So much fun starting the new year with the other 145 passengers (plus some of the crew). Not sure I will ever be in Antarctica to celebrate the new year again!
Tomorrow we start exploring – zodiac excursions, Helicopter flights and landings on the continent. Everything depends on the weather. It’s 12:30 am here and still a little light out.
We’ve reached the South Shetland Islands!!
Full day today as we approach the 7th continent. I posted our agenda below. The waters have calmed down considerable but I am now using the patch as well. I feel renewed!
We finished the Helicopter safety briefing this morn. Our ship has two Airbus H145. We also entered the “who can spot the first iceberg” contest. I have heard different things but we should see one of islands off the Antarctica coast between 3:00-5:00 pm. For reference it’s 9:07 am in STL and 12:07 pm in The Drake Passage.
Laura and I are sipping coffee/hot cocoa from the 7th deck in the panoramic lounge. It’s time to look for some whales. We’re ready!
In addition to learning about “ice” and how we need to keep 5 meters from any wildlife, we had mandatory briefings today for — How to enter/disembark from a zodiac; 2. Biosecurity. Quark follows the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) to ensure we adhere to biosecurity guidelines so that we don’t introduce alien seeds, pests or diseases and minimize the chance of introducing any non-native species to the continent. In fact, we have an automatic boot washer we will use every time we come back in from the zodiacs (this is also to reduce the risk of avian flu). Any non-new outer gear item had to be checked/decontaminated and then signed off. We can take only photos and memories and leave Antarctica as one of the perfectly preserved places in the world. Click here to learn more: https://iaato.org 🌍
We have been in the Drake Passage for over 24 hours. About another day to go. I was doing fine and now I am laying down due to the motion. Seems that while the Dramamine helps, it doesn’t help 100%. Let’s just hope it starts to calm down soon. While we haven’t experienced the 7 meter swells like we did the other evening, it’s a lot of constant rocking. 🌊
Shout out to Hayley Arceneaux and Dr. Sian Proctor who spoke tonight about their experiences as astronauts on SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Mission last September. Not only are they two talented women who are “firsts” in many ways (Sian-first black woman to pilot a spacecraft; Hayley-first person in space with a prosthetic leg bone after surviving childhood bone cancer), they are also generously paving the way for others to follow!❤️ Did you know that this SpaceX mission raised $250M for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital? If you get a chance, watch the documentary on Netflix – Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space️. It’s super cool that Quark Expeditions advocates for sustainability as well as diversity, equity and inclusion in their programming.
All ship announcement: In 10 minutes (on 12/29) we are going for it! The captain will take us about 5 hours south to Cape Horn. Once we’re there he will reassess if we keep going on through to the Drake or turn around once again. Fingers (and toes) crossed! If anyone wants to follow the ship, go to www.cruisehive.com and put in our ship, The Ultramarine.
Talk about a group of extremely knowledgeable, professional, and interesting people! All of our 34 expedition guides have a specialty—Ornithology (penguins), whales, history, geology, photography, biology, mariner life, helicopter pilots/ops, zodiac, kayak, paddling, and the list goes on. Did you know that there are 8 whale species in Antartica? Blue, Humpback, Orca, Fin, Minke, Sei, Right, and Sperm.
Laura and I are ready for our evening program in the bar with one of the guides, Tim (British but lives in France now). The talk is entitled, “Working as a Field Assistance for the British Antartic Survey.
We’ve been cruising along the Beagle Channel since the captain made the decision not to cross the Drake at 3:00 am ish. While it’s been relatively calm, the waves are even a bit more rough here in the channel.
I want you to see what we’re dealing with here. This is a pic of a weather map. The black line represents where we are in Ushuaia, on the southern tip of South America. Then we cross the Drake Passage where we will be in Antartica. The blue color is what we want—nice calm seas with no storms. Green is next in order of preference and then yellow, orange and red. Red truly does mean “STOP” (and turn back). The black circle represents the eye of the storm.
Update—we just heard that we will try again at 4:00 am to start through the Drake. We found out that we only made it 11 nautical miles through the Drake before we had to turn around.
Our ship is 128 meters in length. Public places are— a library (have yet to see it), the Tundra Spa (I will be seeing this), sauna and stream room, Ambassadors Theater, Balena (main dining). Bistro 487, fitness center, Polar Boutique, Panorama Bar and Lounge (the view is A-mazing!), the ready rooms for putting on our gear, and reception. Dinner was delicious last evening with lots of variety on the menu. They have 4 set main dishes but then offer steak, chicken and some form of vegetarian option every day.
The Ambassador’s Theatre is where they give their talks. We had a history lesson this morn about Antarctica and now listening to one on the birds of Antarctica. The great part—if you don’t want to go to the theatre, you can listen to the livestream on the TV in our room.
You will see much shorter posts from me. The free wifi isn’t that great and I don’t want to pay $50 A DAY for premium wifi.
Hopefully you saw my update to the 12/28 post. If not, here it is again with some additional details—
Holy moly—last night we were rocking. Up to 7 meter waves. And the Dramamine did the trick! This was in the Beagle Sound. We started in the Drake Passage but had to turn back so we remain in the Beagle Sound until the storm recedes and we can make it through. 4-5 ships are sheltering here now. The sound of the waves—the creaking! Comforting but yet frightening. Laura was talking to our head Expedition Leader, Ali, and we were planning to head into the Drake last night even with 7 meter swells but there was a ship coming out that told us to stop—the swells were up to 12 meters. That’s almost 40 feet!
I started early today. And you know what they say about the early bird? They get to fly to the end of the world! The day started at 3:45 am and we made it to the airport by 5:30 am. That’s where I was finally reunited with my roomie, Laura. She arrived after 3 days of trying to get here!
After a 3 1/2 hour flight, we landed in Ushuaia, on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, the southern most tip of South America.
It was a rainy, cloudy start to the day, which made this resort town even more mysterious. While it was 80 degrees in Buenos Aires yesterday, Ushuaia was a chilly 46 degrees today.
After we explored this resort town, we enjoyed lunch with Laura, Sian and Hayley, plus got a stamp in the passport. We boarded the UltraMarine at 4:00 pm.
Our room is fantastic and a perfect place to sleep over the next 10 days. Lots of amenities and storage! We did the obligatory muster station drill and met our expedition crew. Laura and I explored the ship, tried on our yellow parkas and ensured our muck boots fit. We were able to leave our expedition clothes in the ready room. Btw—this ship is about 3/4 full—so around 150 passengers.
In addition, we are in for a rough ride through the Drake Passage where storms are a brewin’! We watched a colored coded weather map of Antartica and it showed the Drake passage in a very bright shade of magenta, which means waves around 6 meters. For you non-metric people, that’s 18+ feet. We all immediately loaded up on Dramamine as the ship pulled out of the harbor to the view of a rainbow 🌈 —that has to be some sort of luck, right?
We were a couple of hours late to leave due to high winds. Fact—you have to be flexible in an Antarctica expedition. Weather changes the itinerary and we have to roll with the waves (pun intended).
As I sit here and write this, it’s 10:30 pm and still light out and should be for another hour or so. Right now we’re in the Beagle Channel. Once we get to open water, watch out! I need these drugs to knock me out for the next 48 hours. Wake me up when we get there!
Fyi- pictures are not uploading. Wifi isn’t great so will try and post more later.
UPDATE:
It’s December 29th at 6:00 am:
Holy moly—last night we were rocking! Up to 7 meter waves (22 feet). And the Dramamine did the trick! We started to head out into the Drake Passage but had to turn back due to the rough seas so we remain in the Beagle Sound until the captain thinks we can make it through. 4-5 ships are sheltering here now. The sound of the waves were incredible—the moaning and the creaking other worldly. I couldn’t see anything—it was during the middle of the night and I stayed in bed, in and out of sleep due to the Dramamine.
First, the unfortunate news…as I was taking off last evening from ATL, I thought Laura was taking off from DFW. When I landed, I found out she was still there! They were on the runway, started to take off, and the pilot aborted due to a problem with the landing gear. And then the crew timed out. So…the flight was rescheduled for today at noon. I am happy to report that she is finally in the air and 4 hours away! She, along with the other passengers on her flight that happen to be on our expedition, will stay at the airport when they arrive at 1:30 am. We will be there by 5:30 am for our flight to the “end of the world”. Although she missed the day in Buenos Aires, she will make it in time for the flight to Ushuaia! I am so excited to see Laura and give her a big hug—talk about an unexpected adventure!
I checked into the hotel in Buenos Aires mid morn. Instead of exploring by myself, I spent the day with my new friend, Hayley. We met last night before we boarded in ATL and the irony is that her friend/travel companion is on the same flight as Laura! Hayley is an incredible person—Physician Assistant at St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and an astronaut on SpaceX’s first private space flight, Inspiration4. I was fortunate to see some of her videos today—have to admit, I am a little star struck. What an inspiration! If you have the opportunity, check out her book, Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships, https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/575052/?refId=48646&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4NiRh5Gb_AIVGT-RCh0epAD1EAAYASAAEgLcf_D_BwE
She and her friend (also on Inspiration4), Dr. Sian Proctor, will be speaking on our expedition. Check out Hayley Arceneaux’s Instagram here (you will see more pics from today): https://instagram.com/hayleyarc?igshid=MWI4MTIyMDE=
For only 1 day in Buenos Aires, we nailed it! The town is still celebrating from the World Cup win and signs of this are visible everywhere. Here was our agenda today: La Recoleta Cemetery (where Evita Peron is buried); a walking tour through Free Walks to learn about the city center, the culture, and history of Argentine politics; La Boca Barrio (neighborhood); dinner with some tango entertainment; and a chocolate caliente as a night cap. Whew!
I double dog dare ya to keep up with me here—
Delta:
1. My friend and co-adventurer, Laura, lives in Whitefish, MT. She was planning to fly from Kalispell, MT (FCA) to St Louis (STL), with a stop in Salt Lake City (SLC) on Christmas. Then we would fly to Atlanta (ATL) together on the 26th to catch our flight to Buenos Aires (EZE) that evening.
2. Laura found out (by proactively looking on the Delta app) on Christmas Eve that her flight from SLC to STL was cancelled. Nothing else out of FCA would work so plan B…
3. Laura’s wonderful husband, Mark, drove her 3 hours on Christmas morn to Missoula, MT (MSO) to catch a flight to STL, with a connection through Minneapolis (MSP).
4. Laura was on the flight—they pushed back from the jetway and spent time de-icing. Then, much to everyone’s surprise, they announced that the pilot had too many hours. They came back to the gate, deplaned, and the flight was subsequently cancelled.
5. At that point, there was no way to get to MSP/STL or even to ATL on the 25th nor 26th from MSO.
6. We found a flight from Bozeman, MT (BZN) to ATL through Denver (DEN) first thing on Dec. 26th. Yay!!
Enter United Airlines:
7. Laura and Mark spent another 3+ hours driving on black ice from MSO to BZN on Christmas night.
8. They checked into a hotel at midnight. At 4:00 am, Laura received a text that the flight out of BZN to DEN/ATL had been cancelled—no crew. She called me as I was getting up for my flight.
American Airlines to the rescue!
9. While we were on the phone, Mark, being the expert he is (btw, he’s a pilot:), found 1 seat…yes, 1 seat, on a flight out of BNZ to EZE through Dallas (DFW) which will land in EZE about an hour after I land tomorrow morning. Bingo! But not out of the woods yet…
10. So as of 3:00 pm MT on the 26th, Laura has taken off from BZN and is in midair as I write this. She should make it in plenty of time for her 8:24 pm CT flight from DFW to EZE.
Meanwhile, my flight from STL to ATL was about 20 minutes delayed, but I met an awesome couple at the gate—Nick and Nat—on their way to Rio de Janiero, Brazil (GIG) to celebrate the New Year. (Hi Nick and Nat—cheers!). They were also delayed by a day.
Now I sit in ATL for my 8 hour layover until my flight leaves this evening at 9:00 pm, hoping and praying to be reunited with Laura tomorrow morn in EZE.
What have I learned?
• A lot of airport codes!
• DON’T GIVE UP no matter how many curve balls the airport gods throw your way.
• Mark is awesome!
• Think twice about traveling around a holiday when it’s time sensitive (or leave super duper early).
• Give up the worry and make it part of the adventure. You will simply have another story! (Ok, so I can say this now. We may have shed a few tears throughout the process).
Oh and there was a water main break at ATL so bathrooms aren’t working well, But as long as that doesn’t cancel my flight, I am perfectly fine with no flushing!
3 days until we leave! Did I mention that I am also super excited about spending Tuesday, December 27th in Buenos Aires and speaking Espanol?
Buenos Aires is known as the Paris of South America. And while we won’t have a lot of time to explore the city, we will make the most of it! The empanadas, the wine, Plaza de Mayo, The Recoleta Cemetery (where Eva Peron is buried), and maybe a little tango??
The packing is ALMOST done. Tip—if you plan to go to Antarctica and have luggage weight limit requirements, start packing early. What started with 4 pairs of shoes is now down to two – the boots I am wearing and a pair of tennis shoes. The cold-weather gear takes up a ton of room and weight but you can’t go without it.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all my family and friends that are following my blog site. This will be my last post until the adventure starts.
FYI I will post the contents of my suitcase in another link. I know it was very helpful for me when I was packing to use other people’s blog posts about what to take and what to leave at home.
Feliz Navidad y hasta pronto!
9 days to go…I have been checking off all the things that need to happen prior to departure. Work, school, Christmas festivities…each tick mark represents another step closer to the 7th continent. Laura and I were talking and it’s kind of surreal. Our Antarctica adventure is right around the corner (well, around the corner meaning waaaay down south)
So let’s talk about our actual ship, Ultramarine. You will find a little more about it in my first blog post. The company we are going through is Quark Expeditions, which has specialized in polar adventures since 1991. Their fleet of research vessels were purpose built for navigating the polar regions, and their newest ship is no exception. Ultramarine has an ice strengthened hull and is still in her inaugural season. Our expedition will round out her first year exploring Antarctica and the Artic.
There is capacity for 199 people + 140 crew. THIS IS IMPORTANT because 200 people is the maximum number that can leave any ship at the same time in the Antarctica, according to IAATO regulations.
Ultramarine is 420 feet long with a cruising speed of 16 knots. There are two twin-engine airbus H145 helicopters on deck and we have two opportunities while in Antarctica to fly on them.
Our room is on the 4th deck toward the middle. We have a balcony, which will be amazing to take in the sites.
There is a water-level zodiac hanger (see prior post), and two ready rooms where we change in and out of our expedition gear (parkas, boots, rain pants, etc) as we use the zodiacs.
The ship has plenty of amenities, such as a polar boutique, restaurant, bistro, ambassador theater, sauna, spa, fitness center, lounge and bar. The focus is also on environmentally responsible tourism and Ultramarine leads the way with special systems to convert waste to energy. This minimizes fuel consumption and helps navigate narrow passages without impacting the land or seabed.
Happy holidays to all my family and friends. I will be dreaming of a white after-Christmas with visions of penguins dancing in my head!
Here is a link to a short video featuring Ultramarine: https://youtu.be/Su2ATds1SLg
But who’s counting?? As I celebrate Thanksgiving and share my gratitude with those that mean the most to me, I am in full packing mode. If you know me, you know I am not a light packer!
When we travel on the charter flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, we are limited to 1 checked bag, 50 pounds max, and 1 carry on, no more than 17 pounds. It’s amazing how fast you get to 50 pounds with all the cold weather gear we need – base layers, wool socks, mid layers, fleeces, rain pants, neck gaiters, ski hats, ski goggles for the Zodiacs, medication “just in case”, etc. Luckily, they have laundry facilities on the ship, they give us a parka (to keep) and muck boots (to use for our adventures). Therefore, I am modifying Marie Kondo’s famous quote, and using this for my packing strategy — “Does it spark comfort and warmth? If it does, keep it. If not, take it out of the suitcase.”
Let me explain what a zodiac is/does because these little “rafts” will be a major part of our expedition once we arrive in Antarctica. Zodiacs are rigid-hulled inflatable boats that will carry us from the ship to land. Once used by Jacques Cousteau, they are advantageous in remote locations, allowing passengers to get close up with nature during the voyage (think whales!) and land in places where big ships can’t. Bottom line, a Zodiac is a necessary and indispensable part of the expedition. We will be on the Zodiacs at least twice a day, exploring the local bays, channels and our landing sites on the continent. The Zodiacs are our gateway to Antarctica’s wildlife—penguin rookeries, humpback and minke whales, and the southern seal species (including the leopard seal).
Signing off for now. Happy Thanksgiving!
I used to have trouble spelling Antarctica. Now I’m planning a visit! My friend, Laura, and I fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 26, 2022. We will board Quark Expeditions’ newest ship, The Ultramarine, on the 28th. Along with 199 other passengers, we leave from “the end of the world” in the resort town of Ushuaia, Argentina on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. We’ll then cruise to our southernmost continent (AKA the South Pole), passing through the infamous, Drake Passage. This state-of-the-art explorer ship is outfitted with twin engine helicopters and equipped with a Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS), which converts waste into energy onboard. This year is its maiden voyage, and we are two maidens on a voyage!
While most of the land is covered in ice, this polar desert is important to our ecosystem as 79% of the world’s freshwater reserves can be found frozen on Antarctica. If that ice were to melt, it would raise global sea levels by ~200 feet. Do people actually “live” on this continent? There are around 5,000 people during the summer months (October – February), dropping to 1,000 the rest of the year. These people can be found working at one of ~70 research stations – permanent and seasonal. The US has the largest, McMurdo Station, that can house 1,000 people. These lucky individuals share their space with the penguins, seals, and whales. Side note – No country owns Antarctica. Although some have tried to lay claim, the continent is governed by 29 countries who signed the 1959 Antarctica Treaty System. Under this treaty, no military activity, mining, nuclear activity, or disposal are allowed – only freedom of scientific investigation and environmental protection.
Antarctica is known as the 7th Continent because it was the last one to be discovered. It will be the 6th continent I’ve had the honor of exploring. I’m coming for ya next, Australia!
Christina’s Journey Journal 