OK, people expressed interest in hearing about our 72 day trip, which included this cruise, Easter Island/Rapa Nui, and a 35 Day drive through Patagonia.
This thread is limited to our first cruise (other than 15-18 passenger diveboats). I won't be doing Rapa Nui, as I previously covered the October restrictions to get there, and I don't think we have much to add to what everyone already knows. Here is link to DW's personal, no-ads, photo-heavy blog that starts our Rapa Nui trip, if anyone wants to see details though: https://www.lisajtravels.com/2022/10/30/rapa-nui
Someone asked about "budget." Yeah, sticker price is horrid for 114 passenger boat on this trip. BUT, if you are flexible, you could try snatching a last minute ticket at a substantial discount. A young Austrian couple (early 30s teachers!), did this with great success. (We did well by booking in February 2019, but not as well as they did.) Also, although we wouldn't recommend it in light of how great South Georgia is, you can get much cheaper by hanging around Ushuaia for a last minute 7-10 day Antarctic-only trip.
Departure was from Puerto Madryn, on the Valdes Penninsula in Northeast Patagonia. We didn't have enough time this trip to stay there long, which was a mistake. Southern Right whales come right up to the beach at places within a short taxi ride from town.
From there, it is a long 2 day trip to the Falklands, where we spent 2 or 3 days looking at wildlife (Penguins, dolphins, albatross, etc.) and in Stanley learning about the history of the Islands. (See tomorrow's post which talks about Argentina's reference to the Falklands/Malvinas throughout Patagonia).
Just before landfall, we learned that several people, including the ship's doctor, had tested positive for Covid, despite full vaccination requirements and pre-departure testing. To the credit of "Polar Latitudes" and the "Seaventure" ship, they handled this well. Although the positive people were confined to their rooms and had their meals brought to them, they were able to do outdoorsy shore excursions and zodiac rides in a "plague boat," albeit with masks. We understand that other ships are not being even this flexible at the present time. Within a week(?) or so, the positive people were allowed back in general population, which was even better.
(I don't want to make this overly long with pics, so I've attached just one of a Falklands' rock hopper penguin with its egg. For more, here is a link to the first of DW's Falklands' personal blog posts: https://www.lisajtravels.com/2022/11/22/first-landing For wildlife lovers, the link is well worthwhile.)
After the Falklands, we had another long ocean crossing--some 2.5 days to South Georgia Island. This place was mindblowing. If you have an Antarctic cruise on your wish list, do what you can to include South Georgia (assuming budget will permit). The Penguin, cormorant, albatross, and Seal life was almost unfathomable. The highlight, probably, was Saint Andrews Bay, where we walked amidst over 100,000 King Penguins--after our landing site was carefully placed between Elephant and Fur seals. We and our fellow passengers (many Brits) kept saying, "where is David Attenborough?" It turned out that the scenes in Frozen Planet located in South Georgia were indeed filmed on that beach. I've included two pictures, one overview of a portion of the Beach, and the other a close up of an Elephant seal and King Penguins. FYI, the brown birds are juvenile King Penguins. For a ton more pictures, video, and a bit of text, here is the first of DW's blog posts on South Georgia: https://www.lisajtravels.com/2022/11/23/south-georgia
After South Georgia, we again had a long ocean crossing of 2.5 days or so to get to our goal of Antarctica. Once again, we were blessed with calm seas (for the third crossing in a row!). Whales were surprising abundant for this early in the season, Humpbacks and, especially, Fin Whales were seemingly all around, while the crew reported Orcas in the distance many times. Indeed, on one occasion, all three species were in site from the ship. Here is DW's first Antarctic post: https://www.lisajtravels.com/2022/11/29/finally-antarctica
(We went on the first trip of the season so that DW could get clean snow in her pictures, without an abundance of Penguin poop! Plus, we've had great whale exposure already....)
Nonetheless, overall, the wildlife was not as abundant as South Georgia, but there was still plenty of it, and the landscapes (and clouds!?!) were awesome. We saw flocks(?) of penguins "porpoising" through the water several times, including the one pic that is attached. Also, Weddel and Leopard seals--and did I mention the landscape?? Once again, we continued to enjoy great weather--see the attached shirt sleave picture!
Still, with a bad storm brewing in the Drake, we missed our last day in Antarctica and headed to Ushaia. Although a little disappointed, we understood the decision given the forecast (and later on, after experiencing 8 meter waves and hearing about the ship that got hit by a rogue wave the day after we sheltered in the Beagle channel).
Quite the experience, to say the least! The ship was very nice. Stabilizers made it fairly stable (I, as always, had transderm scop patches, and relief band wrist shocker employed and had no problems). Experienced luxury cruise people said it matched the "around the world" type cruises that they'd done, which seems like high praise.
Sorry for the length of this post!
Tomorrow, I hope to post on our trip from Ushuaia Argentina to Temuco Chile--which consisted of a 10 hour bus ride and a 35 day driving/hiking trip.
This thread is limited to our first cruise (other than 15-18 passenger diveboats). I won't be doing Rapa Nui, as I previously covered the October restrictions to get there, and I don't think we have much to add to what everyone already knows. Here is link to DW's personal, no-ads, photo-heavy blog that starts our Rapa Nui trip, if anyone wants to see details though: https://www.lisajtravels.com/2022/10/30/rapa-nui
Someone asked about "budget." Yeah, sticker price is horrid for 114 passenger boat on this trip. BUT, if you are flexible, you could try snatching a last minute ticket at a substantial discount. A young Austrian couple (early 30s teachers!), did this with great success. (We did well by booking in February 2019, but not as well as they did.) Also, although we wouldn't recommend it in light of how great South Georgia is, you can get much cheaper by hanging around Ushuaia for a last minute 7-10 day Antarctic-only trip.
Departure was from Puerto Madryn, on the Valdes Penninsula in Northeast Patagonia. We didn't have enough time this trip to stay there long, which was a mistake. Southern Right whales come right up to the beach at places within a short taxi ride from town.
From there, it is a long 2 day trip to the Falklands, where we spent 2 or 3 days looking at wildlife (Penguins, dolphins, albatross, etc.) and in Stanley learning about the history of the Islands. (See tomorrow's post which talks about Argentina's reference to the Falklands/Malvinas throughout Patagonia).
Just before landfall, we learned that several people, including the ship's doctor, had tested positive for Covid, despite full vaccination requirements and pre-departure testing. To the credit of "Polar Latitudes" and the "Seaventure" ship, they handled this well. Although the positive people were confined to their rooms and had their meals brought to them, they were able to do outdoorsy shore excursions and zodiac rides in a "plague boat," albeit with masks. We understand that other ships are not being even this flexible at the present time. Within a week(?) or so, the positive people were allowed back in general population, which was even better.
(I don't want to make this overly long with pics, so I've attached just one of a Falklands' rock hopper penguin with its egg. For more, here is a link to the first of DW's Falklands' personal blog posts: https://www.lisajtravels.com/2022/11/22/first-landing For wildlife lovers, the link is well worthwhile.)
After the Falklands, we had another long ocean crossing--some 2.5 days to South Georgia Island. This place was mindblowing. If you have an Antarctic cruise on your wish list, do what you can to include South Georgia (assuming budget will permit). The Penguin, cormorant, albatross, and Seal life was almost unfathomable. The highlight, probably, was Saint Andrews Bay, where we walked amidst over 100,000 King Penguins--after our landing site was carefully placed between Elephant and Fur seals. We and our fellow passengers (many Brits) kept saying, "where is David Attenborough?" It turned out that the scenes in Frozen Planet located in South Georgia were indeed filmed on that beach. I've included two pictures, one overview of a portion of the Beach, and the other a close up of an Elephant seal and King Penguins. FYI, the brown birds are juvenile King Penguins. For a ton more pictures, video, and a bit of text, here is the first of DW's blog posts on South Georgia: https://www.lisajtravels.com/2022/11/23/south-georgia
After South Georgia, we again had a long ocean crossing of 2.5 days or so to get to our goal of Antarctica. Once again, we were blessed with calm seas (for the third crossing in a row!). Whales were surprising abundant for this early in the season, Humpbacks and, especially, Fin Whales were seemingly all around, while the crew reported Orcas in the distance many times. Indeed, on one occasion, all three species were in site from the ship. Here is DW's first Antarctic post: https://www.lisajtravels.com/2022/11/29/finally-antarctica
(We went on the first trip of the season so that DW could get clean snow in her pictures, without an abundance of Penguin poop! Plus, we've had great whale exposure already....)
Nonetheless, overall, the wildlife was not as abundant as South Georgia, but there was still plenty of it, and the landscapes (and clouds!?!) were awesome. We saw flocks(?) of penguins "porpoising" through the water several times, including the one pic that is attached. Also, Weddel and Leopard seals--and did I mention the landscape?? Once again, we continued to enjoy great weather--see the attached shirt sleave picture!
Still, with a bad storm brewing in the Drake, we missed our last day in Antarctica and headed to Ushaia. Although a little disappointed, we understood the decision given the forecast (and later on, after experiencing 8 meter waves and hearing about the ship that got hit by a rogue wave the day after we sheltered in the Beagle channel).
Quite the experience, to say the least! The ship was very nice. Stabilizers made it fairly stable (I, as always, had transderm scop patches, and relief band wrist shocker employed and had no problems). Experienced luxury cruise people said it matched the "around the world" type cruises that they'd done, which seems like high praise.
Sorry for the length of this post!
Tomorrow, I hope to post on our trip from Ushuaia Argentina to Temuco Chile--which consisted of a 10 hour bus ride and a 35 day driving/hiking trip.
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