Antarctica

We recently took a trip of a lifetime to Antarctica. OK, no, it wasn’t in a fifth wheel, but there was still a lot of fun and folly.

It was actually a cruise through Viking. The trip started in Little Rock, Arkansas. We flew to Dallas, Texas and then to Buenos Aires, Argentina . Once we arrived in at the airport in Buenos Aires we were greeted by Viking personnel who took care of our every need for the next 13 days. From the airport we took a 45 minute bus ride to downtown Buenos Aires. We spent one night at the downtown Hilton. Early (very early) the next morning we went back out to the airport and took another 3 1/2 hour flight to Ushuaia, Argentina. Ushuaia is the southern most city in the world, nestled in the Andes Mountains. Once we arrived in Ushuaia we finally boarded our ship, the Viking Polaris. Late in the afternoon we pushed off, spending about four hours in the Beagle Channel. No, we don’t know why it’s named after a dog!! And then, into the notorious Drake Passage. We spent the next day and a half sailing to Antarctica.

During this time there were numerous safety briefings, seminars, and lots of great food and libations. While in the Drake Passage we did do a bit of rocking and rolling, but it really wasn’t too bad—as long as you were wearing the seasick patch.

After three days of travel we finally made it to Antarctica. We spent the next seven days exploring various islands as well as the mainland. We saw beautiful scenery and incredible wildlife. Here are a few highlights from the trip.

We took small boats out to do a bit of whale watching. We saw a group of humpback whales feeding on krill. They got incredibly close to us. It was a thrill to watch.

More whales.

This is an example of the beautiful scenery.

This picture was taken from the mainland. These chinstrap penguins swam up on a rock across the small bay.

Double Rainbow after a storm.

Is this the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming? No, but it is a similar geological feature created by volcanic activity thousands of years ago.

Penguins, baby penguins. All I can say is cuteness overload. Apparently they also really stink if you have a strong sense of smell. I don’t, so I never noticed.

When going ashore we took these zodiac boats to get to land. Our goal was to just make sure we didn’t fall into the frigid water while getting out of the boat.

Interesting cave along the shoreline. We would have loved to peer inside, but we didn’t get the opportunity.

More penguins nesting.

More scenery.

When making plans for the day, one of the most important things to monitor was the weather. The Expedition Leader kept telling us, “We don’t care if it’s raining or snowing, we are going out…unless it is too windy or the waves are swelling too high.” Every day we would be briefed discussing the day’s activities. He would always show us a map of the wind conditions for the day. This is an example of the map.

Seals. One of the types of wildlife you could see.

Notice the blue ice. It looks like someone took a giant bottle of Windex and poured it into the ice.

More whales feeding.

We had a couple of days with blue skies and sunshine. It really accentuated the scenery.

Penguins. More cuteness overload. They don’t have muscles in their wings or feet making it difficult to maneuver on land.

Will and Denise returning from an excursion. The seas were a bit rough that day and we got soaked on the zodiac ride back to land. In spite of this we were still smiling!!

Iceberg. We saw many icebergs along the way. This one is typical of what they look like. We saw one that broke off several years ago that they said was the size of Manhattan. It now sits so in the Drake Passage.

Scenery. Check out the masted ship.

And more scenery.

As most of you know, we have decided to take a break from RVing so that we can focus on doing a bit of international travel. While we aren’t traveling as much, we still travel. Let the adventure continue. Until next time…