Antarctic Adventure #18 - off the boat & back to Buenos Aires, 30 Dec 2019

Antarctic Adventure #18 - Off the Boat & back to Buenos Aires, 30 Dec 2019

I did a cut & paste from the wonderful log that the Corinthian staff provided us upon departure to show our crew.  They were awesome & this was definitely a trip of a lifetime!!!

Last maps of our route.  Doubt we'll ever be back, but man am I glad we came!!!!

Can't believe we're back in the real world.  Wow!  This adventure was incredibly special.  Still have a few days left - we spend the last 2 nights at Iguassu Falls.  Today we had a very early morning, up at 4:30am!  The morning at Ushuaia was incredible.  50 degrees & blue skies.  Calm too. 

Off the boat by 7am & headed to the airport.  Couldn't stop snapping pictures.  What a day in Ushuaia.  Wish we had another couple of days here.

Flew back to Buenos Aires.  

Landed to 85 & rain.  Very rough flight - felt like we were back doing the Drake Shake!  Too funny!  But we were all groggy anyway.

Just here for 1 night, but they gave us another incredible room (almost said cabin!).  On the 11th floor with a view of the Obelisk.  Gonna spend a quiet night & flying to Iguassu tomorrow morning.  Gonna try & get some of the previous blog pictures loaded since I have fast internet here!

Antarctica Adventure #17 - Beagle Channel, 28 Dec 2019

Antarctica Adventure #17 - Beagle Channel, 28 Dec 2019

Can't believe it's already the last day of our expedition.  We have anchored in the Beagle Channel - The port of Ushuaia is full due to the high winds.  Some boats can't leave.  Claudia told us that just outside the channel, the winds are gusting to 60 knots!  That's where we were supposed to be.  Inside the channel it is windy, but nothing like that - probably 10 to 15 knots.  Lots of white caps, but it's close to 50 degrees!  Still hoping to see some dolphins before we disembark tomorrow!

I haven't said anything before about our meals on board.  Both breakfast & lunch were buffet.  And what a buffet!  In the mornings we could get eggs done anyway we wanted, besides all the fruit, sweet rolls, a special dish each day like Eggs Benedict or French toast, several choices of breads, muffins, cereals, or bagels.  Then at lunch there was always some sort of pasta, a hot open faced sandwich, & usually 3 meat dishes besides the salad options.   Even though we were pretty much at full capacity (98 passengers & I think 78 crew), there were plenty of places to sit.

 Claudia gave us our disembarkation briefing & also handed out our certificates for both landing on the Antarctic Peninsula (we got to do it twice!!!) and for surviving the Drake Passage - both ways!

 During the afternoon, a lot of us enjoyed wandering the outside decks - drinking in the sunshine & listening to our Excursion Leaders talk about various topics.  Dani gave us some history about Darwin's voyage - had no idea that both he & the Captain were only 25 years old.  Hard to imagine they could accomplish so much at such a young age!  Took lots of pictures - the beauty was simply amazing.

Chilean Skua - kind enough to sit quietly so we could get close up pictures!

Tried to take lots of bird pictures, but they just wouldn't cooperate. Mostly saw the Black Browed Albatross, Antarctic Terns, Chilean Skua, & Kelp Gulls.

The ships flag is from Malta.  They said it was mostly for tax purposes.  Certainly looked beautiful against the blue & white sky.

We had a Captain's Bon Voyage Cocktail party.  He made a nice speech thanking us for joining him & the crew on the voyage.  They gave away a gorgeous map with the route, signed by all 4 of the Excursion leaders, all 4 OAT Trip Experience Leaders, the Captain & his top department leaders, and it was all done in caligraphy free handed by Iggy - on of the Excursion Leaders.  Wish I could have gotten a close up of it - truly a special gift.

 Our last dinner on board was fabulous.  Among other choices (grilled prawn, Indian, a pasta dish), there was Filet Mignon!  It was awesome!  Way too many dessert choices, but most of us got Baked Alaska.  They had the standard parade of course.  Robert, the Hotel Department head even introduced the 2 Kitchen assistants (dish washers!).  He said that was how he had started many many years ago & he thought it was important to point out that regardless of how good everything else was, if you didn't have clean dishes, you couldn't serve anything!  How true How True!

Got a picture with our favorite young waiter, Oleksandr (called Sasha), from Kiev, Ukraine. He was only 20 & was completing his 4 month of the standard 6 month contract. He has an adorable 20 year old girlfriend back home that teaches English.

After we finished our leisurely last supper, the cabin attendants surprised us a display of all the cabin creatures they had been decorating the rooms with. Amazing that such a small staff could do so very much! I did complain to our attendant that he had never given us an alligator! He said it required 5 towels to make it!

We spent our last evening aboard dancing to our entertainer, Saul (pronounced SawUul). He was amazing. Loved the bar - no dance floor per say, but we danced on the carpet all around. He was very eccletic with his music. Covered all the bases, but we particularly liked the Cha & the Social Fox.

There was another boat anchored with us in the channel.  Maria mentioned the next morning that it was a traffic jam in the Beagle Channel & she had never experienced that before!

Took one last photo before closing the curtains in our cabin.  What a glorious evening.  We had to wait until about midnight to leave for Ushuaia.  Totally smooth sailing, we weren't even aware of any movement.  Supposedly docked sometime during the early morning.

Antarctica Adventure #16 - Drake Passage, 28 Dec 2019

Antarctic Adventure #16 - Drake Passage, 28 Dec 2019

Wow!  Okay - now we have experienced the Drake Lake enroute to Antarctica & the Drake Shake on the way home.  It was a truly unforgettable experience & this was still on the light side.  Could hit something worse tomorrow night.  Our Captain Denis is amazing.  All the crew & the trip leaders have been raving about him.  They said it was probably waves of about 5 meters (15').  Our cabin is on the very front of the ship - right about the bridge on Deck 5 & there were times I felt like we were facing right up to the sky, before slamming down with a very loud crash.  This was about 1am for a couple of hours.  Rough all night.  By morning it had calmed to 4 meters & 30 knot winds.  Still tough & I didn't try to go for breakfast.  So that was the edge of the smaller storm.  There is a bigger storm headed towards us & now we're cruising due north to try & miss it.  Hoping we can get inside the Beagle Channel before it really hits us.  Can't run all the way to Ushuaia because there is not a free docking spot.  Folks are stuck there because they close the port when there are winds about 20 knots!

 Most of the afternoon was lectures.  I played Uno with 2 other guests & our 4 trip leaders for a while during the afternoon.  Had a lot of fun.  Most of the guests were either watching a movie about a photo journalist spending 8 months in Antarctica or hiding in their cabins.  It was interesting seeing the small differences in an Argentinian Uno game - even the cards were slightly different.  They taught us some new terms.  One translated to "suck that tangerine!"  Somewhat like "suck a lemon?"  Also, they say oohpa (like oops) and a really fun noise that I have to get the spelling for.  Meant sort of "take that!"

 Had a lecture on birds - specifically penguins, by Ken Wright.  Have to Google him, have been told that he has been quoted in articles on the internet.  Learned that last trip, they only saw 1 species - the Gentoo.  We were very lucky to see 3 - Gentoo, Chinstrap, & Adelie.  Yea!  Also found out that last trip only saw 1 species of seals & we all saw 3 types - Weddell, Elephant, & Crabeater.  One of the guys even saw a Leopard Seal.  He got pictures of it on an ice floe.  I saw his picture tonight - very distinguished head.

Throughout the trip, they have posted our route on a map on the wall leading into the bar.  Exciting to see how we have navigated through all the little islands along the Peninsula.

 View from our cabin windows.  Salt spray has the windows a little messed up, but you get the idea!

Very calm evening.  Can see the storm front on our port side.  Ready for bed & fingers crossed that we'll skirt the storm!!  Have had enough shake - don't need any more experience with that!