Travel

[Alter Ego]

If asked about my bucket list, I would say traveling to all 7 continents before my 50th birthday was #2 on the list.  So with that milestone only a few years away, I needed to move fast!! 

As I realistically could only take two weeks off work at a time, I looked for something that took me the farthest in the shortest amount of time.  The way to get to the last continent is by crossing the Drake Passage - usually a two day voyage over the roughest seas on the planet. I didn’t want to waste 4 days possibly being sick. I discovered Quark Adventures, a company that offers the option to fly to the largest of the South Shetland Island, right off the coast of Antarctica.  This was a two hour flight versus 2 days at possibly rough seas. The cost reflected this, being a significantly more expensive option. But, because of the time saved, I was also able to take a cruise that was a little longer and took me further south.

The original itinerary 

You will notice I said “original”, because this is an exhibition cruise and you are fully dependent on the weather. Being flexible is tantamount on this type of trip.

We met at the Dreams hotel in Punta Arenas the day before departure.  Needed to get our bags weighed and be given muck boots to borrow and heavy jackets to keep.  Of course, I have no photos of this!! LOL Due to the cost, I did a room share (more on this later). After I met my roommate, we went down for a briefing of what to expect. How to get in and out of the zodiac boats. Behavior around the wildlife. Etc.

The hotel is on the Strait of Magellan.

We had an early morning wake up call to get to the airport.  Where we waited. The first of our two flights took off.  But, my plane waited longer and longer. Soon we heard rain on the building and we were concerned that we wouldn’t be able to fly out today! But, our worries were for nothing (or were they?? Consider this foreshadowing...)

Very comfortable seating.  Had plenty of room - which was needed as we all needed to change into our boots and waterproof pants before we could get off after landing. Also had a large snack on board.

The flight was uneventful.  We landed on King George Island, at a Chile military base (thus no photos allowed near the plane). However, although we were able to fly, the passengers on board were trapped there due to rough seas.  This was highly unusual! We were allowed to get off the plane to stretch our legs, but it was another couple of hours of waiting to see if the water would calm.  With barely any time to spare before we would have to fly back, we got the go ahead to start the 1 1/2 mile walk to the zodiacs. 

We were on our way to Antarctica!!

The following is not my photo, but liked it better than mine above.

[Alter Ego]

Let’s begin at the end.

Would I go back?  I don’t need to.  Maybe if I had more time and add on the Falklands or go with a group. But, I’m also okay with this being a “one and done”.

I didn’t have any issues, but there were a few days/nights of rough seas.  Meclizine was given out like tic tacs (exaggerating...but not by much!)

We ended up having an emergency medical evacuation, which meant we had a full day at sea.  It was one of the staff and we needed to rush back to where we started as he needed emergency surgery (rumor was appendix; whatever it was, the next day we heard that the surgery was successful!) And, obviously, nobody was mad about the missed stops.  But, the next day, the seas were too rough to take out the zodiacs, so we had another day on the ship.  The next day, we were supposed to leave.  

See how how I said “supposed to”?

The planes couldn’t land and they would try again the next day.  But that was our last chance - if we couldn’t get out on Sunday, we would HAVE TO cross the Drake Passage by boat, adding an additional two+ days to our voyage.  As I mentioned, my time off is precious and, frankly, the way the holidays and this trip fell, it was extremely inconvenient for me to be gone for any longer.  So, if anyone is interested in the fly option, be very aware that much can go wrong.  I spoke to someone on the ship who were supposed to go the year before but the passengers on the trip before them were trapped for FIVE days until the planes were able to pick them up.  At least that wasn’t us!!

So Sunday came and I was very disheartened to see snow.  I just wanted to leave if we weren’t able to get the plane then I wanted to get the trip over with as soon as possible! But, we waited again and FINALLY we got the go ahead to leave.

Was a wonderful, memorable adventure, but we wanted OFF THE SHIP!

Can you see the runway here?

Goodbye Antarctica!!

screeeeeeech

Oh, I almost forgot...would you like to see some of my photos? 🐧😀

[SXMGirl]

@Alter Ego  What a wonderful adventure.  Thank you for posting the pics!

[Alter Ego]

*WARNING* 

I may have a difficult time editing which photos to post!!

Day 2)

After a rocky night, we awoke to cloudy skies and 33 degree weather.  That’s about the average temp, give or take.  Colder in the zodiac; hot and sweaty walking on land. 

We were quickly introduced to the local wildlife 

Penguin highway

The above are gentoo penguins.  Below is a chinstrap

First afternoon out and we were surrounded by humpback whales. One came close to our zodiac.

[Alter Ego]

I did not have a successful first outing. The snow.  Oh my gosh; I have no idea how deep it was!! We were supposed to stay on these trails, which were quite narrow and you would need to step out of the way for others.

I had the most embarrassing moment of my life.  Had someone been taping, it would have gone viral. 

Let me first say that I’m not in the best of shape. i stepped aside and my leg immediately went into the snow up to my knee.  People helped me out.  But when I put my foot down, I did so even harder. And got my boot stuck in the snow.  Seriously, they had to go back to get a shovel.  I’m in my socks in Antarctica.

Now, this is already pretty funny, right?  Oh...but we’re not through yet!!

Finally got my boot out and I then IMMEDIATELY got my other boot stuck when I was pulling my first boot back on.  After that, they just told me to sit down. I’m not making this up. It was disheartening, but I laughed about it.

Oh, and I got stuck again later in the afternoon, but not as bad.  

You win, Antarctica.

I liked being safe in the zodiacs, where I could take photos like this

[Alter Ego]

Much of the time, the stops are on outer islands.  But, we also stopped on the continent itself.  This was a big deal to me!!

No matter how hard I tried, I kept sliding going downhill.  

Confession - the flag was on a second hill kind of far away.  I did try to get up the 2nd hill, but the snow was just softer and that’s were I got by foot stuck again.  I turned around without the flag photo - but kind of mentioned it to one of the staff as I was resting on my way back.  I’m not saying that my complaint was the reason the flag was moved, but it was at the bottom once I got there!

[Alter Ego]

Day 3 AKA the best day

Dont worry - I don’t intend to do each day; the first few are just very specific as to what happened.

Lemaire Channel

First ship to make it through this season.  The captain just kept pushing the ship and determined that the ice was soft enough to get through. We saw a NatGeo ship go around the long way!

Some company on the way

[qbetzforreal]

@Alter Ego- Awesome!  I was wondering when we would see pictures of the last leg of your journey.  Thank you for sharing.

[Alter Ego]

It was slow moving and it was decided that we would go in the zodiacs and the ship would meet us.  This unfortunately meant that we wouldn’t have a landing (which was okay by me given my issues in the snow!) 

We also picked up some sea ice

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a photo of penguins porpoising!!

Follow the leader.  Watch out for leopard seals!!

I believe I can fly!!

More babies

We also saw our third breed of penguins- the Adelie.  Note the full black head.

Hmmmmm...is there some blue sky in some of those photos?

[Alter Ego]

Not a penguin, but you’ll usually see them nearby. Cormorant.

Bonus photo - you’ll see more of these guys soon and I wanted to introduce you first.