Antartica

19th January  We disembarked our home for the last 11 days and had a quick walk around Ushuaia. A town of souvenir shops, coffee shops and high priced tacky shops. Anyway they make their money from the tourist boats in summer and the snow tourist in winter. Please note the spelling of Sydney!! Our flight back to Buenos Aires is a little late but overall uneventful. Dinner at the hotel with a couple of beers. 20th January We're off to Santiago, Chile today. Our guy at the check-in counter books us all the way through to Australia. He was asked nicely not to as we were overnighting in Santiago. Yes, yes he says ..... never trust a smiling Argentinian. We get to Santiago, get through Passport control, no bags. They are in the transit process, we are told. We wait for a couple of hours and finally our bags are found and brought up. Mine is booked all the way through to Perth !!!. Anyway dinner at the airport hotel with another beer. 21st January We're leaving Chile for Australia to...

Two days at sea crossing back to Ushuaia via Drakes Passage. We leave the Southern Ocean with its 2m swell and rain to cross the more choppy Atlantic with its 4m swell, winds and rain. Not as many at breakfast this morning!! About lunch time on the 18th we will feel the effects of the outlying islands and the wind and swell will calm down. More people will venture out for dinner perhaps.   Ted is already planning his next adventure. Need to pack this afternoon as our luggage is picked up tonight and delivered to the airport once we dock in the morning. We need to vacate our room tomorrow at 8am and head to the airport just before 9am. Long wait as our flight is not until after lunch. Our cruise will be ending. We have a night in Buenos Aires and a night in Santiago before heading home.

 Last excursion day. More penguins of course and a very steep climb to a lookout over Neko Harbour. I didn't do the lookout. Penguin Highways are quite deep The Penguin Highways between colonies The penguins have their highway system between colonies, down to the water and around rocks. It is quite extensive and very deep. They have a rest on the shore before taking off up the hill. They even use our track! This is the last time I have to wear mud boots. Yay!! We move to Fournier Bay. On the way the Captain spots a pod of Orcas, so he makes a slight detour so that we can watch them. Unfortunately the Orcas are chasing a penguin and I doubt he / she would have gotten away. The scenery is spectacular as usual. Once reaching the bay, the Polar Plunge people strip down and jump in. Not for me. A Humpback whale waves us good bye as we start our sail Northwards. We look in on the show tonight. Afterwards as the sun sets we must say farewell to Antarctica, Farewell Antarctica. We had...

 Up early for our Zodiac ride to Gentoo Penguin Land (or rookery). There is an Argentine hut for emergencies and a memorial to three young men who died trying to cross the sea ice to reach the research station, 10km away. There are many Penguin Highways between the rocky outcrops and down to the sea. Many of the penguins have chicks and need to be on the lookout for the Brown Skuas that are looking for breakfast. Brown Skua Penguin Highway Penguin and chicks Intrepid traveller The landscape is wonderful. Tall mountains, ice caps, ice bergs and of course sunshine. The helicopter hanger is open today. A chance to see the helicopters up close. In the afternoon we move to Port Charcot to visit more penguins, but this time Chinstrap Penguins. This would mean that we would see all three of the flat tail varieties. There is another juvenile elephant seal sunning itself. Chinstrap Penguin Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins Penguin Highway The sun sets on another great day in Antarctica.