You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............
Mar 14, 2006 07:00 PM Only the lonely 'Maryshev' in the ocean?
Storm. Since 12 days we didn't see in the ocean any other ship. Very
limited number of commercial vessels sails to the deep South Atlantic.
Lack of info. Some of my wealthy fellows have private satellite phones
with them, so every evening they can check what is going in New York or
San Francisco. I am feeling isolated from the rest of the world: no TV,
no printed news, no radio? I think it is good idea to take for such a
expedition with many days at sea miniature shortwave radio. I left my at
home. Pity!
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Mar 13, 2006 07:00 PM Empty horizon?
One more sleepless night. We are still rolling on the high waves. In the
dining room they use wet table clothes to avoid permanent movement of
the plates and other stuff. But it does not help much. Sometimes I am
finding cornflakes in the orange juice or cheese sprayed by jam. The
Russian crew is doing its best. I like them - they are hearty, open
people always ready for the joke. All of us are tired due to this stormy
weather. It is difficult to smile after third sleepless night. But we
try anyway?
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Mar 12, 2006 07:00 PM Through the rough Southern Ocean...
Second day at sea to Gough Island. Few people slept last night. The ocean is extremely rough. The walls of water are
virtually exploding under the bow, generating "fountains" as high as the bridge. At least I found in our expedition two
people travelling my style. Jeff from California and Michael from Geneva. They also organize their voyages on their own,
travelling alone to the remote destinations, crosing overland exotic continents. It was so nice and surprising to find that
Jeff and me stayed in the same hostel in Bukhara/Uzbekistan. Small world... Three of us are ready to visit Tibesti if the
situation will be stable. So our next meeting could be on Sahara.
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Mar 11, 2006 07:00 PM Thousand miles to Gough Island...
The ocean is showing his power. We are sailing against strong wind. The bow is jumping up and down. Limited visibility due
to the heavy fog. With both motors on we can afford only the half of usuall speed -5,5 knots. We gain about 10 hours
departing from Bouvet in the morning instead in the evening. But the boss says that on the next place - Gough Island we will
have only 3 hours for the cruise along the coast. I am not sure if this expedition is reliably planed: after 5 days at sea
they offer only 3 hours for the visit of the island!?
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Mar 10, 2006 07:00 PM Bouvet Island - fur seals are surprised
At 6 am the first shines of rising sun put delicate rose color on the snowy peaks of Buvet. In the icy-cold wind I went to
the terrace over the bridge to take pictures. 10 minutes later I jumped into the zodiac dancing on the high waves. Only 11
people decided to try to land ashore for the second time. We approached the little beach west of Cape Valdivia. Then we were
waiting about half an hour for the better wind. No chance! First zodiac on the beach. Hurry! Jump into icy-cold water!.
Ufff! I am already on the little stones covering dark sand. In te distance of 3-4 m few families of fur seals is watching
me - they are so surprised! Did they ever see any man on their beach??
So, I finally landed on this remote island in cold Antarctica. It is satisfaction, but I decided to take the risk of landing
with a hope for the good pictures of the coast and the wildlife. Few people had opportunity to take them. Hurry up!
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Mar 09, 2006 07:00 PM The most remote island...
Located 2600 km from Cape Town Bouvet Island seems to be one of the most isolated islands on the globe... Early wake-up and
run to the bridge. Here it is: lonely rock on the horizon covered by snow cap with some icebergs floating around. It is
sunny weather - we are lucky! At 10.30 am we droped anchor at Norsoya - opposite to the little plateau where Norvegians put
container used by their expeditions. After an hour all zodiacs (we have 5 of them) were on the water and we were sailing one
by one to the coast. Only three of them took a risk of landing on he narrow beach full of the fur seals. My zodiac - the
fourth - was crusing along the coast for about 40 minutes waiting for the opportunity to land. Sorry! The leader decided to
stop further landings due to the increasing wind. Those of you who have zodiac experience know that if the wind is against
it is much more difficult to go back from the shore then to land... They used long rope and another tug-zodiac to pull-off
wet explorers back to the open sea.
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Mar 08, 2006 07:00 PM Dancing on the waves
South Atlantic - third day at sea. Huge icebergs floating in the navy-blue ocean. We saw albatrosses and dolphins in the
morning - they are fast and it is not easy to photograph them. The waves are still high and the temperature onboard is
rising: we are more and more excited. Tomorrow the ship will finally reach Bouvet Island. How will be the weather? Shall we
land or not?
We have quite large group of TCC members. On their list Bouvet is recognized as separate country or territory. If they will
land, they will gain an extra point!
We had a lecture about Bouvet. The island has only 49 sq.km of land but the glaciers cover 93 percent. Rocky cliffs up to
500 m high and glaciers reduce access to the coast. Bouvet usually is cloaked in clouds or thick fog. 20 passengers (but not
me) want to be in the first zodiac. The leader announced: there will be a lottery!
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Mar 07, 2006 07:00 PM The spy in the group
Day at see. Moderate swell. Only icebergs around.... It is 43 of us on this expedition. After few days at sea we know better
each other. Fellows ask me many questions. Where and when did I travel... What I do... Some of them are nice and friendly.
But there are also wealthy people from the western countries who cannot accept that there is a guy from Eastern Europe who
travels so much (usually much more then they do) "-You must be a spy!" Do you think it is a good joke? Or maybe it is not a
joke?. Now you understand why I do not like in the group....
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Mar 06, 2006 07:00 PM 1011 miles to Bouvet Island
In the program of our expedition there was also sailing around the Montagu Island on Sth Sandwich. In November 2005 the
satelite registered on the picture volcanic eruption on this island. I thought it could be interesting to see if there is
still any volcanic activity and the new piece of land formed by fresh lava. But when we came close to the Montagu the
visibility was so poor that the leader decided to cancel this circumnavigation. Bad luck! We said goodbye to South Sandwich
and took a course to Bouvet Island.
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Mar 05, 2006 07:00 PM Wet landing on South Sandwich
Very few expeditions sail to the South Sandwich Islands located east of South Georgia. It is uninhabited archipelago of 11
volcanic islands. In the morning we approached one of them - Saunders Island. Already from the ship I saw large colonies of
chinstrap penguins. Slopes of centrally located cone - the Mt Michael are covered by ice. The glacier is almost touching the
sea. Between the cliff and the ocean is a narrow strip of the black beach occupied by chinstrap penguins. This was the place
where our boss decided to land. I jumped to the first zodiac. On the approach to the beach I found that it won't be easy
landing. Once on the coast we stated to jump one by one to the water. I jumped too late - old lady with limited abilities
just blocked my way out. Then I got my first wave from the back. Finally I reached the beach in thr next minute via the
other side of the zodiac. Wet, wet,wet... But backpack is opened , camera taken from the plastic bag - I started to take
pictures of Chinstraps and the coast. After the quarter boss decided to stop landings and to evacuate us due to the
increasing wind. Jump to the zodiac! Yes, sir! I jumped in. But before the other did the same I got two strong waves, and
twice felt down in the zodiac. There were 40 cm of water when we get of the shore dancing on the waves. After 10 min I was
on the ship throwing off my wet stuff. Hot shower! Oh, yes - this is not a cruise! But what a adventure!
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