Antarctica, 2018
In March 2018, I had the incredible opportunity to spend 6 days in Antarctica. This was the trip of a lifetime, a bucket-list vacation, with the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. I took a 21 day cruise on Seabourn Quest. The cruise started in Santiago, Chile, and ended in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to Antarctica, it also included stops at Castro, Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas in Chile, Falkland Islands, Ushuaia in Argentina, and Montevideo in Uruguay. I had done this itinerary before, without going to Antarctica. I didn't really want to go to all these ports again, but I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to visit Antarctica.
Since I had already visited all these ports, I didn't take any shore excursions. I just walked around the ports on my own. In Castro, I visited the San Francisco Church, and the Palafitos Gamboa, the colorful wooden houses on stilts. In Punta Arenas, I walked around the central plaza, and visited the cemetery. The ship was unable to dock in Ushuaia because of high winds. In Montevideo, I walked down the pedestrian-only street to Plaza Independenca. It rained in Falklands, so I just walked along the main street. In Puerto Montt, I just walked around town a little.
After Ushuaia, we went south through Drake's Passage, to Antarctica. The seas are very rough in this area, since, at these latitudes, the wind and waves circumnavigate the world without once touching land. Seabourn Quest is a pretty small ship, so we felt the movement a lot. I got seasick one day, but felt better a few hours later, once I put on the wrist bands that help prevent seasickness.
We spent 6 days in Antarctica. Each day, the ship anchored in a different place and we went ashore using zodiacs. There seems to be a restriction on how many people can be on Antarctica at any given point in time. We were divided into 5 groups with about 80 people per group. Each group was given a specific 90 minute time slot. During this time slot, we went ashore using the zodiacs. There were 20 expedition staff members on board, who organized the trips ashore in Antarctica. They were experts in penguins, seals, birds etc. They held lectures before the ship arrived in Antarctica. They were on shore in Antarctica, answering our questions and pointing out things of interest. They told us how to behave when around penguins and seals. We were provided with complimentary two-layer wind and water-proof parkas, caps and backpacks. When stepping out of the zodiacs, on land, we were stepping into knee-deep water, so we were provided with insulated water-proof rental boots. It was quite cold. I wore thermal pants and waterproof pants. I had a t-shirt, sweater, fleece jacket, two-layer parka, cap and gloves. We stepped into tubs of disinfectant before getting on the zodiacs, and after returning to the ship. On shore, we used brushes to scrape any mud off our boots, before getting back in the zodiacs. We did everything possible, to avoid bringing any non-native vegetation to Antarctica.
On Day 1, we landed on Half Moon Island, where we saw Chinstrap Penguins and Fur Seals. There were quite a few baby penguins. We saw the mother bring fish from the ocean, call to her chick and feed her chick by regurgitating the food and putting the food into the baby's beak.
On Day 2, we landed on Neko Harbor. This was probably the most beautiful part of Antarctica. Here we saw Gentoo Penguins and a Crabeater Seal. I saw a penguin building a nest. He would hop a few yards over, pick up a small rock in his beak, bring it back and drop it onto a pile, then go back to get another small rock. He kept doing this over and over.
On Day 3, we took a zodiac tour around Pleneau Island. We saw a lot of icebergs here, some really big. There were seals just resting on top of many of these icebergs. At one time, we saw a Weddell Seal on an ice floe, and a Leopard Seal swimming around the floe, looking like it was going to get up on the floe and eat the Weddell Seal. The Weddell Seal kept turning around, making sure he was facing the Leopard Seal. Eventually, the Leopard Seal went away.
On Day 4, we reached the Antarctic Circle, where we saw pack ice instead of icebergs. That day, we took another zodiac tour sailing in between the pack ice. We again saw seals on the pack ice. We also saw the elusive Snow Petrel, a white bird that was hard to see among all the white ice.
On Day 5, we landed on Waterboat Point. There is a Chilean Research station on this island. They let us visit their living quarters. They were invited to have lunch on our ship. They also provided the ship with a stamp, so that those who wished to, could get an Antarctic entry stamp in their passports. We saw a lot of Gentoo Penguins on this island. They were very curious and would walk right up to us and stare at us. There was a large Elephant Seal right by the dock.
On Day 6, we landed on Yankee Harbor. Again, there were a lot of Gentoo Penguins and Fur Seals. We were walking very close to the Fur Seals, and they would just lift their heads and look at us, and then lose interest.
Click on photo below, to view album
Antarctica, 2018
