Recap (just like every day on the ship)

Lessons learned:

Even if you skip crossing the potentially tumultuous Drakes Passage, visiting Antarctica can still be filled with a lot of ups and downs. Flight delays but hopefully not cancellations. Itinerary changes due to weather, sea conditions and unfortunately sometimes injuries (hopefully not your own). It says all of that in the disclosures, but you never think it will happen to you. So you have to be able to roll with it all (pun intended).

And regarding the weather, if you are blessed with a sunny day full of gorgeous, colorful icebergs and stunning glaciers, go ahead and take 600 pictures. They are digital after all. Don’t cost you a dime. And you may never see anything like that again. 

And every day, a picture of the view from your suite…our last

Finally, life is short. So no matter what…when an opportunity arises to experience something new, don’t hesitate….just jump right in.

Happy t(r)ails!

Winter is Coming

 Or Be Careful What You Wish For

Feb 16th we were, indeed, blessed with going ashore on excursions. But woo hoo it felt colder.  The guides are well-schooled on spinning circumstances.  The expedition leader was eager to point out that he hadn’t seen the weather turn so wintry quite so early in February before. And according to our zodiac driver, it was apparently our good fortune to not be cursed with any more blindingly bright sunny days.  Cloudy, snowy days provide much better lighting for appreciating the finer details of glaciers. Yeah, us!  

In all fairness, this is Antarctica….that’s the whole point.

The morning excursion was a one hour ride around looking at said glaciers and icebergs

and then some time on a rocky beach seeing more gentoos and several elephant seals.

The afternoon landing was billed as being a bit tricky. Some strong swells out onto big round rocks on an incline up to the flat part. It might have been good to have been in a later group. The folks returning as we were heading out were drenched. But it wasn’t bad at all. And there were half a dozen or so chinstrap penguins to be seen in amongst all the gentoos and fur seals. 

And the view

Hope Springs Eternal

 Just received an update that the medivac plane has taken off from Punta Arena. The local folks had to de-ice the runway. If all goes according to plan now we will move on somewhere later this evening for excursions tomorrow. And our view will change. But meanwhile, this is still how it looks at 6:30p our time.

Ship’s log Day Five…We Soldier Nowhere

 We made it back to King George Island overnight (passing through some snow storms at least at 2a when I looked out). Unfortunately, the medivac plane was not able to fly. So here we sit. Looking at this view for who knows how long.

Right now the day has been “filled” with lectures to try to occupy our time. There is no news for when or if the plane will fly. Or more importantly if it will land. Tomorrow is our last day here. Fingers crossed that we won’t still be exactly here but that the transport will happen and we will be able to go somewhere to have other experiences before we leave.

To review…. “Traveling to (in) Antarctica is similar to having cosmetic surgery.” Sometimes it goes well but on occasion not so well. 

Valentine’s Day in Antarctica.

 Still overcast.  A few snowflakes.  But again, a surprisingly tolerable trip over to a Gentoo penguin rookery.  That meant that now both of us have legitimately stepped foot on the continent.  Our seventh and final one to check off the list. 

These are the same penguins we see everywhere swimming and porpoising in the water. But here with fur seals. The youngest chicks are already pretty big.  The adolescent ones are going through their few week molting period to get their waterproof feathers …hopefully before their parents head back to the sea for the winter coz the adults are leaving when they leave with no regard to the maturity/readiness if their offspring. 

Unfortunately, someone took a bad enough fall at the landing site, hit his head and needs to be put on a medical transport somewhere else. 

Our afternoon visit to see chinstrap penguins (☹️) and the Antarctic plunge ( gosh darn it…where is that sarcasm emoji?) are canceled as we motor back to King George Island. Hopefully, he will be ok. And we will still get to somewhere todo something starting up again tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, I will search for whales… where are you orcas? And keep my fingers crossed for still more to come. 

Ship’s log Day Three…We Soldier On

 Today was not exactly sunny with a bit more breeze so it felt a good bit cooler. Yet, still quite stunning.

And this little Adélie penguin was simply too adorable!

This world is flush with humpbacks and minke whales and Gentoo penguins. These little guys were with a bunch of mates outside the Ukrainian research outpost.  Not a black and white photo. Just black and white penguins on black rocks and white snow.

Midday we were supposed to head on to Port Charcot, but as can always happen here…the ice stopped us. The passage had filled with icebergs so we had to move on to a plan B.  No penguin rookery today. 

Michael stayed on board this afternoon while I kayaked again. Even with the change in the weather, it was still surprisingly comfortable. And very different from yesterday. Paddling through a LOT of ice. Lots of Gentoo penguins and even one minke whale that came up a few times right in front of us.

A very good day in the end. 

To Life!

 Our butler asked us today if we had received all of our luggage last night. I said yes, we are all good. And then I realized that they actually tidy up our closet.  So I said, oh, if you were wondering…that is all the clothes we packed. He seemed both relieved and amused. 

Excursions were only planned for this afternoon. So we spent the morning watching  Gentoo penguins and humpback whales swimming alongside the boat.

This afternoon Michael took the shore excursion/zodiac tour and I went out kayaking,…in three layers plus a dry suit! Some of which, I think was unnecessary coz the sun was shining brightly, temps about 30, no wind and water like glass. Saw a leopard seal, some petrels, another seal from farther off, and a whole lot of ice…from a closer perspective. (Of course, if I cut back on layers next time the weather will change and I will freeze to death.)

On the way back to the ship, it occurred to me… when Michael and I started traveling 35+ years ago, we marveled (aka took great personal satisfaction) in the realization  that everywhere we went we were the younger/youngest in the crowd. But today I was clearly the old matron of the kayaking group! Sure, at least I was kayaking not playing shuffleboard. But still…it was a sad awakening. 

Meanwhile, a couple of guys in the group brought chunks of ice back into the zodiac.  And then left a couple of smaller bits when they got out.   So I brought them back to our suite, asked the same butler for a couple glasses of vodka neat and added our Antarctic ice chunks. Waste not, want not. Cheers! To life!

Antarctica or Siberia

 Once on ship last night the weather cleared (see the moonrise image last night).

Here is what it looks like this morning.

I am only a little bit concerned/confused as this is how my cellphone greeted me when it connected last night.

😳

Safe and Sound —- finally

 So next quiz question…

Who said,

“Traveling to Antarctica is similar to having cosmetic surgery. If either of them were cheaper, easier and less painful, more people would definitely endulge.”

What is Sir Ernest Shackelton or Dr. Georgia Paul?

It is 1AM. What a day. Flights delayed and delayed. Then after landing sat on the plane for 30 minutes waiting for transport to the launch site,  pitch black. No lights trying to find/put on life vests from a pile on the ground while bundled up for, well, Antarctica. Zodiac ride. Check in.emergency briefing, wait for luggage.  It has been a day for sure.. But at least we got here,  the last cruise got stuck in Punta Arenas for three days not able to fly home.  And yesterday a different company had folks stuck unable to get to their ships. So getting here was not guaranteed.

The ship is lovely. Our third cruise and the loveliest ship thus far.

And the full moon rose on our side. So here you are. As they say, your moment of zen:

Day 3 and day 4 of Getting There or Who Knew Antarctica Was This Far Away?

 Yesterday, Monday, we traveled from Santiago another three hours south to Punta Arenas. 

First quiz of the trip. What is this seat pocket informational document trying to tell me? Are cars not allowed on the plane? 

Or just little kids toy cars?  We had neither, thank goodness.

They said have a windbreaker with us coz it would be windy.  And they did not lie! The short walk from the terminal to the bus was crazy blustery.

The drive to the hotel afforded plenty of viewing of the Strait of Magellan and Tiera del Fuego in the distance,

We picked up or antarctic gear: waterproof pants, waterproof boots and waterproof, double layer parka.  I knew it was coming but suddenly the promise of cold wet weather is sinking in…a guy on the plane was telling someone that the weather forecast was looking good….my weather.com check was not encouraging. 😳

We are on standby now.  The flights to King George Island have to operate during less? Least? Windy times. (This is the alternative to sailing Drakes Passage.)  As we were having our hats and gloves and camera bags etc vacuumed last night (to remove any possible harmful plant material etc that might be lurking there) the woman asked what time our flight was schedule for. I said 3. She asked, AM? I said no, PM…is 3AM an option? 😳 She said, whenever you go, you go. 

Well, now I am thinking 3AM could have been ok, we are already delayed again today till 5PM. Two hour flight, get to the shore, Zodiacs to the boat, “Check in”, Briefings  etc.  it will be a long day. We just have to hope we get there at all. There are no guarantees.  Rumor has it that the last cruise passengers were stuck back here in Punta Arenas for three days waiting to go home.  

And anyone who knows me knows that I thrive on uncertainty. (Next quiz question: What does the sarcasm emoji look like?)

Estamos listos!

 The Super Bowl is on TV here….we could use a translator. But we will simply make do.

Putting’ on the Ritz

You can officially stop feeling at all sorry for us now.

The flight wasn’t fabulous but our exit row seats at the exit door had 6 feet or so of leg room and the middle seat between our window and aisle seats remained unoccupied so I could at least turn sideways and curl up to sleep a bit. (Thank you, Ambien.)

Silverseas uses the Ritz-Carlton for their pre-cruise gathering hotel. We needed to arrive tomorrow for the meet up. The price for the airline tickets to fly Saturday night, however, cost more than to fly last night (Friday night). The cost (especially using some cash and some Marriott points) was less than that to spend another night here at the Ritz. 

Let’s see…. Spend more money to sleep at home for one more night or spend less money to sleep/stay at the Ritz for an extra night! What to do? What to do? What to do?

Photographic evidence (the view of Santiago from our room) that momma didn’t raise no fool.

Bon voyage again.

After all these years and all these travels, I still wish that I could go somewhere without having to get somewhere. 

Tonight it's a red eye from Miami to Santiago IN COACH.  Exit row seats bit still…

Then two nights waiting to fly south to hop over to Antarctica. 

We had to cancel this trip two years ago because Michael was sick so we are blessed to finally be able to get there…fingers crossed…

So don't feel too sorry for us…but maybe just a wee bit sorry…..