Mar 3

This morning we sail around Cape Horn just for the fun of it!  The scenery has started to invade our senses and we spend the early morning on deck with our cameras.  A few hours later, we arrive back in Ushuaia where this excursion began.  What started out with high stress has turned into a vacation of a lifetime.  We go to breakfast for the last time on the ship and they give us our disembarkation instructions.

We are not in the first groups to disembark for those are reserved for those who need to get to the airport for early flights.  We are scheduled to spend the night in Ushuaia and travel on to Buenos Aires tomorrow.  So we watch Flightless Timber Ducks in the water and other sights while we wait.

So, a few hours later we find ourselves back in Ushuaia with our luggage and we check into our new hotel for a day.  We store our luggage and grab a taxi to the National Park where we buy tickets to ride the Historic Prisoner Train (Tren del Fin del Mundo) through the park.  It turns out we end up spending an 5 extra dollars each and get our own train car, complete with wine and lunch!  What a deal!

The train takes us through the countryside and stops at a hike to a waterfall.  We only have time to hike up, take a few photos, and hike back down to the train.  Then we ride to the end of the line where we get off and check out the area.

The ride back is scenic and uneventful and we are relaxed and enjoying ourselves, a bit of a different mindset than the last time we were here.  We check out the museum at the train station and grab a taxi back to town.

Walking around town this time is more relaxed and laid back that before. We find some interesting street art on many walls and buildings. Not graffiti, mind you, but talented art!  We find dinner and see the town one more time.

Mar 1, 2

We sleep in a little this morning as we know there is not much to see.  We are underway back across the Drake Passage.  It is so smooth the Passage is being nicknamed, “Drake Lake”.  I have never in my life seen such smooth water on the wide open seas where huge waves belong!

We have had such good weather crossing the Drake again that we will arrive in Argentina tomorrow morning and aren’t due to land until the following morning.  So we will cruise around Cape Horn tomorrow and maybe have another excursion

Day 16 – Drake Lake, Part 2

Today we sail the remainder of the way across the Drake, once again on “Drake Lake”.  Not much happens except we converse and visit with other passengers and party in the bar and lounge. We are instructed to put our boots in the hall for pickup. It is interesting that they supply us with our jackets but our boots are redistributed for future excursions. If I were king, I would redistribute the jackets and let you take home your boots, LOL.  We turn in early to have the energy for the rest of our trip!

Sights across Drake Lake keep us mesmerized as we return home!

Kodak Gap, Agfa Alley, Fuji Funnel, it’s all the same!

Feb 28

Sunrise finds us up and excited for this morning’s newest adventure.  The sky is ablaze and on fire with hues of yellows, oranges, reds, golds & splashes of blue!  Of all sunrises I have ever seen, this is the ultimate best.  It doesn’t matter that I only went to bed a few hours ago, I am wide awake!  The below freezing temperatures, daunting as they may be, don’t even phase me.  Appropriately bundled up as we have been conditioned to do every day, my cameras have died and arrived in camera heaven!

We are going to sail through the most photogenic place in the Antarctic Peninsula!  This morning we’re going through the “Lemaire Channel”, also known as Kodak Gap, Fuji Funnel and Agfa Alley all at the same time!  This place is no less than eye candy for the soul.  If you can’t see the amazing beauty of this place, then you must not be alive!

Sunrise on mountain peaks, perfectly calm water like a glassy lake, reflections everywhere you look, a virtual paradise for a photographer!  The crew lets us onto the front bow of the ship, a place that so far has been off limits to passengers.  We all happily mill around the bow and find our own best photo spots and camera shutters are all working overtime!  Sunrise continues for hours as we marvel at the landscape.

The ship set anchor in Port Charcot and Pleneau Bay and we suit up for another excursion.  I opt for the zodiacs today and Elee joins her usual group in the kayaks.  Armed with my big rig cameras, this iceberg gallery full of large tabular icebergs and older, sculpted glacial icebergs have run aground.  We see some remnants of an expedition from 1904 that created the name of this place.

Both Gentoo Penguins and Chinstraps abide here.  We cruise around in this magical, smooth water bay with reflections that create astounding photos.  We eventually land on the island and walk among the penguins and I find a spot to sit on a rock and I wait only a short time before a couple of Gentoos waddle over and get curious about me.  They pose for my cameras and we have a wonderful time visiting with each other.  After a bit of a visit, I walk off and find a rock hill where I see the only Adelie Penguin that our entire expedition sees this entire trip.  It is amazing that this Adelie Penguin proceeds to attack a Scua, a bird that feeds on Penguins.  The Adelie successfully scares off the Scua and life is good.

Much too soon, our excursion is over and we climb back in the zodiacs and head back to the ship.  It is still morning and it seems we have been active all day!

We hear the announcement that there will be a BBQ out on deck for lunch today.  It is cold, but not uncomfortable in our excursion jackets and hats.  The weather is actually balmy and the crew is setting up with BBQ’s, hot trays and a spread of food that amazes!  We even see Antarctic Pig!  A joke that has gone around since the beginning of our trip amid stories of pigs that some explorer brought here a hundred years ago but they didn’t survive.  But all the excursions that come down here, somehow have it for at least one meal.

An afternoon trip back through the Lemaire Channel gives us a different perspective during the heart of the day and we revel again in how still the water here is.

We realize our trip is waning but we are happy.  Our trip has been a grand success so far even with our evacuation delay.  We all party on the ship as it gets underway to head home.  The crew entertains us in the lounge with stories and skits and regales us with their own private memories.  A version of Antarctic Jeopardy takes place in the lounge and a good time is had by all.  Hours later, we retire for the evening.

Yes, Folks, people really do this!!!

Feb 27

The animals in Antarctica have absolutely no fear of humans, mostly unlike animals in the rest of the world!  How amazing is that?  This place has been so protected and cherished over the centuries that animals no longer remember humans who slaughtered them for the fun of it!  We have been shown videos of Whaler Ships that devastated the whales here back in the day and harvested their carcasses for the Blubber and other attributes.  This practice was stopped almost a century ago and the whales no longer fear us.

This morning we sail through ice flows and watch as our captain expertly avoids danger.  We can only imagine that some of these flows could cause massive and possible catastrophic damage to our ship, but the crew guides us through without so much as a hiccup.  This is where we are impressed with the “Open Bridge” of the ship as all the passengers are invited to visit the bridge at our leisure to witness the navigation abilities of the crew.  All that is asked of us is that we stay quiet and behind the crew as they do their work and perform their magic!

Everywhere in front of us are ice flows and bergs of all different sizes and the crew makes it look like child’s play as they navigate through them.  Our cameras snap happily away and we spot several seals and other wildlife among the flows and bergs.

On a fun note, we find the only area on the ship where smoking is allowed!  Please look close at the photos!

As we walk around the ship, we come across the party deck where the crew readies us for a celebration with Mimosas!  We cross the Antarctic Circle today!  Elee’s first day of Official Retirement! Let the fun and celebrations begin!  Mimosa’s for all as we complete a lifetime landmark.

Next, we watch crazy passengers take the “Polar Plunge”.  Passengers get to put on their bathing suits and jump into the Southern Ocean South of the Antarctic Circle!  A bit crazy, but a landmark for some!  Elee and I ‘Opted Out’ of the Plunge, which we were told was Minus 1 Degree Celcius or 30 Degrees Farenheit!.  So many of the “Plungers” couldn’t get out of the water fast enough! Others tried to swim away, but the crew ‘tethered’ each jumper so they could retrieve them quickly. The ones that wanted to swim away were the most crazy!

So on we go on this great adventure called life as we begin this new chapter called, ‘Retirement’!

Next for the afternoon, the ship sets anchor and we suit up in our dry suits for a kayak adventure.  We kayak in perfect conditions South of the Antarctic Circle!  We find ourselves paddling through actual brash ice and ice flows which becomes a bit of a challenge but fun nevertheless.  While kayaking below the Antarctic Circle today, Zodiac boats came out to greet us and we were instructed to come together and “Raft Up”, side by side, holding each others kayak and, lo and behold,  we were passed coffee cups filled with Hot Cocoa and Bailey’s Irish Cream! Such a treat while floating among the ice floes, sea ice and icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean!

Back on the ship, satiated from the days adventures, the bar and lounge are aglow with exciting conversations and libations.  There is not a dull conversation to be had as we wind down and finally turn in for the evening.

It Exists, it Really Does!

Feb 26

The morning dawns with clear skies, unlike the last few days. No traces of the snowstorm last night remain on the ship.  We have arrived in Orne Harbor.  Five Humpback Whales are feeding in the little harbor around the ship.  So it’s time to suit up and get out on the water and then a hike on the Antarctic Mainland!  I tried to upload a tiny low resolution photo of a Chinstrap Penguin this morning.  It took almost 30 minutes and still not sure if it went through or not.

Sunrise in the harbor is surreal and serene.  Antarctica is a truly magical place.  We are told the hiking trail has been determined as too treacherous.  So we load up in the zodiacs and take a cruise around the point.  Whales in the bays, ice flows, penguins and birds assault our presence as we cruise along the coast.  Porpoising penguins entertain us and cliffside birds  attempt to hide among the rocks but our camera lenses seek them out rather successfully.  But then, they have no fear of us so they don’t hide as well as they likely could!

More whales and porpoising penguins show themselves on the way back to the ship for lunch.  Back aboard, we avail ourselves of food and drink and happy conversations as our day progresses.  The ship pulls anchor and makes its way on to Paradise Harbor.

After lunch we load ourselves back into the zodiacs for an afternoon tour of Paradise Harbor and Base Brown.  A colorful set of red buildings (which I can only guess is a welcome sight in thick fog and poor visibility) that serve as another research station here.

We disembark the zodiacs and hike up a mountain for around 300 vertical feet or more to stunning overviews of the Harbor and the ice flows.  It is such a warm day that several of the passengers strip down to shorts and t-shirts and make the climb that way just because they can.  I, personally, don’t feel like carring all my gear wrapped around me and it is only after I reach the low summit that I see the other passengers have left their gear at the bottom.  If I had only known, LOL.

When we get back down to Base Brown, there are dozens of Penguins showing off for our cameras and making it difficult to walk the trail without getting our boots dirty with guano.

So we climb back down and get back in the zodiacs and take a tour of the Harbor, finding all sorts of seals and icebergs to greet our senses.  Lazy sea Lions and Seals lounge around and act disturbed by our presence (which they most likely were) but they lay back down and bask in the summer sun while lying on their own personal ice flows!  The afternoon sun creates quite the array of shapes and lighting challenges for our cameras.

The afternoon comes to a close and we head back and board our ship.  After dinner we go back out onto the deck to watch a spectacular sunset.  For any of you that have ever heard of the “Green Flash”, I have good news for you.  I grew up hearing of the “Green Flash” but only thinking it was a total myth, something of legend.  But this is not the case.

The “Green Flash” is an effect of the light at the exact moment the sun sets below the horizon.  At the exact moment the sun disappears, it is said it “Turns Green”.  Well, I captured it on film today.  Well at least on ‘digital’ film.  It is a phenomenon that I never thought, for a million years, had any credibility.  But here it is folks.  Look close at the pictures.  I did not change the color.  The “Green Flash” exists.  Maybe it is a function of how slow the sun sets down here.  The “Flash” only lasts a split second.  Back up at the Equator or the middle of the world, it lasts much less.  Maybe that is the key.  But I saw it and I am sticking to it.  I have seen it with my own eyes!

We go back in the ship, satiated with memories and head to the bar for some more cool libations.  It has been a truly wonderful day!  Goodnight all and we’ll see you in the morning!