Thursday, January 13, 2022
My blog sort of went by the wayside during Covid. It seems we didn't do very much worth commenting on and it was depressing to look at all the wonderful trips we had taken previously. But finally we are underway again! The idea for this trip was always in the back of my mind but after we completed visiting all 50 states last year, we got to thinking that we had been to 5 of the 7 continents and if we were to go to Antarctica, we would visit numbers 6 and 7! So we made the decision and the reservations several months ago and hoped for the best, still unsure if we would be able to pull it off! Besides the whole Omicron issue, it is VERY difficult to get all the paperwork completed to enter Chile. Several people have had the misfortune to travel all the way to Santiago, only to be sent back to the US because of mistakes in the documentation. So I spent hours and hours and days making sure I had filled everything out correctly. The first requirement was a document called a Mobility Pass, which require one to establish an account with the Chilean government, followed by entering all your Covid vaccinations. That is where people made their mistake, as you had to enter all 2 or 3 separately and it was not very clear how to do this. Then you had to wait to hear back..for some people this was a matter of a couple of days and for some, it was weeks. Oliver's came back in 4 days but only showed 2 of his vaccinations. Mine came back and said there was an error...they couldn't open the jpeg with my vaccinations..so I had to resubmit and it was a nerve wracking 7 more days! Then I had to resubmit Oliver's booster and wait for that to be accepted. Once that hurdle was complete, we had to arrange for a PCR test to be taken no more than 72 hours from our LAST connecting flight to Chile. We did a test test at Walgreens about 12 days before we left. It took 4 days to come back so we knew that wouldn't work. We did go into isolation at that point, to be certain we wouldn't contract Covid before we left and 38 hours before we left, we paid $199 each to get a PCR test that was delivered to us in 45 minutes! THEN we had to fill out another form...a c19...that was our final approval to enter Chile. So the day finally arrived and I had a folder 2 inches thick with our passports, proof of insurance (they required at least $30k of insurance that covered Covid), the Mobility Pass, a negative PCR test report, our CDC vaccination cards and the c19 form- the golden ticket to get in!
We flew from Savannah to Atlanta and spent 3 hours in the Sky Club before settling into our nice Delta One seats for the long flight to Santiago. We backed away form the gate, taxied.....and then returned to the gate with an engine problem. After 2 hours, it was fixed and we had an uneventful flight.
Friday, January 14, 2022
Upon arrival in Santiago, we joined the long, long line trying to gain entry. In the past 2 trips of the ship we are going to be on, 27 people have been sent back to the US because of errors in their paperwork so even though I had checked ours 100 times, we were nervous but passed that check with no problem! On to the next long line for the PCR test, then to Immigration, then to baggage claim. The whole process took 2 hours and thousands of steps. Finally we were passed to the Silversea team and soon were into a van on our way to the Mandarin Oriental. Thankfully, we weren't put on the bus...more about that later! Once at the hotel, we checked in and then had ANOTHER Covid test!-the 3rd one in 3 days. Then we were quarantined in our room until receiving the results of the airport test. I had to break quarantine because I couldn't figure out how to use the phone to order room service. Finally I ran our order down to the concierge and we were rewarded with beer wine and huge delicious cheeseburgers!! We fell into bed, totally exhausted.
On our way!!
Our room was very nice! Too bad we couldn't visit the beautiful pool!
Saturday, January 15, 2022
We were up early for breakfast. Our PCR test results had come about midnight and we were negative so on our way. Into a bus at 8:15 for our ride back to the airport. We were taken to the charter terminal and provided champagne, vodka sours, and snacks before boarding our flight to Punta Arenas. We had a nice smooth flight with snacks and drinks and arrived about 2:45. Into another bus to the ship's terminal. But we weren't done yet!! We had to sit on the bus for over an hour because the check in process was so slow. Once we made it to the head of the line, we had to provide our PCR results, our vaccination cards, have our temps taken, and fill out a health questionnaire. Then off to another van to drive us to the ship. Once there we were sprayed with disinfectant (!!!!) gave over our passports, and had our pictures taken. We finally made it to our cabin at around 5PM!! Fortunately a cold bottle of champagne awaited us, which we opened immediately!. Akash, our butler, showed up but we had to watch a safety briefing and then head to muster drill to learn how to put on a life jacket. Back in our cabin, Akash showed up to find out what we needed. He offered to unpack for us but I need to know where everything is so declined. He asked what we liked to drink and we said scotch, gin and wine. A bit later he showed up with a bottle of Chivas Regal, Bombay Sapphire gin and a bottle of chardonnay. I unpacked and we headed to the mandatory meeting to meet the crew. While we were sitting in the theater, the ship doctor came and asked us to step outside for a little talk. He told us that the bus we were on from the airport to the hotel had a passenger whose PCR test was positive and everybody on that bus (17 people) had to quarantine for a day and have another Covid test! Fortunately, we were NOT on the bus, having been sent in a private van, so we were not quarantined. Turned out, it had been another couple they were looking for! We had a delicious dinner and finally got to bed about 11. The ship sailed at 7:30, while we were having dinner.
The beautiful Andes Mountains
Arriving into Punta Arenas, the largest city south of the 46th parallel. It was originally a penal colony. Chile has used Punta Arenas as a base to claim it's sovereignty claims in the southernmost part of South America. This led to the Strait of Magellan being recognized as Chilean territory in the treaty with Argentina. It was once one of the world's most important sheep raising regions.
Waiting to be cleared into the terminal.
Silversea provided parkas, backpacks, water bottles and masks, etc
So happy to finally be on the ship!
And unpacked!
And served!!
Sunday, January 16, 2022
It had gotten quite rough in the night but we were not worried, as neither of us is prone to seasickness. Akash delivered our yummy breakfast and I showered, all the time feeling more and more nauseous. Eventually, my whole breakfast came back up and we both put on scopolamine patches. Fortunately that helped and I continued getting ready for our mandatory 9AM briefing. We learned what we can and can't do ashore, and also how to get in and out of the zodiacs. Looks exhausting! During the presentation there was some kind of emergency with a passenger..out on the floor.. fainted? The doctor came and we all left. Hope the person is OK..bad way to start the trip.
When we got to our cabin, my rental boots, pants and walking poles were there but not Oliver's. We put Akash on the case and just before 10:30, they showed up. We tried everything on, putting on a fashion show, and everything fit except maybe Oliver's parka so we will go to the parka exchange later! We had a nice lunch and Oliver is "resting his eyes" until we go to the mandatory Biosecurity and Boot Tagging event! Everything that goes to shore has to be checked for any invasive species. They are so very careful here! All our stuff passed and we got ittle tags so that we can identify our clunky black boots from the 168 other pairs! We rested so soundly that we missed dinner!
This is the theater where we have all our meetings. It is really beautiful.
This doesn't really convey just how rough the Drake Passage was, although they tell us it was just "moderate". We all walked around like a bunch of drunks!
It was quite a chore putting on all our shore gear!
Monday, September 17, 2022
We were still in bed when Akash brought our breakfast so we just laid there watching him set it up. I could get used to this! He wants so badly to do more for us. He offered to polish Oliver's shoes, offered to bring us caviar and more champagne..I think we are a disappointment to him! We watched a movie and then lurched our way to lunch. There are at least 2 enrichment lectures every day-so far we have learned about the history of Antarctica, about the birds, and about the early explorers..and of course about the penguins! The Expedition Team consists of a historian, a geologist, an anthropologist, a biologist, a climate expert and several other experts. We get a daily briefing from the head of the team..a recap of the day's events and a briefing on the next day's plan. Tomorrow looks good for our expeditionary operations. We will anchor at Hope Bay, then they will send one of their team in a zodiac to assess the wind and waves and if all goes as expected, we will take a zodiac cruise at 8:00. Then the Captain will move the ship to another anchorage at 11:30 and we will go ashore at 2:30..our first steps on the 7th continent!! After dinner we went back to our cabin to try on all our gear again. Not as easy as you would think! After an hour, we had everything on but couldn't get Oliver's parka zipped. I rang for Akash and he came and got Oliver all zipped up. We will probably need him again in the morning!
It was a long way from Punta Arenas to the continent! There is so much wild life to see, even in the Drake Passage. The Expedition Team is on deck several hours a day to spot and point out different birds, whales, etc. The most interesting bird of course is the albatross. They are among the largest flying birds and the giant albatross has a wing span of 12 feet! The male and femle court for several years and then mate for life. The breeding season can take over a year from laying to fledgling and they only lay a single egg. There are 22 species of albatross and most are endangered by rats and feral cats that attack their eggs and chicks; by pollution; by decline in fish stocks and by longline fishing which is the biggest threat..the birds are attracted to the bait, become hooked and drown. They nest on isolated islands and return to their natal colony to breed.
Breakfast
The daily briefing
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
I woke up with the sun....at 3AM!!!! Memo to self...close the drapes. I went back to sleep but woke up at 5AM and looked out our door and saw our first iceberg!! Had our breakfast delivered and started to get dressed..knowing how long it would take! The expedition leader just told us we're a go!! The winds are steady at 15kts and the swells are just 1-2 feet so it should be great!
We boarded our zodiac for our cruise around Hope Bay. Now boarding a zodiac doesn't sound like a challenge but believe me when I say it's not as easy as it sounds! First we put on our skins, our fleece, our socks, our parkas, our life jackets, our backpacks, our hates, our gloves...and our funky looking croc shower shoes. Then we go down to the Mud Room and struggle into our boots, leaving our crocs on the shelf marked with our cabin number. Then we log off the ship, step into a bucket of bacteriocidal solution and go down a ramp..where all the fun begins! We have 2 or 3 narrow steps down to the zodiac. Once ther, we find 3 ABs...able bodied sailors. We grip 2 of them with the "sailor's handshake" - forearm to forearm- and step into the zodiac where a third AB helps us sit down. Then we scoot on our butts to the far end. We get off the same way, only in reverse. Of course, the ship is moving and so is the zodiac so it makes for some excitement at times. The ABs really know their stuff, though, so we felt very confident that we wouldn't end up in the ocean!
Our cruise around the bay was lovely. We stayed y the shore and saw thousands of Adele penguins. The Adeles were discovered in 1840 by explorer Jules Dumont who named the area, and the penguins, after his wife, Adele. These penguins are medium sized, weighing 6 to 13 pounds. You can tell an Adelie by the white ring around it's eye. It's hard to tell the males and females apart. They are great swimmers and good long distance walkers. They like to plonk down on their bellies and toboggan! There are only 5 species of penguins on the continent..we will see 3. Their only predators are the leopard seal and the skuas (birds) who take eggs and chicks. The adults swim between 5 and 120km offshore to catch food for their chicks. Adeles are busy little animals, moving to the sea to find food, coming back to feed their chicks, or just standing around chatting! We saw the Argentinian research base and some beautiful tabular icebergs. Back at the ship Akash was waiting for us with hot chocolate and cookies. After lunch, we repeated the whole dressing business and got back in the zodiac to go ashore at Brown Bluff.
We had what is called a wet landing. They pull the zodiac up as far as they can but then we scootch our butts to the front, swing our legs over and drop down into the water..just about 6 inches deep or so. It's all rocky and was hard to walk on but we are on the continent!!! We had walking poles with us but it was still a bit of a challenge. But oh the penguins!!! They were everywhere!! They are not one bit afraid and some are very curious and come very close to us! This is when all the babies are still with their parents and haven't molted yet. The parents go to the sea and fill up with krill and then come back and vomit it back up into the babies mouths. Gross but efficient. The babies will chase the parents around begging to be fed-even parents not their own! It's quite noisy. We saw lots of Adelie penguins but many Gentoo as well-including a whole "kindergarten" of baby Gentoo with one adult on duty to guard. The Gentoo are recognizable by their bright orange beaks and white stripes across their head and they throw their heads back and trumpet very loudly! It has the longest tail of any penguin and they are the third largestm after the Emporer and King penguins. They are the fastest swimmers of all penguins reaching speeds of 22mph! They breed on ice free surfaces either right on the shoreline or inland. They make nests from circular piles of stones and some times they fight over the stones. A male penguin can obtain the favors of a female by offering her a choice stone! They lay 2 eggs and the parents share incubation. The eggs hatch after 34-36 days and the chicks remain in the nests for another 30 days. It was just so magical to be so close to these wonderful little creatures.
By the time we got back to the ship, the wind and waves had picked up considerably and getting out and up the stairs was a REAL challenge. Once on the ship, we went to the "wet" side of the mud room and scrubbed down our boots and poles and pants, put our funky slippers on and went back to our cabin. We were exhilarated but exhausted! Akash brought a bottle of wine and some tonic water and limes and we decided to order room service. We had hamburgers and Akash was beside himself...couldn't he bring us more to eat, couldn't he get us some ice cream, wouldn't we like dessert? I casually asked him if we would ever see his manager-he left and in 5 minutes was back with his manager! We have to be careful what we say to Akash, as our every little wish is his command!! We had a really sound night's sleep.
One of the first icebergs we saw was this huge tabular berg.
Our first sighting of penguins and we were all so thrilled!
Setting foot ashore the continent!
The Argentine research station
Hard walking
The kindergarten of Gentoo babies
Part of the huge Adelie colony
This baby Adelie was so curious!!
These Adelies were going to sea to get food for their babies!
It's quite warm and this Gentoo's feet and underarm are pink. They will get brighter if it gets warmer. This is how they sweat! This little guy nearly ran into me!
I just loved the look on this Adelie's face...he looked a little annoyed!
This is the boarding platform for the zodiacs.
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
After our usual room service breakfast, we were going to start getting ready for our morning excursion in Mikkelsen Harbor. The ship anchored, the wind and waves were favorable, the zodiacs were launched, the kayak team was out scouting a place. Not 15 minutes later, the winds really picked up, the zodiacs were recovered and operations called off. We hung around Mikkelsen Harbor for a while but it was clear that nothing was going to change, so off we went. They do a great job changing plans on a moment's notice. Instead of the onshore visit, we had 2 interesting enrichment lectures, one on how and why animals have adapted to this environment, and another on the differences between the north and south poles. After the lectures, we went to lunch and the ship entered Cierva Cove. It's quite calm here, so they are launching the zodiacs and kayaks nd we will be taking a little cruise later this afternoon. We are in Group 2 - that put us first yesterday but last today so we won't go out until about 4:30. Because of the IATTO rules-the International Antarctica Tourism Organization-no more than 100 people can be ashore in one location at a time.
The cruise around Cierva Cove was amazing! First we visited a Gentoo colony and watched these busy little creatures bustle around. Then we went up close to the glacier, through the ice fields. We saw some beautiful blue icebergs and came upon several crabeater seals-they don't eat crabs but they have very distinctive teeth that help them eat krill. The water was really rough and we got pretty wet-that's why we wear waterproof pants, parka and boots! It was very rolly at the ship but again the ABs kept us out of the ocean!
A little something about glaciers. They are made up of fallen snow that over many years compresses into large thickened ice masses. They form when snow remains in one location long enough to transform into ice. What makes glaciers unique is their ability to move. They flow like very slow rivers. Presently glaciers occupy about 10 percent of the world's total land area, with most located in polar areas like Antarctica and Greenland. They are remnants from the last Ice Age, when ice covered nearly 32 percent of the land and 30 percent of the oceans. Within the last 750,000 years, scientists know that there have been eight Ice Age cycles, separated by warmer periods called interglacial periods. Currently the earth is nearing the end of an interglacial, meaning that another Ice Age is due in a few thousand years. This is part of the normal climate variation cycle. Greenhouse warming may delay the onset of another glacial era, but scientists still have many questions to answer about climate change.
We had just 30 minutes to change and get to the theater to hear about tomorrow's activities. We had dinner at La Terrazza-Italian of course-and it was delicious. We were exhausted and fell into bed.
Making our way through the ice fields. Titanic, anyone?
A penguin lookout!!
This was the only cloudy day we had, The rest of the time it was sunny and actually pretty warm..in the 30s.
Thursday, January 20, 2022
We had a wonderful sleep and woke to a calm but snowy day. Akash brought our breakfast and then we began the lengthy process of dressing for our expedition. When our number was called, we made our way to the mudroom to put on our boots and then to our zodiac. It was so calm that it was easy for once! Off we went to Cuverville Island where things got a bit tricky. Our wet landing was on a very rocky beach and then up some really slippery ice stairs. We made it up to the trail with the help of our walking poles. The trail was icy and we had to cross several penguin highways, which entailed stepping down a big step and then back up. Very tricky. We made our way to the Gentoo colony and witnessed a very disturbing fight between two Skuas. Not a pretty sight and the biologist told us she had never seen it happen before. We made our way back down the trail. Oliver had a standoff with 2 penguins, stepped ina hole up to his knees, fell a couple of times - then we discovered he had a bad pair of walking poles. I traded with him and it went better! We made it back to the zodiac-not easy going DOWN the ice stairs-but had an easy time getting back on the ship. We went to the wet room and scrubbed down our boots and to the cabin where I wiped down our parkas, life jackets, pants and rinsed our gloves off. Had a really great lunch and now Oliver is napping. We hear the afternoon expedition is even steeper and more challenging so probably will skip it and have a relaxing aternoon aboard.
We did skip the afternoon expeditiom and heard we didn't really miss much. We could see the landing site from our balcony and it was a very steep hill and no penguins! We heard it wasn't too hard going up but lots of people fell on their way back down! We napped a bit and then showered and went to the presentation about tomorrow's plans. Tonight we had reservations at La Dame, the French restaurant. It was very elegant-started with caviar and then 5 more courses. It's the only restaurant we had to pay extra for-it was very good but we probably wouldn't do it again. Neither of us slept as well as we have been. I also forgot to close the drapes, so when the sun came up at 3:45 AM......
Taking a rest from the hard walking!!!
These little chinstrap penguins are so cute. See why they are named that?
Friday, January 21, 2022
We had our breakfast a bit early since our zodiac group was the second to go today at 8:00. It was a spectacular day-bright sun, light winds, zero swells. We saw the wreck of an old whaling ship. In 1915 it caught fire-it was carrying whale oil so burned quickly. The Captain sailed it into shallow water in order to save his crew and all 80 escaped alive. We also saw one of it's tender's buried in the ice. We saw part of a glacier collapse-it was a small collapse but made a LOT of noise! We also saw an iceberg "roll over". It was so calm that the crew brought a zodiac out with champagne and hot chocolate and truffles! Very elegant. we saw a large colony of Antarctic cormorants and a few seals snoozing on icebergs.
Back at the ship Akash brought us coffee and cappucino and cookies. We watched a movie and then had a delicious Mexican lunch. Since we had decided not to o the afternoon expedition, we enjoyed a bit of wine with our lunch! We had a little rest time-although right in the middle of our nap, one of our life jackets inflated! The CO2 canister was loud and i scared me! We could see the afternoon landing site. It was just a path up a hill to see some icebergs so we were glad we didn;t go. An excellent dinner and bed time!
The day was just spectacular!
This was the tender to the whaling ship that burned.
And this is the whaling ship, with a sailboat tied up to it!
Part of it is underwater
What is laying on this iceberg?
A crabeater seal taking a snooze!
That's our ship
The ice that is the oldest, is the bluest, from the air being compressed.
You can see that most of the iceberg is below the water
That is the Viking Ocantis in the distance.
That hole is a crevasse. If someone was walking on top of it, they wouldn't see it and it might be hundreds of feet deep!
Saturday, January 22, 2022
We slept really well and had a great breakfast. We watched a movie and Akash brought us snacks. The Captain moved the ship just a few miles to Fort Point for the afternoon expedition but the weather had changed really drastically-50 kt winds and 6 foot swells so nobody was going anywhere! We showered and went for an excellent dinner and to bed early. The polar plunge was today and I had planned on doing it but they didn't start til 6PM and that was cocktail hour so..... Only 43 out of 169 did it,,,guess it was cocktail hour for most of us!
The sailboat that was tied to the whaling ship came by!
Sunday, January 23, 2022
We didn't have breakfast til 7:30 since today is a sea day. After breakfast we went to an enrichment lecture, all about the Antarctic Treaty System. very interesting. We had a lectre on Climate-part 2 will be tomorrow. Jane is very interesting. She is working on a PhD in Polar Climate. She talked about all the life that exists under the ice and showed 2 ice moons-Jupiter and Saturn-that are very thibk ice and suggests that there may well be life there! She showed charts depicting the amount of ice lost since the 1980s and it is significant. She showed a graph of CO2 emissions for the same time frame. She showed 2 graphs of temperature change-one with no human influences and one with things like cars, planes and factories. Big difference. Lastly she talked about how the oceans are becoming more acidic posing a threat to all living things. Very enlightening.
The water has flattened out and I started packing. After I had most of it finished, we went to the Captain's farewell talk and introduction of the crew. Dinner was excellent again.
When we left the Shetland Islands, it became very rough so Oliver and I both out on a atch. I really hate them because they give me dry mouth and my brain doesn't work right! The seas flattened out pretty quickly and I removed our patches!
We won't see many more of these beautiful icebergs!
A bit about icebergs. When the edge of a glacier advances into the ocean the pieces that break off are what we call icebergs. Icebergs are comprised of pure fresh water. Between 10,000 and 15,000 icebergs are calved each year. The glacial ice that that icebergs are made of might be more than 15,000 years old. 7/8 of the mass is below water. The largest icebergs originate in Antarctica, 93% of the world's mass of icebergs are found surrounding Antarctica. In 1987, an iceberg with a n area roughly the size of Rhode Island broke off from the Ross ice-shelf. It had a mass of about 1.4 trillion tons and could have supplied everyone in the world with 240 tons of pure drinking water! When an iceberg melts, it makes a fizzing sound from the popping of compressed air bubbles. Birds taking flight from an iceberg are a good sign that the berg is about to roll. Floating ice shelves comprise 11 percent of the area of the continent of Antarctica. If Antarctica were to melt, the sea level would rise 60 meters!
The Drake was a Lake
Until it wasn't!!!
Monday, January 24, 2022
Up early and we are off the coast of Argentina, headed for the Straits of Magellan and Punta Arenas. We disembark tomorrow and have a charter flight to Santiago and then flights to Miami, Charlotte and finally Savannah. It's going to be very tiring and we are both glad we upgraded to first class! Waiting now on breakfast and our Covid test.
They are very organized on the ship. They called us down by zodiac group-we were Group 2-and did our tests. We are to get an email with the results and then a hard copy to get back into the US. There were 13 people on the Silver Explorer - our sister ship- who have been quarantined at the Ritz Carlton in Santiago for 13 days! They get to go home tomorrow! We went to Jane's part 2 presentation on climate. Really interesting. After lunch, we had a nap and a movie. Before dinner, we watched a video they had made of the trip. It was so beautiful! We each got a copy which will be a wonderful remembrance of this unforgettable trip. Our last wonderful dinner and then we finished our packing and went off to bed.
We saw lots of oil rigs off the coast of Argentina.
A little info on the Drake Passage. It is the body of water between between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic with the southeastern part of the Pacific. It is named after the 16th century Engish privateer, Sir Francis Drake. In September of 1578, after passing through the Strait of Magellan, his only remaining ship was blown far south and he discovered an open connection of the Atlantic to the Pacific. The other two passages around Cape Horn, the Magellan Strait and the Beagle Channel, are very narrow and can become icebound. There is no significant land anywhere around the world at the latitudes of the Drake Passage, which is important to the
unimpeded flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which carries a large volume of water through the passage and around Antarctica. The passage is known to have been closed until around 41 million years ago. Before it opened, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were separated entirely with Antarctica being much warmer and having no ice cap. The joining of the 2 great oceans started the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and cooled the continent significantly.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
We had an early breakfast and then we were called down to board our bus to the charter flight. Fortunately we tested negative but we believe there were at least a couple of people who didn't! Not sure what will happen to them. As things seem to go in Chile, it wasn't quite so simple. We got on our bus but then had to get off our bus to clear the port. Then our bus driver said that the government didn't allow 2 buses at the airport within a certain time limit so we had to take a little tour of Punta Arenas. Here is what we saw
We got to the airport and we were checked in and our luggage checked without having to do anything but we had quite a wait before our flight took off. We arrived in Santiago at 3:15 and we had to collect our luggage, wait for a bus, go to a hotel close to the airport, get on another bus, go back to the airport and go through the process of getting out of Chile--passports, negative Covid tests, immigration and passport control and security. Our flight didn't leave until 11:30PM. Arrived in Miami at 5:30 and with Global Entry, we were processed through in about 15 minutes! everything was on time and we were home by 1:30.
It now almost seems like a dream. It's hard to believe we were so far away, walked on the 7th continent, communed with penguins and seals, and came home safely. We are truly blessed. Thanks for reading our blog!