Message from Frank Tschöpe

1.12. Rough sea in Drake Passage

Currently we experience very rough sea in the Drake passage and the ship is shaken in all directions! But I plan to do without any medicine against sea sickness and am optimistic that I will be fine in the next remaining 2 days on board! Here are some final random thoughts! If you subscribed to my newsletter on www.franktschoepe.com then you will get a more organised report after my travel!

The Chinese photographers are really crazy. Some of them shoot more than 10.000 pictures a day and it looks like they shoot with a machine gun on the penguins! Usually they have 2-3 cameras with 8fps, as they use Canon or Nikons flagship products! It would be interesting to see their best shots! I got some business cards from them and some are even in photography business!
Most went for Canon and currently I see a clear edge of photographing with Canon. The reason for this is mainly the new 200-400mm lens with built-in extender. With that lens I get more frames than with changing lenses on critical situations and conditions! I had this before when using a fixed lens of 300mm. And the 200-400mm Nikon is not really good! Not as sharp as Canon and even heavier! Then there is the superb 24mm Canon Tilt-Shift lens..
Next time I need to improve a lot! I learned from the Chinese that it would be better having 3 high quality cameras on board. Often you have no time changing lenses or conditions are that harsh that you should not change lenses at all. So it is best having 3 bodies with 200-560mm, 70-200mm and 24-70mm (or 24mm T/S). I would need 2 Canon 1Dx and one Canon 5D III. My Sony A7R camera was extremely unreliable again and about 20% of all pictures have a white stripe in it! This is totally unacceptable and I will send that camera back to Sony! Also the available lenses are inferior to Canon and even to Nikon! But for landscape pictures that camera is great in case that it works. I bring back some great shots..
This journey was one of my greatest in my life! Fantastic landscapes, amazing wildlife and interesting lectures on history, geology and wildlife! We were also very lucky with the weather and had fog, snow, sun and nearly all conditions you can imagine! Yesterday it was very warm so that a T-Shirt would be enough. I was very surprised on these conditions! On the other hand there was unbelievable much snow and ice! And then this crystal-clear water and apart from penguin and people noises there were no disturbing sounds! Antarctica is the most silent continent on earth!
The only disturbing thing was that the overall group was too big with around 200 passengers! Often one has to split up in groups of 100, as it is not allowed being at the same time with more than 100 people on the landings! Maybe better to allow only English speaking persons! All the announcements were in English, Japanese and Chinese! ;-) but the Chinese were also mostly nice people, though some of them were a bit odd! But they would think the same of me and maybe the Americans!
If I repeat this then I either would join as a photographer or I would share a 2-bed room with a known person! One never knows but this is also an ideal place for marriage. There was one couple who married a few days ago..The photographer on board was nice but most lectures were on a very elementary level! Here more is possible and I would have prefered some lessons for advanced photographers!
Soon I will select about 200 pictures and publish them on my website! These pictures are really great and extremely impressive! As I dont want to bother in selling single pictures I might offer them all for sale for a flat rate of 1000USD! I know many passengers that would not hesitate to buy them at this prize!
I started with a cold and I never got rid of it! It is mainly as of the dry air on board and also as I go for extremes in photography! Usually I didnt wear any gloves and if there is a nice frame I take it even on deck when I am a bit underdressed! OK, yesterdays junp in the cold water was cool but it didnt improve my situation of that soar throat! The doctor even recommended not to jump into the water with a cold!
With Falcon Scott and Jonathan Shackleton there were relatives of the big adventurers on board! That made the travel and the lectures even more interesting as they know a lot details from the former expeditions and of course it was not their first time being in the antarctic!
Not so easy having a shower in this shaking environment but I just made it! For me this is a luxury trip! Breakfast is great, Lunch buffet is also great and dinner is at least average! Sometimes it is already cold and you have to wait very often! But overall food was abundant and very delicious! The gym and the computers were not up-to-date, but for me it is OK, as I anyway use my equipment: Ipad, Satellite messenger and harddisk for a safety copy of all pictures!
Nothing more to say at the moment! These lines are only meant to have a tenth thought so that it looks more complete! ;-) I go for breakfast now and then will start to organise myself, cleaning equipment, preparing for departure etc..

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

29.11. Neko and Paradise Harbour

I got up early at 5am and watched icebergs from the observation deck! Today I saw the first Adelie Penguin drifting on a huge iceberg! Those icebergs travel quite fast, maybe 2-5km per hour! Some of them are massive and bigger than a football field! With respect to penguins the only penguin we didnt see yet is the Emperor penguin! The only way to see them is on a floating iceberg as usually they are on the other side of Antarctica and more inland! So we have seen the following penguins: Rockhopper, Macaroni, Magellanic, Adelie, Chinstrap, Gentoo and King Penguin! ;-) They are all great, but I liked most the Rockhoppers! As the name says they are hopping on rocks! ;-)

We first went to Neko Harbour, where we landed for a short uphill walk to a Southern Gentoo Penguin Colony. Again there was snowfall and a bit foggy, but the landing was OK, the penguins as entertaining as always! Some are carrying stones to their nests, others are stealing stones from neighbours! I got some interesting shots as penguins are usually easy objects! As the weather stayed cloudy I skipped the Zodiac cruise today and went instead for the gym, as I am getting fat here on board with food in abundance! So 45mib cycling on an intense level with music.

We have seen some Chilean Buildings when leaving the Fjord from Neko Harbour! The flag is hissed, so there are currently people in these buildings. Heavy snowfall and fog on the way to Paradise Harbour! We are allowed to visit the bridge all the time! It is interesting to see all the instruments! The captain is from Ukraine and always smoking cigarettes!

Paradise harbour was our second excursion! It is an argentinian research station, but apart from gentoo penguins there was not a single person! First we hiked up a steep slope 100m to a viewpoint and as it stopped snowing it was even a nice experience! Then we had a great tour with the Zodiac boot to a spectacular icefall with 50m iceblocks! I had the great shots that I looked for: a kayaker/zodiac boat as foreground and the icefall with some huge caves right behind! A fantastic frame! ;-)

It is very funny to watch the Cinese photographing! Most of them always carry a tripod and one of them even has a large suitcase with him as though he expects a five star hotel somewhere on the main land of Antarctica! But it is full of lenses and camera bodies! A very funny picture! ;-)

Today evening there is a barbecue on deck! Also a competition who wears the funniest hat! Everything is allowed, we can also build a hat from things we find on the ship! Or cut off all our hair!

Tomorrow we plan to have another 2 excursions depending on weather conditions! I really hope for a sunny day. But overall we were very lucky on this trip, as only a single landing at South Georgia was canceled as of heavy winds!

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

28.11. Antarctica: Orne Harbour

It started with snowfall and as I was in the first group I went up the zigzags to the Chinstrap Penguin colony! Unbelievable as it is, they had there nests right on ridge! So when they come from the sea they have to climb 200m of altitude! Then they are sitting on the most windy place! It is just unbelievable! I did some great shots there already! But then it even got better! When we did the Zodiac boat tour the sun came out and it was just great! Beautiful ice in sunlight and nice landscape shots! One great day of photography with over 2000 shots! I will delete 1800 and from the remaining I will select just 20 great shots!

Today lots of people visited their 7th continent! For me it was the sixth, as I missed Africa so far! Antarctica is great and this trip is maybe my best tour ever! And this though my past tours are difficult to beat! Most of them were on the highest level both in difficulty and in beauty!

The Chinese are cool! When I meet one it is always "Thumbs up"! ;-)

Today we got redwine and 10 different cakes and then even "Gluehwein". The next two days there will be more landings and more highlights! These are breathtaking views with ice, snow, sun and penguins! ;-)

Falcon Scott today presented his art! He started to become a painter and followed the footsteps of his father Peter Scott! Interesting work with paintings from the arctic!

Great light here! Only few hours of darkness! ;-)

So I will have some glasses of Gluehwein! And I missed the gym exercises today and will be also too lazy to go for them tomorrow! As there is full program here..

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

26.11. Notes from the lectures before we reach Elephant Island

I saw a very remarkable film with the following highlights: Southern Lights: Yes, they exist, but they are not as often looked at as the Northern Lights for obvious reasons! ;-)

The Vulcano Mt. Erebus is a very special place, also nearby there is the most dryest place on earth! It is not a desert, but it is Antarctica! You find even conserved fishes like shark there, that are more than 100 years old!

Emperor Penguins manage to survive the winter n the most severe conditions, that you can imagine! The females transfer their egg to their partner and then walk 100 miles forth and back to reach the water for a feeding trip! Meanwhile males are hatching the single egg! Unbelievable that after 4 months they find each other again in a colonie of thousands penguins just by their special call!

Nice, recommended books that I found in the library:

Antarctic Oasis: Under the spell of South Georgia, Tim and Pauline Carr
Antarctica: Secrets of the Southern Continent, David McGonigal
Antarctica: The complete story, David McGonical

Here some notes from today's very interesting 90min lecture of Jonathan Shackleton:"By endurance we conquer - Extreme survival against the odds"

1914-1917 Endurance (built in Norway) and Aurora from both sides of Antarctica, Endurance via South Georgia..

Exactly 100 years ago in October 2014 they were in Grytviken of South Georgia, which we visited some days ago!

Team of 28 for 11 months trapped on a ship on floating ice, drifted 100ts of km, then the ship was abandoned and sank! Then they landed at Elephant Island with 3 smaller boats! Bad place exposed to storms! 38km x 19km, 6 (Shackleton included) left E.I.

(Jonathan: "If tomorrow we would only see E.I. that would be great, a boat cruise would be exceptional!" So just monitor my live-tracker on www.franktschoepe under NEWS..)

They landed in South Georgia after 526 days, 3 of them continued and did a crossing by feet from the south to the north coast in 36h for 20 miles first to Fortuna Bay, then to Stromness! They reached the whaling station there and all men could finally be rescued! 22 from Elephant Island and the 3 from the south coast of South Georgia!

Some members from the Aurora died! 7 survived! And the Aurora made it back to New Zealand!

A very dramatic story!!! I HIGHLY recommend the book "Endurance, Shackleton's incredible voyage" from Lansing!

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

25.11. Close to Elephant Island

We will reach Elephant Island in the early morning of Wednesday and Zodiac boat tours are planned to see the place where Ernest Shackleton landed some 100 years ago! Most people have not seen Elephant Island, as often it is misty there and it is not easy to get on land there!

I startedmy sports program today! It is just one hour on bike and running treadmill. But on a very intense level of at least 200 Watt. Most people that I see just choose 50-100 Watt! To me this is no real sport but looks more than "Hausfrauengymnastik"! ;-) It is also very common in Switzerland: People think they are sportive, but in reality they only exercise on lowest levels! There are only very few exceptions!

I met many interesting people here from America, Japan and China! Yesterday I uploaded a selection of 50 photos onto the ship PC and many people already asked for more! It is a good promotion for my website and I might sell some pictures at a later stage! I will offer a flat rate of 500EUR for about 200 great pictures of Antarctica! I have only 20 of my photography business cards left, so From now on I will hand them over only to selected people! Maybe 1 card for each Japanese and Chinese grou..

Next project will be icebergs and penguins in Antarctica! I would need a dark sky to bring those icebergs into great blue colors!

Currently the sea is very calm! No risk at all for sea-sickness! But I still have a soar throat! :-(

The lectures are very interesting! Yesterday in Wolfgangs geology course I felt like being at the university in semester 3, as he really got deep into theory! Today there is a very interesting lecture from Jonathan Shackleton! He is a funny, entertaining guy! A very special, Irish character! :-) today the topic is on the "Endurance expedition". It is great having a relative from Ernest Shackleton on board! ;-)

So far from the very deep ocean very close to Antarctica! We will stay in Antarctica for 3-4 days..

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

24.11. On the way to the Shetlands and Elephant Islands

Yesterday evening Drygalski Fjord was another highlight! Light conditions were great! There were seals on some icebergs and many hanging glaciers! Before the fjord there was a huge flat iceberg! The size was that big that there might have been a football field on top!

Here some other interesting thoughts of today:

We are heading for another famous Island, but usually it is impossible to land there! It is called Elephant Island! I think we will need two more days to reach it!

Jonathan Shackleton lost his camera 2 days ago at the cemetary of Grykviken! Maybe it was too much Whiskey for him! He had more than one as he held his speech several times for different groups! ;-) But they found it already and in a few weeks Jonathan will get it back in Ushuaia.

Today there is a special offer for 25USD: you can drink as much alcoholic drinks as you like the whole day! But though a great offer I guess that only few passengers go for it! Prices for drinks are anyway quite cheap: 3USD for soft drinks, 5USD for wine/beer and 7USD for coctails! But for Scandinavians this offer looks, to say the least, very tempting! My room-mate Jan however didn't go for it! ;-) Rough see is ahead and possible on each day, ha,ha..

The Chinese group produced excellent pictures! I just saw a slide-show on their laptop! Nice frames and he nearly got everything sharp! They are very active photographers! Whenever I go on deck I see at least one of them and usually that one has 3-4 different cameras and using them continously. Yesterday I asked him questions, but he dont speak a single word of English! So I gave him my card and hope he will write a mail to exchange photos!

I am currently in poor shape and didn't go for the gym the last days! My throat is not so well as I still have a severe cold and the air on the ship is very dry! But I have the idea to go for sports in the next year, not only running Stockholm but also NY and Boston marathons again! I hope to finish at least one of them below 3h! ;-) I love all these 3 marathons so much! They all have a great atmosphere and these 3 cities belong to my favorite cities! Places where I like to be! ;-)

Today we had a full program with many interesting lectures. I just grasped some ideas and put here some notes! I recommend you to google some of the interesting keywords!

Tom Hart and Caitlin Black from the University of Oxford presented their current penguin studies. Cameras are installed and deliver hourly a picture. Finally penguins, chicks and eggs are counted. Other topics of interest are: Winter behaviour! Guard change while nesting! Success rate for eggs! Effects of fishing industry. Some pictures from the cameras are even sent back via satellite!

Interesting website on this topic: www.penguinwatch.org

South Sandwich Islands must be amazing! Millions of penguins there! Google it!!! I saw a few pictures during that presentation and the place is great!

Then there was a very interesting presentation of Falcon Scott, the grandson of the great explorer Robert Falcon Scott. In literature he always got compared to the great norwegian explorer Amundson and you would think of Scott as a big looser! Of course he did many mistakes, but he also was a great person! I know many persons that would not even go for a tougher one-day hike! ;-)

Here some notes from the presentation: Discovery expedition: Ship SS Discovery, built in Dundee, Ross Island, 400 mile hike! Terra Nova expedition from 1910-1913, they were in competition with the norwegian Amundson, their tractor machines failed one after another, they then had horses and dogs, finally the ponies were eaten for getting fresh meat, they managed to reach the South Pole, extremely poor conditions with headwind of -40 degrees! Last entry of Scotts diary was shown to us (British library London), quite emotional! Scott and his crew finally died in severe weather conditions on the way back! Amundson was more lucky and seems to have the better expedition plan with better equipment (more dogs!!!) on a different route and reached the north pole 1 month ago and even survived and returned alive! That was one of the biggest achievements with respect to exploring the world!

Then some words on his own travels in the Arctic, "on the footsteps of his grandfather"

Scott Base on Ross Island, biggest base in Antarctica, nearby is the most southern volcano in the world! Project of Falcon Scott for the Antarctica Heritage Trust, Christchurch, got a job to repair an old hut and old sledges, very difficult restoration on cold days, Cape Evans, Falcon even painted some pictures and offers them for sale

Wolfgang, the german geologist, talks on Antarctica

Will be interesting, maybe I give a short update tomorrow! Anyone interested? :-)

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

23.11. Last day in South Georgia

Today we had a Zodiac boat landing at 5:30am early in the morning at Gold Harbour! This is one of the spots with a huge king penguin colony of about 25.000 pairs! There were also many seals and this time they were mostly behaving nicely! The cute pubs with there big eyes were curious and they even looked for immediate body contact and also played with poles and other equipment! Then there were massive elephant seals (they could weigh up to 5000kg!) but here I always kept it safe with at least 10m distance!

Within 2:30h it is not so easy to get the right frames as often penguins are moving and there are some that run into your frame! Today was also crowded with other photographers, as we had only a short walk of a few hundred meters to the penguin colony! Usually we part in two groups of 100 persons each. But at least I got a few nice frames!

The weather today was calm with only 2 degrees temperature! A bit of rain and snow we had in the morning and the tops of the mountains are covered with foggy clouds! So they did not look spectacular today! I could only see some glaciers falling directly into the sea. So it was the first day with weather as I expected it from South Georgia before the trip!

The second excursion on a Zodiac boat I skipped as for me this place was not so promising for photography and I anyway will not take my expensive lenses on those little rubber boats! You always risk of getting them wet with salt water! Otherwise I have seen already enough penguins and seals today!

The third excursion was in the afternoon by Zodiac boots to Cooper bay: I was not satisfied for several reasons: my boat driver was again unexperienced and we wasted time on uninterested places, all passengers were beginners in photography and some even tried to get albatrosses from the far distance. Again a waste of time! I am sure that no one of these persons will bring back home a single great shot from today! Finally I did a mistake by selecting the wrong ISO for the beautiful Macaroni penguins, so lots of shots went unsharp! In addition framing from a shaky boat is always difficult! My best shots are on land when I have a bit of time for selecting the right frame! With a group of people you can only hope for lucky shots in a very limited time-frame! Maybe next time I am more lucky (also in selecting the boat driver!). It is frustrating deleting 400 out of 500 pictures for as of unsharpness or unfortunate framing!

Drygalski Fjord will be our last visited place on South Georgia! We will then be back at open sea and times will get rougher! Near South Georgia we were mainly in wind-proteced calm sea!

Soon we are heading for Antarctica and it will take us about 2 days to reach It! You will find the progress of the ship in the NEWS section (Live-Tracking) of my website:

www.franktschoepe.com

I plan to send waypoints each 30min and on day excursions each 10min.

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

22.11. Landings in South Georgia

I start with a quotation from a book: "South Georgia is a jewel to be treasured. It is extremely beautiful and no one can fail to be stirred by the sight of the rugged grandeur of the mountains and glaciers set in a sea that may be so calm that the surface reflects every detail of the scene or so rough that mere survival is the only thought. Its colonies of birds and seals provide some of the greatest,and most approachable, concentrations of wildlife in the world".

Today we had 3 excursions:

We went on Zodiac boats to ghost whaling village! It was totally destructed and was fascinating to warch from the sea! It has been abandaned very long time ago by the Japanese! Unfortunately the boat driver had no sense for light and photography so no great shots were possible for me! Though light and weather were great we were always at the wrong places at the wrong time! That was disappointing for me!
We landed on Stromnes, a historic whale village and also a place were Ernest Shakleton ended his crossing of South Georgia! There were many seals and a few penguins and I managed to have some great shots with the ghost village as background! Also a shot of a young seal where there even is a nice picture inside the eye of the seal! The 200-400 Canon is an amazing lens! It is unbelievable that there are at least 10 of these lenses on board, mostly owned by Chinese photographers! By the way: the lost Nikon 800 on one of the beaches was also owned by a Chinese woman! Late in the evening she found out that she lost one of her many cameras! Yes, some Chinese have not only one Nikon 810, but often they even have two Nikon D4s or two Canon 1DX. Each of them is around 5000EUR! Having 2 means they do not need to change lenses and are then quicker in taking the right frames.

I missed the Gentoo penguins, as I did not go to a waterfall, which is nearly 2km from the sea! I didnt expect them to be there! (And only found out later when I talked with a penguin researchet. She has been counting them 1 month ago!) Unbelievable that those penguins decided to breed so far inland! It is always a long walk for them to get there from the sea and there steps are smaller than those from us humans!

The weather is very warm here! Today it was mostly sunny with 17 degrees! It was already 12 degrees at 6am! My explanation for this would be falling winds from the south (Foen!). I have to make sure that I put suncream on to avoid any sunburn! ;-) Yes, there are many surprises here!

The Afternoon landing is in Grytviken, a historic place with church, museum and cemetary. We had a 3h stay there! It was sensationel! We had wildlife (penguins and aggressive seals), landscapes with beautiful lenticular clouds and history with an ancient whaling village of Grytviken! There was also a fantastic museum and an old norwegian church! But the start was at the cemetary, where the cousin Jonathan of Ernest Shakleton gave a speech and invited us for a whisky! A great place, especially as it was sunny and warm again!

Many seals today were on the footpath and sometimes it was very tricky to pass them! Many of then were very agressive and I guess some of us were close of being biten! But there were also little ones with beautiful large eyes! And those were curios and even came closer to me! That was a nice experience. Their eyes are so amazingly cute!

There was a lecture of a native South Georgian lady and she presented the rat eradication program! They collected 15 million USD and spread 300 tons of bait already! They were very successful even in tough weather with 3 helicopters and the best pilots from New Zealand!

Please check the website www.sght.org for more infos! It is very interesting and a great project!

It was one of my greatest days of photography! I could spend weeks at this village alone and it would never get boring for me!

Today we plan to visit a huge colonie of king penguins! Hopefully the wearther will permit a landing on that beach! So far we were extremely lucky with warm, sunny days! ;-)

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

"If you were to take a giant carving-knife, slice along beneath one of the highest mountain ridges of Switzerland, just where the huge glaciers tumble into the valley below, and then drop your slice of mountain, dripping with sugar-icing, into the sea, I think you would get a fair idea of the place. For it is long and narrow, and everywhere the snow-covered mountains rise straight from the water, reaching, near the centre of the island, to a height of over 9000 feet. Seen from afar on an early spring day, South Georgia is a breath-taking sight and one not easily forgotten. (Niall Rankin, 1946)

Current position: www.franktschoepe.com NEWS Live-Tracking

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Message from Frank Tschöpe

21.11. South Georgia

Today we were waked up at 5am for an early landing with Zodiacs in South Georgia, but the wind was too strong and it was canceled. That was disappointing, as we missed a huge conlonie of king penguins! So we continued to a little fjord with less wind and there it was possible to reach the land! On a second excursion we just went 90min the Zodiacs! Here I did a mistake and took my heavy 200-400mm lens with me, but I had no success as the Zodiac was too shaky and then there is the risk of salt water for camera and lenses!

On that landing was unbelievable wildlife. Thousands of king penguins and also lots of fur and elephant seals! Those seals are quicker than you expect and the best strategy is too make oneself big and stand your ground! I took nearly 1000 pictures today and 20 of them are great! Landscapes and wildlife!

The weather was sunny and surprisingly warm with about 10 degrees! I was not prepared for that but I would have been fine with shorts and only 2 layers of shirts! But I took off my raincoat and needed no gloves and hat!

So it was an unbelievable fantastic day! It is a great experience being surrounded by thousands of penguins! The chicks were even so curious and came as close as possible! Sometimes there are groups of 10-15 penguins walking the 500m from sea to their chicks! Then there are seals everywhere and one needs to make sure that one does have enough distance to them! Otherwise they try to attack and bite you! I have seen an old Chinese woman that was very close of being biten!

Tomorrow there are 2 excursions planned! The first will start before breakfast at 5:30am. There we will see more penguins! On the second excursion we will visit an old whaling village! Today there is a museum and also the cemetery with the grave of Ernest Shackleton! There is even a church! Google "Grytviken" and you will find some interesting pictures!

This is one of my most fascinating travels that combines landscapes with wildlife with history! A great region to explore! South Georgia alone is worth a visit! There are glaciers, spectaculat mountains, amazing clouds and millions of penguins!

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