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?)