We were up early to get our passports from the ship’s reception desk. They held on to everyone’s passport while we were on the ship.
We each received a certificate at the end of our voyage!
After breakfast we were given our boarding passes by a Quark’s Ushuaia representatives.
Coming into Ushuaia in the morning.
On our way to get our belongings out of our cabin, we noticed this message from our kayak guides. We were so glad that we were part of this special group!
Buses took us from the ship dock to the airport.
Ushuaia’s airport.
We had three hours until our flight. Many of the people on our ship were also on our flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires. So we chatted and did some reading in the airport. Our flight was 3 1/2 hours to the airport in Buenos Aires. We again had several hours before our overnight flight to Atlanta, Georgia. The sky was really clear when we took off from Buenos Aires.
Just one view of part of Buenos Aires.
We went through customs in Atlanta and then had time to get from the international concourse to the concourse for our flight to Columbus! Twenty four hours of being in airports and planes was long enough for us. We were thankful our flights were on time and went smoothly!
This trip was an incredible adventure and we highly recommend experiencing the 7th continent. Our words and pictures don’t adequately portray the splendor and beauty of the wildlife and landscape of Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands
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We look forward to more traveling adventures and sharing them with you!
We didn’t have any kayaking today because of the winds being too strong! 🙁
Our kayaks stayed strapped on their shelves!
Around 9:30 AM we crossed the Antarctic Circle. Champagne was served and a celebration was held on the aft deck!
Always fun on deck!We were very excited to be this far south!
As we continued south toward our destination, the sea ice was packed too thickly for us to arrive at our stop at Detaille Island which is located just south of the Antarctic Circle, 66°52′S66°47′W. It was the home of Station W. It is a well preserved abandoned British research station from the late 1950s. Crystal Sound, 66º45.492’ S, was our farthest location after the crossing of the Antarctic Circle. Since the winds were too strong for this landing, we were told we would be taking a short zodiac cruise instead and then heading back north!
In the meantime, Miko did a presentation on his experience at the Polish Antarctic Research Station. He is one of our marine biologists. It was fascinating what all he did while stationed there.
Later on Mike did a talk about how the different ice forms develop and other information about icebergs.
The winds were still too strong so we didn’t even get to do the zodiac cruise around Detaille Island! Maybe we’ll see it on another Antarctic Adventure. (I don’t think that will happen, but never say never!) The ship then started heading north toward the Fish Islands. We were going to attempt to do a zodiac cruise after dinner but it was too foggy here and we really want to see an Adelie penguin colony! We’re going to try tomorrow. I hope the weather cooperates. Since there wasn’t going to be a cruise at the Fish Islands either, we were going to do the Polar Plunge after dinner!
A few more pictures from the icebergs as we headed toward our anchor spot for the “plunge”!
Around 9:30 it was time for the Polar Plunge! There were 38 passengers and 2 of the expedition team members did the plunge too! We both took the plunge! The water temperature was 28 degrees F! It was cold! We jumped in and right back out but we can say we survived it.
They put a towel around us when we boarded and handed us a shot of vodka which we didn’t even taste! We went and took a warm shower, dressed quickly so we could see others jump from the upper decks! What adventures will tomorrow bring for us?
Port Lockroy on Goudier Island, and Jougla Point, Lemaire Channel
We anchored near Port Lockroy on Goudier Island and Jugla Point. We dressed for our kayak excursion and went to the lounge to listen to the presentation by the representative of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. She explained what they are and that she is one of 4 spending the summer on Port Lockroy. As soon as she finished her talk, we headed to meet our kayak guides, Tara and Todd to go paddling!
We went kayaking all around Port Lockroy and Goudier Island. The winds were light and we only had a small wind chop. From the kayaks we spotted gentoo penguins, Antarctic fur seal, snowy sheathbill, blue-eyed shag, south polar skua, brown skua, Weddell seal, and the Wilson’s storm petrel. Goudier Island, also known as Port Lockroy, was the site for the original Base A. It has been refurbished with a museum and gift shop. We explored the geological features on the backside of Goudier Island. We continued around the island and crossed over to Jougla Point where we observed some nesting shags and soon to be fledgling Gentoo penguins.
Paddling at Port Lockroy.Port Lockroy is in the background. It was the site of the original Base A.
When we finished our paddling, we headed to shore to explore the museum and mail our postcards.
When we visited the museum at Port Lockroy it was very interesting. The former base was renovated and opened as a monument and museum in 1996. Below are some pictures from the museum.
It also has the Penguin Post Office that the summer team manages and hand stamps. As far as we know it is the southernmost post office.
This is where you mail your letters and postcards.
Port Lockroy museum and post office is operated by the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust. There are 4 women that run the museum and post office during the summer season, from November to March. They have no running water. They get to take a shower when a ship makes an excursion to the island! There is also no central heating, no phone signal, and no means of communication with the world other that VHF radio and satellite phones for emergencies. And no darkness either, it is pretty much 24 hours a day of daylight. You also don’t have electricity that comes from a power station and no flushing toilet, it is a camping type toilet. They also have a gentoo colony that lives all around them so they need to clean the penguin poo off the pathways while following the strict Antarctic Treaty to ensure strict guidelines on the care of the environment are adhered to!
It was slippery climbing these rocks up to the museum.We tried to keep our distance from the penguins but they would join us on the paths!Part of the colony that was off limits to us! Penguins only!The building behind the penguins, is the living quarters for the 4 women who ran the museum and post office.
The remains of a ship.“Mom and Dad where are you?”“I’m too tired to worry about these visitors!Watching the people!Waddling around the island!
After lunch we cruised through the Lemaire Channel. The sun wasn’t shining but the views were stunning! The Lemaire Channel is 7 miles long by 1 mile wide!
Looking ahead at the channel, it doesn’t look like our ship will fit!This seal doesn’t care as he rests on some ice!
The ship dropped anchor at Pleneau Bay which is located at the southern end of the Lemaire Channel. This area is filled with stunning icebergs. These large icebergs get blown in here, they run aground and slowly break up. The pictures below show just a few of the icebergs and the surrounding area! We were awestruck by the beauty! We had difficulty choosing just a “few” of the various icebergs and surroundings pictures that we took!
We spent our time at Pleneau Bay paddling through brash ice and being surrounded by swimming penguins that were feeding on krill.
We also saw a leopard seal resting on some ice. We didn’t disturb him.
The resting leopard seal.We loaded into our kayak from the zodiac!We’re all getting ready to head into the brash ice!Tara, one of our kayak guides, leading us into the ice!
Our expedition leader, Ali, and our ship doctor, Christy, brought us Bailey’s and hot chocolate! Yummy!
At one point while we were all surrounded by the brash ice, Todd had us all put down our paddles and listen to the ice. We heard “snap, crackle, and pop”! It was quite a sensory overload!
While paddling in the bay, our point and shoot camera, came loose and fell into the water! We were sad about its loss but it was an older camera and had served us well. We also had downloaded everything on the card before going kayaking this afternoon. Life is too short to worry about the small stuff! Even though we lost the camera, this was one of our favorite paddles! It started to snow as we were out there which just added to the magic of this surreal environment. It was incredibly beautiful, peaceful, relaxing, and pristine environment. We can’t think of enough adjectives to describe our surroundings!
Our dinner today was a BBQ on the aft deck. It was snowing and the views were stunning! A minke whale was playing around the ship and even breached! It was quite entertaining.
After dinner, Mike, our glaciologist, did a presentation about his time in Antarctica working at one of the Australian research stations. We decided after his talk that spending a winter in Antarctica takes a special type of person! We don’t qualify!
This morning we were at Paradise Harbour to do an excursion at the Argentinian Base Brown. We were bundled up and ready to board a zodiac when the expedition team decided the brash ice was too dense and the wind too strong to go ashore. The wind wasn’t going to get any better any time soon.
Argentina’s Base BrownYou can see all the brash ice!Iceberg near the base.
Our ship then headed towards the Chilean Base Gonzalez Videla at Waterboat Point. There were a lot of gentoo penguins all around as we did a ship cruise because of the weather. Again, I want to stress these pictures are as we snapped them. No editing or photoshop has been used!
Chilean Gonzalez Videla StationAnother view of the station and the gentoo penguins!There was a lot of gentoo penguins.Icebergs all around the base.Would you want to work here at this desolate location with amazing scenery?I wouldn’t mind visiting for a day!
Below are just a few of the fabulous views as we cruised to our next location! Some humpback whales were escorting our ship! This afternoon we did anchor by Danco Island. The zodiacs had to maneuver through a lot of brash ice and icebergs and the wind was really gusting!
It made for a very bumpy and wet ride! On this island we saw many breeding gentoo penguins. We watched many penguins nesting, molting, chicks fledgling , penguins going in and out of the water, and penguins waddling up and down their “penguin highway”! It was incredible how high the penguins travel on this “highway”.
The Gentoo penguin highway!Their colony is way up there!One penguin waddling up the highway!This is just partway up the mountain. Many more Gentoo penguins are even higher.“Feed me!”Thank you Mom or Dad!Chicks, Moms, and Dads“I’m going back to my colony!Heading into the water for a dip!Almost in the water.Coming out of the water.
We were awakened by Ali, our expedition team leader, at 5:30 AM because we were surrounded by at least 25 humpback whales! It was incredible!
Every direction around our ship, we saw humpback whales!We could hear them because it was very quiet on the decks.Beautiful humpback whales.The whales are huge!One of the pods of whales that we observed.Humpback whales and this spectacular backdrop!They were feeding on krill.
We saw many tales!
Watch these videos and have your volume on and you can hear the humpback whales!
The weather cooperated and we were able to kayak this morning around Portal Point which was our first Antarctic continental landing!
A beautiful morning for kayaking!Gorgeous landscape!Todd, one of our kayak guides, is giving us information about this crabeater seal.A crabeater seal relaxing on the iceberg.We kayaked through the brash ice!
When we were finished kayaking this morning, we boarded a zodiac and walked around the continent of Antarctica.
Our first continental landing on Antarctica.We saw our first Weddell seals.“I’m too tired to worry about you!”This beautiful lake on Antarctica.
The pictures below are unedited and no filters. In fact, every picture in our blog have had no editing at all. Antarctica’s landscape is just amazing!
After lunch we arrived at Hydrurga Rocks and we did a second kayak trip. We paddled all around the rocks and we also got to zodiac to the rocks and explore the chinstrap penguins! Our underwater camera did a decent job giving you our view from the water.
Kayaking around Hydrurga Rocks
Tara, our other kayak guide, is giving information about the Chinstrap penguins that we are seeing on the rocks.
The pictures below were taking when we were exploring on the rocks and watching the chinstrap penguin colony, shag colony, fur seals, and weddell seals!
Shag ColonyChinstrap ColonyNotice all the guano. And boy did it smell!
Chinstrap chicks covered with a lot of guano.This chick almost has all of his adult feathers.
Sleeping the day away!“Ready to strike up the band!”
There is nothing like O-H-I-O with two other passengers from Ohio!
British beer tasting on the back deck!
Fun for all!
Beautiful evening out on deck. (It’s about 10:00 PM when we took these pictures.)
We left South Georgia and are sailing toward Antarctica. The seas weren’t calm and the waves were crashing against the ship. We were “rocking and rolling”! On Tuesday, February 6th we attended educational presentations. Jimmy, a marine biologist, did a talk about the whales that can be found in the Southern ocean. He informed us that we would be seeing more whales as we visit the Antarctic peninsula area!
There were a few other people watching Jimmy’s presentation besides me! Many watched it from their tv in their cabin.
D.J., our geologist, gave his presentation on “Caps, Bergs, and Bits”.
By the time that D.J. gave his presentation, the room was pretty empty. Even more were watching from their cabins.
Later in the day, Nicky, our ship photographer, did an informative session on photography techniques. The last presentation of the day was by Burty, our historian, on “Missing Continent: The Discovery of Antarctica”. We really appreciated all the education the expedition team offered during our trip.
Before dinner we had our daily recap and briefing.
The room is always packed for our recap and briefing!
Over night and into tomorrow we’ll be experiencing strong winds and swells! So, hold on tight. The rule of thumb is to always have one hand on the ship. It’s definitely necessary from our experience earlier in the trip!
Wednesday, February 7th was our second day at sea. It’s very windy and the outside decks are closed due to the high swells! The wind was blowing 70 mph and gusts were up to 115 mph! (No wonder we had trouble staying in our bed!) By late afternoon, the wind had died down and the decks were opened again.
After breakfast, Miko, a marine biologist, presented “The Land of the True Seals- Seals of Antarctica”. He explained all about the various seals in Antarctica. Later in the morning, Mike, our Glaciologist, gave his presentation “Ice Sheets- The icing on the Cake”.
We had a second Bio-security procedure to prepare for our excursion activities in the Antarctic Peninsula. Our outer layers and backpacks needed to be checked to make sure they were clean. If not the expedition team would vacuum any debris so we don’t carry any foreign substance on land. They are very protective of keeping any invasive species of any sort getting added. We all need to be ambassadors to help protect Antarctica. Ali, our expedition leader, announced that we needed to put on our parkas and go out on the decks to see a large tubular iceberg that was over 2 miles long!
Tubular Iceberg- 2.3 miles long
A close up of this iceberg.
Sam, our ornithologist, did a presentation about the penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula, “The Brush-tails- Penguins of the Antarctic Peninsula”.
On Day 17, Thursday, February 8th, we got up at 2:50 AM to get dressed and go out on deck to see B15T.
B15T is in the distance! Can you see it? LOL!
This iceberg is 32 miles long and 8 miles wide! All we could see in the dark was its shadow in the distance!
This morning we had a ship cruise at Pt. Wild on Elephant Island. Earnest Shackleton and his crew landed on Elephant Island, 497 days after leaving South Georgia! Their ship, the Endurance, had sunk after being crushed by the ice. They used their lifeboats to try to sail and Elephant Island is where they ended up. Some of his men stayed when he sailed. He eventually rescued the 22 men that stayed at Pt. Wild. It’s amazing that none of the men died.
Pt. Wild, Elephant IslandMemorial to Earnest Shackleton and his crew!
We were still out on deck watching for whales. We saw fin whales! We were all excited!
Another passenger got this great photo of the fin whale.
Sam, our ornithologist, did a presentation on krill and the Antarctic ecosystems, predators, and climate change. It was interrupted by Orca sightings. We all went out on the decks. He finished his presentation later!
Orcas!They’re getting closer!Our best picture of one of the orcas!
We are seeing a lot of icebergs as we approach the Antarctic Peninsula!
This afternoon we spent some time on the bridge and we saw some fin whales again. Mike, the glaciologist, spoke about “Ice Shelves- The Plug in the Bathtub” and D.J. talked about “Weather Climate and the Antarctic Peninsula”. He gave a lot of suggestions for ways to become active in preventing the negative changes happening in Antarctica.
Every afternoon the ship’s food staff set out a table that was full of sweets and sandwiches for “Afternoon Tea”! It was quite elaborate. Having to eat gluten free, the staff always took care of me and had a separate plate that was covered in wrap and clearly marked gluten free.
Afternoon tea Gluten free snack
Afternoon tea Gluten free snack
Afternoon tea Gluten free snack
A Gluten free penguin chick dessert!
We are looking forward to tomorrow when we will be exploring off the ship!
St. Andrews Bay, Gold Harbour, and Drygalski Fjord
Another early wake up call and we didn’t mind because it was going to be an exciting day! By 7:00 AM we were in a zodiac being transferred to St. Andrews Bay! It is the largest King colony of its kind on South Georgia. We are so excited that the weather cooperated! It is a stunning place. There are elephant seals, fur seals, and over 100,000 breeding pairs of King penguins! We had 2 hours, 15 minutes to explore the area. We needed to give the molting penguins 15 meters or about 49 feet and the others around 5 meters or about 16 feet. (A side note, all our distances, temperatures, and weights were given to us using the metric system. The Americans were the only ones who had to think about conversions!)
We would explore for a little bit and then sit at various times and the King penguins would come right up to us which was allowed. You weren’t allowed to approach them but they could approach you! It needed to be the penguin’s choice!
These King penguins are very curious about our little stuffed Tacky the penguin. As the penguins approached, Tacky was away! See the video below.
In this next video, listen to the pair of King penguins “talking”!
We feel that “a picture is worth a 1000 words”! So we will include some of our favorite photos from St. Andrews Bay.
Everywhere you look are King penguins and chicks.Over 200,000 King penguins and this number doesn’t include the chicks!Kings are all over the bay in every direction.So many Kings!The King chicks are at various stages of fledgling.This King chick appears to be wearing his tux! Its down feathers are almost gone!With climate changes, the glacier has receded quite a bit in the last 30 years!You will find fur seals and King penguins all along the banks of the glacial rivers!It is quite a sight to see this many penguins along the river!These elephant seals are huge!These elephant seals aren’t as big as the males which are out in the ocean feeding! Wow!These elephant seals are SO big. Females can weigh 800-2000 pounds.A King penguin breeding pair!Another pair enjoying the sunshine!“The hills are alive…”Until we meet again!
It was such a wonderful morning at St. Andrews Bay!
This afternoon was a trip to Gold Harbour. The weather was not like the morning sunshine. It was spitting rain most of the time that we were there. We had a little over an hour to wander around and enjoy all of the wildlife and beauty that surrounded us before boarding a zodiac and touring around the harbour.
On land we saw elephant seals, skua birds, fur seals, King penguins, gentoo penguins, and a lone Chinstrap penguin. We watched the King penguins kind of walk the Chinstrap into the water!
One lonely Chinstrap penguin!
Gentoo penguins were on the beach and in the tussock grass.
When you compare how many penguins it takes to equal one elephant seal!Elephant seals resting on the beach.Two young male elephant seals practicing “fighting”.
There were a lot of King penguins at Gold harbour.
A part of nature and not one we care to experience but a baby chick has been killed by a skua bird and they soon will be tearing it to shreds. It is quite gruesome to see.
The picture below shows how curious the penguins are of humans and they aren’t afraid to get close to you!
After dinner, the captain navigated the ship down the Drygalski Fjord, which is 4-5 miles long. At the end is a beautiful glacier and more on each side of the ship. Despite the wind, rain, ice pellets and fog most of us were out on the docks to enjoy the beautiful landscape that surrounded us.
It was definitely a day filled with amazing scenery, exciting wildlife and full of adventures!
When we finished our paddling, we headed to shore to explore the museum and mail our postcards.
A minke whale was playing around the ship and even breached! It was quite entertaining.
This afternoon we did anchor by Danco Island. The zodiacs had to maneuver through a lot of brash ice and icebergs and the wind was really gusting!
