Subscribe to this feed
Since a horrific experience travelling home a few years ago a couple of days before Christmas, I now make my annual jaunt in early December to avoid situations like in the picture above.
But some people don't have that option, so I wish all my fellow adventurers safe (and painless) travels this holiday season and a joyous, peaceful, and prosperous 2009 and beyond.
Ho Ho Ho!
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Yes, I know, I know... It's been almost four months since my last post. But rather than bore you out of your mind regale you with all the reasons I've been MIA during this time, I'm simply going to proceed as if I never left. :)
I have my online writing colleague, Melanie McMinn, to thank for getting me back in the game. She's just started her own blog, Fat and Sassy New Zealand Travel, and that reminded me of some of my own adventures in that wonderful country.
I went to New Zealand for the first time in February 1994 as part of a longer trip in that region. Unfortunately, I was only able to spend five whirlwind days on the North Island, so that simply whetted my appetite for a longer visit. I was finally able to return seven years later and, that time, a friend of mine from Canada joined me. We spent two and a half glorious weeks driving—on the left side of the road!—around both islands. (I know that sounds like a lot of time for what looks like quite a small country on a map but, believe me, with so many amazing things to see and do, we were on the go practically every second of every day!)
While Queenstown is often referred to as “the adventure capital of the world” (it's the birthplace of bungee jumping after all), we actually didn't spend much time there. However, we didn't lack for adventure in the slightest, as you'll see in the pics below.
This first couple were taken when we went kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park, a gorgeous coastal region in the northwest area of the south island.
This next one is from Fox Glacier, further south on the same coast. The hiking pole was a HUGE help walking on the ice.
These next two are from the North Island. The first one is from Rotorua, home to natural hot springs and the heart of Maori culture. The picture shows me participating in a popular Maori game where you throw sticks back and forth in certain patterns. I was quite proud of the fact that I caught on to it quite quickly.
This last shot is from one of my all-time favourite adventures (despite the fashion requirements...). I actually did it on my first trip to NZ and loved it so much, I insisted my friend come with me again on the second trip (and she loved it as much as I did). We went blackwater rafting in the Waitomo caves, where you float along an underground stream on a rubber tube, gazing in awe at the millions of glow worms lighting your way from the roof of the cave. Breathtaking! (There's even a spot where you leap off a cliff, through a waterfall, into the pool below... sounds scary, but feels fantastic!)
As you can tell from the above, New Zealand offers a huge variety of activities for every kind of adventure. But this is just a small taste of what's available. If you're thinking of going there yourself and want more ideas on how to enjoy your visit, do make sure you check out Melanie's new blog. Completely coincidentally, in her post today she mentions her own experience blackwater rafting!
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
For anyone that thinks adventure is purely about self-indulgence, this story tells an entirely different tale.
Having an adventure + making a difference = one powerful combination.
Blog of the Day
I've mentioned Linda Formichelli and her Renegade Writer blog in the past. At the beginning of the year, Linda launched a fabulous new project, creativePAW, or Creative Professionals for Animal Welfare. Her goal is to match volunteer writers, designers, photographers, actors, marketing specialists, and a whole slew of other creative types with animal welfare organizations that need their services but who are budget-challenged.
As someone who loves animals myself (really?! :), I applaud Linda for this wonderful initiative. And I encourage my multitalented friends and blog readers who are passionate about animal welfare issues to register with creativePAW. (And if you know any organizations who could use this kind of help, point them in her direction as well!)
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Over the last few years, I’ve come to loathe flying. From the inane taking-off-the-shoes at security and noisy, crowded airport lounges,to the dearth of fresh air in the cabin and overextended schedules that virtually guarantee you a delay on the tarmac while you wait for the previous plane to move away from your gate, the entire ordeal leaves me tired, grumpy, and—more often than not these days—feeling rather ill.
Obviously, this is a bit of a problem for someone who loves traveling.
I wish I could take the train everywhere. I love the train. The seats are much roomier and more comfortable, you can enjoy the view passing by your window, and—best of all—you can get up and head to the bar car whenever you want. It’s all just so much more civilized. Unfortunately, it’s also often more expensive than flying, it’s impractical if you’re in a hurry, and then there’s that little catch about not being able to travel across oceans. Sigh.
Man, I cannot WAIT until someone invents the transporter …
Blog of the Day
Since I've been flying all afternoon and evening, my brain isn't really on a linear track at the moment, so I thought this would be a good time to link to Oregon writer Jennifer Willis' blog, Thoughts from the Spiral. Jen's actually been doing this since October 2004, which is quite an achievement in itself!
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
This Forbes article points the way for people who want to live out their wildest dreams, from playing in a rock and roll band to playing basketball with Michael Jordan!
Blog of the Day
This is my last full day in Canada this trip, so I'll highlight two of fellow Canadian Marijke Durning's blogs, Marijke: nurse turned writer, and Help My Hurt. The former covers a variety of health and safety topics, while the latter focuses on pain prevention and management.
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
One thing about living 2,500 miles away from home is that I don't get to visit too often. Which means when I do, there are a LOT of people I want to see! Besides my parents, whom I staying with, I've already visited with my grandmother and gone out with three friends, and I have four more to see before I leave—all in less than a week. (And that's STILL leaving out lots of people...)
The great thing about these friends, though, is that we're so close that whenever we get together, it's as if we just saw each other last week. So the conversation is going full speed ahead in no time flat. :)
Today was especially nice. This is a long weekend in Canada to celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday, and it's also the tail end of the Canadian Tulip Festival, one of Ottawa's most popular annual events (second in attendance only to Canada Day I believe). So my friend Kathy and I (we've known each other since Grade 11!) had a lovely Sunday brunch on a patio on the Byward Market, then wandered up to Major's Hill Park, behind the Parliament Buildings, to catch some of the festivities. That's where I took the photo above—you can't get much more iconic than that for Canada's capital!
Blog of the Day
Since I'm back in Canada, I'll highlight the blogs from Canadian Living magazine. They have a few different topics, including Green Living, Foodie-File, and Mom Blog. I'll be honest and admit I haven't read them before, but if they're anything like the magazine—which I love—then they should provide lots of useful info. I'm definitely going to be going through their Green Living series, now that I've discovered it.
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
The service I use to track visitors, StatCounter, has just added a new feature (in beta) that lets me see where my visitors go right after they leave my blog.
I figured this would be useful information, especially since I would be able to see when people clicked on a link I had posted to another site. I hadn't realized, though, that it might help me find sites of interest to me. But that's what happened a couple of days ago, when I discovered that someone who had visited my Travel archives page had then gone on to Natural Habitat Adventures, where I've discovered dozens of wildlife-related trips (that I can merely drool over right now, but someday...)
Even if you're not planning such a trip anytime soon (or ever), I recommend clicking through the pages just to see some of the shots of wildlife they're using to highlight each adventure. Gorgeous!
Blog of the Day
If you're a domestic animal lover, check out Roxanne Hawn's blog, Champion of My Heart, where she shares “true tales, brags, and whines about my life with a rescued border collie named Lilly.”
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Well, I'm not actually “jiggedy jigging” quite yet, as I'm sitting at Gate 122 of Pearson International Airport in Toronto. My original schedule called for me to get to Ottawa at around 7:15 p.m. Eastern Time, and it's now 9:30 and my flight doesn't leave for another hour (and it's an hour flight).
I had booked the flight on Aeroplan points, but by the time I got around to it, I didn't have a lot of options. So I ended up with a 2-stop itinerary via Denver and Toronto. I only had 50 minutes to change planes in Denver, and that should probably be enough time under normal circumstances. However, when we arrived at the airport, they were in the midst of an undefined “security breach,” which meant we ended up sitting on the tarmac for 40 of those 50 minutes. And even though the flight attendants tried to reassure us that the departing flights would all be delayed as well, such was not the case with mine—possibly because it was in a different terminal.
I was able to get on the next available flight. Unfortunately that wasn't for another four hours. I will say, though, if you do have to be stuck in an airport, Denver's not a bad one to pick. I think I've only flown through there once before, on my way back from Antarctica at Christmas. By that point, though, I think I had already been up for more than 24 hours, so I wasn't taking a very close look at the facilities.
I had to go back out of security to re-check in, which I was rather dreading, but I think it was the least busy terminal I've ever seen. Things seemed so calm and organized! They also had free Wi-Fi, which at least meant I could pass the time surfing the Web, so the wait didn't seem that bad.
But I was totally sold when I came across this sight—something I've never seen before in any airport (and I've been in plenty!). I feel SO much safer now.
Blog of the Day
Since I'm too zonked to try to tie in my post with someone else's blog (not that I've been that good at it on other days), I'll simply point you to Carolyn Erickson, the blog... Carolyn's just starting to build hers out as a complement to her writing Web site and she's using the May blogathon to help her stay motivated. No special niche yet, so simply enjoy her musings on an eclectic range of topics, from iher love of interviewing and fear of lacrosse to environmentally friendly gardening and roasting coffee at home.
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Watching the coverage on yesterday's earthquake in Chengdu has been difficult, and a bit surreal, for me, as I have such good memories of my time there in 1991. It was right after my two-year stint in Japan, when I wasn't quite ready to head back to Canada yet.
My two closest friends there (who were also from Canada) and I spent a few days in Hong Kong together, then they headed off to their own adventure in Kenya. I made a quick trip to Macao and, from there, took an overnight ferry to Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton). I spent a few days there, then took a train north to Beijing, and worked my way down the western side of the country—including a few days in Chengdu—before returning to Hong Kong. All in all, I was in China for about a month.
It was one of the most difficult places I'd ever travelled, but also one of the most fascinating. Some of my favourite memories are visiting the Great Wall after the official hours, so I was one of only 8 people walking along it, marveling at its sheer grandeur; renting a bike in Beijing and riding it to the magnificent Forbidden City; having a discussion—in English—with three college students about the Tiananmen Squre protests, which had happened only two years earlier.
But the best souvenir I've ever brought home with me came from Chengdu. I was staying in a hostel and, one day, when I went out to do some sightseeing, there was a man painting fans outside. This was a very common occurrence in China, but his fans caught my eye because he had several images of stunning dragons. They would be painted in black on a red or white fan, but he also added some highlights in gold to the images, which really stood out.
I asked him if he would paint me a fan with the entire dragon in gold and he said no, because he thought that would be too much. I thanked him and went on my way. The next day when I went out, he stopped me and said he had decided to try it but I shouldn't feel obligated to buy it. Then he showed me the fan. It was GORGEOUS! He could tell right away how much I loved it and I could tell he was pleased with the work as well. So of course I bought it (I think it was around $15 Canadian), ecstatic that I had inspired him to try something new and that I now had a one-of-a-kind fan. (Of course, after my reaction, I'm sure he ended up painting more gold dragons on fans, but I know for a fact that mine was the first!)
As I continued my travels, I was so careful transporting the fan. I would have been so disappointed if anything had happened to it. Fortunately, it was still in perfect condition when I got back home, another month or so later.
I had the fan framed and, since then, it's always been placed in the most prominent spot of whatever living area I had at the time. A picture of the fan is below. (Unfortunately, I'm not a skilled enough photographer to be able to eliminate the reflection in the glass, so this doesn't do it justice at all, but it will give you a general idea of what it looks like.)
My thoughts go out to all the families in Chengdu and the surrounding areas who have lost someone in this terrible tragedy. I wish them all the best in getting through this difficult time.
Blog of the Day
I'm sure my biking experiences in China don't have a lot in common with Jackie Dishner's experiences biking around Arizona. Her blog, BIKE WITH JACKIE, offers insights about overcoming life's obstacles that Jackie learned on the seat of her bike. Her motto is, "BIKE—It's mental, not metal"
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
One of the main purposes of this blog is to show that adventure doesn't have to include exotic travel or extreme sports. But that doesn't mean those types of activities don't count at all. So with that in mind, I thought I'd share this item I found online today.
The list includes adventures that can take you from the depths of the ocean to outer space. And for those of us who aren't quite ready to go to the very edge, it also suggests less heart-pounding versions of each activity.
And here's something cool: I've actually done one of the adventures on the list! Can you guess which one?
Blog of the Day
If trying to find ways to keep your kids active and engaged is your idea of an extreme adventure, check out Toni Klym McLellan's blog, Bring the Family. With three sons of her own, she knows whereof she writes!
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
My Antarctica trip at Christmas pretty much put a hold on any big adventure trips in the near future, but if I did have the time and moolah available, I'd definitely be looking into this adventure filmmaking course with Serac Adventure Films.
The program involves shooting a real, live adventure film, and we're talking REAL, LIVE adventures. Last year was the school's inaugural year and the curriculum required climbing Mount Kilimanjaro! This October, the expedition is to Macchu Pichu in Peru—one of the major places still on my “to do”list. Sigh.
I've recently been thinking about taking some filmmaking classes anyway, so this program would be a real dream for me. And check out the instructor's credentials:
This filmmaking expedition will travel along the rarely seen Ankoscocha Trail “Super Inca Trail” to Machu Picchu with renowned director Michael Brown. Though only 41 years old, Michael's experience gives him unique qualifications, his films have garnered more than 40 film festival awards, he is the recipient of three national Emmy Awards. He has been a member of over 50 expeditions on all seven continents including four summits of Mount Everest. He continues to make films throughout the year. He is co-directing the “Return to Everest” IMAX in 3D, shooting segments for National Geographic in Greenland and is the president of the award winning production company, Serac Adventure Films.
Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see where they're going next year. (Fingers crossed for Galapagos!) If the program has you drooling as well, but you don't have any filmmaking experience, no worries—none is required! Participants don't need any special trekking skills either, so this would definitely be a GREAT opportunity for people to leave their comfort zones. (And if you DO end up going, you HAVE to come back here and tell us all about it!)
If you want an idea of how the films turned out that were shot during last year's expedition, Outside Online will be showcasing some of them (about one every ten days) over the next six weeks.
Blog of the Day
More interested in seeing movies than making them? Then check out Film Gecko where blogger Jane Boursaw reviews and previews films, as well as sharing industry news (and even better, rumours :).
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
I've mentioned before that I think writing a book is an adventure in and of itself, but when you're writing a guidebook in particular, you're bound to run into plenty more adventures during your research. Such was the case for Jen A. Miller, one of my writing colleagues, who has just published The Jersey Shore; Atlantic City to Cape May: Great Destinations: A Complete Guide: Including the Wildwoods (Great Destinations).
The book is a travel guide to the South Jersey Shore. It tells you where to eat, where to stay, where to play, and so much more. The guide entries are peppered with sidebars of Jersey Shore history and Jen's experiences researching the book, one of which—a trip to an alpaca farm—she's generously sharing with Embrace Adventure readers.
*****
At first, I didn't believe what she's said.
"You're going to see the Alpaca farm, right?" asked Mary Ann Gorrick over breakfast. I was staying at the Inn at the Park, a bed and breakfast in Cape May, N.J., which she runs with her husband, Jay. I was staying there while researching my book The Jersey Shore, Atlantic City to Cape May. The Jersey Shore is known for things like beaches, rides, ice cream and boardwalks, not farm animals, and certainly not alpacas.
"Excuse me?" I asked, almost choking on my pancake.
"Oh, yes, the alpacas. We'll call them and say you're coming over," she said.
Believe it or not, there is an alpaca farm located in Cape May, which is more known for its Victorian buildings than livestock. But as I pulled up to Bay Springs Farm, there they were, these mini llamas, curious as the who the newcomer was.
Fernando, a young, black alpaca (with a champion fleece, so I later learned) bounded right up to the gate to meet me. Warren Nuessle had waved me over and said it was okay to pet Fernando, but only on his back. The other animals gave me the quizzical eye, and I wouldn't dare pet them, but as Barbara Nuessle led me through the farm, they didn't lunge or try to attack (as had been the case with an ostrich farm I later visited in North Jersey for another assignment).
Barbara Nuessle had always been a knitter, and she loved working with the yarn that was spun from alpaca fleece. So when she and Warren were looking what to do when they retired, Alpacas came to the top of the list.
They moved from Bryn Mawr, Pa. to Cape May and now live with the alpacas. Nuessle still makes things from the alpaca fleece, and she spins the yarn herself. The goods are sold in the farmhouse store attached to the farm. They also breed and sell alpacas, and tried to convince me that they make good pets. It's not that I don't believe them, but I can barely have enough space for a 12 pound dog, though I wouldn't mind having my dog go to the bathroom in the same spot all the time, which is what alpacas do.
After I toured the grounds and gave Fernando another pat, I left to continue researching gift shops and restaurants. But that day stuck with me. And why not? It's not every day you get to pet a champion.
*****
Jen shares more of her adventures on her blog, Down the Shore with Jen. To learn more about the book and find out when Jen might be making an appearance near you, visit the book's Web site as well.
Blog of the Day
When she's not writing a book, you can be pretty sure that Jen will be reading one—one a week, in fact! For the last year, she's been reviewing a new book each week on her blog, aptly titled Book a Week with Jen. And I'm just in time in highlighting her blog—the review of book 52 of 52 should be coming out later this week!
(BTW, I'm definitely in awe of this endeavour. One of my goals for 2008 was to read two books a month and let's just say I've got some catching up to do...)
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Once we got back to the ship after our last landing, it was time for everyone to put their patches behind their ears again. Of course, we were all a bit nervous about crossing the Drake Passage again, after hearing the story about the other ship having faced hurricane-force winds.
Somehow, though, we lucked out again and had a relatively easy crossing. On a side note, I guess I actually used the phrase “lucked out” a few times during the trip and Jeremy—the guy from England who now lives in Australia—told me I kept confusing him. Apparently where he comes from, the expression is a negative one, meaning “out of luck.” So he was wondering why I kept saying things were going badly, when clearly I was having such a great time!
We had more lectures scheduled on the way home, but most people spent their time in the bar socializing and sharing pictures. The ship had a laptop on board that we could use to load our pics on, and then others could take the ones they wanted.
We got to the entrance of the Beagle Channel on Sunday afternoon, and we anchored there for a few hours until a pilot boat would come out to meet us and guide us back into the harbour at Ushuaia. So we had nice calm seas for our farewell party.
All the staff took turns sharing their thoughts with us and they all said we were one of the best groups they'd ever had. We joked that they probably said that to all the groups, but I have to say, this was definitely one of the ways we “lucked out” on the trip. The people really were terrific. Our ages ranged from 17 to 60-something, and there was a mix of families and couples and solo travellers. But everyone got along really well and I know I spent time with almost everybody at meals, in the bar, kayaking, and on landings, and I think everyone else pretty much did as well. No cliques to be found!
As much as I've written about in these posts, there's so much more that I couldn't; otherwise, I'd be writing about the trip until June! And even all the pictures I've posted couldn't do justice to just how spectactular Antarctica is. So if you've ever even had a passing thought that you might like to go there some day, I heartily encourage you to do so. And you might want to do it sooner rather than later. The frozen continent is becoming a much more popular destination (I think March of the Penguins may have had something to do with that!). So apparently the companies are reducing the number of trips on the smaller ships—which in my opinion is the only way to go—since they can obviously make more money on the larger ones.
And even though I just said that the pictures can't possibly give you a complete sense of what the experience is like, I thought I'd post a few of my favourites that you've already seen before, but with links to larger versions to at least get a better idea. (Note: The larger images will open in a new tab or window.)
As I prepared for my adventure, and was spending money on things like a new lens for my digital SLR and extra thermal underwear, “just in case I need them,” I kept telling myself that this would be my one and only trip to Antarctica, so I didn't want to diminish the experience by regretting that I hadn't brought something with me. But now that I've been there, I know it won't be my last time after all. I don't know when I'll go back again, but I have no doubt I will.
Thank you all for reading my stories (and allowing me to relive them all over again!). And now, I'll just leave you with one last image—my favourite one, the one I'll cherish forever. But you'll have to click on the grey box below to see it. Can you guess what it is?
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
This post is going to be a short one. (Thank goodness, because tomorrow's is going to be a doozy!)
There also won't be many pictures in this one. I had a few cameras with me on the trip—my good digital SLR, a decent point-and-shoot, and a waterproof camera—and I mostly used the latter when kayaking. It was so convenient because I could clip it to me PFD and let it sit on my spray skirt without worrying that it was covered in water. I would also bring my point-and-shoot in my dry bag, but it's a bit of a hassle hauling that out and putting it back in so I only used it when I saw something I wanted a higher quality picture of. (I never took my digital SLR in the kayaks because I was too paranoid about dropping it in the water.)
So the reason for the fewer pictures is because when we were kayaking, we were paddling most of the time. We didn't usually stop to take pictures unless we wanted a bit of a break or we saw something really special. The other reason is because my waterproof camera doesn't have an optical viewfinder, and it was REALLY hard to see the image in the LCD because of the glare, so I'd often just point the camera in the general direction of what I was trying to capture. As a result, a rather high proportion of the shots I did take were completely unusable (not straight, missing half of the main subject, etc.)
Anyway, after we had a bit of a chance to rest up from our night of camping, we met with Jamie and Louise to discuss the plan for the morning. We had arrived at Cierva Cove and the weather looked promising for another nice paddle. Even still, a few of us were hesitating, so Sarah told Louise to “sell it.” (There was never any question whether Sarah was going paddling at any of the locations!
So Louise told us that there was a possibility (she emphasized that she couldn't guarantee anything) that we might see whales in this area. And, as she said, “If you see it from the zodiac, you'll just be thinking to yourselves that you could have seen it from your kayak.” I was definitely in at that point!
The conditions were really nice again and while it wasn't as spectacular as the day before at Neko Harbor, it was a close second.
We probably saw more icebergs here than we had seen anywhere else, and the slight swell in the water had them really bobbing up and down, looking like they could capsize at any moment. So we took extra care to stay a safe distance from them.
Alas, we didn't see any whales, but we did find one leopard seal.
So I was pretty happy when we got back to the ship—until we found out that the zodiac cruisers had actually come across a leopard seal feeding its pup! Again, Brandon told us this was the first time he'd ever seen that, which only added to my regret that we had missed it. (It was a bit ironic, too, after Louise's earlier sales job.) This was the only real disappointment I had during the trip, though, and everything else was so much better than I could ever have imagined that I really can't complain.
In the afternoon we went kayaking again, this time at Mikkelson Harbor. It's a small sheltered bay, so we were expecting a fairly easy paddle. It actually turned out to be a bit windier than we had expected and we had to work a little, but the cool thing about this trip was that we were able to park ourselves near a glacier that was really rumbling from internal movements. Normally we wouldn't have been able to get that close, because if it calved into the water, it could cause a tidal wave that would be really dangerous for us. But this particular glacier had a rocky outcrapping in front of it that provided us with protection. And it paid off. Just as we were about to head back, there was a fairly sizable calving and we could see the snow tumbling into the sea. And there was, in fact, a small tidal wave, but we were completely sheltered by the rocks.
When we got back to shore, we had to walk a short distance to the zodiacs that would take us back to the ship. There were lots of gentoos around, and we also saw a skua above them keeping an eye out for an opportunity. Then, as we were walking back, we actually came across an egg that must have already been stolen, because it had a hole in it. Louise picked it up and turned it over, and this bright red liquid came pouring out of it. None of us had known that was the colour of their contents. This was another one of those gross/cool moments. (The picture below came from Sarah.)
That evening we had a long way to travel to make it to the South Shetland Islands for the next day's activities, so we all just stayed onboard the ship, relaxing, socializing, and reviewing our photos.
Since this post is notably lacking in pictures, I decided to put together a short video that has clips from a few different places we'd been during the week, most of which you'll recognize from earlier posts. (The last two clips Jamie shot on my behalf, which is probably why they're a lot less shaky... :) The video runs about three and a half minutes. Enjoy!
Next installment: Taking the plunge.
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Before I begin recounting Wednesday's activities, I want to mention something I forgot yesterday. Before dinner each day, we would all gather in the bar for a recap of that day's adventures and a briefing about what would be happening the next day. At Tuesday's recap, Brandon had a little story to share. His fiancee was working on another ship in the area and it had left Ushuaia two days after we had. He had received an e-mail from her that day about their experience crossing the Drake. It seems that they had slightly different conditions than we had—namely, 90-knot winds! That's actually categorized as a hurricane. Yikes! And while we all finally realized that we really had had a pretty easy crossing ourselves, we were also well aware that we still had to cross the passage again on the way home...
Okay, on to Wednesday.
In the morning, the kayakers were scheduled to paddle Neko Harbor. I had woken up with the beginnings of a cold, so I was seriously considering skipping this particular trip. But then we looked at the water and it was pretty glass-like, so I decided to go ahead after all. Thank God I did!
We were going to launch the kayaks from shore this time.
While we were getting ready, we were pleased, though very surprised, to see an Adelie penguin come over to check us out. This region is not at all where you would expect to find Adelies, because it's too far north. (Sadly, it's probably related to global warming.) The Adelie was clearly confused by the kayaks, so he decided to jump on one of them for a closer look. (Note: I wasn't able to get a good picture of this, so the next two are from Sarah's collection that she shared with us.)
We all stayed back to give him some space and not frighten him. But then he went to jump onto the next kayak and he slipped between the two. He flapped his wings a lot, but managed to extricate himself, and then went off running down the beach faster than I'd seen any penguing move on land.
I felt so bad for him. Not just because he was obviously really scared from what had just happened, but also because I knew he would be trying to find a group he belonged with, but all he was going to find there were hundreds of gentoos.
As we started our paddling, it was obvious that this was going to be a different kind of paddle from the previous two days. The sun had already broken through the clouds and the water was completely calm.
And just as we started paddling, a seal swam right in front of us, even bumping into one of the kayaks! We were all so surprised by it, and it moved so quickly, that none of us were able to get our cameras out in time. Oh, well... We certainly won't need a photograph to remember such a special encounter!
One of the highlights of this particular location was that there large areas of brash ice, which are the small bits of ice that are floating all around you (like in the header picture for these posts). And we were going to be kayaking right through it! Louise said that we needed to designate one boat to lead a path through the ice that the rest of us could follow. Sarah (who was my partner that day) had kayaked through brash ice in the Arctic before, so we designated her the Brash Leader (although someone suggested Brash Kicker might be a better name!). I was in the front of the kayak, so it was my job to let her know if we were headed directly into a piece that might be too big to go over, although she didn't really think there was such a thing!
This was just a total blast. We would paddle as hard as we could to go over the ice (sometimes we had to hold the paddles completely vertically to push us through). The crunching noises sounded like we could put a hole in the hull at any point, but the boats were more than sturdy enough to handle the collisions.
One of the most important considerations we had to take into account as we blazed our trail was that we had to keep a reasonable distance from the icebergs that we were kayaking around. They can be very unstable and roll over at any time without warning and, like the Titanic learned, the bulk of the berg is under water. So if we were too close to one and it collapsed, it could easily cause us to capsize.
As we were making our way through the ice, we were all regretting that we had worn extra layers under our dry suits that day, and most of us took off our hats and gloves to try to cool off.
When we got past the densest part of the brash ice, we reached a much more open area of water, with fewer bits floating around. At this point, Louise called for us to have a moment of silence, where we would hold our paddles quietly across our laps and not speak or take pictures or make any kind of noise at all. When we started, Jamie was in the zodiac a ways away and didn't realize we were doing this so we could hear the hum of the engine, which was distracting. But then he saw us and cut the motor and there were no more man-made sounds. And our moment of silence turned into about ten minutes, where we simply drifted where the water took us and the only sounds we heard were of the boats bumping into ice and an occasional glacier calving (large amounts of snow and ice falling into the sea). It was without a doubt one of the most magical and spiritual experiences of my life and one that I will never forget.
When we started paddling again, we heard a sound echoing around us. It turns out it was a leopard seal's call. We couldn't see it, so we decided to go hunting for him. We split off in different directions, trying to follow the haunting cries. Chelsea and her brother Chris were the first to find him basking on an ice floe.
By this point, we'd actually been out longer than we had planned, so we had to hurry back to the zodiac to take us back to the ship so we could move on to our next destination. As we were on our way, we all agreed that even if we couldn't have done any other paddling on the trip, this morning's outing would have been worth the full cost of the option. Even our highly experienced kayak master, Louise, was raving about how this had been one of the best paddles she'd led since she'd been begun working in Antarctica.
When we got back to the ship, Brandon and Jamie called the campers together to let us know that we were going to try again that night. We wouldn't know for sure until we got to our evening destination, Enterprise Island, because they had never camped in that area before (another first!), so they'd have to scout around to see if there was a suitable location.
In the afternoon, we moved on to Danco Island, where we were going to do another paddle. But since my cold was starting to get worse (I was coughing more) and I didn't want to risk missing out on the camping, I decided to forego the kayaking. Besides, after the morning's amazing experience, I thought it could only be a disappointment.
I did watch the group get started on their paddle, but before they launched their boats, we had a little visit from a leopard seal right at shore.
And here's a pic of Ike and Calvin getting ready to head off. I have to admit, I was feeling a little pang of regret as I watched them head off without me.
Danco Island had yet ANOTHER huge uphill climb. I decided to actually give it a try this time, but I didn't make it very far. (To be fair, several others only made it partway as well, so I didn't feel like quite as bit a wimp this time...) So, of course, here are some more penguin pics. :)
This first shot is of a “penguin highway,” which are the trails they create to climb up and down the mountain.
And here are a few penguins using them.
We had been told that we should never step on a penguin highway, so I thought it was funny when I found these two guys eyeing the “people highway” as if they were wondering whether or not they could walk on it.
I loved watching the penguins on land. They were so slow and awkward compared to how fast and graceful they were in the water. One of my favourite things would be when they'd be walking along and then, plop!, they'd fall over onto their bellies and start “tobogganing” along the snow.
I went back down to the shore to just sit and enjoy the views.
And then it happened again. Another Adelie showed up, well away from his natural territory.
During the landings, the zodiac would take people back to the ship at different times, so I decided to go back a little early to rest up for the evening's adventures. Unfortunately, that decision caused me to miss yet another first (although I have mixed feelings about having missed it). Just as the kayakers were returning, and the last zodiacs were about to head back to the ship, another leopard seal showed up and proceeded to kill and eat a penguin! From the pictures I've seen, it was quite an amazing (and somewhat disturbing) sight, as he tossed the poor gentoo into the air several times as he enjoyed fresh bites of it. Everybody who did see it, including Brandon, was really pumped about it. Snowy actually made a funny comment at recap about how upset everyone would get when they'd see skuas hanging around the penguin colonies, ready to steal an egg, but how thrilled they were to see a leopard seal tearing one apart!
As we sailed to the next destination, I went up to the bridge to watch for wildlife and was rewarded with my first sighting of a humpback whale.
Between the speed of the ship moving ahead and the whale moving in the other direction, it was out of sight again in less than a minute, but it was still amazing to see.
I also got a nice shot of a tabular iceberg.
During dinner, Jamie and Mariano went to scout a location for camping and they found one! It was a small island in the bay that had a flat top and was just big enough for the group. Before the camping, though, we went for a zodiac cruise of the area. First we went by the island so we could see where we would be spending the night (Jamie had planted a red flag in the middle of it and claimed it in the name of Canada! :) We did have a neighbour already.
Then we toured over to a spot where there was the remains of an old whaling ship where Antarctic terns had made their nests.
We also saw the remains of a whaling hut.
And we came across a couple of Weddell seals sleeping on an iceberg (at least they were sleeping before we got there... :)
Finally it was time to set up camp.
This next picture makes it clear how these guys got their name. With their little black heads and that line underneath their chins, I thought they looked just like two little sentries who had come to watch over us for the night.
This picture of me shivering by the tent was purely for effect. It was actually a very mild evening (for Antarctica, that is).
The cardboard cutout beside the tent in the next photo is Flat Stanley. Apparently there's a whole story around him and people online track him around the world. Brian, the teacher from Ontario, had been asked by another teacher to bring him along and snap pics of him throughout the trip. And then Brian would use the pictures for a lesson on Antarctica for his friend's Grade 5 class. Stanley had a LOT of fun on this trip!
The next picture shows the view from our tent site. Remember, this was taken around 10:00 at night.
We ended up going to bed sometime within the next hour. Since the air temperature was so comfortable, we were expecting to be fine through the night. Um, no. The sleeping mats we had were pretty thin and the sleeping bags weren't as warm as we were expecting (although they claimed to be rated to -15 degrees). So the cold from the ground really worked its way up and I pretty much shivered through the night. And I wasn't just being a wimp. Even Sarah, who has done multiday kayak camping trips in the Arctic, and who had planned to only wear one set of thermals for the night, was so frozen she ended up putting on both her down jacket that she had brought with her and her Quark parka!
The other problem I had was that I had to go to the bathroom twice during the five or so hours we were trying to sleep. I don't have to go that often during a full night's sleep! We had brought a special eco-potty with us, so that wasn't a problem, but I had to haul on my boots and parka each time I went. So I figured if I was going to make all that effort, I was going to take my camera with me! This is the “view from the loo” at about 1:40 a.m.
At least our little chinstrap friends didn't seem to be having any trouble sleeping.
By the time 5:00 a.m. rolled around and Jamie went around to wake everyone up, Sarah and I had already gotten fully dressed and had begun tearing down our tent. The others weren't far behind us.
Our chinstraps got up as well and watched as we loaded the zodiac to head back to the ship. Is it my imagination, or does the one on the left look a little dejected? I think he was really going to miss us! :)
Next installment: A two-paddle day.
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
We were able to sleep in on Tuesday. Until 7:00 a.m. :)
Earlier that morning, the ship had lifted anchor and headed down the Neumayer Channel, and then anchored again off of Useful Island. The kayakers were going to paddle around the island and then land to join the rest of the group.
We actually took a zodiac to the island first to get into the kayaks, and when we got there, we were treated to the sight of a Weddell seal basking on the rocks.
By the time we were all finally in our boats and on the water, the other passengers had begun a trek uphill to get what were supposedly amazing views of the area. (It's hard to tell in the picture below because of the size, but each little yellow dot is a Quark parka.)
As we started paddling, the sun was out and the conditions were reasonably calm.
Louise told us that after a short distance, we'd be rounding a corner of the island and then we'd hit water that was like glass for most of the time, but that at the very end we'd hit some headwinds and the water would be a little rougher. Then we rounded the corner...
And that was the GOOD section! As we continued on, we actually hit some pretty heavy swells to the point we had to make sure we were hitting them head on. By that point, even the penguins had disappeared—they were too smart to try to navigate through this stuff! :)
But we pushed through it and, when we got back to the island, we were rewarded with the sight of yet another seal.
We then headed back to the ship for lunch. In case you're wondering what happened to the kayaks when we were shuttled back, this was one of Jamie's many jobs—rounding them all up, loading them onto a zodiac, and transporting them back to the ship (where they'd be lifted by crane back onto the stern).
The catering staff had prepared a special Christmas lunch for us that had something like eight separate courses. I don't remember what all they were, except for a very tasty glass of vodka (nicely rimmed with crushed candy canes) with a scoop of lemon sherbet in it!
After lunch, we had a kayaking meeting to discuss the afternoon's plans. A lot of us were thinking about passing on paddling after the morning's adventure, but Jamie and Louise told us that Paradise Bay is always THE nicest, and easiest, paddle of the whole trip, so we all decided to (dry)suit up again!
However, before kayaking, we were going to go with everyone else to Almirante Brown, an Argentinean research station that's actually ON the Antarctic content. Up to that point, all our landings had been on islands, so this was one of the big highlights of the trip.
As you can see in the first shot, there was another long, uphill climb that we could do for a great vista, but I didn't have the energy to do it, plus I figured I'd totally kill my knees on the downhill. I didn't mind staying down with our fearless leaders.
And I got to use the time to take some more penguin pics (I just NEVER got bored of them!), like these of a gentoo with two eggs in his/her pouch.
By this point, the wind had picked up quite a bit and the water was much too rough for us to go kayaking in it. (Jamie and Louise told us this was the FIRST time that they had seen bad conditions at Paradise Bay! :) So instead we joined the other passengers to do a zodiac cruise around the bay.
THAT was a bit of a mistake. Once we knew we weren't going to be kayaking, we should have gone back to the ship to change into our parkas before heading out, because the dry suits are not at all insulated. They're fine for kayaking, because the paddling keeps you warm, but they're not made for cruising around the bay in windy conditions. We were all freezing by the end, which made it a little harder to enjoy the experience, although we still managed to be awed by such amazing sights as the Petzval Glacier.
And there were some other gorgeous icebergs along the way, and a rather cool/gross dead jellyfish floating in the water.
After the cruise, we headed back to the ship for dinner. After that, the campers were scheduled to head back to Almirante Brown to spend the night on the ice.
Now, before I arrived in Ushuaia, I had thought I had signed up for the camping option. In fact, I could have sworn my contact had told me that, unlike with the kayaking, there was no limit to the number of people who could camp (although I can't find any evidence of that now!). So I didn't know until I was there that I wasn't on the list. I was pretty disappointed, but I certainly wasn't going to let it ruin my trip. And, to be honest, after that zodiac cruise, I wasn't quite so disappointed anymore... :)
But then... A few of the scheduled campers had a change of heart because of the weather. Sarah (who had signed up for the trip too late to get a spot) and I asked Jamie, who was the camp master, if we could have their spots. At first he said no, because we hadn't been to the briefings, and it would be a problem collecting the tents and sleeping bags that had already been distributed, etc. etc. But we happened to be in the hall just as one of the couples was handing their equipment back to Jamie. We had both proven ourselves to be really enthusiastic throughout the trip so far (fortunately he knew us well because of the kayaking), so Jamie looked at us and asked if we could be ready in 15 minutes. Hell, yeah!
We raced back to our cabins and I think I packed just about every item of clothing in my backpack because I wasn't really sure how much I would need, and we joined the rest of the group at the top of the gangway. I was so psyched! (The whole cold/wind concern had completely fallen by the wayside by that point.)
This was some time between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m., and we were going to be picked up again at 5:00, so it wasn't like this was going to be a lengthy overnight stay, but we were definitely in it for the bragging rights! We headed back over to the continent and walked up to the spot where we would be pitching our tents.
The first thing we had to do was stamp down a 6-square-foot area of snow so we would have a flat spot to set up. Then we started pitching. Even though tents these days are designed to be practically idiot-proof to assemble, there were several strong gusts of wind that made it a challenge to get in one stake before another one would be pulled right up again. But we finally got it set up. (I thought I had taken a picture of us standing beside it, but I can't find one, so we must have just taken one with Sarah's camera.)
At that point, we went to pick up our sleeping bags when another huge gust of wind came up that immediately uprooted several people's tents. At that point, Jamie realized there was no point continuing, and he called back to the ship to have a Zodiac come pick us up. :(
Jamie told us that we wouldn't have another chance to camp, because it would mean changing the itinerary, which would affect the other passengers. We were pretty disappointed, of course, but in Antarctica, the weather rules! We went back to the ship and, while Jamie put the gear away, the rest of us convened back in the bar, at least knowing that we had been prepared to do it. But when Jamie joined us, he told us that Brandon was going to see if there was any way we'd be able to camp the next night, since he really didn't want us to miss the opportunity. So stay tuned...
One other cool thing happened while we were trying to set up the tents. We looked across the bay, and we could see two of the passengers on another piece of land by themselves. It was Boon and Alycia, who were a really nice couple from Singapore. Turns out that Boon had arranged to have Mariano drop them off there so he could propose to Alycia! And she said yes!! Nice.
Next installment: Some brash moments.
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Even though the trip I booked advertises itself as a 12-day expedition, that includes the arrival and departure days in Ushuaia, the day touring Tierra del Fuego, and the four days crossing the Drake Passage in both directions. So, in reality, you actually end up spending only five days doing what you went all the way there to do! (And knowing this, you don't want to do the math on what the cost of the trip was on a per-day basis. Trust me. :)
But I'll tell you one thing—they really pack those five days full! I've decided I'm going to attempt to write one post each day this week to represent one day's worth of activities. I say “attempt,” because it's taken me a couple of hours today already simply to prepare the photos I want to use for the first days' post. But I'll give it my best shot.
One of the themes you'll read over the next few posts is that there were a lot of things on this trip that were quite unusual. Even Brandon, our expedition leader, said “This is the first time I've ever seen XYZ” on several occasions. Maybe that's because he set a different itinerary than he'd ever done before. Usually the first stop on this trip would be in the South Shetland Islands, north of the Antarctic peninsula, and each day we'd travel south until it was time to head back to Ushuaia. But Brandon decided to shake things up a bit this time, so we were going to start our explorations further south and work our way north during the week.
Our first landing was planned for Petermann Island, and the wake-up call was scheduled for 5:00 a.m.! Of course, no one minded at all, because we were all so excited to finally be leaving the ship, and a lot of people had trouble sleeping anyway, because it was so light out all night (wasn't a problem for me).
We travelled from the ship to the island via a Zodiac, a large inflatable boat with an outboard motor. We had received very precise instructions the day before as to how to get in and out of them, both from the ship, and on land. It was a bit awkward the first couple of times, but by the end of the week, we were all pretty expert at the whole procedure.
When we arrived on the island, we ran into one of our first “firsts”—a major snowstorm! Antarctica gets very little precipitation in general (the continent itself is actually a desert). The wind was pretty strong, but fortunately I had packed very well for the trip, and my Canadian blood seemed to kick in as well, because I didn't find it particularly cold at all.
Petermann Island is home to a colony of Adelie penguins, which live in the southern, colder areas of the region. If I'm remembering correctly, this is actually the furthest north you're likely to find the Adelies. (NOTE: The name of the penguin is actually Adélie, but it's a nuisance to keep coding the accented e, so I'm going to leave it off for other references. They're named after the wife of the man who first discovered them.)
WARNING: If you don't like penguins, you might want to scroll down several screens right about now...
You can identify Adelies because their faces are completely black.
They nest on piles of pebbles (which other penguins steal from them!)
Here's one where you can see the chick in the opening at the bottom of its body (you can't tell if it's a male or female from this distance, and they alternate caring for their young with going out to sea to gather food for feeding it).
Even the penguins struggled with the snow!
The bird nesting behind the penguins is an Antarctic shag. I guess the penguins don't mind having them there because, unlike some birds (like the dreaded skuas), shags don't prey on penguin eggs. Here's a closer look at the shag.
There were also nesting gentoo penguins on the island, and we would be seeing a lot more of them over the course of the week. You can tell them apart from the Adelies because the gentoos have white patches around their eyes and a bright orange beak. Here's one with his/her chick.
Here are a few more general shots of the penguins. (Hey, I warned you!)
And here's a little gentoo who seemed to be mimicking Brandon at first, and then went over to say hi to him.
And that takes us up to about 8:00 a.m.! We headed back to the ship for breakfast and then we split into two groups. The main group headed out for a zodiac cruise around the icebergs, while us kayakers first went and got fitted into our kayaks. Once we had done that, though, we went out cruising as well.
By the end of the trip, I'm not sure whether I ended up with more pictures of penguins or of icebergs. Here are some of the latter. (The ice is blue because it's so dense, it absorbs all the other colours of the spectrum.)
We also had our first seal sighting of the trip. In fact, there were two crabeater seals on the same iceberg.
When the zodiacs were idling, we were allowed to stand in them to get better pictures.
And, of course, a few more penguins...
After the cruise, we returned to the ship for lunch, while it lifted anchor and set sail through the Lemaire Channel. We were assured that this would have been one of the most scenic parts of the trip—if it wasn't for all the, you know, clouds and snow and stuff!
The staff had some fun with the snow on the ship, though.
After lunch was going to be our first kayak trip. The rest of the passengers were going to land at Port Lockroy, a historic British outpost—now a museum—and we were going to kayak there to meet up with them.
Even though I have kayaked a half a dozen times before, and I took a safety skills class to prepare for the trip, I was really nervous about going out the first time. Part of it was, of course, that the water would be mighty chilly if we happened to take a dip in it (although Louise had told us that capsizes were not allowed! :). But the other reason was because we were going to be getting into our kayaks from a zodiac, which isn't exactly the easiest—or most graceful—way to do it. (Below, you can see Louise and Jamie splayed across the zodiac as they held onto the kayaks with all their might as we loaded ourselves into them.)
Lisa, who was going to be my partner for the first trip, told me as we were sitting in the zodiac that I had absolutely no colour in my face. But once we actually did get in them (and it wasn't that difficult), and got our spray skirts attached, I was fine.The kayaks were extremely stable and, in fact, you'd really have to make a concerted effort to tip one over.
Once we started going, I was so happy that I had chosen this option. (I felt a little guilty though, after I discovered that several passengers had had their names on wait lists for kayaking months before I even signed up for the trip, but somehow I got a spot. Oh well...) This was absolutely the best way to see Antarctica! Gliding quietly among the icebergs, searching for wildlife, and listening to glaciers calving all around us, was an experience I'll never forget.
Because this was our first outing, it was supposed to be an easy paddle. But about halfway through, we hit heavy headwinds and really had to fight our way through. At one point, when we could see where we were headed, but it was still a ways off, we were all getting really tired, when suddenly about 30 or 40 penguins began porpoising (leaping through the water like dolphins) all around our kayaks. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures of the pengies, but my fellow kayaker Chelsea did and kindly shared it with us. She's also the one who took the pic of me kayaking that's the header for all these posts. (You can click the smaller version below to see a larger one and get a better sense of what it was like.)
After that amazing encounter (and, again, Louise said this was the first time she'd ever seen penguins coming so close to the kayaks), our energy zoomed right back up and we landed at Port Lockroy with huge smiles on our faces.
Port Lockroy had a little souvenir shop, so I bought a few little things. It was also the one place we could send postcards with Antarctic stamps on them, so a few of you lucky readers may get one eventually. They have to go from Port Lockroy, to the Falkland Islands, and then to ENGLAND, before heading to their final destination. So it could be another few weeks yet before they arrive...
This was where we were going to be anchoring for the night as well, and another ship actually showed up in the same area.
Apparently, this was actually a big no-no. The expedition leaders of all the ships plan out their itineraries to deliberately avoid each other, so each group of passengers can really feel they have a particular area to themselves for that time period. That's how it was for the rest of the trip and, I have to say, it did really add to the experience, in that we never felt like we part of the tourist hordes like in so many other destinations.
Afterwards, we took Zodiacs to a spot called Jougla Point, where we were able to see some more gentoos, as well as the giant remains of whales that had been killed by whalers in the early 1900s.
That was our final outing of the day, so we headed back to the ship where the catering staff had prepared a special Christmas Eve barbecue for us on the bow of the ship. They'd been worried earlier in the day that they would have to change the plans because of the snowstorm, but by then the sun was beaming down on us and it was a glorious evening!
And that was our first day in Antarctica. Whew!
Next installment: Brrr...
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
One of the main topics of conversation among the passengers even before we boarded the ship was what kind of motion sickness medication we had brought and when should we take it?
You see, the first two and last two days of our trip would involve crossing the Drake Passage, which is renowned for having the roughest seas in the world. However, it's also extremely unpredictable, to the point that Brandon, our expedition leader, told us that we could experience either the Drake Shake or the Drake Lake. And although the forecast as we were heading out was for not-too-bad conditions, he did emphasize that it could change at any time.
Now, I've suffered from motion sickness my whole life, so I came prepared. I brought a prescription patch that you place behind your ear so it administers the drug gradually over a three-day period. I put that on as soon as we boarded the ship, because it needs to get into your system before you actually start feeling in. In addition, I had my Dramamine tablets and wristbands that have a little button on them that supposedly works on an accupressure point on the inside of your wrists to prevent nausea.
The first night wasn't a concern at all, as we navigated through the Beagle Channel (which was good, because it meant we could enjoy our glass of champagne and welcoming dinner without worry). But we all knew that the real test would be when we woke up the next morning.
I don't remember what time I woke up, but I was definitely aware of the increased motion of the ship. What was weird was that our beds were perpendicular to the direction of travel, so instead of rolling side to side like the ship was, I was rolling head to toe, almost like I was on an inversion table.
I had to go to the bathroom, which was down the hall, so that was my first attempt at walking against the motion. One of the rules for rough seas is to “keep one hand for yourself and one for the ship,” which was excellent advice, as I clutched the handrails the entire way.
Of course, Brandon made an announcement over the P.A. system on Saturday morning telling us all how “lucky” we were, because this was actually the best conditions he'd experienced in a while. Spoken like someone who spends a lot of time at sea!
In truth, though, over the next two days I definitely was seasick at times, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. I never actually threw up and when I felt a little queasy, I would go lie down for half an hour or so, and that would make a big difference and hold me over for a couple more hours. Going out on deck with the fresh air helped a lot as well.
There were a few people who didn't seem to be affected at all, but the meals and other group activities were definitely sparsely attended throughout the trip. (I only missed one lunch, but didn't eat a heckuva lot at the other times.)
So what did we do during those days? The main activities were presentations by the Quark staff on a variety of topics, and briefings on what to expect when we actually got to Antarctica. So this is a good time to introduce our Quark team, who were just wonderful. (The picture below was actually taken at the farewell dinner, but it's the only good one I have of them all—click on the image for a larger version.)
From left to right, they are:
I wish I could say I attended all the presentations in full but, for some reason, the lecture room seemed to be the worst place on the ship for triggering our seasickness (which was weird, because it was in the middle of the ship on a low deck, so theoretically should have been one of the best locations). But the ones (and partial ones) I attended were really interesting—all the lecturers had great senses of humour as well as tons of knowledge on their subjects—and they really added to the whole experience.
One of the really nice aspects of the trip was that the ship had an open-bridge policy most of the time. That meant that we could go up to the bridge whenever we wanted to watch the crew in action or look for wildlife.
There's not really a lot to see during the Drake portion of the voyage other than some seabirds circling around. I took a LOT of pictures, but I didn't manage to get any that I was really happy with. But here are a couple of examples of what we were seeing.
The wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any bird, at around 10 ft. [UPDATE: While this fact is accurate, reader Geoff informs me that the picture below is not, in fact, a wandering albatross, but a black-browed albatross. Gorgeous nonetheless!]
The cape petrel has these gorgeous black and white markings on its wings that reminded me of paintings of birds by Canadian native artists.
While the lectures were interesting, and it was nice to have a chance to get to know our fellow passengers, by the time we all went to bed on Sunday night, everyone was really psyched for the next day's activities, when we'd finally be leaving the ship and discovering Antarctica up close at last!
Next installment: Iceberg ahead!
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Friday morning we had to bring bags to the hotel lobby, where Quark staff would pick them up to transfer them to the ship. Then, after breakfast, we boarded buses for a tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park. Under normal circumstances, I probably would have enjoyed this tour a lot more, but I was really chomping at the bit to start the “real” portion of the trip. They needed the day, however, to clean the ship and get everything set for our arrival, since they only arrived back from their previous voyage that morning! (The crew gets a whole four hours of free time in Ushuaia between sailings!)
I don't remember a lot about the park tour, but here are a few random pictures from it.
The sign in the last photo illustrates the farthest point south that you can drive on the Trans-America Highway, which begins in Alaska.
The one thing I do remember from the tour concerns, of all things, the Canadian beaver. At one point in history, somebody introduced 25 breeding pairs of beavers into the park—today there are more than 100,000! And even though they're an ecological pest, they've also become somewhat of a tourist symbol for the area, which explains this encounter I had had while shopping in Ushuaia:
After the tour, we went for a typical Argentinian asada or barbecue. The most popular fare is the lamb, although they also served steak and chicken. It was at the lunch that I really realized how small our group was. There were only 46 of us going on the trip (the ship can take 48 passengers, but there were a couple of last-minute cancellations). So we all fit on two long table setups.
After lunch, we were taken back to Ushuaia's main street for any last-minute purchases, and at 4:00 we reboarded the bus to take us to the ship, our home for the next ten days.
Our ship was the Akademik Shokalskiy, originally a Russian research vessel. It had five decks—Julie's and my cabin was on the third.
There we found our expedition parkas (with a removable fleece layer inside), which we would be keeping after the trip, and our gumboots, which were being lent to us for the duration (making it a lot easier to pack, I must say!).
Almost immediately, we were called down to the lecture room to be introduced to some of the staff and be briefed on the mandatory lifeboat drill that would be happening shortly.
My guess is that until a couple of months ago, passengers didn't take the drill too seriously, but after the Explorer sank, they paid a lot more attention to it! (Funny side note: When that ship hit an iceberg, I told people I thought it was a good sign for my trip, because the odds of it happening twice in one season had to be infinitesimal. Turns out, though, that another ship did collide with some ice while we were down there. They only sustained minor damage, and I hadn't even heard about it until I got home, but still... weird.
The drill went totally smoothly. It was really cramped inside our enclosed lifeboat, but I figured that had to be better than what the Explorer survivors had gone through in their open boats, so I wasn't complaining!
Once the drill was over, we all headed to the bar for a welcome reception as the ship prepared to leave dock. At long last, we were ready to start our exciting voyage to the frozen continent. Yay!
Next installment: The dreaded Drake.
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Man, was I happy to get off that plane! Unfortunately, it still took about 30 minutes to get through Immigration and Customs, but I was just happy to see my luggage coming on the carousel. (Even though I had been told that my bags were checked all the way through, I was a little concerned that maybe I was supposed to have picked them up in Santiago after I went through Immigration there.)
I wasn't expecting anyone to meet me at the airport, since I was arriving on the day before our official day, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a woman holding a Quark Expeditions sign in the public area. Turns out they had another ship leaving the next day, so she was actually waiting for those passengers, but of course she was happy to steer me in the right direction as well.
I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel. The pre-departure information I had received had mentioned that most places take U.S. dollars there, so I hadn't bothered changing any money. It had also said that the taxi ride should be around $6.00. So I was a little surprised when the fare turned out to be $13+ (not that that was a problem at all). I made a mental note to tell my booking agent to update their info and gave the driver $16, and he gave me a really big smile in return. I found out why his smile was so big a little later. If I had done the proper research before I left the States, I would have discovered that the symbol for the Argentine peso is exactly the same as the dollar sign. So my fare was really 13 pesos, which is around $4 U.S. Which means I had had actually just given my driver a 300% tip... Merry Christmas to him! :) I just counted my blessings that I had made the mistake for a relatively small sum of money.
I was staying at the Hotel Los Nires, which had a gorgeous view of the mountains and the Beagle Channel.
I'm not sure why, but for some reason I had in my head that the hotel would be more like a hostel, but it was actually a regular hotel room.
There are two beds because on Thursday night I would be getting a roommate, the same person I would be sharing a cabin with on the ship.
Surprisingly, I wasn't all that tired, so I decided to take the hotel's free shuttle into town and see if there were any interesting day trips I could go on the next day. In the van, I met a Dutch guy who was leaving on Thursday, but he had already done the trip three years earlier—and had already reserved a spot for next year on the much more expensive trip to see the Emperor penguins (the ones that were featured in the documentary, March of the Penguins). It was nice getting a little first-hand info from him about what to expect.
The town of Ushuaia was actually a little bigger than I expected. Apparently it's grown a lot over the last few years as more people have been taking trips to Antarctica. Even still, there was really just one main shopping street.
This was one of the side streets going down to the marina that had a really colourful mural painted on it.
Of course, even at the “end of the world,” you can't really get entirely away from home... (At least they didn't have a McDonalds!)
I found out about a couple of day trips I could take on Thursday, including a catamaran trip to see some sea lions and Magellanic penguins (which is one type we wouldn't be seeing in Antarctica), but I decided against them. And since I had a good long sleep-in the next morning, I was happy I'd made that decision.
So on Thursday, I went back into Ushuaia for lunch and I finally got to meet someone who was going on the same trip as me. Sarah is from the U.K., but she's lived in Calgary for several years (she works in the oil and gas business). Then later that afternoon, the Quark rep came to the hotel again to answer any questions we had. That was another time I was glad I hadn't signed up for any excursions, because I got to meet a lot more of my shipmates there as well.
There was Ike from Montreal, Brian from southern Ontario (I forget which city exactly), Lisa and her mother Karen from southern California, Jeremy from Australia (originally from the U.K.), and a few more. One of the really cool things about this trip was that everyone who was on it had already travelled extensively—after all, not many people are going to choose Antarctica for their first vacation. :) In fact, I think this was going to be continent #7 for most of the passengers, including me. So there were LOTS of great adventure stories going around.
Sarah, Ike, Jeremy, and I decided to go back into Ushuaia for dinner. As we were waiting for the shuttle, I saw a woman checking in, who turned out to be my roommate, Julie. I found out later that she was 23, from Toronto, had recently graduated with a degree in architecture, and was going to be travelling for 8 months (3 on her own, then 5 with her boyfriend) while she waited to hear if she would get accepted into a master's program.
Our dinner in town was great, and we did a little last-minute shopping (mainly booze to bring on board), and then we headed back to the hotel a nightcap, followed by our final night's sleep before leaving for Antarctica!
The pics below are of Ike and Sarah (top) and Jeremy.
Next installment: All aboard!
>> Read comments about this post or add your own.
Latest Comment On...
> by Erika Simons
> by Mike
> by Jennifer