Antarctica -- October-November 2010

Magdelena Island (Isla Magdelena in Spanish). This is in the Strait of Magellan. This is John Chardine, the ship's bird expert and wildlife photography expert, in the rust colored parka. Notice there is a penguin INSIDE his tripod in the photo and in the next one. Also, notice the ship (MS Fram) in the background. The ship is off shore, We landed on this island in the small boats.

The expedition staff wore this rust color, while blue ones were issued to the passengers. Wearing the blue parkas did not seem to be mandatory, but most people wore them. I may have gone on one of the early landings without mine, but later I realized that it probably made things easiere for the expedition staff. They could more easliy spot if a tourist was drifting off where he or she was not supposed to be.

I call them parkas, but they are really more like rain jackets. They have no thermal insulating lining. You wear them over a regular parka and/or a couple sweaters.

Also notice the people in the background are wearing life jackets (flotation jacket, required for the ride over in the small boat), while John is not wearing his. Often it was easier to just leave the life jacket on while on shore. However, you could take it off and leave it near the at the supply cache where the boats landed -- especially if you were going to do something where it would hinder you (which was probably the case with John, he had enough to carry with all his photographic equipment).

(22 Nov 2010)

Magdelena Island

Ropes had been installed (by park officials) to mark pathways on the island. The cruise line (Hurtigruten) provided blue (not thermally lined) windbreakers to all the passengers. It was not mandatory to wear them, but most people did. Also, on most (but not all) landings, many people walked around wearing their orange life vests (the vests used on the landing boats were separate from emergency life vests stored near the lifeboats).

The expedition staff generally wore orange or red jackets. John Chastin is shown here. His “expedition specialty” was birds and wildlife photography