INTO THE ICY WILDS
With majestic snow-capped mountains, towering icebergs and dazzling blue waters, Antarctica is like nowhere else on earth. The best way to explore this bucket-list destination is aboard Ponant’s cruise ship, Le Soléal.
For an experience like no other, go to the ends of the earth with an Antarctic cruise.
There’s a palpable sense of excitement in the air. “Do it again!” comes the cry from a passenger on Ponant’s Le Soléal cruise ship. In the icy emptiness of the Antarctic, his outburst might seem a little raucous – but in context it’s easy to understand his elation.
Moored in front of a natural amphitheatre of sea, icebergs and snow-covered mountains in Charlotte Bay, on the west coast of the continent, we’ve all spent the better part of the morning marvelling at the antics of a mother humpback and her calf.
There has been feeding, and the slow rise and fall of dorsal fins accompanied by dramatic sprays of sea water. We’ve been playing ‘spot the whale’ as the gentle giants dart starboard to port and back again in the blink of an eye. At one point, the pair came so close, in water so clear, I could easily make out the tell-tale striations and carbuncles of a lifetime spent travelling the oceans.
Now the mother humpback is putting on a show. Like a gymnast doing backflips, she breaches the water next to our ship, shooting up like a jet stream time and again, and slapping back down with a resounding crash to
the cheers of our eager audience. Just when we think she’s done, it’s as if she has heard the passenger’s call for more – as right on cue, she crests the water a final time before disappearing into the deep blue sea, her baby in tow.
Antarctica is truly putting on a dazzling wildlife display. Earlier that day, we woke up to Captain Charbel Daher’s dulcet tones urging us to the bridge, where a pod of battle-scarred orcas – some missing a dorsal fin or sporting a scar on their distinctive black and white bodies – had come to feed in the waters below the ship.
Later that day, on a zodiac outing to a champagne bar set up on an ice floe, we were treated to another show from a humpback diving beneath the icy shelf. But perhaps the most special of all was the rare sighting at dawn of an endangered blue whale – so rare that Ponant’s “whale geek” naturalist Marilia Olio was actually moved to tears. Almost hunted to extinction, there are now an estimated 10,000 to 25,000 of these, the largest of the whale species, left in the world.
“It’s not so common to see blue whales here,” says Olio. “Or for them to approach us and feed around us. I’ve seen blue whales feeding like this only twice. Once in Monterey
Bay and now in Antarctica, so it makes it very special.”
In the early morning light, the world feels surreal. The sky is just barely golden, turning the tips of the icebergs pink and apricot. When the blue whale appears, blowing a spout of water into the air and eventually descending back into the ice-blue depths of the sea, it makes me feel like I’ve entered a magical realm.
We’re sailing in the Weddell Sea, a part of the Southern Ocean afloat with tabular icebergs, ‘bergy bits’ (small icebergs) and whole flat sheets of ice, jagged at the edges as if torn from the
ice pack. In the strained morning light, the sea looks as dry and flat as a desert littered with driftwood. At other times, it looks like some giant has dropped a handful of crystal gems.
Beneath the glare of the midday sun, the white silence soon gives way to a soundtrack of popping, cracking and hissing, as the frozen ice begins to melt despite the sub-zero waters in which they float. Who knew that Antarctica could be so noisy?
It’s in the Weddell Sea that we spy an emperor penguin resting on an ice floe, its neck bright yellow against the blinding white surounds. These winter breeders – the largest penguin species – usually disband in the summer, says Captain Daher. “We are very lucky to see one and we will probably not see another,” he tells us.
There are plenty of champagne moments onboard Le Soléal. At the welcome dinner hosted by Captain Daher, we all clink glasses of Veuve Cliquot before enjoying our gourmet three-course dinner. Then at the Ice Bar and pool party, set to a backdrop of snow-covered mountains, a few take the plunge and leap into the pool’s 30-degree heated waters, as we cross the silence of the Lemaire Channel.
A picture of understated elegance, Le Soléal is home to a spa and gym, as well as a hammam steam room and a hair salon, two restaurants, and chic bars replete with comfortable lounges and fur throws. My cabin is spacious and light, with a big balcony, separate shower, Nespresso machine, flat-screen TV with on-demand movies, and 24hour reception and room service.
The 300-passenger vessel is filled with Australian and French passengers, and a handful of other nationalities. It’s Antarctica, one of the crew explains to me, “we always get a mix of nationalities and even some honeymooners because it is a bucket-list destination”.
Le Soléal’s two restaurants serve predominantly French food, while nighttime brings entertainment in the form of a dance troupe straight from Paris, live acoustic performances, and movies. The bar on the main deck is open until late, and it offers splendid views. French champagne is on tap (of course), and there is hot chocolate for those of us who return rather chilly from our icy zodiac adventures.
Unlike some small expedition cruises, Ponant strikes the right balance between the nightlife of a big cruise liner and the enrichment lectures of an expedition cruise, with evening recaps and ad hoc talks from the resident naturalists sprinkled throughout the cruise itinerary.
We set sail for Antarctica from the most southerly city on the planet – Ushaia in Argentina. We cross the tempestuous meeting of two oceans that is the Drake Passage – a rite of passage, some say, which sends many passengers scuttling back to their beds – and into the remote and wild nethers of the untouched white continent that is Antarctica.
From my balcony on deck five, I can see the dark wingspans of a few petrels gliding along, riding the currents beside the ship. There are shearwaters too.
After nothing but sea for two days, we finally land in the South Shetland Islands, home to colonies of comical Gentoo penguins and their chicks. We watch them chase each other, wage food fights, trill to their chicks, build nests with pebbles, and chase off the aggressive skua birds – a vulture-like predator.
We also see chinstrap and tiny Adélie penguins, as well as leopard seals and fur seals. For some, our afternoon cruise to Brown Bluff – a sparse, pebbly coastline framed by a snow-covered rock that resembles a marble cake – is the chance to tick off the seventh and final continent from their list of travel destinations.
It’s day five when we reach the white brilliance of Paradise Bay – one of two harbours in Antarctica visited by ships, and where Ponant’s Le Soléal has dropped anchor for the afternoon. Home to two research stations, this harbour feels like we are truly at the bottom of the world, a frosty, frozen dome of white emptiness glaring bright under the summer sun.
Before long, we’re zipping out in zodiacs to explore the vast solitude of glacial mountains and mirror seas. Surprisingly, we find ourselves pulling off our gloves and beanies, sweltering from the sun bouncing off this white wonderland. We zip in and out of coves, visiting a colony of Antarctic shag who nest high up in the cliffs, gathering wintry moss as a shelter for their baby chicks. The curious seabirds plop into the water one by one on our approach, and scoot over to where we have stopped.
We spot some crab-eater seals sleeping on ice floes, their pelts glossy in the sunshine. One raises an indolent head as we inch close, flaring its slitlike nostrils to see what we are, before dropping back to sleep. Another slips into the aqua-bright water and makes us laugh as it pops out again next to us. Later, we see a minke whale and a troupe of penguins somersaulting through the water.
This is Ponant’s last cruise of the Antarctica season. For many of the crew, it is a chance to return home – while Le Soléal will chase the sun, making its way to Easter Island and then on to the azure tropical waters of Tahiti. For those of us who have sailed on this 11-day cruise, blessed with brilliant sunshine, blue skies and calm seas, it’s truly been the trip of a lifetime.
This harbour feels like we are truly at the bottom of the world.