Tag: Ocean Adventurer

Day 26 February 17th

Day 26

Saturday, February 17th

Back in Ushuaia and off to the airport

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.

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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.

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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!

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Buses took us from the ship dock to the airport.

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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.

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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!

 

Day 25 February 16th

Day 25

Friday, February 16th

Crossing the Drake Passage: Day 2

After breakfast this morning, we were given a bonus!  We made good time through the Drake Passage so the Captain got permission from the keeper at the Chilean station to do a ship cruise of the area and so we sailed around Cape Horn!  It is a beautiful sunny day!  Many times it is very windy and there is fog in the area but we were fortunate today.  In the distance you can see the lighthouse, station, and monument that is dedicated to the thousands of sailors lost on more than 800 ships that were wrecked sailing around this landmark!IMG_2629IMG_2630IMG_2631IMG_2658IMG_2638

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Cape Horn Monument is on the left and the Lighthouse and station are on the right side.
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Cape Horn Lighthouse and Station

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After our morning out on the decks of the ship, we had several presentations from the expedition team.  Jimmy did a talk about Orca whales.  Then Sam did a presentation on “Southern Ocean Seabirds and Conservation”.  He suggested that we explore the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) website.

Abbey conducted a disembarkation briefing.  We can’t believe that our time together is almost over. 🙁

This afternoon the 16 kayak passengers met with our kayak guides, Tara and Todd for a champagne toast and a kayak slideshow that they put together for us!  It was a nice way to end our paddling time.

During our daily debriefing, Ali, our expedition leader, presented a slideshow that highlighted our daily adventures!  It was so much fun reliving every day of our Epic Antarctica trip.  The pictures that passengers shared to the photo computers on board and pictures that Nicky, our onboard photographer took, we have access to and can download any pictures.  This is great if you didn’t have a camera or had camera difficulties.  Click on this link to see Ali’s final recap:    Epic Antarctica Expedition Leader Final Recap 16 Feb 18  Ali’s visual slideshow ended with Farewell cocktails with the Captain.  He said “you NOW know the difference between an expedition and a river cruise!”

During our farewell dinner all of the kitchen and hotel staff were introduced and dessert was a buffet of amazing chocolate confections!  We wish we had taken pictures of the two tables filled with desserts!  They even had some gluten free brownies, mousse, and chocolate rice krispie treats!  While the desserts were being consumed, Nicky, the ship photographer, put together an awesome movie of our expedition trip. All of us appreciated her hard work!  Tomorrow is our last morning on board the Ocean Adventurer which has been our home for three weeks!