Ant 1 vc Bram

"Burning your ass while freezing your nose off" is how captain Klaasdescribed Deception Island, an active vulcano with a caldera that wesailed into. Inside the caldera there are hot water springs that arevery suitable for bathing. After a polar plunge, a sprint into and outof the water in the caldera, it was so nice to come back to your ownhole with warm water. Other landings in Deception Island includedTelefon harbour where we hiked through a snow storm and Whalers Baywhere we saw the remains of an the buildings and instruments that wereused to retrieve the whales' fat for oil.On the South Shetland Islands we made some landings and saw gentoo,macaroni and rockhopper penguins. While sailing and during landings wesee all kinds of birds, like albatrosses and skuas, whales, like Minkeand Humbugs, and seals, like elephant, leopard, weddell and crabeaterseals.In the meantime the landscape just gets more amazing all the time. Theglaciers, ice and snow are only increasing. The shapes and colours ofthe icebergs are stunning. And very often the Bark Europa makes a verygood picture background. Unless of course the pictures are made from thetop of one of the masts.At Trinity Island we made a zodiac tour through the Icebergs. Everybodywho had high expectations of Antarctica and this trip had to admit thatthe expectations where still overachieved.As mentioned in my previous blog, the food on board is always very goodand full of surprises. On Christmas day the galley prepared a true feastmeal. Lamb for a starter and a skewer of kudu, ostrich and springbokfrom the barbecue on deck as main course.The second Christmas day - we are on a Dutch ship after all - we passedthrough the Graham passage, saw a ship wreck and made a landing onCuverville Island. We hiked, saw a lot of gentoo penguins and - ahighlight of the trip - slided down to the beach through the snow.Did I mention the beautiful sunsets and light, mysterious nights? Lastnight, after our visit to the Ukrainian research station Vernadsky, thebase crew visited our ship for a deck party in the sun til aftermidnight. The wodka at the base and the bottles of wine made everyonehappy. The Ukranian crew are never bored in their base, because theyhave a snooker table, a sauna and they can always count penguins or takewater samples.Yesterday night we passed through paradise harbour and I was happy to beon watch, it was so beautiful. The next morning, we passed through thespectaculair Lemaire channel.Today we landed on Yalour island with big adelie penguins colonies. Theyare more active and funnier than the gentoos. They slide down slopes andkind of swim back up. Many of them had eggs or chicks.Bram, 28th of Dec 2019