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Favorite thing: Generalities:
So you are wondering if your camera will work in Antarctica because it is so cold there. First, most likely most of you will go to Antarctica in the summer and the least cold parts of it (Antarctic Peninsula, coast) and therefore, it will not be that cold. In McMurdo station (78º South), the temperature in December and January hovered just below freezing. And I doubt that it is any different in the Antarctic Peninsula where most Antarctic cruises go. That is in part why there are actually tons of animals and plants there, it is not that cold by Antarctica standards! So if I were to take a cruise along coastal areas, I would more worry about sea spray than cold. Plus if you stay in nice warm accommodations (ship, dormitories of McMurdo), any camera will be nice and safe.
Now if you go in the interior of the continent or in winter, then of course you may start to be careful with your camera choice and equipment. But then again, in the summer in the continent's interior, it was not that bad (see below).If you stay in the cold like I did in the field for long days or leave the batteries in the cold tent then the batteries get drained quicker than usual. We had solar panels to recharge electronic gadgets including camera batteries. But it would be a good idea to take several batteries charged already. The solar panel system was very slow to recharge the batteries.
Fondest memory: Personal experience:
The southernmost I went is 83º South at the edge of the polar plateau and we camped. A typical day is -20ºC (-4ºF) and constant wind can make it colder. Snow picked up by the wind can act as a sand blasting device, so protect your lens as best you can when taking pictures. Also, the light can be very bright on the plateau (sun + ice + snow!), so watch for over-exposure if you have a manual camera.
I took 2 cameras:
- A Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 which is a small camera which according to specs can go down to -10ºC, can withstand shock and even be used under water. It is the one I would take every day in the field (i.e. on the bumpy skidoo rides and daylong outdoor work). I would leave it in the exterior pocket of my polar wind breaker ("big red", see pict) and it would work fine. I would insert a hand warmer next to it on particular cold days to make sure it would stay warm. Only once did the liquid crystal monitor start freezing (dead lines in the digital screen) but I warmed it up in the tent and the problem went away in a couple days.
- A Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28. It is a slightly bigger camera with a nice 18X zoom (the one I hold in pict). In Antarctica I used it in McMurdo where it is not very cold, and in the continent's interior only around camp. I would leave it safely in the tent. Sure, the tent gets cold when we are gone or when we sleep, but as long as it is protected from the wind and gets warmed up every day, I did not encounter any problems. Only slight problem is to try to take pictures inside the tent when you just have been outside with the camera, because the camera lenses would fog up.
Finally, the hard thing about taking pictures in Antarctica is to do so with big gloves! Countless times did I have to take off my big mitts and freeze my fingers (even with the underliner gloves) just to be able to push the right button! So if you can find a camera with very large buttons to be used with thick gloves, it may be worth a try!!
Updated Jan 13, 2013
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Favorite thing: Breakfast between 07.00 and 09.00am and after 09.00am there was the official disembarkation-time.It would have been possible to store the luggage onboard and get it later in the day. For the crew it was time for some repairs and for storing new provisions onboard. The next turn of passengers will arrive 2 days after the last disembarkation and sailing will be again 09.00am the next day.
Fondest memory: On the total it was a great trip and I am sure that we saw a lot more than passengers of most of the other cruiseships, because we were just 34 people onboard and we had most sights just for ourselves. All other ships have to divide their passangers into groups of not more than 100 passangers and it might happen that the 1st group has great weather, but afterwards it is getting worse and the remaining groups get their excursions cancelled by the capitain !
But next time in the Antarctic, I guess I will choose a ship with more comfort, a cabin for myself or shared with only 1 other person and not 5 of them.
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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Favorite thing: We had the whole day for excursions from Ushuaia or for shopping. Ea. Haberton was one of the day-excursions, but we had been there two times already. Read more about this interesting place in my Haberton-page !Breakfast, lunch and dinner was held at the ordinary times onboard the Bark Europa and there was a farewell-party as well after dinner. Every passenger got a present from the ship: a DVD including all facts, dates and details of our cruise.The extras like barbills, souvenirs etc. could have been payed in the evening, US $, ARG $ and Euros in cash are accepted for these bills. After having payed the bills, our passport had been given back to us.
Fondest memory: It was certainly a good idea to have some sparetime at the end of the trip, so we were not in a rush to catch a flight. b.t.w. flights will be confermed by the tourguides of the ship, you just have to fill out your flight-details on a list !
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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Favorite thing: This was now the 2nd last-but-one day of our Antarctica-cruise, we arrived east of Haberton in the morning around 09.00am and had to wait there some time for the pilot, who arrived around 11.00am. The cruise through the Beagle-channel was quiet and mostly sunny. After all of the rolling seas of the last 6 days we somehow were happy to be back again. At 07.00pm we arrived in Ushuaia and were able to go ashore.
Fondest memory: We did not get boardingcards to go ashore, but in case that we were asked at the checkpoint, they had our names on a list. I was also glad that I could still show the original letter that was provided by the cruisecompany for the embarkation-day.
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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Favorite thing: 5 full days and nights of a heavily rolling ship, giant waves smashing a lot of water on deck and an icy wind that makes any minute out on deck a terrible experience. In my berth the condens-water-problem is getting really bad,because of the extremely cold weather OUTside and the warm cabin INside. The water is gathering at some shelf and dropping down into my matress every few minutes. After complaining I was offered another berth, but did not want to move because that other berth would have been an upper berth and steping up and down in heavy seas is also not a lot of fun. Instead I asked for another blanket, that would soak the water and after 2 days the worst time was over.
Fondest memory: I decided to spend most of these 6 days in my berth, reading several books and leaving from there only to get something to eat or to powder my nose.
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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Favorite thing: Melchior Island was originally on the schedule for this day, but unfortunately we had to skip it, due to the bad weather-situation again. Almost everybody was seasick and the ship was rolling all day long in the heavy seas, it was hard to stand anywhere and so I stayed most of the time in bed, reading a book.
Fondest memory: I did not feel very good, but at least I was not really seasick, but instead I was sick of that ship, also because I knew the situation will stay like this for another 5-6 days !
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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Favorite thing: In our itinerary there should have been a visit of Port Lockroy today, but due to a very bad weather-forecast we had done Port Lockroy already one day before and left there today very early in the morning in order to avoid sailing into the worst area of the bad-weather-front that was scheduled for our part of Antarctica.
Fondest memory: Not very far from our ship another cruisehip stranded in a storm and more than 100 passengers had to leave the ship, named M/S Ushuaia, I am glad that in our area we did not have severe problems except some seasickness.
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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Favorite thing: At 04.00am we had left our anchoring-place in Trinity Island and were arriving at the scenic Graham Passage at around 10.00am. A lot of great icebergs we were passing by in a perfect weather with sunshine and only a bit of a wind, so it was nice standing out on deck and enjoying the landscape.
At 02.00pm we had been at the ship-wreck of the Gouvernren, that was a Norwegian whaler-ship that had stranded here in 1916 after a fire. We were sailing alongside to the wreck and fixed the Bark Europa on the wreck and stayed like that for about 30 minutes. I guess there are not many ships that could do this !
Cuverville was on the schedule for 07.30pm, but we did not do it in time and so this excursion had to be cancelled !
Fondest memory: Sailing through a carpet of icebergs in perfect sunshine was the best experience we had today !
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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Favorite thing: Trinity Island : the main attraction is the so-called cemetery of icebergs : there is alarge bay, where the watercurrants and the steady winds will blow all icebergs and there they will be stuck and are not able to float away again.
Fondest memory: We made a cruise in our zodiaks through the icebergs of the Iceberg-cemetery and we could get really close to them, touch them and cruise through them, that was really a great adventure.
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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Favorite thing: Our daily program had scheduled 3 different excurions for today on Deception Island :
1) Telephone bay : walk round some of Deception's newest landscapes
Unfortuantely it had to be cancelled due to strong winds and rain
2) Swimming at Pendulum Cove
Unfortunately we did not even go to this other anchor-place, it was so cold and windy that everybody gave up of thinking of taking a swim at a place, where you cannot change your clothings afterwards and have to do it in an icy rain...
3) A walk in Whalers Bay and to Neptune's Window
At least this is what we have done, although it as still very cold and windy and heavily raining
Fondest memory: It was great to walk between the ruins of Whalers Bay and to step inside of the one of the large tanks. I got home soakingly wet all over, but it was a lot of fun anyway and I am glad that my small new camera, a Panasonic Lumix LX3 was able to withstand the rain, beeing wet all over it was working like in good weatherconditions, except for the lens of course, that I had to clean quite often !
Updated Jul 31, 2012
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