Journey to the Bottom of the Earth!

Hello to our friends and family,

The most amazing trip of our lives has begun; we are on our way to Antarctica!  The first part of the trip could not worked better. Even though there was a “cyclone bomb” going up the east coast, Atlanta was just fine and on time. Delta’s business class felt like first and we slept quite well and long!

 

We flew to Buenos Aires, leaving on 1/3. Buenos Aires was a blur. We arrived and were whisked to the Park Tower for our overnight. We arrived about 11:00 am and were told rooms would be ready about three. But, in our case, they were ready as soon as we had changed for the 97 F heat. I had brought my scooter to use only in BA. So we went to lunch in the area known as Puerto Madero – it has grown up a lot since we were here ten years ago! Then we popped into Freddo for ice cream — dulce de leche for me.  Then we went back to the room to rest for awhile, then out again to take the scooter to the hotel to which we are going to go upon our return – the Alvear Palace where we stayed last visit. While there we decided to split a hambuger in the bar – accompanied, of course, by a caiparinha! I don’t forget some things.

 

After a very short night (got up at 3:50 a.m.) we were on our way finally to Ushuaia (the southernmost city in South America) to get onto our cruise. None of this stay was without incident: our first taxi became frustrated with us since he was unable to fit the scooter into his trunk (even though he did have a giant water tank in his trunk)…..so we had to wait for a suv size. We did fit it into the same size taxi later, but without the extra equipment…..so, not us! Then I walked out of the Alvear Palace being chased by our waiter; I had left my new phone on my table! That would have irritated me.

The Silversea Explorer is a dream of a ship – totally remodeled in 2017 and with a capacity of 144 passengers and 12 zodiacs. This trip will be all about the beauty of our world and the amazing wildlife in this part of the world; it’s been a bucket list trip of mine for a long time!

When we landed in Ushuaia, we were transferred by bus to a hotel on the top of a mountain for lunch – really just a holding pattern to move our baggage to the ship and to clean the cabins…..but it was a lovely hotel and the day was pretty.

Our cabin is small but very functional – lots of storage and a small balcony for looking out (don’t think I would want to sit out there even if there were room!).

This picture is a panorama from our balcony before departing Ushuaia:

Our first day out was a day at sea, but don’t think relaxing: parka fittings (mine did not), boot fittings (mine did not), lectures about the Falkland Islands, and marine birds (yeah!).  But I took NO pictures that day.

We have a wonderful captain – Captain Maggi! And for our dinner that night, a fun table with a fabulous sunset view.  It was our first of two “informal” dress nights….but neither John nor I noticed the information about that.  We arrived at the cocktail party in our jeans, etc., turned around in a few minutes and changed into nicer clothes.  Most days, anything goes….  We just sat down in the dining room at a table for six…..and were joined by the people below, first the women, then the couple.  We liked them so much that we asked them a few days later to join us on my birthday

In The next morning we stopped at West Point Island, Falkland Islands. There we saw lots and lots of Black-browed Albatross and their chicks, as well as some Rock Hopper penguins.

Once we finished, we visited the home of the owners of the island – they once made their income from raising sheep (fine wool, if you’re interested), but have found that tourism is more lucrative. They served us tea and quite a beautiful spread of sweets. I couldn’t resist adding a picture of two of our staff – Oscar, a naturalist and Dom, our assistant expedition leader – really nice guys! Also a sample (not us) of one of our zodiacs returning to the ship.

We had lunch, then repositioned to Saunders Island, also in the Falklands. It has a beautiful harbor and beach and is home to thousands and thousands of Gentoo Penguins. I walked a short way from the beach, found a perch and watched and watched them. It was a warm day (very sunny and high 40’s), so the ones that you see lying down are just suffering from the heat…..so resting. You can see me in the Land Rover with Susan, one of the five or six owners of this island. When I heard that there were also King Penguins on Saunders, but they were over the hill (hence further than I thought I could walk), she offered to take me. She and her sister-in-law Bippo were running a concession out of the back of the other Land Rover – I very happily bought a ball cap – very nice people!

Below is the Magellanic penguin.  And below that is the Caracara that Susan was playing with.  I love the shot that John took of them walking together with their wings spread behind them!

The next day we landed in Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. It is very quaint and British……and overwhelmingly support staying British – by something like 80%, John and I eschewed the sightseeing bus tour in favor of a sleep in and were rewarded later in the day with people telling us what a wise decision we made. On our own we strolled to the church and interesting whale bone statue alongside. We admired the lupins – they are gigantic and so colorful. And we took in the political sign in a window.

It was also my birthday and when we returned to the ship I was overwhelmed with the decorations in our room. Our butler and housekeeper and totally decorated it for my birthday. We asked some friends to dine with us that night and after dinner I was serenaded by about ten members of the wait staff and a guitar.   And the chef (another woman) came over to wish me Happy Birthday. She had made a special (and delicious) cake for the event which I shared with the table. What a fine day!! One person said to me yesterday, “How many people in the world get to celebrate their birthday in the Falkland Islands?!!!” What a thought!

I’ll leave you with that.  I don’t know if this will reach you easily as our internet is so weak.  I have been uploading these pictures during the night as there are fewer people online then (I think).  If I can there will be another blog coming — at least at some point.  I’m sure that the signal from Antarctica will be really weak 🙂

Love to all,

Beth