Antarctica I

 I´m down at the dock at 4pm, joining an excited queue of people, to embark on the MV Ushuaia. I´ve quite surprised myself that I´m actually doing this !! I thought I might get to Ushuaia and choke on the price of this trip. But after successfully getting this far I´ve got to do it !!

First impressions of the ship are that it is a little old (1971), but it is in good repair and it is a "proper ship" (not a floating hotel) watertight doors, narrow corridors and steep stair wells. It is an old NOAA Oceanographic vessel, with an ice strengthened hull, so should be very seaworthy. I was initially happy with my cabin in "steerage" (a little bigger than a sleeper cabin on a train) until I realise it´s the smallest cabin on the ship and my room mate is a little odd, bloody typical !!

At 1900hrs we are off ! Down the Beagle Channel to the open sea. We have 2 solid days of steaming to cross the redoubtable Drakes Passage. By 2400 the vessel has assumed a bit of a motion, it is a not particularly pleasant "Corkscrew" roll, as the swell is on our Starboard quarter. I wanted to see the lighthouse at Cape Horn, but at 60 miles, we are too far away.


During the crossing we are kept entertained with lectures about the flora / fauna / geology of Antarctica. The best part of this crossing is watching the "Royal" and "Wandering" Albatrosses wheel and dive on the wind, with their 11´ wing span, so graceful. I did not expect to see so many of them. Instead of "knobbly knees" we had a competition to spot the first iceberg, I kept a sneaky eye on the radar, knowing it would appear there first, but I was at lunch when the first one appeared, so missed out on a bottle of wine by a few minutes. Just after our first berg, LAND HO !!  The snow capped peaks of the South Shetlands appear ahead of us.

By 5pm we are in the first landing spot, Aitcho Island. (Funnily enough when the Brits were here in 1940´s it was their H.O. ! geddit ? the name stuck). The temperature has dropped remarkedly since Ushuaia, it´s just 3 deg C in the afternoon sun. The scenery is immediately "out of this world". There is a large mountain that is completely covered by hundreds of meters of snow & ice, surely that only happens here.

After a Zodic trip ashore we see Penguins ! First impression is: they stink! (like all sealife) and, they chatter. But of course they waddle about in that endearing manner, much like a self-important waistcoated clerk in a Dicken´s novel, who is late for Tea !! you can almost see the flying pocket watch !

We also saw a couple of elephant seals, basking in the sun and ignoring us completely.

Then, after a short walk we arrive at the glorious vista above. I did not expect such natural wonders so soon !

So who are the passengers ?  It´s motley selection of adventurous cruise ship passengers (who are a little older) and I´m glad to see, Backpackers !! Some of whom bought their ticket on the morning we departed !  There are quite a few Brits, Australians, Europeans, Canadians & North Americans, so lots of English spoken (thankfully), there are, of course, Argentinians and some Brazilians (oddly, the ships crew were mainly Chilean).  Also two pretty Polski girls (read their rather fruity blog: http://www.hottoddiesunlimited.com, they´ve got the best pictures)). One of the Brits has come equipped with 3 litres of "special water" (voddie !). There is an elderly rolley-polley American lady who looks as if her hand slipped while making the cruise booking, she was aiming for "Antigua", but got "Antarctica" instead !! Two Argentinians from Ushuaia won the trip for a local photo and writing competition. Another Argentinian couple got the trip free by the promise of writing a blog (missed a trick there...). There are also a handful of travel agents from Ushuaia who will need to sell the trip in future. There are only 64 of us in total, when the capacity of the ship is 84, which is good news all around. The whole social thing gets started as soon as the first day (on the crossing) and it´s great throughout the whole trip.