrated a couple of times but doing it now was for real.
- Put your left arm in and put your head through
- reach sideways for the plastic hook it to your plastic chest strap (remember plastic to plastic)
- reach down for the strap between your legs and hook it to the catch on your tummy (this time metal to metal
- Then make sure that all the straps were tight.
Outside the tender deck we went back out to the lobby on Deck 3 and joined the queue for the boats. Each boat could take 8 passengers and the queue quickly went down. Our ship’s cards were scanned, the computer said ‘Goodbye’ and then down the steps we went to the pontoon. On the way we stamped our boots in the disinfectant tray for the first time.
Neko Harbour
Neko Harbour is a Gentoo penguin colony and once off the Polar Circle boat we were immediately in amongst the penguins. The smell of 1000s of penguins was over powering at first. After landing we were briefed about where we could go, reminded to stay away from the penguins and seals and keep away from the shoreline. We had about one a quarter hours at Neko Harbour before returning to MS Fram.
The first penguins we saw were standing around molting and we guessed were pretty miserable.
Gentoo penguins were everywhere.
There were birds too.
On the rise we watched chicks chasing parents to get their next meal. Just by our path a penguin was sitting on a nest with a chick. This was by the concrete base of a hut that the guide books said was here. The hut had been swept away in an earlier season by waves from the calving glacier.
From this rise we had a great views.
On the beach there was just one seal. Behind it you can see the end of one of the penguin highways from up the hill where the majority of the nests were.
Here is a better picture of the penguin highways. At this time in the season they were looking the worse for wear.
There were whale bones on the beach.
Every now and again we’d hear a loud cracking noise followed by a splash. This was ice breaking off the glacier. This calving off the glacier caused waves on the beach and if the pieces were large enough the waves were substantial. This then meant that the kayaks had to be moved right off the shoreline. As we watched the icebergs also were calving and splitting into smaller icebergs causing even more waves. Here is the glacier just across the bay.
Back to MS Fram
After a short ride back to the ship we walked through the boot wash and tried to get the worst of the mess off using the water and the brushes. Then we stamped in the disinfectant sponge bath. Next our boots and trousers were hosed down by a seaman to remove all the last traces of mud and stuff from the beach.
At the top of the pontoon steps our ship’s cards were scanned and the computer greeted us with a welcome greeting to show that we were now officially back on board.
Then it was our turn to work out how to get the Muck Boots off using the boot jacks, store them back on the racks and put the life-jackets back in the cages. The area was full of similarly struggling passengers.
Back in our cabin, housekeeping had folded the bed away and lifted the mattress off the settee. This gave us lots of room to get our wet clothes off and get changed ready for lunch.
Leaving Neko Harbour
The buffet lunch in the restaurant was really busy as almost everyone was trying to eat ready for the afternoon’s landings.
There had been a few snowflakes falling while we were ashore and after lunch we watched the snow falling faster as we sailed towards our next landing.
