Christina’s Journey Journal

Tag: Ultramarine

  • Land Ho! 🇦🇶

    We’ve reached the South Shetland Islands!!

    Look – we found land! First islands we come to off the coast of Antarctica

  • Happy New Year’s Eve!🇦🇶🎊

    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!

    From the bow of the ship—ahoy mateys!
    Our daily agenda onboard Ultramarine💛

  • 12/30: They call it the Drake Shake 🌊🇦🇶

    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.

    Laura, Me, Sian, and Hayley in Ushuaia before boarding our ship 🛳️ 🚀

  • Take 2! 🇦🇷 💨

    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.

    I circled where we have been hanging out all day. It will take us 5 hours to get to the tip of Cape Horn and out to open water.
  • Nightcap on 12/29 – The Expedition Guides 🇦🇷🇦🇶

    Nightcap on 12/29 – The Expedition Guides 🇦🇷🇦🇶

    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.

    One of many educational sessions on the ship by our expedition team
  • The weather 🌊🌩️🌊

    The weather 🌊🌩️🌊

    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.

    The red puts the shake in the Drake

  • Our room👏

    419 – our room during the expedition

  • The ship! 🇦🇷💛🇦🇶

    Our ship with the big yellow Q: 💛The Ultramarine💛

    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.

  • Short posts upload better…

    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!

  • Tres Dias!🇦🇷🇦🇶

    Tres Dias!🇦🇷🇦🇶

    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!

    Here’s a Penguin blanket that I received at Christmas🐧
  • It’s the final countdown! 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1!🇦🇶

    It’s the final countdown! 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1!🇦🇶

    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