We went down for our breakfast before zero dark thirty. Viking had chartered a couple of flights to fly the group from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. Our bus left for the airport at 3:40am. We flew on to Ushuaia, and Viking got us checked into the ship. We were sailing on the Viking Polaris and would be exploring the Antarctic Peninsula. We got weighed and tested to do the submarine and went through our safety briefing. Since our room wasn’t ready, we were able to get back off the ship and walk around Ushuaia for a couple of hours. It was Sunday, so most of the shops were closed, but we found the hotel where we would be staying on our return and some other interesting sites.
It was time to get back on board, and we went to check out our room. The weather had been fairly nice in Ushuaia, but as the ship started sailing it turned rainy and cloudy while sailing through the Beagle Channel.
We had our first briefing and got introduced to some of the crew. Explored the ship a bit and went to the Italian Restaurant for dinner that night as we had reservations. It was really good.
Day 2 – Sailing through the Drake Passage
We spent the day sailing through the infamous Drake Passage. The passage that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and is notoriously rough. We were told that it was quite calm and the swells were only a 2.5 out of 10. So, Yea! I had been worried about going through the Drake.
We had a lot to get done that first day. We had our IAATO briefing. IAATO is the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. It’s the organization that is in charge of promoting safe and environmentally responsible tourism to Antarctica while still being accessible to tourists. They are trying to keep Antarctica as pristine as possible. So, we had to learn what to do and what not to do. They showed us how to dress for our excursions.
Then we had to attend both the submarine and kayak briefings. We had not been able to prebook those excursions as they were already sold out, but we were hopeful that we would get a chance. Then we had to get all outside clothing inspected and pick up our boots. They inspect and vacuum all outside clothing to ensure that it is free from any seeds or anything else that could impact the Antarctic environment.
There was also the kayak training. You must be able to transit from the zodiac to the kayak in open water. So, there is a practice of how this is accomplished in the boat’s hanger area. You must attend to be considered for the kayaking excursion.
We went to do the Antarctic trivia session that the ship had. We didn’t think we’d do very well, but we only missed one question, and it ended up being a three-way tie. We didn’t win the tie breaker, so no bragging rights for us.
The boat has a small “speakeasy” area called the Hide. That night they had a get together where one of the crew goes through some of the superstitions that are associated with boats. He went through how the superstitions came about and how some of them actually have a scientific basis that wasn’t understood hundreds of years ago.
Day 3 – Omega Island
While going through the Drake was pretty smooth, the swell had picked up through the night. I woke up feeling a little unsteady but put on the motion patches and felt good just a couple of hours later.
While waiting for our excursion, we saw this whale swim right under the ship.
Our first stop was to be the Melchior Islands. We got to the first spot and the crew determined that the swell was too great. But Viking had an alternate landing site that they hoped would be better. So, we sailed on to plan B and that was determined to be a good spot. We stopped at Omega Island, which is still part of the Melchior Islands. This pushed all the excursions back about an hour later than originally scheduled. There wasn’t a landing scheduled that day, but scenic cruising. We had a zodiac boat cruise scheduled. We saw some penguins and a humpback whale. It was a nice little introduction to Antarctica.
Day 4 – Portal Point (1st Continental Landing)
We had a lazy day as we waited for our zodiac time. Most all of our excursions were scheduled for late afternoon.
I spent some time whale and penguin watching from the ship.
But yes, we finally made it. We officially walked on the Antarctic Continent.
Viking had laid out a couple of paths for us to walk around and get some amazing views and to view some of the penguins that called this place home.
We had a dinner reservation again at the Italian restaurant. When you go to the buffet for both breakfast and lunch you really just want something a little different.
Day 5 – Chiriguano Bay
We had another zodiac cruise for our excursion. This time it was just us and one other couple on the zodiac with Jorge. He was the Marine Biologist onboard the ship. Jorge was pointing out some things and how some plant life that actually survives on Antarctica. We found the Antarctic Shag, these birds will actually go down and gather kelp from the sea floor to build their nests.
We saw a crab eater seal that was laying on an ice flow. (They are misnamed as they don’t eat crabs.) He was telling us that the seal was currently molting. During the molting process the seal is not really waterproof and will spend as much time out of the water as possible until he gets his full summer coat. We saw another huge glacier calving. Then moved over to where there were some Weddell seals.
Jorge found a piece of black ice and explained that this piece of glacier ice was probably about 4 million years old. The air in the ice got compressed out over all those years leaving just the very translucent ice.
We had dinner plans that night with a couple we had met. And in the middle of dinner the captain announced that there were a few killer whales that had been spotted. So, yes everyone jumped up to see if we could spot them. We managed to see them and Stella was able to get them on video.
