Continental Landing

December 30, 2021

COVID UPDATE

During the morning COVID testing, they announced that people who test positive will have to quarantine for 10 days in Ushiaua before they can take a flight to their home country.  Luckily today, there were no new positive cases.

Up until now, our land excursions have been on islands in the Antartic Peninsula. Today our intention was to set our feet on the actual continent of Antarctica.  Most everyone wanted to check that off their bucket list. Icy water and high winds proved a challenge. Zodiacs worked hard to cut through the icy sea.  We literally landed on a rock in Cierva Cove (Mikkelson Harbour), with no beach to ease our entry.  One by one, we stepped on to the slippery rock which was surrounded by snow covered mountains.  Thought of possible avalanche filled my mind,  but we made it back safely.

Continental landing. Photo Courtesy of Olga Shpitko

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Today, the sea felt especially alive, strong and powerful.  It was swelling up and down, not in a wave like fashion, but rather like it was breathing in and out. What an intimidating force, the sea is. The experience of this trip was feeling like you were part of this majestic body of water and understanding that there is a whole ecosystem underneath the surface.

This video shows the sea breathing in and out, a living entity.

Deception Island

December 31, 2021

This morning’s COVID testing assured us that we had no new cases.  We have had 3 days in a row of containment!  Everyone is very pleased but we are encouraged to keep our distance and wear our masks.

We are heading back North. I awoke to the rocking motion of the sea.  You could feel that we are in rougher water than in the peninsula.  We re-applied motion sickness patches in anticipation of our return to the Drake Passage. 

This morning we past through Neptune’s Bellows and visited Deception Island, which is the exposed portion of an active volcano.  We sailed into the caldera and landed at an old whaling station.  The winds were extremely strong today.   So strong, in fact, we were not able to make our previously planned landing at Elephant Point on Livingston Island. (South Shetland Islands)

While on Deception Island, we saw a piebald chinstrap penguin and a leopard seal sleeping on the beach. The chinstrap penguin’s name stems from the narrow black band under its head, which makes it appear as if it were wearing a black helmet.

Remnants of a Whaling Village

With winds of 50 knots (57 mph),  the sea was extremely choppy and we were drenched by the time we got back on the ship.  Strong, gusty winds made us miss the gang way on our first attempt. The ship repositioned and we had to swing the Zodiac around one more time.  By now, we all have mastered the ‘sailors grip’ and reached out to the crew for assistance getting out of the Zodiac. Everyone was completely soaked with salty sea water from the ocean spray.  All part of the fun.  Glad my camera was put away in a rainproof case.

New Year’s Eve

After dinner, we waved our goodbyes to Antarctica.  Looking to the South as the snow covered mountains appeared smaller and smaller. Soon we were back in open waters.  We closed out the year in our cabin with friends, toasting to 2022 and new adventures to come. 

Drake Passage - Day 3

January 1, 2022

COVID UPDATE

Today’s COVID test results indicated our 4th straight day of negative results!  We are still staying mostly in our cabins, out of caution.  We fully enjoyed our trip and we want to make it home safely and without delay.

We awoke New Year’s morning on the Drake Passage with 35 knot wind speed (40 mph).  The boat is swaying back and forth, tossing us around.  Once again, we are walking like drunken sailors.  The white paper bags emerged once again on the railings of the hallways.  This time, everyone was better prepared.

It was a quiet day, reading books and relaxing in our cabins. Probably everyone was looking through photos and videos they captured of their adventure.

What did I actually wear?

Looking back with hindsight, here are my recommendations. Layering is key. On the bottom: thin silk long underwear covered with a thicker merino wool under layer then water proof ski pants was sufficient (unless you are kayaking, in that case add a neoprene leggings). We put hot pack foot warmers in the soles of the boots. On our feet, we started with a thin silk layer, then a warmer merino sock and topped off with a knee length wool ski sock.  

On the top: we started with thin silk under layer underneath a merino wool layer followed by a down jacket and finally a fleece top over that.  Waterproof outer layers finished off our gear.  Hands required thin merino wool gloved then hand warmer hot packs followed by our waterproof gloves.  We brought both mittens and gloves and switched them back and forth between excursions.  If any article gets wet you need to dry it out before you can use it again. 

We also wore sunglasses and used sun screen on our faces.  We wore balaclava’s and thin hats underneath our thick, wool hats and at times, pulled our hoods up from our jackets to protect us from the winds.

Antarctica is actually a desert. It is one of the driest place on earth. Burts Bees hand salve topped my list of things you wouldn’t have thought you’d need.  

I would also recommend bringing carabiners along to tie things down.  Our gloves had built in wrist bands which was helpful as we often put them on and took them off while on landings.  If you dropped something it would blow away quickly and no one wanted to contaminate this pristine environment. 

Drake Passage - 4

January 2, 2022

COVID UPDATE

All passengers tested negative once again! Five day streak is very comforting. I’m not so sure about the status of the crew.  They are not being very transparent on that topic and I am questioning. Turns out that Argentina government changed their requirements starting January 1st and now we are required to have a molecular PCR test by an Argentine official before we can disembark the ship.  Very likely that we will miss out flights out of Ushiaua tomorrow.  Lot’s of uncertainty.

We thought Day 1 of Drake Passage was rough, turns out it can get much worse. Our last day at sea was extremely turbulent. Cyclone winds of 58 knots (67 mph) with gusts up to 76 knots (88 mph).  Waves were 25-30 ft. blowing sea water over the deck.  Our cabin is on the 4th level and the swells were so strong we had sea spray hitting our cabin window.  Watch the video, especially at 18 sec mark.

Ship’s Radar

We took a snapshot of the ship’s radar screen. Pink/Purple is BAD.

The ship captain is re-routing to get into safer waters until this storm passes by.  Pretty much everyone is seeking refuge in their cabins due to rough conditions.  Chairs are getting tossed around.  All of our electronics have been put away for safe keeping.  I am using carabiner to tie down some personal belongings.  In fact, no dinner meal service today. They passed out ham and cheese sandwiches and a piece of fruit to our cabins and told us to hunker down.

Customs

January 3, 2022

Because of the increase in Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, and the fact that we had several cases onboard the ship, we fell into the classification considered an outbreak. Argentina instituted new procedures effective January 1, 2022. Positive thoughts that we were going to simply walk off this ship and catch our flights, quickly sunk into disappointment.

Even though we had two doctors on board the ship and had the PCR testing equipment onsite, the Argentinian government would not accept our test results for customs entry into their country. We arrived in the early morning of January 3rd, but had to wait until officials arrived onboard to perform their own testing.

We originally booked a morning flight out of Ushiaua but had to rebook. At first we thought we could catch a later flight that same day. But the results of our tests were not confirmed until 5pm. Even so, not all passengers with negative test results were able to disembark due to additional paperwork required to clear us. There were about four ships total, docked with passengers waiting to disembark that morning. So processing took some time.

Word got out that three more people tested positive after this morning’s test. One of them was a ship doctor and another was a crew member. We mostly waited in our cabins until we were allowed to leave. Occasionally, we walked the outside deck for exercise. We secured hotels for the evening in Ushiaua and booked new flights for January 4th. However, around 10pm, we were all informed over the ship’s intercom that we would not be released this evening. We stayed another night on the ship, with our bags packed.

Oceanwide canceled the expedition that was scheduled to embark on this ship the next day.

In the morning, we were cautiously optimistic that we would be cleared to enter Argentina around noon, which fortunately was the case. In summary, it took over 30hours to get off the ship once we docked. Whew!

We arrived at the Ushiaua airport in time to make our evening flight to Buenos Aires, where we buffered in a couple days of relaxation before heading home.

Buenos Aires

January 5, 2022

Prior to getting on the plane to fly home, we had to get a molecular PCR test on our own. This proved difficult as our Recoleta airbnb Internet service was spotty at best, websites were not well written and none of us were fluent in Spanish. But, we managed to get our team of four travelers all an appointment at a local facility for a Covid test with 24 hour turnaround. Luckily, we all continued to test negative for the virus.

That behind us, we then took in the city from a tourist perspective. Dulce de leche, coffee, medialuna (crossiant), empenadas, wine and beef all were on the menu. We were fortunate to eat all of our meals outdoors as the weather was extremely pleasant.

Cachefaz Caminito

Cachefaz Caminito

Authentic Argentinian tango dancers performed for the tourists at Cachefaz Caminito

Market place

A Colorful Tourist’s Paradise

Downtown Buenos Aires

We noticed extremely large square loaves of bread being delivered while we ate a meal downtown Buenos Aires. Sure enough our ham and cheese sandwiches were cut from these blocks of bread cubes! OMG

Home

January 7, 2022

We arrived home in Atlanta late morning on Friday. Thankful to have the opportunity to take this trip and to return safe and in good health. Certainly a trip of a lifetime. What great memories we have. I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip. My goal was to take you with us.

If you want to see more photos of Antarctica, check out our album LINK.