Antarctica
 

Does anyone have any experiences they can share from Antarctica? I will be there in late January and would love to hear other people's stories.

Hi Lolo,
I have not been to Antarctica but would like to go in 2006.
What company are you traveling with ??
Please post a travel report when you return.
Happy Travels !
Brenda

I am going with Norwegian Coastal Expediton voyages, on the Nordnorge. The trip begins in Buenos Aires, we fly to Ushuaia where we board the ship. It then sails thru the Drake Passage and on to the Antarctic Peninsular. We will be cruising around there for 4-5 days, then around Cape Horn, Punta Arenas, thru the straits of Magellan and on up thru the Chilean fjords where we end in Puerto Montt. We then fly to Santiago and then home. I'll report when we get back in mid-Feb. The current issue of Cruise Travel magazine featured this exact trip as the best to Antarctica. I am so looking forward to going. After touching down on Antarctica, I will have been to all 7 continents. They should sell t-shirts!!

A friend of my sister's is about to leave for a trip to Antarctica. She's going with Abercrombie & Kent. Please do share your experience when you return. Ever since I read the book and saw documentary about Ernest Shackleton's explorations down there, I've been curious to go.

We (8 of us) including my 80 year old Mother went in Jan 2001 with Marine Expeditions from Toronto. They have since gone out of business but the trip was wonderful. We went from Buenas Aires to Ushuaia and boarded our ship there for 8 days and nights. We had a total of 8 landings on islands and the Antarctic peninsula.You go from very hot in BA to Ushuaia which is cool to cold Antarctica. Lots of changes of clothes.Fantastic experience just being there. Exellent lectures on the boat and seeing all the animals (penguins, seals, birds, whales etc)

We were lucky to have a fairly smooth crossing on the Drake's Passage but I hear it can be rough.Our crew was Russian but our guides were from all over Sweden, Canada, USA, and Argentina. We had 120 passengers from all over as well.

We crossed back over by Cape Horn to Ushuaia and then went to Bariloche in the High Andes mountains. Like a Lake Tahoe here in California. Beautiful Lake with lots of mountains. This was summer so it was nice and mild. Also went to Iguazu Falls, which was very tropical.

I highly recommend the trip

My wife and I did an Antarctic cruise last year. We went with Quark Expeditions, on the Professor Molchanov. There were about 40 passengers, which made for a more collegial, tight-knit feeling, and allowed everyone who wanted to go ashore at once (limit of 100 per landing, I believe). Take your swimsuit, if you stop at Deception Island, you will probably get to go swimming a cove of the bay where steam vents from the volcano keep the water hot. Other than watching out for the wildlife (and noticing the accompanying smells of the wildlife), my only other advice is when the Russian crew brings out the vodka, DO NOT try to keep up with them. You'll have a great time - its like no place else on earth.

You should enjoy Argentina while you're there. It is one of the last places on earth that the US $ is worth anything. We spent 5 days in Buenos Aires (one day taking the ferry to Colonia, Uruguay, and back), and another 3 days up at Iguazu Falls, before starting our cruise. The food is great - the steaks are the best in the world.