In late January 2005 we flew to Auckland and then on to Buenos Aires. After a night in Buenos Aires we flew to Ushuaia on the south coast of Argentinian Tierra del Fuego.

We had 5 daysto look around Ushuaia before we boarded the Lyubov Orlova for our 10 day Antarctic cruise.

The Orlova was built in Yugoslavia in 1976 and was named after a Russian actress who began her career in silent films.

The Orlova is one of 6 ships that were all

Not an ice breaker, but ice strengthened, it carried 100 passengers.

built in the same style and named after Russian actresses.

The Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica was not as bad as we had feared. The Orlova rolled rather than pitched. We coped well and were not seasick. We took the recommended 25mg phenergan tablets to prevent it.

The expedition staff gave excellent lectures on board. Topics covered were petrels, history of the Antarctic,
whales, pinnipeds, and varieties of ice.

After about 50 hours in the Drake Passage we reached Livingston Island
in the South Shetland Island group - our first sighting of Antarctica. 

A Chinstrap Penguin at Hannah Point on Livingston Island, our first zodiac landing in Antarctica.

Hannah Point is named after the sailing vessel, Hannah, of Liverpool, which visited the South Shetland Islands and was wrecked on this site in 1820.

 There were Elephant Seals and a few Gentoo Penguins here too. 

Fossils on the island showed that it had been vegetated in an earlier age. 

Deception Island is the largest of the recently active volcanic centres in the South Shetland Islands. 

The island is ring-shaped, 14km in diameter. It is entered through Neptune's Bellows. 

Whaler's Bay 

The caldera inside Deception Island is an ideal harbour.

Britain had a base here and even an aircraft hanger. The 1967 eruption forced its closure.

Argentina also had a nearby base and during this eruption they had to flee to the British base using corrugated iron as shields.

Cuverville Island 

Port Lockroy is a British base established in 1944 and almost continually occupied until 1962.

Research carried out by the 4 to 9 people who occupied the station was topographical surveys,
geological, meteorological and botanical projects.

From 1950 the station played an important role in ionospheric research and was a key monitoring site
in the International Geophysical Year of 1957.

It is now staffed in summer selling souvenirs and stamps to the tourists. Money raised helps to restore historic Antarctic bases.
Our postcards posted here had to be taken by a supply boat to the Falkland Islands, then by plane to Santiago and on to Britain where they were sent on. They reached Australia about 4 weeks after we posted them.