8th / 9th / 10th January - Getting to Antarctica

Monday 8th January

We travel to the airport and fly to Ushuaia at the bottom of Argentina.  The hike from where we are dropped at the airport to the other end of the airport check-in is far more demanding. It is warm too. But we get there and into the queue. Not too long before we are checked-in, luggage a little overweight as it is a smaller allowance but nice check-in man does not question it. Others are not so lucky. A bus and stair climb and we're off. We are a little late leaving but overall the process isn't too bad.


We fly over the Andes (again) and then coming into Ushuaia more mountains and snow.




We head straight for our boat, welcome drink, have our first safety briefing and are escorted to our cabin to find life jacket and survival pack. Then we're off heading down the channel. Quiet and serene passage while we have dinner but after midnight we hit the open sea. Rock and roll here we come!!




Tuesday 9th January

It is a rough start to the day. Plenty of waves, strong winds but not so much rain. Less people around the public areas and more ensconsed in their rooms. We had a boot and clothes check, the boots for our landings, the clothes for bio-security. We dined at the Koko Sushi Bar, and for a restaurant hard to get in to, there were empty seats. By this time the waves had started to settle down.




Wednesday 10th January

Waves have settled, wind has calmed down, but the rain / snow has settled in. Yes snow, so all the outside areas for observations are closed. We see our first iceberg, and for the rest of the day various sizes go by, we're in Iceberg Alley - Southern style.




The day also consists of a safety briefing about the helicopter and submersible, then another on the zodiacs. This also included a "what to do / not to do"when on the ice. Penguins have right of way! We have a welcome drink with the captain tonight. Our first day of excursions starts tomorrow, if the weather allows. Exciting times ahead.


Comments

  1. Carolyn11 January 2024 at 07:44

    It's so exciting - we are both on tender hooks for our arrival in Antarctica tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3rd / 4th January - We're Off

Image
3rd January Leave Melbourne - eventually. Caught the bus (thanks Wendy) to the airport, no problems. Plane just would not leave but we got to Sydney 25 minutes late so all in all not too bad. Met Carolyn at the carousels and we made our way over to International where we stayed the night at the hotel. A beer was required after the hot walk from the bus drop off.  4th January Off to Santiago. 12 and a half hours later we're there. Pretty seamless getting to the transit lounge and sitting back to wait for our next flight. Then off to Buenos Aires, over the Andes. Arrive, quick settle into our room, then off for a beer and nibbles in the bar. A night cap and off to dream land, our Antarctica tour is off and running,
Read more

12th January - Penguins, Seals and Icebergs

Image
Not so early a start today as we are now in the last group to go out. We are at Prospect Point, another site of an old UK Science Station, this time Station J, also abandoned in 1959.  We are here for the Adelie Penguin colonies nesting with the Antarctic Shags, all in the Fish Islands at Prospect Point on the Velingrad Peninsula in Graham Land,. The Zodiac team takes us to the nesting sites, where we see lots and lots of penguins many with chicks. In between are the Antarctic Shags also with chicks, these a lot larger. The chicks are the grey ones for penguins or the "no white" ones for the shags. 😁 After our penguin / shag looking, we head for the landing on the Antarctic continent itself. Yesterday was only sheet ice so doesn't technically count. We are very lucky to see a calving of ice from the glacier. Sorry no pictures but makes our landing just a little bit more difficult with the ice now moving because of the wave and a lot more icebergs. A path is cleared and w...
Read more

19th / 20th / 21st January - Planes, planes and planes

Image
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...
Read more