Neko Harbor

A bit of geography and historical context is in order, before I go on to describe the enchanting Neko Harbor - one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

Tourists like us are usually permitted to visit only the northernmost tip of the continent of Antarctica, called the Atlantic peninsula.

As is quite usual in this part of Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula is a politically disputed territory - claimed by Britain, Chile and Argentina. In what may be called one of the greatest land-grab operations run by the British, called Operation Tabarin during the second world war, they tried to annex most of the continent of Antarctica. Of course Both Chile and Argentina's claims on this land were based on their physical proximity - just about 1000 KM from Terra Del Fuego (which itself was a disputed land between Chile and Argentina until a treaty led to an amicable division between the two claimants).

Argentinians called the Antarctic Peninsula by the name Terra del San Martin (Land of Saint Martin) , the Chileans called it O'Higgin's land (Named after Bernardo O'Higgins - a revered leader who fought to liberate Chile from the Spanish) and the British called it Graham Land named after Sir James Graham who was the first Lord of Admiralty at the time a British survey expedition mapped this territory. To add to this confusion, there was a fourth claimant - the United States, who claimed it for themselves and called it Palmer Peninsula - named after a "famed" American Seal hunter called Nathaniel Palmer (why would someone want to immortalize a person who went around killing seals, is beyond me!)

But because of the Antarctic Treaty, none of these claims will be pursued by these nations and the land remains open to all for scientific research purposes. Moreover in 1964 a compromise was reached about the naming of this 1300 KM long strip of land as the "Antarctic Peninsula". It was further divided in three parts - The Trinity Peninsula (this the northern-most tip of Antarctica), Graham Land a bit to the south of Trinity Peninsula and further south, the Palmer Land (We never touched Palmer land).

This is the area which has "relatively" milder climate compared to all the rest of Antarctica (as high as 20 degrees Celsius BELOW zero without windchill on a good summer day!). Also the Antarctic Circumpolar Current provides a strong natural barrier, which results in the waters around the peninsula harboring a high percentage of diverse and endemic marine plants and animals. An estimated 75% of the krill population surrounding Antarctica resides in this area, supporting large breeding populations of penguins, seals, and whales. As a result most of the tourist activities (as well as maximum number of permanent research bases) are in this area.

Neko Harbour is on the western edge of Graham Land facing the Gerlach Strait. Its arguably the most beautiful place on earth - at least among those which I have visited.

Neko harbor like many other locations on both sides of the Gerlach Strait, too was discovered and named by Adrien Gerlach during his 1897 expedition.

Some interesting trivia about his expedition. His was the first expedition team to spend a winter in Antarctica. The legend is that he deliberately drove his ship into a floating ice field to make sure it got stuck and his crew had no option but to spend the winter here! Also, two of the members of Gerlach's team would go on to be the first men on (a) South Pole (Roald Amundsen) and (b) the North Pole (Frederick Cook - However his claim was later rejected and the honor given to Robert Peary. Although the dispute was never conclusively settled).

Ironically, Gerlach named Neko Harbor after a Scottish whaling ship called Neko which used to operate in these waters and was responsible for slaughtering perhaps 1000s of whales in this area. Sealers, Whalers were the heroes in those times I guess - daredevils, going about on ramshackle ships into dangerous, unknows seas without a care or fear! Our sensibilities are quite different today and I guess we will call these guys villains and murderers! But they dared go where no man had gone before and that must be acknowledged, notwithstanding the carnage they wrought wherever they went.

Neko harbor is home to a colony of Gentoo penguins and also Giant Southern Petrels as well as Skuas. Seals, especially Weddell seals too inhabit this area and are often found basking in the sun on the icy slopes of a hill that rises up from the harbor.

To use the word "spectacular" for the surroundings is a gross understatement. And as we climbed up the hill towards the Gentoo colony, more of it came into view including the edges of the Forbidden Plateau and it's other-worldly view, like the beauty of a snake - spellbinding and frightening at the same time.

The Forbidden Plateau - a section of Graham Land on the western edge where Neko harbor is - is  a very treacherous area which had for long defied many attempts by explorers to cross it on foot and survey it to create maps, hence the name. It's full of glaciers, deep crevasses and on its edge are steep icefalls (rapidly moving parts of an active glacier) called Blue Icefalls. 

During the summer, huge chunks of ice fall off the glacier in the waters of the harbor below - a process called calving. When you are at a distance - as we were up on the hill - this looks very interesting. Suddenly there is an avalanche and huge pieces of the glacier plunge into the sea below with a loud boom that reaches you seconds after you are done taking photos of the falling ice!

But as we were to discover shortly, up close those icefalls aren't as benign! Neko harbor is shaped liked a U with steeply rising hills on the arms of the U and there is a small area where there is a bit of a flat, pebbly beach when you can land. The beach is just about 6-8 feet wide and then the slope of the ice covered hill starts rising steeply.

To get to the Gentoo colony you have to cross the beach and climb up the hill. When we landed we were "warned" to not leave any gear on the beach (like life jackets etc) and not linger on the beach taking photos etc of the spectacular landscape or the penguins which were milling about there, but to immediately go up the hill and then do whatever we wanted.

We realized why that "warning" while we were returning. We had just boarded on our motor-boat (Zodiac) to go back to our ship and the last guy was getting in with one foot already inside. And suddenly the guy driving our Zodiac yelled, pulled the last guy in by his collar and set off at a reckless speed away from the beach.

I was sitting near the prow of the boat feeling very pleased with myself for having just got a lovely photo of one of these icefall across the bay from where our beach was.

As it happened, I had seen the beauty but not the sting of that icefall. This one was especially large and as it hit the water, it caused a huge wave - a small tsunami to spread. What was unbelievable was the speed with which the wave raced across the bay directly at us. It reached us just about a fraction of a second after the "boom" of the fall reached us! Now, when I look back, the wave was perhaps no more than 5-6 feet tall and the Zodiac simply floated up and down the other side and it felt no worse than being on a large roller coaster but at that moment of panic, it looked gigantic, towering over us! After it had passed we turned back to the beach to see if anyone was stranded there. And the whole beach was flooded. Luckily none of our fellow travelers were on the beach when the tsunami hit it, otherwise they would surely have been washed away into the bay, as some of the lifejackets and haversacks were which few people had left behind on the beach when going up the hill, despite the warning!

Apparently, this is a frequent event at Neko harbor in summer, as the glacier calves. So my earlier analogy of it's beauty being like that of a snake was apt after all!