Something to chew on

We all like sitting back and chewing the fat, well in English we use the term when you just want to relax and have a think about things.

South Georgia with all its animals certainly have lots of time and also things to think about as well.......who would make a nice mating partner ?, who's getting in my territory ?, where's dinner coming from today ?, aaaaand who are those pesky humans that keep on coming and staring at us all day, and run around on those noisy rubber boats ?

Well Xplore and the team certainly saw a different side of something to chew on. The first experience was after the team had made a shore landing and we all went for a hike, weather being reasonable and we all wanted to stretch the legs, we left our zodiac on a relatively open and empty part of the pebbled shores within the middle harbor of Prince Olav.

On return an hour or so later, with lots of images in our minds and cameras we found two male fur seals sitting either side of the Zodiac there on the beach where we left it, only problem was that one side of the Zodiac was deflated (the same as how I felt when seeing it) with a bit of careful negotiation with the two fur seal boys we gingerly launched the Zodiac and returned to Xplore to find out how bad the "deflation" was.

After an inspection once we had the Zodiac back on deck we found that one of the fur seals had sunk one of their large upper jaw teeth into the back end of the dinghy, Serge and I dismantled the engine and heavy items and brought the rather flat tail end of the zodiac into the warmth of the companion way where we set about repairing the damage, a bit of hot air from a hair dryer,
some alcohol to clean the area, repair patches and glue and within an hour is was all back like new.

In all of my time in the south I have never heard of a fur seal attacking a zodiac, Leopard seals do this quite often, but fur seals no ! we continued out travels around the island with a new wave of caution for beach landings.

Time moves on, and the spectacular sights of South Georgia captured everyone, until............, what not again !

One of the very special locations on South Georgia is a place called Gold Harbor, you may not become rich there but you will with experience, its a location that just has the right mix of everything, a hanging glacier perched on a rocky cliff, terminal lagoon to the left and an beach area which has one of the largest colonies of King Penguins, not just thousands but hundreds of
thousands. Mixed amounts these beautiful birds is a whole range of other critters, Albatross, Giant petrels, Fur seals and this year we have a rather astonishing number of Elephant seals, males, babies and females all trying to have a happy and peaceful summer's holiday. Reminds me of one of those classic black and white movies of an English beach resorts where there is an air of freedom, some pomp and ceremony, and on the fringes there are the louts with their bad behavior and boozing sun baking and scantily cladded girl friends, there is sure to be some tears before bead time !.

After dropping anchor in the cove it wasn't long before we had the majority of the team that wanted to go a shore and explore, the light was great and the temperature nice, we headed in with a small shore break and I landed them all in the normal spot in the northern end where its calmer. I had circled a couple of times to see how the waves were running, and also noted a lot of Bull Elephant seal males on the beach and cruising the waters, all seeing who was going to get the best outt of those cute girlies that were baking on the beach.

After three or four hours I get a call on the VHF that the shore party was ready to be picked up, happy laughs of some of the wonders that they had seen it was time to return to Xplore for drinks and nibbles. On with my dry suite I headed into the beach to pick up the team. In the same spot the swell had eased a bit, but the activity late in the day was getting a bit more serious as the Elephant seal boys were obviously getting desperate as to who was going to be their girl for the night.

A fast surf in on a wave and turn around, the team all jumped into the Zodiac at lightning speed so that we could get back out of the surf fast without all getting soaked, we all were looking toward to Xplore when within 10 seconds of leaving the beach the whole zodiac physically was shoved to the left, it felt like I had just driven the boat straight into a huge rock, a bit like when you drive dodgem cars at the side shows and no one gives a dam about the damage !! ca boom.

I was certainly startled and looked to the right hand side and saw close to us the hind part of a male elephant seal as he dove below the waters, he surfaced again and had one of those startled looks about him like a punched drunk boxer, what the hell happened there, you could see the expression on his face (he probably said the same about the look on my face as I certainly didn't know what the heck had happened)

Whilst all of this was happening I still managed to keep the revs on the motor, but within a moment I could feel the side of the Zodiac that I was sitting on went totally flat, oooooh Sh.....t, I think we have a problem. I quickly asked all the team in the boat to shift over to the other side and we roared back to Xplore as fast as we could. As soon as we came along side everyone started to climb onboard, but now that the zodiac was stopped I felt the water level changing at an alarming rate, I was sinking, double Sh.....t.

Quick guys, we have to get the Zodiac back on deck other wise we are going to loose it and sink the motor as well. What a team ! for the next crazy five minutes we pulled , pushed and winched the zodiac on deck, full of water, torn apart but the motor was fine, and most importantly was all
of us were as well.

It didn't take genius to work out what had happened, we had either been attacked or we hit the Elephant seal whilst he was under water, it was good to look back though and know that we didn't hit him with the propeller as it was the starboard side of our boat which took the brunt of the shock. But his reaction had torn a 1 meter long tear along the side of the Zodiac with ragged vertical rips along the way, Elephant seals have claws on their flippers which they use in fighting and even with human strength I cant tear the material that these Zodiacs are made of.

The next morning at dawn a familiar cruise ship the Hansiatic that I know also arrived at Gold Harbor, I spoke with the expedition leader to tell him about the fisty activity in the normal landing spot and explained what had happened to us the day before. Fletch is a great guy who has years of experience down in the south, he also was surprised to hear the news, but he also asked if we needed any help to repair our Zodiac. I explained that we had looked at it and it was a serious repair, but if within their ships crew they had someone who had lots of experience in inflatable repairs, then a second opinion was appreciated.

20 minutes later one of the ships big industrial Zodiacs pulls along side with the Chief Mate and Bosun of the Hansiatic, and we scratched our heads as to the damage to our now very sad looking Zodiac. Bit it was very plain to see for everyone that this was a shore based repair job. We parted company, the Hansiatic was heading for Antarctica later in the day, luckily their shore landings went fine, and for us we had our second Zodiac to inflate and prepare for duty.

So with another range of different experiences, I will chew on this experience and have a very different regard to Fur and Elephant seals in the future.

Stephen

Georgia, oh sweet Georgia, the whole day through

Georgia, Georgia, the whole day through, and old sweet song, keeps Georgia on my mind !

Xplore arrived to the western shores of South Georgia after a smooth and rapid voyage from Stanley in the Falkland Islands. The 714 nautical mile crossing was achieved in 4 days to the minute, with clear seas devoid of the often seen ice fields we slipped into Rosita Harbor to a snug and secure anchorage between the shore line bull kelp beds.

Just like the Ray Charles song of Georgia, every time I return there is a feeling of peace and tranquility within the high snow capped mountains that surround you on all sides. With sunshine, South Georgia is a visual wonderland, its hard not to just stare at everything. When the clouds roll in the scene changes again to another mood, and gives you a different perspective of this truly grand island that is the breeding ground to millions of animals.

The sounds which come from the sea and on the beaches, is something which
remains in your mind for life, the noises that fur seals make is so
distinctive that even in the dead of night you can hear the Phiff Phiff
noises that they make to themselves, or the roar that male elephant seals
make whether they are making themselves comfortable for the night, or
fighting for their territory on the beach can bring fear to even the
strongest tempered person.

The team onboard has started to settle into life in the island, no more
sailing watches to be done, and meals mixed between amazing experiences on
shore, everyone returns to Xplore with memory cards full of images of
animals and landscapes that have been carved by thousands of years of wind,
snow and ice.

My only disappointment in coming to South Georgia this year is that a very
dear friend of mine is not here on board with us to share this amazing
experience. Betsy Crowfoot has been such a wonderful support, encouragement
and media journalist from the inception of Xplore that she decided after so
many years of me writing about the south to try "Life in the freezer" on
board Xplore.
After working through the final stages of the winter re-fit in Uruguay Betsy
sailed with us south to Punta Arenas, and decided that this wasn't her cup of tea. But as we travel around this stunning island, I would like Betsy to know
that she is, and will always be on our minds as a wonderful and dear friend.

Stephen

White Squall what a blow !

White Squall what a blow !

Well after 9 years of sailing down here in the south I would have to say
that this little blow took the cake to date, and gave me and everyone on
board yet another reminder of the fact that we are only children playing
around here in the ocean, and if we are not careful, the all, almighty will
slap our wrists when ever he chooses to.

We had just entered the eastern reaches of the Striates of Magellan very
early in the morning, we had 120 nautical mile to run through the 2 narrows
and then into the widening part of the Striates before arriving into Punta
Arenas.

Our voyage from the River Plate, Buenos Aires had been overall very smooth
sailing, with one other relatively small blow along the way where we
stopped, and hove to for just over 24 hours.

Well we knew that we were going to have some unsettled weather and
potentially some strong northerly winds during the day, all forecasts were
similar and we proceeded on with a positive out look of the evening in port
after 10 days at sea.

Through the first narrows we had fresh winds and some snow from a NNE wind,
in the middle widening stretch between the 2 narrows, winds eased and the
sky cleared with winds turning unstable and back to the north.

Part way through the second narrows, Audrey first mate woke me after a nap
to tell me that it was freshening and that the trend of a constant drop in
millibars was continuing at a regular and constant rate.

On deck we continued to reduce sail area as things had freshened, more turns
on the staysail (only head sail up at this point) and 4 deep reefs in the
main sail.

Sneaking around the final corner of the second narrows we had 35 knots of
true wind speed from the NW and 26 nautical miles to go.

Within half an hour we were seeing wind speeds reaching 50 knots true, but
with the amount of sail area up we couldn't reduce it further and still keep
our head up to maintain course, Xplore was trucking along with no major
issues.

Bright sunshine was pouring through the cloud structures as we were seeing
all forms of white fluffy things, cumulous, cirrus, stratus and
cumulonimbus.

Down below at the nav area there was tension in the air, we all knew the
conditions were tough, but we also knew that we were very close to being in
port, we were taking a bit of a thumping and the winds weren't easing, 55,
57, and then Serge who was sitting in the companion way under the protection
of the new cuddy / dodger called to me at the chart table that he was seeing
something ?

So what is it Serge ? a ship, the island not far off our port side, give me
more information, well in a typical Serge crazy French way he said that he
didn't know, well whilst on the edge of our seats and with electricity in
the air, I jumped up to find out what the hell he was talking about.

Words cant explain the sight that I saw, but instantly I knew what it was,
and there was no doubt, the whole sky from water level up to about 1000 feet
was a wall of white, the sky above was brilliant blue, from full left to
right there was nothing but a solid barrier and it was coming towards us
fast, the tendons in my stomach went knotted and tight as I evaluated our
options, it had to be a white squall !

To the left of us was an island which we were nearly clear of, to the right
and closer to the main land of South America, but that was to wind ward,
behind was the narrows with its turbulent tidal waters that rip through at 6
to 8 knots with not a lot of room to manoeuvre.

We held course for Punta Arenas, if anything we used engine revs to lift our
heading and to try to bring us closer and quicker to the protection of the
main land and to ease the force of the wind from the sails.

59 knots, 62, 68 I have never seen our wind gauges ever read this high, and
we have always known that it reads lower than what we actually experience
and see out there on the water.

The sheets of the headsail were thumping and tearing at the deck hardware,
the winches were shuddering as the whipping forces of wind, sails and sea
were trying to tear each other apart, I know there was a lot of preying
going on, but everyone remained very calm and matter of fact as these
hurricane force winds tested what we and the boat were made of.

In the 18 hours up to the white squall the barometer dropped 41.7 millibars,
probably about the same, but opposite amount of blood pressure that rose in
my veins during this experience.

I look back at the experience and reflect on how it all went, what lessons
did I learn and what could I have done differently or better, yes there are
points and some aspects that I may change if I ever go through anything like
that again, but I do believe that the team of four on board, the boat being
very well prepared made the total difference of safe passage or disaster.

I didn't feel at any point that we were going to loose, but I know that in
anything but Xplore I would not have been feeling safe or comfortable.

During the afternoon we all took some photos and video, see this link to
some footage that Serge took when the wind speeds were in the high 50's and
low 60's, from my experience at sea I estimate we encountered winds over 75
knots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5uXVq2Nry4

Stephen Wilkins

Skipper Xplore Expeditions

The First Big Blow

The Furious Fifties have lived up to their reputation. No sooner had XPLORE crossed the 50 S meridian than we met with our first ‘big blow’ of the new season.


But we were ready. Several days before Stephen had seen this brewing, and one night the crew gathered around the nav station for dinner as he clicked through the satellite images and grib files, explaining to us what was to come.


The night before was the proverbial ‘calm before the storm’. Audrey and I sat on deck and she admired the bucolic scenery as a crimson swathe of sunset burned between the sea and the brooding sky. “We have petrels. We have dolphins (a small pod of Duskies splashed alongside). We have a sunset.”


“And we have a storm,” she added, her arm panning the sky.


Since then the wind has increased and canvas decreased, as we took in all the reefs on the main, furled down the headsails, until ultimately, last night just after midnight, we hove to. Now we are drifting – deliberately and slowly –out of harms way, waiting for the storm to pass. It’s quite civilized: we stand two hour watches, read, rest, and enjoy meals together. And watch the sea. The swells seem to be born right before our very eyes: huge charcoal grey mountains pushing up from the sea; white with spume; rushing by, one after another after another …


But we feel very safe and secure on XPLORE. I was around for only the last month of the refit to see (and help with) the huge amount of work and planning that has gone into making XPLORE an even better platform for the South. Like the new cuddy atop the companionway with the clear plastic enclosure. You have a 360 degree view of the seas all around, from a dry secure perspective. Stephen’s many seasons down here are evident in the thoughtful improvements made – and especially comforting in a ‘big blow’ like this!


 - Betsy

Sea Fog and Monsters

The main engine burbles along on the oily flat seas, with virtually no movement noticeable on board we could be tied to a dock.

But on deck there is an eerie feeling about, the lines of phosphorescence streams out from the side of Xplore as the "Fat English Girl" carves her way south, surrounded by sea fog, the only sign we have is the soft reflection of the navigation steaming lights against the moisture soaked air that is all around.

It's one of those nights that would have captured the writing imagination of Jules Verne and scared the wits out of ancient mariners, already superstitious as they voyaged into unknown oceans and lands, the feeling that slimy tentacles could slither up over the sides of the deck and grab a dozing sailor doing his watch just seem all too real, you feel like you must stay close to the centre of the boat so as to have a chance of getting away from its clutches.

The sea fog that is all around doesn't let you see more than 10 meters all around, but the cover is close to the surface, so if you look directly above you can see the soft glow of the southern hemisphere stars.

Having left Buenos Aires two and a half days ago we have made good progress down the coast of Argentina, sitting 100 to 150 nautical miles (NM) off the coast we are still on the continental shelf, and shallow waters. Our voyage south to Punta Arenas is approximately 1400 NM and if the weather holds true, we could make this in 8 to 10 days in total, if it turns nasty then god only knows our ETA.

We do have a deadline, as our first official trip for the season departs Punta Arenas on the 30th of October and heads for the exciting island of South Georgia, an animal play ground and haven to millions of creatures.

But in the mean time all of us on board will try to recover from the massive work load and daily grind of the last 3 months of re-fit and modifications, we can now sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor as Xplore looks so good and sails so sweetly.

Stephen


"Steve and crew,
it is good to hear from you and to learn that you are all underway fo a new exciting season; I am so much looking forward to joining you lot again this winter. I'dlove to see some photos of ur beautiful boat with all the modifications, improvments etc.... and maybe under sail... keep in touch... ciao from a cold milanese morning with a dy in the office ahead.... believe me, you are all quite lucky!!!
yours, Marco"

Sea Fog and Monsters

The main engine burbles along on the oily flat seas, with virtually no
movement noticeable on board we could be tied to a dock.

But on deck there is an eerie feeling about, the lines of phosphorescence
streams out from the side of Xplore as the "Fat English Girl" carves her
way
south, surrounded by sea fog, the only sign we have is the soft reflection
of the navigation steaming lights against the moisture soaked air that is
all around.

Its one of those nights that would have captured the writing imagination of
Jules Verne and scared the wits out of ancient mariners, already
superstitious as they voyaged into unknown oceans and lands, the feeling
that slimy tentacles could slither up over the sides of the deck and grab a
dozing sailor doing his watch just seem all too real, you feel like you must
stay close to the centre of the boat so as to have a chance of getting away
from its clutches.

The sea fog that is all around doesn't let you see more than 10 meters all
around, but the cover is close to the surface, so if you look directly above
you can see the soft glow of the southern hemisphere stars

Having left Buenos Aires two and a half days ago we have made good progress
down the coast of Argentina, sitting 100 to 150 nautical miles (NM) off the
coast we are still on the continental shelf, and shallow waters. Our voyage
south to Punta Arenas is approximately 1400 NM and if the weather holds
true, we could make this in 8 to 10 days in total, if it turns nasty then
god only knows our ETA.

We do have a deadline, as our first official trip for the season departs
Punta Arenas on the 30th of October and heads for the exciting island of
South Georgia, an animal play ground and haven to millions of creatures.

But in the mean time all of us on board will try to recover from the massive
work load and daily grind of the last 3 months of re-fit and modifications,
we can now sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor as Xplore looks so
good and sails so sweetly.

Stephen

16 Oct 2009: XPLORE departs Buenos Aires, Argentina for Punta Arenas, Chile

XPLORE scrubbed, prepped and ready-to-roll!