Thank you! I got very lucky with some of my photos (it helps when you take a bajillion photos). I'm working on the report but I generally only have time to write on the weekends so it's taking awhile.


<<<I'm amazed your captain made an attempt through that much ice. (Especially since it was Gap who had a previous ship sink when it hit ice. ) But what an amazing experience to be able to walk out onto sea ice like that.>>>

We didn't walk from the ship directly onto the ice, sorry if something was misleading! The captain was very careful and only the very tip of the ship was in the ice and they did it absolutely intentionally and very carefully, they knew it wasn't very thick/strong on the edge of the ice. When we walked on the sea ice we took the zodiacs out to it and then very carefully got out and walked in an area our guide had tromped around on to make sure it was safe.


If it's been 3 years then you're definitely due for a return visit!

<b><u>New Years Eve and a Half Moon Landing</b></u>

This tiny island is in the bay of Livingston Island and is home to many species but we were there to see the rookeries of chinstrap penguins and the lone (and somewhat confused) macaroni penguin, called Mac the Knife. He has apparently been there for years and seems to have a chinstrap mate. Poor confused little man!

This was a fantastic place to visit since it was a fairly easy walk to the ‘main’ rookery and there were brand new babies all over the place. There were chinstraps hatchings while we were standing there and many more who were between a couple days and a couple hours old. The cuteness level was absolutely sky high. One penguin pair would start to do their ecstatic display (beaks up, wings flapping, tail wiggling and lots of head waggling and noise) and others would join in all across the colony. They’d no more than get settled down and another pair would start them up again. I had to laugh because it seemed like they were shouting “happy penguin, happy penguin, I am a HAPPY PENGUUUUUUUUUIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNN!” A recording of them really would make a great bedside alarm since you simply can’t sleep through it and you’d wake up giggling.

It was fun to see Mac but the main draw for me was the newborn chicks. They were just tiny and freakishly cute. The newest chicks looked small enough to cradle in one palm while the older chicks (still within a week or so old) were large enough that they would fill two cupped hands with soft gray fluff.

This was one of the places where I felt really bad for the staff. They laid down a couple flag poles and said “stay behind these” so that everyone would stay a proper distance from the penguins and not risk bothering them. A couple people simply kept ignoring that. When they were told individually to back up they ignored the guides and pretended not to understand English. Strange, they understood English just fine when it suited them. One of the guides finally stepped right in front of the tourist (and most importantly her camera) and started walking her back across the line simply by blocking her camera until she was where she needed to be. He was very polite and professional but he had to do everything short of physically pick her up and move her. I don’t know how the staff keeps their patience when the rules are there for very good reasons and people so blatantly disregard both the rules and the staff who are there for our safety and the safety of the wildlife. I was simply amazed, both by her rudeness and by his patience and politeness.

After quite awhile watching the penguins, I joined one of the staff members and a couple other passengers on a lower section of the island and got to see a gorgeous kelp gull standing regally on a rock wall and a chick with an adorable spotted head on the rock behind her. It’s hard to imagine that a tan little chick with black speckles all over its head will eventually turn into a gorgeous gull with such bright white plumage.

The walk back to the ship was truly beautiful with the sunlight and bright blue sky peeking through a light gray layer of clouds and shimmering across the snow and cliffs. We were all moving very slowly, almost trudging like reluctant children, on the way back to the ship as nobody wanted to leave the shore for the last time. We trudged a little (okay, so a lot) too slowly and the ship blew the horn to tell us to get a move on and get our butts back on the ship as we were running late.

Once everyone was dutifully back on ship we set out for the Drake Passage and our trip home. Throughout the afternoon we had lectures on climate change, the 1914 Shackleton expedition and had time to just relax. There was a contest for the best black and white outfit (the outfits were generally cobbled together from the items people had in their cabins and items that were requested from the crew). Dinner was fantastic (as always) and was followed by Antarctic Olympics in the Lounge. Everyone broke into groups and played games. I skipped this so don’t know what most of the games were but one involved putting someone on each team into a gumby suit and the fastest team won the points for that game. I ended up hanging out with a couple friends in the dining room for most of the duration of the games. Towards the end we went back to the Lounge and I went to get my camera and head for the top deck.

As I was heading up towards the top deck with my coat and camera, I spotted the safety officer talking to a handful of crew in a side hallway. Hmm, curious. Then I noticed that there was a small stack of orange flares on the floor at their feet. Very curious! About that time people started coming out of the Lounge to get their coats and go out onto the bow (the ship had slowed way down so that it was safe to be out there again). A few minutes after I got up to the top deck, the safety officer and a crew member came up there as well followed by a staff member who was often the group photographer. It was nice having him up there as I could now hear the countdown from a couple minutes out to midnight over his radio!

About the time everyone was herded out onto the bow with glasses of champagne a voice came over the PA with “10…. 9…. 8… 7…”. Immediately after the count of “1!” came the loudest horn I have ever heard and flares were lit all over the bow of the ship and on both front corners of the top deck. I snapped away as fast as my camera would go and marveled at the sight laid out below me. Many of my fellow passengers (the ones silly enough to still be awake) were down there celebrating the New Year and from above it looked like we had set the ship ablaze! It was absolutely fantastic and by far the best way to ring in the New Year that I’ve ever seen!

I learned a very important lesson… if you stand 10 feet in front of an enormous ship horn on New Year’s eve, expect a sound that will quite literally make you jump a foot and a half in the air just from the sheer volume (thankfully the rail at the front of the top deck is fairly high). After talking to the staff member who was up there I learned that the flare thing was pretty much unplanned and the staff didn’t know anything about it ahead of time. The safety officer had extra flares on hand (and I believe they were expired so they were going to be trashed anyway), we were in the Drake Passage and far from any penguin colonies or the like we could bother with a bit of smoke from the flares, it seemed like fate! I’m sure that the bridge warned any ships that happened to be nearby at the time that it was a planned thing so nobody worried (it really was a LOT of light for a short time).

The Polar Bear Bar was set up for a celebration but I decided to head for quiet and bed instead. Everyone I talked to the next day said that it was a fantastic party. They also said that mixing a lot of alcohol and the Drake Passage (even a very calm Drake Lake) was probably not a brilliant idea.

Next up… the Drake Passage, Cape Horn and our return to Ushuaia.

I just saw this and am swooning with envy! Antarctica is on my "top 3 places to visit"
My only hesitation is my fear of getting sea sick. I'll be interested to hear how you fared on that!

Lillipets,

We were extremely lucky with the Drake Passage and it was the "Drake Lake". A cruise earlier this month had the "Drake Shake" and were pretty well confined to their cabins for part of the crossing for safety. The docs on board were handing out scopalamine patches to any who wanted them and those pretty well took care of any issues for most people. I had a some ginger cookies and one or two doses of bonine and was fine. The main side effect from the anti-nausea meds was sleepiness and that's just fine on the crossing.

I don't think anyone was sea sick for the cruise part, just for the Drake Passage crossings and even that was pretty minimal. A roommate got absolutely tanked on New Years Eve and was pretty miserable the next day with the mix of a massive hangover and the Drake but that's mostly self induced misery.

Do NOT pass up a cruise to Antarctica just based on the chance of getting sea sick unless you know that you're extremely prone to that sort of thing. There was one girl on the cruise who gets sea sick just looking at a fish tank and she pretty well dosed up for the crossings and was fine for the main part of the cruise. If you really are that prone to it, you might want to consider one of the cruises that involve a flight across the Drake but find a way to go. To say "it's worth it" doesn't even come close.

You inspired me so much I already contacted the travel agent who handled most of my Africa trips!
I think I just may be able to make this happen!!!!!!!!!
(I can hear my credit cards crying already!)
Thanks for the inspiration! I turned 60 this year and I gotta go while I can!

Woohoo!! If you book well in advance you often get a discount. Also, check out the forum on tripadvisor, it's a fairly active forum and there's tons of good info about many cruise lines and different tours. The trip I chose is not the only one available and they're pretty much all amazing.

Sign up for emails from Sierra Trading Post and watch for sales to get some warm gear. Take bonine and ginger cookies with you and ask for the scopolamine patch if you think you're going to need it. A lot of people also write the wrist bands (I did) on the Drake and those might help some.


Oh you just totally made my night! "Amazing" doesn't even begin to describe Antarctica and pictures can never do it justice.

Fantastic pics! I have the SAME camera as you - the FZ150 - and I love it Going back to read the rest, I just started !

<b><u>Drake Passage, Cape Horn and Home:</b></u>

New Years Day was spent in a lazy fashion watching the birds following the ship, sharing photos/videos, and recovering from the night before for many people. I spent a lot of time out on deck watching the wandering albatross who hung out with us for quite awhile. He was enormous and makes flying look so effortless and elegant. There were a couple more lectures and movies but for the most part it was just vegging out on board, not wanting the trip to be done yet.

The next day was similarly fairly lazy and relaxing. We were very lucky and had clear weather when we came up to Cape Horn and we were also allowed very close in. Just before we got to the Cape we were greeted by Peale’s dolphins who were playing and riding the wave on the very front of the ship. They were great fun to watch from the bow of the ship. We also saw a handful of magellanic penguins on the way in.

That evening we had a ‘fun recap’ where the staff presented photos and stories from throughout the trip (and a few stories and videos from previous trips such as the lucky penguin who jumped into a zodiac to escape a couple orca’s). The stories and history some of the staff have been part of is simply amazing.

We came up the Beagle Channel and into port around dinner time. Many people went into Ushuaia to play for the evening and many of us spent time packing and saying goodbyes. There were some mutterings about a polite passenger mutiny and taking the ship south again (we had at least two women who were in the Navy on board and the rest of us could figure out something to do) but we decided we should probably be good.

Our final morning on board came much sooner than anyone wanted and after a nice breakfast we got on buses to go to the airport or off the pier and into town depending on our flight arrangements. When we got to the airport many of us camped out in the queue for Aerolineas Argentinas since the counter wasn’t open yet. It was nice that there was free wi-fi in the airport so many of us started to get caught up on emails and communication with the ‘real world’ again. Eventually we all got through the line, paid for our exit stamp and went to hang out in the small café by the gates. I think there were four gates total but really only two in use. If you think you might have a long wait, do take snacks from outside as they are incredibly expensive (even for airport food) in that little café.

I was doing my best not to be antsy about our departure as I needed the flight to be at least reasonably on time so that I would have enough time to get across Buenos Aires and to my connecting flight (on a separate ticket) to get home. Surprisingly our flight actually was on time (something of a rarity with Aerolineas)! It was very easy to pick up my bag, turn in my printed confirmation at the Manuel Tienda Leon desk and head for the main airport (EZE). I had time for a stroll around the airport, a sandwich and time to start the task of sorting through photographs on my netbook. A long flight and a short flight later and I was home, my adventure over.


People keep saying that Antarctica is a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip but I simply refuse to believe that. I don’t know when I’ll get to go back (maybe as soon as next year in the 2014 season) because there are so many amazing places that I still haven’t visited even once, but I do know that I will go back. Many of the passengers are on a Facebook group and have shared photos that are quite simply stunning but even the most amazing of the photos can’t really capture the truth of how beautiful it is. No camera can quite show that amazing bright blue of a freshly rolled iceberg or exactly how glassy smooth the water could be. No video can give you a sense of how peaceful it is or how Antarctica manages to be both humbling and energizing at the same time.

Going to Antarctica is like going to a completely different planet while getting to see some of the very best of our own. Sometime after the “oh my god we’re really on the way!” and before the “do we really have to leave?” a frozen land worked its way into our hearts and warmed our souls.

It's funny you say that "once in a lifetime" isn't enough. I thought my first trip to Africa in 2003 was going to be my "once in a lifetime" but it was just the 1st 4!
I'm trying to convince the person I usually go to Africa with to consider Antarctica for our next adventure. And I jokingly told her that this "once in a lifetime" trip will probably end up with us going back for more!

For all of those considering a trip to Antarctica, I just wanted to write and confirm all of what Iowa_Redhead has said. It's a magical place! I worked at McMurdo station years ago, I did not cruise there, so I didn't have the amazing experiences she was able to have, but it was the experience of a life time. I still hope to go back someday because I didn't get to go to the South Pole, as some of my friends did! I also recommend the Galapagos, which has stunning wildlife. Thanks for helping me relive the memories!

Thanks again for a lovely and interesting report. I'm looking forward to your next adventure!

I_R - I'm mulling over an Antarctic cruise with some friends and am reading my way through your report. Your photos alone are doing a great job of convincing me!! Would you mind sharing general costs for the whole trip? I understand if you do mind - just trying to somehow get an accurate idea of the added costs beyond the listed price for the cruise + airfare to BA, in order to figure out how much I'd need to save. Thank you for sharing your trip with us!

Oh, one more question - sorry! How far in advance did you start planning/booking? One friend wants to go next winter (2013-14), but the rest of us are thinking 2014-15 might be more realistic, both from a saving-up perspective and wondering if people tend to book these trips WAY far in advance.

Jent, GO!!

I don't mind sharing costs, the vast majority is pretty much published info. I booked a quad share cabin with G Adventures. The Christmas/New Years trip was more expensive than others. I can't tell you what the price would be for the 2013-14 season since it's already filling up and I can't see prices. Anywhere from about $6k-11k per person depending on what type/category of cabin and which departure you choose. If you book over a year out I think you save quite a bit (10-20% I think someone said) but I don't think they'll release the 2014-15 schedule until sometime this summer. It's worth a call to check.

http://www.gadventures.com/trips/que...e/XVQCSX/2014/

The flight to BA was expensive - $1.5k-2k, somewhere in the middle of that range I think, and then there is the short flight to Ushuaia ($200-300ish). As always that depends on where you're flying out of.

Add in the hotel for any extra days in Buenos Aires and/or in Ushuaia. Plus any relevant taxis and meals on extra days.

Camping added a small cost ($50 I think when I signed up for it, it probably increased), the tip adds a cost, etc. Bar tab and soda/wine can add a cost. I think they've decided to give everyone parkas now instead of just on one or two departures and those in the fancy cabins. That really helps with cost (and packing). Hitting places like Sierra Trading Post for cold weather gear really helps too since they always have coupons and they were MUCH cheaper than my local outdoor stores.

It gets expensive fast but there are ways to help keep costs down. G Adventures is one of the cheaper ways to go I think. Quark is excellent but more expensive. See the TA forum for a LOT of info on different companies and a ton of helpful info. You do want to stay with a smaller ship as much as possible, less than 200 passengers and less than 100 would be nice if you can afford it (G's ship holds 133 passengers).

Yes, people book way in advance, the upcoming season is already filling up. 2014-15 might give you a better chance to save and to get the cabin you want. The other side of that argument is 'take whatever cabin you can get and GO NOW!'

Thank you - that is extremely helpful! I know, part of me wants to just grab whatever we can for next winter, but I noticed the fully booked dates too. Plus I have a niece and nephew who will be living a plane ride away for the next year, so I'll have more plane tickets to pay for than usual! I think we're really serious, though, and all of this has given me a great place to start! It sounds so amazing.

Re costs - if you can be somewhat flexible there are often some significant discounts in the late fall for the imminent cruising season. For example we went on a Quark Expedition cruise in late February 2012 which we booked about 12 weeks earlier because it was 35% off. (2 for 1 is not uncommon either).

Ooooh - that would be great! At least three of the four of us are pretty flexible. Thanks for the heads up, Elizabeth_S!

I had signed up for the Quark newsletter and received regular emails with discounts

http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/enewsletter

Perfect - thank you!

I have really enjoyed reading this trip report.

I am due to go to Antarctica this December with Hurtigruten, and I'm starting to get really anxious over the footwear. I am an overweight, short female and cannot wear calf length wellies.

At the risk of hijacking your thread, Iowa Redhead, could you tell me a little about whether all the people on your trip were slim, and whether people brought their own boots for the landings? I understand that there is a chance feet will go into the water when getting off the Zodiacs. I don't want to have cold, wet feet, but I don't know what kind of boots will be appropriate. Hurtigruten say they provide boots for landings, but I don't want to run the risk that none will fit me and I won't be allowed ashore.

I'm looking forward to the experience of being there, but really worrying about the embarrassment of being a different body shape and not being able to fully take part, especially as we have used so much of our savings to pay for the trip. Fortunately my husband is a healthy weight and will be able to fit regular sized footwear.

Any advice or experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated.