|
|
You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Nov 24, 2010 07:00 PM Funny fur seals from Amsterdam
They are different from those fur seals I saw in Antarctica and much less aggressive. What we see here on the rocky beach are mostly youngsters, only 7-8 months old. Their parents are feeding themselves in the sea. They will come soon togive the birth to the new puppies. Those youngsters are playing in the shallow water, learning how to swim and haunt - now they will be on their own. Oh, oh, oh! - non-stop barking you can hear at any time of the day. Coming closer you will see them jumping on the stones and trying to bit each other. But you will see no blood during these exercises - it is just a play. Orca or killer whale is the main enemy of the young seals. So far I saw only one orca on approach to Amsterdam. It was probably already after lunch. We took a walk (about an hour) through the high grass to the air-control station. Amsterdam has a strategic position in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is almost the same distance - about 5000 kms - from here to Africa, India and Australia. The air is free from the pollution, and that's why they can use values measured here as a reference. I left my rubber boots on the ship. Amsterdam is very dry island and they have a problem to collect enough unsalted water for those people who live here. They collect rain water from the all roofs to the special, plastic tanks. I wish them to have enough rain for their showers! So far strong sun is shining over Amsterdam and I have to protect my neck from the sunburn!..
|
Nov 23, 2010 07:00 PM Amsterdam: seals on the main street!
No, it is not that Amsterdam in the Nederlands - I am still on the Indian Ocean! Amsterdam island is much bigger then Saint Paul. It is rising from the 30-m cliffs on the east to the 700-m high Entrecousteau coast in the west. French base, where 40 people live in the summer (20 in the winter) lies on theeastern coast. Main street - Avenue Martin-de-Vivies goes from the little jetty up to the "Residence of the Chef de District". Fur seals living in the big number on the stony beach nearby do not care about the traffic - they walk the avenue
and often lay on the sun in the middle of the lane. On the beach there is limited space so they wonder up to the base. Near the hospital I saw a pair residing under the tree. It couldn't be a pleasure for the patients to listen their barking day and night! Yes, there are trees on Amsterdam Island! What a pleasure for the eyes to see them again after few weeks spent in the harsh, deserted south! The island is famous for the endemic phillica trees - they try to increase their number. TAAF guides offer overnight stay in the little cottages ashore: Ribault on the shore - 20-minutes walk from the baseand Antonelli - at the minicrater some 70-minutes walk from the base. We are enjoying lobsters for our lunches - there is plenty of them around the island andthey catch them to improve their diet.
|
Nov 22, 2010 07:00 PM Beautiful Saint Paul Island
Can you imagine a single volcanic cone rising from the dark-blue ocean in the middle of nowhere? That's how Saint Paul island looks like. But it is not brown or black like most of the volcanoes. It is green! Thousands years ago a part of the Saint Paul's volcano rim broke, opening the way to the caldera which is now filled with water. It is possible to sail by the little ship into the caldera. When I saw the island in the early morning in the sun I thought that little Saint Paul Island is one of the most picturesque places of this voyage. In the past French tried to colonize Saint Paul. I am proud to mention that is the middle of the19th century Polish captain Adam Mieroslawski on behalf of the French Governor of Reunion was here acting chief of the island. A little fishery and French garrison was on Saint Paul at that time. Now French authorities announced that Saint Paul is a Nature Reserve. For some reason (they always repeat: his is not a cruise ship!) we stayed at Saint Paul only about 3 hours. In the tourist program a 10-minutes helicopter flight was included. I saw that for the first time they are launching their only zodiac. -Can I sail also in a zodiac into caldera? The answer surprised me: yes, but then you have to pay for the helicopter flight: 48 euro per minute x 10 minutes. Sorry, I cannot pay anything extra! I saw the zodiac sailing many times to the caldera and back with wealthy tourists and crew members. How much cost the petrol for one round-trip sailing to thecaldera. 4 euro? I thought at this moment with a great sentiment about the crew from my Russian ships to Antarctica, it is hard to imagine that they can have about such an approach. They were happy to offer us additional opportunities to enjoy the voyage. But now I am on the French ship. Flight was nice but I was not lucky to have a front seat, so my air pictures are so-so.
|
Nov 21, 2010 07:00 PM Saint Paul and Amsterdam on the horizon!
We are getting the knowledge about the next islands on our route: Saint Paul and Amsterdam. They rise from the sea some 1500 kms from Kerguelen and 2880 kms from Reunion. The distance between two islands is only 85 kms. Saint Paul with its 8 square kms of surface looks like volcanic crater with abroken rim, full of water. Small boats can enter the crater from the ocean (this reminds me Deception Island in Antarctica). Amsterdam Island is bigger (58 sq. kms) and has the high cliff on the west coast and a big plateau descending to the east.
Do you remember my Lapu-Lapu story? When the tribe chief Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan on the Philippines his last boat "Victoria" under captain Sebastien Del Cano passed through Saint Paul already in 1522 on its way to Lisbon. Other Portuguese sailor named the island in 1559.
Amsterdam Island (named after the name of van Diemen's ship "Nieuw Amsterdam") was discovered by Dutch on their way to the West Indies in 1633. (There are also other versions of thediscovery of Saint Paul).In the past nobody wanted these two islands, now they are French. I hope to see them tomorrow.
|
Nov 20, 2010 07:00 PM To the north! To the warm north!
Day at sea: good time to make the laundry and to write. It is still cold in the cabins of "Marion Dufresne", and it is now not only me who is sneezing and coughing, so we are happy, that we are sailing north. We expect that every day it should be slightly warmer. The weather is foggy with moderate wind and swell of the sea. In the morning we were watching the movie from the 12th French Mission to Kerguelen in 1961. At that time military personnel guys wear army uniforms. Now they look like civilians and do not have any weapon with them. So why they are here? -To prove that those inhospitable islands belong to France! In the afternoon we had emergency evacuation alarm again. New people - mostly scientists - embarked our ship on Crozet and Kerguelen and they should know what to do just in case. But we were carrying our thermo-immersion suits two decks up already for the second time!
|
Nov 19, 2010 07:00 PM Kerguelen - Port Jeanne d'Arc
This is "the must" place if you are looking for the remains of the
history on the Kerguelen. At the end of 19th century two Bossiere brothers got from the French Government the concession for the colonization of Kerguelen. They brought 3 families and more than 200 sheep to the Port Covreux in the north of the island. People soon escaped to Europe and sheep to the wilderness - I saw them on the slopes from the ship. Then the brothers encouraged British-Norwegian company to establish onKerguelen the whaling station. They built it in the deep, inner bay and named Port Jeanne d'Arc. Remains of the station still exists, and this was our target for today. It was only 4.30 am, but already clear when "Marion Dufresne" began to cruise between the picturesque, rocky islands of the bay. One hour later we passed with a minimum speed through the dangerous narrows.
After another hour of sailing we reached PJDA - how the locals call the place. In the middle of nowhere I saw few old-style houses at the bottom of the slope. Also a piles of metal barrels and rusted tanks and other installations once used to process the grease. Nobody knows how many whales lost their lives here. Annual production of oil was 3000 tons. Maybe this is the reason why so far we cannot see any whale in the sea...We had a sunny day, but it is hard to say "lovely day" because of extremely strong, icy wind. After landing I visited a little exhibit in the building restored by TAAF. They try to restore the station as a museum. Workshops and the quarters are already reconstructed and few people can sleep there (if they are ready to survive the cold). We took the walk along the bay visiting the remains of the little cemetery (but most of thewhalers were buried on the Cemetery Island in the bay). I saw a dozen of rabbits and a little herd of reindeers introduced by Norwegians. Big skua bird tried to land on the head of my friend Patrick not to attack him but just to check who entered its territory. People appear here onlyfew days per year.
|
Nov 18, 2010 07:00 PM French Base on the Kerguelen
French tried to colonize this archipelago several times - with no success. Now, in the only settlement on the island - Port aux Francais limited number of scientist and technical staff live here: 73 people now - in the summer and only 50 in the winter. I had a chance to visit the base. They have satellite tracking station, meteo station important for the air and sea traffic, a big canteen, library, post office and the shop. It sounds ridiculously but today in the
shop they were accepting only payment by cheque of the French Bank. In the post you can pay also by cash euro. But nobody, (also the staff on the ship) accepts credit cards. Do they know that you can use "plastic money" to pay evenin Russia and China?
On the outskirts of the base, on the hill they built a big chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Winds. The name is so right! - at any time strong and icy wind is blowing there and only fat elephant seals residing around do not care
about that. You will be surprised to find not too far from the church a little, well-fenced garden where they grow a local endemic plant - the Kerguelen cabbage. Why it is fenced? To protect them from the local plague - the rabbits,
introduced years ago by the people from Europe. If there will be no fence -there will be nothing to show to the visitors. Rabbits are everywhere! Not only the rabbits, also wild cats. And nobody knows how to fight with them!
|
Nov 17, 2010 07:00 PM Captain Cook was here too!
The biggest glacier on Kerguelen is named after the captain James Cook. He arrived to the archipelago just few years after Kerguelen - in 1776 and it was just Chistmas time.
The bay in the northern tip of the island where he landed has the name Port Christmas. Both explorers at this time called the archipelago Desolation Islands. Without any single tree, without any people living on it, with extremely unpleasant, windy and stormy weather Kerguelen Archipelago really appeared like a deserted, inhospitable and harsh land. I cannot see many changes.
It is cloudy and I do not have a chance to see attractive Cook's Glacier even from the distance. You can try to find it on the satellite map. In the afternoon I took the heli flight to take back my fellow travelers from distant (28 kms) Ratmanoff Cottage. It is hard to say that it is picturesque place. Located in the boring, flat plateau of Courbet Peninsula some 500 m inland from the beach this cottage can accommodate 12 people on the bunk beds. The only attraction is trout fishing in the little river and optional walk to the beach with king penguins and elephant seals - but we already know them well. To spend the night in the cottage you have to bring your own sleeping bag (zero deg. Celsius range required - organizers do not provide them).
Do you think is this worth to carry such a bag from Europe to use it only twice in the outback cottage?
|
Nov 16, 2010 07:00 PM Kerguelen - An excursion to the harsh interior
TAAF, who organize the program for the tourists from "Marion Dufresne" offers on Kerguelen overnights stays in the interior.
They have two cabanas (little shelters) in the interior.The only possible access is by helicopter. First one - Labourer is located in the far end of the narrow bay, near the waterfall. Second one - Ratmanoff - on the eastern coast.
Since I am still weak, coughing and sneezing I decided to fly with my fellows just for the short photo-stop at Labourer and to come back to the ship on the second flight of the helicopter. It was a good idea. We were flying in the strong wind but with a temporary clear sky, so I had opportunity to enjoy the lovely insular landscape and to took few pictures of Labourer bay and surroundings.
In fact there is not much to do in the cottage since in this location there is practically no wildlife - the serene landscape contemplated in the strong wind is your only advantage there.
We have periods of snow today, but they say it is Antarctic summer.
My temperature went down to 37.7.
|
Nov 15, 2010 07:00 PM Kerguelen Islands on the horizon!
Our captain gave us a chance to see on the arrival the best known
landscape attraction of the Kerguelen. They call it L'arche des Kerguelen –
The Arch of Kerguelen.
Now they are only two natural rock towers rising at the tip of the
little peninsula.
The lighting was not the best when I was taking pictures from the
bridge, but I hope I will show them to you later.
Kerguelen is the furthest point of my voyage. On the map of the
Southern Indian Ocean it looks like a very little point. It is hard to believe,
but it is quite large territory.
The main island of the archipelago, as big as French Island of Corsica
is surrounded by more than 300 smaller islands, islets and reefs.
They were discovered in 1772 by Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Tremarec
(they like long names!). Kerguelen came again to the islands in December
1773 and the new French territory was named after him. When he returned to France from his first journeyhe reported that he discovered new continent.
Few years later during his second voyage to the south he recognized
that it is only island.After his return to the homeland they put him to the jail.
France forgot Kerguelen Islands for more than hundred years. Only in January 1893 they send the ship "Eure" to put there French flag again.
My temperature is decreasing, it seems that the my health crisis is
over. I hope tomorrow will be better.
|
Page:
210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220
|
|
|
