Crazy people going for the polar plunge
This will be our last entry. It takes 4 days to get and half of that is rough seas. I will let you kids know when we are home. Yesterday there were so many whales we couldn’t count them all. They seemed to be following the ship. the crew chased them in a zodiac to shoot a beacon into a dorsal fin but were unsuccessful.
Sunset last night
Chilean naval vessel. They had an issue with our ship being there, the biggest ship won!
Twins!
British flag with penguins around it.
Humpback whale bones, head on left
Whale bones
Today we went ashore to see another British outpost, this one in better shape, with a gift shop and small museum. Also saw whale bones from whaling days, and lots of Gentoo penguins. I think they are my favorite kind. They are unafraid and so goal oriented that they waddle right by us, oblivious, on their way to whatever they are doing such as getting food, or rocks, or getting to their rock nests. I have a case of windburn and look like I’ve got measles, but it will pass. We also saw 3 killer whales in the afternoon and watched as some researchers tried to get next to them in a Zodiac and tag them.
Here is the netting in the stairwell in case someone falls over the railing in high seas. We are not looking forward to the Drake Passage again.
When whales get parallel like this it is called logging.
Historic British outpost.
Waddell seals napping on a cozy glacier.
Wake from the ship this morning.
Jeff actually took this one!! Early morning shot today.
Every one is different. Some as big as a city block. Guide told us she never sees the same ones again year after year because they keep changing.
The captain told us that it depended on the weather if we would be able to go this far south. Well the weather cooperated and when we woke up this morning we had passed below it. The ship was breaking through the ice. Activity for today was to take the zodiacs over to an encampment that was built by the British in the early 1950s and abandoned in 1958. They are back now trying to fix it up and 3 people live there during the Antarctic summer (like now). It looks pretty rough. The 3 people got to come over to the ship and take a shower and get a hot meal.
This afternoon we had a photography lecture by 2 Nat. Geo. photographers. Most of it was over my head but Jeff got most of it. However, the pics on this blog are mostly taken by me (Carol) and he has his own camera which is better than this IPad.
factoid: it gets dark around 11:30pm and light at 3:00am. So, short night. Rooms have special window covers to block out the light.
There are 140 passengers and 100 cabins. Most all passengers we think are either American, Australian, or Canadian. Captain is German.
we are about 1700 miles from the South Pole.
Whales!
Ice arch
Leopard seal napping on a nice cold iceberg.
Seal next to ice tower
Couldn’t get satellite service yesterday so we have 2 days to report. In our opinion, today was the HIGHLIGHT of the trip so far. First we went ashore and hiked around to see 3kinds of penguins, all nesting, in various stages of growth of babies. They coexist for the most part, and totally ignore humans. The types are Adelie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap. See pictures below. They are busy little guys, always coming or going, and bringing food to their chicks. The best part of the day (indeed the entire trip) was the zodiac ride afterward where we saw 2 humpback whales frolicking and staying at the Surface. They were within 10 feet of us. When they would blow through their blowholes, we could feel the mist and it smelled fishy. One kept rolling over and swimming upside down. We got to watch this for 45 minutes! Also see pics below. We also saw a leopard seal on an iceberg.
last night we ate with a National Geographic photographer and a Nat. Geo. Naturalist. We also got to watch videos of the robot deployed on the ocean floor beneath us, which was pretty cool. Daily briefings by various experts.
daily temps remain around 38F. The ship goes right over big chunks of ice, makes a strange sound.
Here we are!
Mother gentoo with two babies
Went ashore again and saw Gentoo penguins with babies. They steal rocks from each other in order to make
gentoo penguin. Not afraid of humans, walk right by.
their nests. Fascinating to see them have their little disagreements among each other. Temp today 38F, water smooth as glass. After above, took a kayak ride. Jeff paddled (80 percent, me 20 percent), saw many more Gentoo, Waddell seals. Once back aboard Humpback whales all around the ship. In a few minutes we get to take a Zodiac cruise in among the icebergs. Also got to see several glacier calvings. Awesome! We are having a blast trying to take it all in. Seems like a dream.
Today is the first day we actually landed on the continent of Antarctica, yesterday was an island.
The seas calmed a little and Jeff is up and about just in time for our first trip ashore. We saw chin strap penguins and lots of babies. They have no fear of us but we had to stay 15 ft away, some of them came right up to us. Jeff took an optional additional hike and saw a fair number of Weddell seals and two suicidal penguins which wandered quite close to one seal. Thankfully the seal was either asleep or just not hungry. Took over 100 picture but can’t show them all to you. One will be hanging on our wall when we get back and one is, in humble opinion, National Geographic quality, but I haven’t asked the experts on board about that yet. Temp in middle 30’s.
Adorable!
View from cabin.
Shore of Halfmoon island. Penguins coming ashore.
Two little dots on snow are penguins trying to get back to their babies. They kept falling but finally made it.
Beach goers.
Rough seas today. About half of the people were missing at meals, including Jeff. They call these seas “moderate”. Really? Anyway we are at the “convergence zone” which is where the Pacific and Atlantic converge, and the reason for all these waves. Tomorrow we land at the South Shetland islands. We are psyched! This is why we came, hopefully we will see some penguins. Also a little outpost. Any of you friends or family who would like to get a postcard from Antarctica EMAIL your address DON’T post it here. Lectures today from Nat. Geo photographers, undersea biologist, videographer, bird expert, historian.
Observation deck.
Our ship
Cormorant birds and sea lions at the top (brown).
The Andes in Chile
Today we flew 3 more hours to Ushuaia. From there they loaded us on buses and drove us through part of Pantagonia, which was really cool. We could see Chile, and as I write this we can look out the window and still see Chile. Lunch on a catamaran and then we FINALLY got to board the ship. Having a fabulous time. Cabin is the biggest we ever had on a ship. Around midnight tonight we enter the Drakes Passage. Many people wearing patches (scopolamine)All day tomorrow on the passage so may not post an entry because not much will be happening. Average high in summer 55F, average low in winter 32F.
We met some other people on our cruise and made friends with 2 couples from Australia and one couple from Nashville, TN. So far we have only met people from Canada, Australia and the US. We took a bus tour which lasted all afternoon. The bus was luxurious and they really go out of their way to cater to the “touristas.” Buenos Aires is a mixture of old and new, rich and poor, like most cities. The difference is that the poor are really, really poor. We saw a cemetery where Evita Peron’s name is on it but she ‘s not buried there. She is beneath a street in an unknown location. Half the people loved her and the other half despised her. Historically, the Presidente names his wife as Vice Presidente and if he dies first she becomes the Presidente. That is how the current lady got the job. Inflation is out of control so they like dollars. If you have a family member buried in the cemetery (pictures below) and the family fails to pay the annual tax, the city evicts the “residents” and auctions off the spot! Not sure what they do with the body but there are many mausoleums vacant! Yikes!
Argeninian women are mostly thin and beautiful. Everyone eats this elado with dulce la leche which is ice cream (extra rich) topped with a caramel cream (extra extra rich). So we figure if we eat lots of that we will get skinny too! NOT! The men are not so beautiful, rather scruffy and unkempt and carry purses otherwise called European shoulder bags.
We did see Argentinian Tango dancing today and it is graceful and beautiful.
Cemetery view
Cemetery had many rows like this.
Another mausoleum.
More cemetery stuff.
One of the original crypts. Note plants growing out of it.
Finally out of the cemetery and riding around admiring architecture!
So tomorrow we are off to Ushuaia, which is the lowest point on the continent. Three hours flying there and then a catarmaran ride and lunch before boarding the ship. Thanks to Dr. Iverson and Kerry, this is where we don our Scopalamine patches in preparation for crossing Drakes Passage which takes 2 days
Office of the Presidente (Christine) we are not sure of her last name. This is their equivalent to our White House called the Pink House or Casa Rosada.
Just a 3D Fresco on a building I liked.
Buildings made of Tin, Poor part of town called La Boca.
Statues on balconies quite common for some reason. Middle character supposedly Evita Peron waving at her subjects below.
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Well, after what seemed like the longest flight in the world (really only 10 hours from Houston) we are really here and really tired! We got kind of rushed at the airport and really rushed in an insane taxi ride to the hotel. Traffic signs and speed limits are but guidelines here and Carol said she only made it by not looking. But somehow we got to the hotel and then slept for a few hours since we got no sleep on the red eye flight.
Actually Carol slept while Jeff and his no Spanish speaking self went looking for a bank to get Argentine pesos. That was truly exciting and after visiting two banks I figured that banks don’t exchange dollars for pesos but exchange houses do. With fifteen minutes left before closing time I got the mission accomplished and then collapsed in bed.
When we both got up we went to the Buenos Aires Hard Rock Cafe and had a nice meal and got some really cool T shirts.
Everyone here is real nice but outside the hotel English is not widely spoken – so carry the dictionary and get a few chuckles from the locals but we get where we want to go and have’t been arrested yet.
Tomorrow we meet our group and go on a tour so we should take more pictures. The one today is of some nice fresh flowers in the lobby.
We are really having fun so far and haven’t even seen any penguins yet
Photo from the lobby of our hotel
antarctica trip 2013 