Antarctica Day 5: Palaver Point

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The Pursuit off Palaver Point

What surprised me, although perhaps it shouldn’t have, is how quickly this level of luxury became routine, and just how aware I was that all this luxury had a human price, because I know damn well the staff and crew of a cruise ship aren’t well-treated and put up with a lot of crap, sometimes literally, and especially often from the people who feel entitled to a little bit more “service” than custom would allow. Up around 6:30, I’d make my way to the cafe and find that the morning barista, a pleasant young fellow from the Czech Republic, pulling my coffee and setting out the water. I’d read and write for about an hour, then go get Omaha and we’d head to breakfast.

It was Friday, but on board that doesn’t mean anything. It’s easy to forget there are days of the week. It’s easy to forget there’s a world outside the ship.

Climbing up to Palaver Point.

Today’s trip was to Palaver Point, which involved a hike up the side of a tall hill take in a colony of Chinstrap Penguins and the view across the Palmer Sea. Omaha decided that she wasn’t up for a kilometer long walk with a 100 meter rise, so I went alone, crossing the switchbacks to reach the top.

At the top was Professor Marcel Lichtenstein, who I’d already met. He gave us a brief lecture on moraines, the dirt and rocks that glaciers pick up as they move down the terrain and calve off into the ocean. Marcel is a character, a big man with a powerful voice and a lot of charisma. “You know, I’m a biologist, not a geologist. The first time I was in Antarctica and I heard someone say ‘Look at the moraine,’ I was looking around for the beautiful woman because in Italian ‘moraina’ means ‘brunette,’ and I figured that’s what they were looking at.”

Penguin chicks at Palaver Point.

When we got back, lunch was “Australian,” which I’m not sure meant much to me, but Omaha appreciated the meat pies.

That afternoon was a Zodiac excursion; we sat in boats and were driven around to listen to more explanations of icebergs and the history of Antarctica. All of the guides have extensive stories about the Shackleton, Scott, and Amundsen. One of our guides, Sebastian, who was also the submarine pilot, had taken leave from the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy to be on an expedition to recreate Shackleton’s amazing voyage from his doomed Antarctic expedition back to civilization on nothing more than a large lifeboat. In fact, you can see Sebastian in this video at the 2:40 mark. He told an after-dinner, over-drinks, truly harrowing tale about the voyage he and his mates undertook, including how, when they finally reached the island of St. George, they were almost washed up on some rocks and killed. This being a documentary, they had a monitor boat, but the captain of that boat declined to rescue them until they were actually in distress… and somehow they made it to shore without being killed. It was hair-raising stuff.

No Pokemon in Antarctica

The afternoon excursions usually ended around 5pm. The ship had so many experts there were lecture series to fill the time before dinner; history, geology, the biology of the birds that flew, the penguins (yes, birds, but a separate topic), the seals, just about anything and everything you could think of as being a part of the Antarctic experience. One thing that I did not find while in Antarctica: Pokemon. There are no Pokemon in Antarctica.

Evenings aren’t quite so busy. Usually, I just read. I ripped through a number of books during this vacation, all light reading and just generally fun. I also tended to go to bed fairly early. This isn’t a cruise with nightlife; there were only two places to “hang out” after dinner and both of them were sedate. This isn’t the sort of cruise where there are so many bars and nightclubs you can pick one from whatever spectrum of nightlife you can possibly imagine.