Base Esperanza - Life in Antarctica

Day 7 : Dec 16, 2019

On 7th day, we visit Argentine Military’s Base Esperanza to get a first-hand experience of day-to-day life of people living in Antarctica.

Sunrise in Antarctica

It was middle of the night, when my sleep thinned out and I opened my eyes. Checked my watch and it was 2:30 am. As I looked out of the windows, I was rewarded by an astonishing sight of sunrise at that hour. The sky had turned crimson and its reflection found its way in the water below with the scattered clouds adding to the hue. The sky, clouds & sea presented a beautiful picture of crimson, orange and golden yellow palettes, with the landmass providing a perfect background in dark silhouette. Excited, I woke up Bidisha who at first wasn’t at all amused at being woken up at the middle of night. But one look out of the window and all her irritation vanished. We put our jackets on and stepped outside onto the balcony soaking the marvellous sight. We took a lot of pictures as the ship sailed on. Soon the sun rose and it casts its lovely reflection in the sea waters. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery for 30 minutes and then returned back to bed.

We woke up at 6:00 am to choppy seas and strong winds at Brown Bluff in the Antarctic Sound region. The Captain and the Expedition Leader announced that landing at Brown Bluff will not be possible due to high winds approaching 30 Knots. As an alternate, the Captain decided to sail around and give us a view of the majestic tabular icebergs the had broken off from Larsen Ice Shelf approximately 3 years ago and had floated into the area.

Brown Bluff

Brown Bluff (63°32′00´´S, 56°55′00´´W) in Antarctic Sound is 1.5 km cobble and ash beach on the east coast of Tabarin Peninsula. It hosts of colonies of Adelie Penguins and Gentoo Penguins. Rising steeply from the beach are red-brown tuff cliffs formed from volcanic ash and rocks.

As per the original plan, our group was slotted at 8:30 am for landing at Brown Bluff. Consequently, we had planned an early breakfast in the suite and had ordered for room service. Even with change of plans, we enjoyed the breakfast of Cereals with Yoghurt, Fresh Fruits and Egg Benedict, in the suite.

After the breakfast, we went to observation platform on Deck 5 in the Bow area for some close-up shots of the tabular icebergs. Some of the icebergs were really massive and a few were as large as 4 soccer fields together. Thereafter, we stationed ourselves in the Tor’s Observation Lounge for relaxed view as the ship sailed around tabular icebergs.

Tabular Iceberg Brown Bluff — A giant tabular iceberg in Brown Bluff area

Brown Bluff tabular iceberg — The Tabular Iceberg at Brown Bluff

Giant Iceberg — The ship sails towards the giant iceberg

Brown Bluff iceberg — The ship sails closer to the iceberg

Iceberg close look — Captain Mino skilfully manoeuvres the ship close to iceberg

Tabular Iceberg deck view — View of the tabular iceberg from the top deck

We enjoyed a sumptuous lunch at La Terrazza on Deck 7, culminating with a delicious dessert of Hot Toffee Pudding. All our diet controls leapt out of the window that day as we both stuffed ourselves with multiple helpings of the pudding. We retired for a quick afternoon siesta as the ship set sail for its next destination – Hope Bay.

Hope Bay

Late noon, the ship docked at Hope Bay. This area houses a permanent, all year, Argentine military base & research station – Base Esperanza (63°23′51″S, 56°59′52″W). At our scheduled landing slot of 3:30 pm, a quick zodiac ride took us to the base. After a wet landing, we walked into the base, past a bust of Gen, San Martin – the legendary national hero of Argentina and Peru. We were welcomed by Captain Ramos who was the second-in-command of the base.

The base had 30 odd houses in Orange colour with Black roof. It housed 60 personnel, with 9 families and 14 children. The base had the only functional school in the entire Antarctica continent. The school had a Principal and a Teacher. The base also had a functional Chapel which had hosted 2 weddings till date. There was also a fully covered indoor football ground and a museum that showcased the natural history of the area. The base had a community kitchen where meals were prepared for all the camp inmates. The inmates had their food in the community dining hall. In case of severe weather, the food was delivered to everyone at their homes. The base had a garbage dump where all garbage was neatly maintained in sealed drums and these were taken off from the island once a year.

The inhabitants of the base shared their island with Gentoo and Adelie Penguins. These Penguins seemed to be quite used to human presence around them. Though curious and inquisitive about the human visitors to the base, that is us, the Penguins moved around fearlessly & nonchalantly, going about their daily chores oblivious to our presence.

Captain Ramos gave us a tour of the base, allowing us considerable time to soak up the exhibits at the museum. The teacher explained the functioning of the school. We were also taken to the community dining hall where we purchased a souvenir in form of an Argentine Military Jacket Patch of Camp Esperanza.

Hope Bay Base Esperanza San Martin — Bust of Gen. San Martin at Base Esperanza

Hope Bay Base Esperanza — The landing point at Base Esperanza

Argentine base Antarctica — Esperanza – Argentine base in Antarctica

Base Esperanza authors — The authors at Base Esperanza

Hope Bay Base Esperanza Silver Cloud — Silver Cloud anchored off Base Esperanza at Hope Bay

Base Esperanza tour — Explorers on a tour of Base Esperanza

Museum of Natural History Base Esperanza — Museum of Natural History at the base

Base Esperanza landscape — The rocky landscape with its own beauty

School Base Esperanza — The school at Base Esperanza

Base Esperanza Chapel — The Chapel at Base Esperanza

Base Esperanza huts — The living and working huts in the base

Community dinning hall Base Esperanza — The community dining hall at the base

Base Esperanza Penguins — The penguins at Base Esperanza coming off the sea

Penguins Base Esperanza — A nonchalant Penguin at Base Esperanza

Base Esperanza penguin rookery — The Penguin Rookery at Base Esperanza

Base Esperanza ship view — A view of Base Esperanza from the ship

After completing the tour of the base, as we headed back towards the zodiac boarding point, we stopped by a stone hut. Mr. Dmitri Kiselev, the historian in the Expedition team, gave a brief about its fascinating history. The hut was built by the famous Swedish explorers J. Gunnar Andersson, S.A. Duse and Toralf Grunden. The trio were part of Swedish Antarctic Expedition led by Otto Nordenskiold and got stranded on the island in 1902 after their ship The Antarctic was crushed by ice and lost. The trio had to spend a year here and they survived by feeding on penguin flesh and using its blubber for heating and light. They were rescued a year later by another expedition team. A plaque by the hut made a mention of this history. The bay was named as Hope Bay by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition team to commemorate the winter spent by the trio on the island and their remarkable survival.

At 5:00 pm, we were rushed to the waiting zodiacs to return to the ship. An Argentine Navy ship was due to arrive at 6:00 pm to pick up the garbage drums and our ship was required to clear the area before the Navy ship came in.

At 5:30 pm, Silver Cloud set sail and headed towards its next destination – Deception Island. Meanwhile, we relaxed in the Panorama Lounge on Deck 8 and enjoyed the evening over some cocktails and snacks. At 7:30 pm we had a quick dinner at La Terrazza on Deck 7, and then retired for the day.