2006 Antarctic Trip


The Tom Crean Society First Adventure to Antarctica in 2004 was one full of surprises and wonderful experiences. We certainly walked in the footsteps of Tom Crean, landing at Cape Cove in King Haakon Bay, climbing to the Shackleton Gap, visiting Grytviken the final resting place of Shackleton. Some of the photographs you can view at your leisure on the site and see who do you recognise.

However this trip had one surprise we did not expect, to hit a rock in King Haakon Bay and thus badly damage our ship the Polar Star. The remainder of the trip had to be cancelled and we made a hasty return to Ushuaia for ship repairs. It was the end of our planned three-week adventure we did not get to see the South Orkneys, Elephant Island or the Antarctic Peninsula.

Disappointing, yes but it just shows you cannot take the southern ocean or expeditioning for granted.But our story does not end there. After many legal dealings, compensation was given to all the passengers and a return trip was planned for January 2006.
So the Second Tom Crean Society Adventure to Antarctica will depart Ushuaia in Tierra Del Feugo on January 24th and all the members of the Society present will once again follow in the footsteps of Tom Crean and will also complete the journey of 2004.

This year they will land on many wonderful sites on the Antarctic Peninsula aswell as Elephant Island weather permitting.So tune into the regular updates from members of the Society from their ship the Polar Star, hear first hand their experiences of the many sights, sounds and wildlife wonders that the Antarctic offers.

Members of the Tom Crean Society plan in the not too distant future to take a third but ultimate adventure. They plan to visit the Antarctic continent from New Zealand and step into the past by visiting Scott and Shackletons huts.

As they say watch this site, tell your friends and maybe you too can join the Tom Crean Society on one of their wonderful, exciting adventures in the future.

 

Marie’s Journal of Tom Crean Society Second Adventure to Antarctica January 23rd to February 5th 2006.

Tom Crean Society Group.

Honor Baird –Belfast.
Sheila Baird – Dublin.
Kathy Case- Alaska.
Valerie Casey- Dublin.
Tom O’ Connell- Clare.
Pat Hill-Cork.
Paul Callaghan- Cork.
Brian Callaghan- Cork.
Rachel Holstead- Ventry-Kerry.
Marie Kennedy- Annascaul, Kerry.
Noah Scott-England.
Beth Scott- England.

On the Society’s first adventure to Antarctica 2004 we brought a memorial stone in remembrance of Tom Crean which can be seen in the amazing museum at Grytviken in South Georgia.
For the second Society Adventure to Antarctica the main focus was facilitating Rachel Holstead to carry out her research for the proposed music composition for the Society.
Rachel was commissioned by the Society to compose a piece of music with relation to Tom Crean and the Antarctic. She recorded sounds of cracking ice, whales, icebergs calving, the sea sounds; recording equipment was provided by the BBC. Special thanks to Fathom Expeditions and Dave German for all their help and support in facilitating this momentous second adventure. Extra special thanks to Rob Williams for use of his hydro phone to record whales, also to Angela Holmes,assistant expedition leader for the time she gave Rachel while she recorded ice sounds. We were delighted that Rachel made it to the ship on time thanks to Jorn. Rachel was broadcast live from Antarctica, talking to B.B.C. via satellite at the Waterfront in Belfast from the ship in Antarctica, on the 250th birthday celebrations for Mozart. The performance in Belfast was entitled Happy Birthday. It was wonderful to have such fervent support for the Tom Crean Society project from the B.B.C.

We are looking for support in any way to bring this project to fruition. So if you can help in any way, contact Marie – www.tomcrean.com. Donations to : Treasurer Enda Crean O’Brien c/o Southpole Inn or the Tom Crean Business Centre, Kerry Technolgy Park, Tralee Co. Kerry.

 

Marie’s Highlights of the 2006 Tom Crean Society Adventure.

On the 23rd of January2006 the members of the Society gathered at the Hotel Del Glacier for the Explorers dinner before embarking on their adventure ’South’ to the ice.

We boarded the Polar Star with anxious anticipation and hoped the dreaded ‘Drake’ would not be too rough. It was great fun to meet all the old friends and remember our last adventure in 2004, and ‘the Rock’ will we ever forget.!!
We had a fabulous evening cruise out the Beagle Channel closely followed by the Wandering Albatrosses.
To our surprise the Drake’s passage was flat calm totally out of character as it has the reputation of being the roughest seas in the world.  The constant refrain the Polar bar was it has to get us on the way back.!

26th January: A change to the scheduled itinerary we sailed straight for Elephant Island due to the fabulous weather conditions and suddenly we were there. It emerged dramatically right from the ocean a truly inhospitable place. The strong sea swells made a landing difficult but thanks to the skills of the expedition zodiac drivers we headed for Point Wild, an incredible place worse than I had imagined. How on earth did 22 men live here on seal and penguin meat for four months in 1916?  The smells have to be experienced to be believed, how did the men remain so sure that Shackleton & Crean would return, how did they not go mad? I can only imagine when they finally saw the plume of smoke from the Yelchov in the distance, their rescue vessel, it must have been a heady mixture of relief and euphoria for the men, as they had all survived.
It was a momentous day for the Society to see this place, experience the harshness for ourselves and for Rachel’s research it was invaluable. Not many people get the chance to even see Elephant Island never mind land there. It was exciting for us to capture it all first hand especially as it is truly one of the wildest and remotest places on the Antarctic Peninsula.  It is important to note that that night in the Polar bar on the ship the Society toasted Tom Crean, Shackleton and the men with whiskey and Elephant Island glacier ice and we presented Dave German ‘ The Unsung Hero’ by Michael Smith as a thank you for getting us safely to there.

27th January: The Polar Star continued on her journey for the Danger Islands but due to poor weather the landing was cancelled. We also lost one of our two anchors to the ice and we accidentally bumped off an iceberg, oh no was this deja vous.!!

30th January: We arrived at Paradise Bay our official landing on the Antarctic Peninsula and visited the inactive scientific base of Almirante Brown Station. Some if us hiked up to the high point overlooking the bay and slid down the snowy hills with sunshine at our backs. We saw hump backed whales, crab eater seals and to end the day we went zodiac cruising around Danco island.

31st January: We landed at the furthest point ‘South’ which is 65 degrees 10’.  In the afternoon we landed in Port Lockroy at the Gordon Island and had a great welcome from the base leader, Rick Atkinson. Port Lockroy was once a full scientific base now part of the base is used to study gentoo penguins. The old base hut is now a museum and post office. From this post office we were able to send many post cards with the coveted Antarctic stamp and seal.
After visiting the base at Port Lockroy we went to the other side of the island, a truly magical place, my favourite. The glaciers were calving, the cracking and groaning of the ice the sea rolling on the shore, the chorus of the gentoos was amazing, a vivid symphony of nature and then absolute silence. A few moments later the whole programme would start again. This experience reminded me of a saying by Mark Twain, ‘Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits’. This was my ‘ just sits’ moment music for the soul.

Other Highlights. We went zodiac cruising on the look out for humpbacked whales and we were not disappointed, there she blows. Nine humpbacked whales treated us to their noble movements in the sea and we followed them for hours totally enthralled by the slow motion of these mighty mammals.
All of us were privileged to be so close and take pictures and feel the whales swimming calmly in the cold waters of the Antarctic.
Many of us were overwhelmed at how close we got to the whales a little too close at times, we also saw minkey whales, leopard seals, crab eaters; all up close and personal.

3rd February: Some of the group swam in the Antarctic chilling waters and they were reheated in the hot springs of Deception Island. Needless to say I watched from a distance their bravery or madness!! Now that is a story for the fireside ‘I swam in the Antarctic’.

Other highlights of the adventure for me were sailing through the Lemaire channel, zodiac cruising through a gallery of spectacular ice sculptures, every shade of blue and white and actually green! I will never forget the potent smells of those ever so friendly elephant seals. We saw thousands of gentoo, chinstraps and my favourites the adelies penguins. We also saw wandering ablatrosses, Wilson’s storm petrols, giant petrols, Antarctic terns. This place is so beautiful and magical.

‘I like to go exploring because I like it and its my job.
One goes once and then one gets the fever and can’t stop going’.
The words of Sir Ernest Shackleton
Some may ask why did I go on this adventure?

Life should not be measured by the number of breaths we take, but instead life should be measured by the number of moments that take our breath away.

This for me sums up my Antarctic Adventure in January 2006 and we all survived the dreaded Drakes passage.

Photographs of the 2006 and 2004 Tom Crean Society trip will be on view in the Anchor Gallery Annascual from the end of March to December 2006.