Whale on the Port Side

Sal and I recently visited Antarctica for 14 days via a Viking expedition cruise.    We flew into Buenos Aires for one night and proceeded early the next morning on a flight to Ushuaia, Argentina near the southern tip of the country.  The ship departed from the Port of Ushuaia and proceeded to the 500-mile-wide Drake Passage.   The Drake Passage can be either very rough or very calm thus the phrase, “the Drake Lake or the Drake shake”.  On our way south to Antarctica it was very rough.  It was difficult to walk around the ship at times and during the night, the ocean was rocking and rolling.  I don’t generally get seasick, but I did feel a bit nauseous on the cruise south.  I’ll note on the way back to Ushuaia; the water was quite calm and the complete opposite of our southern cruise.

Antarctica is a beautiful awesome place.  There aren’t any trees, grass, or bushes, but the white snow, beautiful rugged Rocky Mountains, glaciers, blue ocean, and wildlife are amazing.  The weather is unpredictable.  It can be snowing one minute, raining the next, or calm seas and clear skies, but suddenly the ocean becomes extremely rough, the wind picks up, and the clouds quickly come in.   Twice when we were on an excursion, the wind picked up and the ocean became rough with high waves.  The ship radioed our guides and told them to come back to the ship immediately.  The first time, we were in a zodiac boat, and it was a rough, wet ride back.  The second time we were on a special operations boat (similar to what the US military uses).  We were at the back of the boat and a couple of waves completely covered us. Fortunately, we were dressed for it, but it was a bit nerve racking. 

We spent many hours walking the decks outside around the ship.  We carried our binoculars, and I almost always carried my camera.  I took over 2,000 pictures with my camera, and Sal took many more pictures with his cell phone.

We learned about Norwegian Raold Amundsen, the first polar explorer to reach the South Pole.  There were many scientists and experts onboard who gave lectures on wildlife, the climate of Antarctica, and the history. They were generally available to answer any questions a passenger might have. We attended a number of lectures, and all were interesting and presented well.  If there is one thing I learned about Antarctica, it is a very unforgiving place.  The seas can go from smooth and calm, to big waves, swells, and winds in a short period of time.  Summer in Antarctica is December to January. When we were there, the average temperature during the day was around 30 to 40 degrees.  One day the temperature was 24 degrees during most of the day.  Although the sun does disappear, it is always light outside in the summer.

One of my favorite things about Antarctica is the penguins.  They are fascinating, funny, and have their own personalities.   When walking near the penguins (by law you have to stay 15 feet away), I found them to be completely oblivious to people.  They were never afraid, and just did their thing. When walking on Half Moon Island, a penguin began walking my way, I had to move out of the way because it was clear, the penguin was not changing his path.   Penguins waddle around, fall over, and slide down the snowy slopes to the ocean.  When they jump into the ocean, everything changes.  They jump into the water headfirst and swim like dolphins, sometimes jumping out of the water. They quickly swim around looking for food and also appeared to be playing.  When the ship passed large icebergs, sometimes there would be a group of penguins on the ice.   Until I visited Antarctica, I had no idea what great swimmers they are.  My last memory of penguins is the strong odor of poop that surrounds all of the rookeries.   

There were also numerous whales.  At one point there were about 5 or 6 large Orca whales swimming closely together.  They were diving and sometimes swimming on top of the water.  The whale expert on board told everyone they were chasing a sea lion hoping to make a meal of it.  It looked like chaos from the ship, but it appeared that the whales might win this chase.

We kayaked one afternoon.  The water was calm, and the area was shallow.  We saw whale bones below us.  There was a penguin colony in one area, and we hung around there for a while watching the waddle (group) of penguins walking around, swimming and some were sitting on their eggs.

We loved the trip and miss looking out our cabin window at the beauty and wildlife of Antarctica.  When there were whales, penguins, dolphins, and other wildlife, sometimes the captain would announce it over the loudspeakers, stop the boat, and passengers would come pouring outside to see the wildlife.  It was actually a bit humorous. Of course, we were part of the group rushing outside!

I will say, this was an expedition cruise, but the ship offered the lap of luxury.  Beautiful rooms, great food, and wonderful places to sit inside and let the world go by.  We met people from many countries of all ages.   

On a humorous note, we flew United home from Buenos Aires.  Worst food ever.  I took one bite of my breakfast which consisted of quiche, a mushroom onion concoction and another serving of something…I can’t remember.  The quiche was like tough meat. Most people returned the plates with a few bites taken…When it came to lunch, it was just as bad.  I looked at it and took one bite of the main course (meat of some sort), but I did eat the entire cookie.  Again, most folks ate a few bites or nothing. We had a great flight attendant, and he commented that breakfast looked like green eggs and ham.  Later he said to us, I hope you respond to the survey that you will get in your email.   We all laughed.  Hard to believe that could get past whomever creates these meals.  Do they taste the food? 

We enjoyed the trip and the people we met. I would recommend this trip to anyone.  It was fascinating and educational.  Sometimes getting in out of the zodiac was stressful.  When the water was rough, it was sometimes difficult to stand up and step out of the zodiac to the open hatch of the ship.  I fell backwards at one point when a 7- or 8-foot swell hit the boat.  I was able to stand up and get out, but it was very rough, and the boat was going up and down as I tried to step through the hatch.  Most of the time, the sea was fairly calm, and it wasn’t a problem.  It made me realize that the crew of the boat had a great deal of responsibility to keep the passengers safe.  This was not like the cruise to Alaska that we took in years past.  Fortunately, the crew was great and knew their stuff.  We talked to many of the crew members that took the passengers on the excursions and enjoyed getting to know them.  They were a great team.

If you have never considered Antarctica, you should.  It will go on record of one of our favorites trips.