Day 22: Ushuaia to Buenos Aires

The alarm went off rudely at 6am. Dan and I had had trouble sleeping as the ship was in the dock and not moving at all! 

We were the second bus out at 7:50, so that meant an early breakfast - the restaurants opened early today so we had one last meal in Lindstrom. Our waiter knew our drink order (cappuccino and a glass of oj) which was bittersweet! I don’t want to get off! Got myself the omelette again and Lo and behold I managed to finish it this time. Not knowing when we would get to eat next we tried to stuff as much in us as possible. 

We returned to our room via a walk outside to finish packing our hand luggage. The night before Dan’s nice hurtigruten drink bottle was misplaced and no one turned it into Lost and found - we checked again this morning. We stood awkwardly in the middle of our room, not quite ready to leave it and not really able to start anything new. A few minutes after 7:50 our bus two was called so we said goodbye to the room and made our way down to deck 4 to disembark. Lots of people were gathered around here but I think they were just early as we walked past them all and off the ship. 

Both Dan and I teared up a little turning our backs on the Fridtjof Nansen and we waved goodbye to the mighty ship that safely saw us cross the Drake passage - four times. Once on bus two we realised we were about the last ones on somehow, thankfully two seats next to each other right up the front. Eventually we trundled off out of the wharf. 

“Be back at the bus at 9:55am,” our guide said. “That gives you about 2 hours in Ushuaia.”

“Are shops open?” someone asked. 

“No they open at 10am.”

I thought it was hilarious that they were literally just piling us off the boat and unloading us into an empty town. I still wanted to try to find a magnet, and anyway we had t really explored Ushuaia Main Street so Dan and I made our way up to it once the bus stopped. 

It was an absolutely stunning day, quite the opposite of what we had experienced our first time in Ushuaia. The vast majority of the snow had melted in the mountain tops and the air was hot and pointy. After Antarctica 23C felt like a heatwave! And we weren’t fully prepared!

We enddd up doing a full lap of the Main Street - the guide wasn’t wrong, even the majority of coffee and breakfast places weren’t even open yet! Randomly one little kiosko was open, and randomly again it sold magnets. We walked right to the end of town as we thought maybe the supermarket would be open, but seeing it was not we about turned and returned up the Main Street. Passing the kiosko again I went inside. 

The walls started to close in around me and the ground rose up to meet my feet - my land legs were having some troubles in this claustrophobic little tiny store! We bought an Antarctica magnet (for about au$13, ouch - it still says Ushuaia on it but only in little letters) and back out in the fresh air. 

“There might be a train in the prison museum complex, apparently it’s viewable from the road at a certain angle.” I laughed, of course we had to find the train! We continued to were the train was supposed to be and could see it at a very long distance behind what looked like an imposing Naval complex. The instructions for the train say that it could be seen up a block, so we kept wandering to no avail. At some point I noticed people and signs for a variety of museums, so we thought we’d go check it out. There were two big bus loads inside and around the Prison museum, so we went inside and I used the facilities while Dan figured out how to see the train. We were surprised it was open, but there were heaps of people milling about. There was also a gift shop in here -I wondered if I might find a better magnet. 

The museum was set out like a wheel - a central area with spoke passageways going out from the centre. We tried every passageway to find this train. Up one passage showing imitations of prison rooms. No exit at the end. Back to the centre. Up another passage - a converted art gallery where two artists were selling their wares. Upstairs from here we could just glimpse the train through the tiny prison windows - but how to get to it?

We noticed some people had come in through a door behind a curtain. Odd, but we followed and realised the door was unlocked. Success! We were outside and in the courtyard of the train! 

Once Dan had his fill of pictures we decided to go back in so I could peek at the gift shop. We still had plenty of time before we needed to be back at the boat. Back in through the door and the curtain, exclaiming how weird it was when we were confronted by a man. 

“What are you doing in here?”

“Um”, we flustered “there were people…”

“Not open yet!”

When we looked flabbergasted he relented and said free to stay. 

Major whoops!!

Chatting with Dan later on, I thought he meant the museum was free anyway so we could stay inside, but Dan thought he meant we are here already. Turns out the museum was over $6000 pesos - major major whoops!

We quickly peeked in the gift shop and made a speedy exit.

On land we said a final farewell to Marianne and Heidi (and I gave them a bum steer thinking the museum was free, sorry!) and then we returned to the bus. 

From here it was a short bus ride to the airport building. We had to collect our luggage from a pile and check it in. On the queue we spoke with one of the guys whose luggage hadn’t arrived - it was still back in Dallas (so no fault of hurtigruten). He had to buy practically everything - he has a lot of Ushuaia branded clothing now!

Once through and through security, Dan and I found a seat fairly easily and settled in to wait. And wait. It was quite warm up here /l- the building didn’t seem prepared for warmer weather. People were starting to line up at our gate so we joined them thinking it would only be 10ish minutes. We stood here and waited. And waited. The line grew behind us. It was very hot up here and everyone was looking ready to collapse!

Finally boarded, and we set off. We didn’t expect a food service at all and we enddd up with a huge tray! Lots of breaded products - it filled us up. Early into the flight Dan and I donned our masks again as the guy behind us spent the whole flight sniffing, coughing and spluttering - we nicknamed him Sniffles McGoo - he wasn’t wearing a mask but the lady he was travelling with was. It was a bit shit. 

Other than that the flight was uneventful. At the other end it took forever for the luggage to appear, and then it appeared at a different turnstile than the one Hurtigrutrn guide had directed us to. I didn’t want to traverse public transport so Dan had organised a transfer - our driver was waiting patiently for us when our luggage finally arrived. 

The transfer was considerably quicker than the first time! We didn’t get stuck in any traffic. The day was very warm, over 30C, and all along the grasses banks of the highwaY families had pulled up and set up picnics - and impromptu games of soccer were everywhere. I also noted that the music on the drivers radio was in English, the ABCDE F U song and it wasn’t bleeped out! Dan and I spent much of this drive reminiscing about people we had met or observed on the expedition. 

We never really had much of a chance to debrief! Straight into the next part of the adventure - two nights now in Palermo Soho. There was a steak restaurant I wanted to try near here that did 40% off happy hour at certain times, so once checked in by the lovely guy at our next hotel, we dumped our things - had a quick look around the room (nice and bright and airy! Didn’t expect to get a kitchen) and out the door again. 

On the walk to La Cabrera we spotted a street market and vowed to check it out after dinner (if we get in) or for dinner (if we do not). Happy hour at La cabrera was 6:30pm-8pm and we arrived pretty much right on the dot of 6.30pm to see the restaurant swamped by a crowd of people. 

A lady told the instructions in Spanish and English, that we MUST be out by 8pm, they started calling names off the list. Ah. I went up and asked if they still had space and a baby faced young man said no. To try again tomorrow - maybe get there about 6pm? We promised we would and we turned around and walked away. 

We came across another arm of the market so followed it until we ended up in the main square of Palermo soho. It was buzzing!  We inspected the goods then thought we’d find a central place to eat. The first one we sat at felt a bit tourist trappy and just didn’t get with me, so after checking the menu we just upped and left. 

Across the way was a tap house called Valk with craft beers - I suggested we try one of those while we considered what was next. Sitting outside a menu was brought to us and our waitress had a decent amount of English. They had a special with loaded fries and two craft beers, I chose Red Honey and Dan the Belgium IPA. 

This turned out to be exactly the vibe we were looking for. Perched up on high stools, sipping our tasty beers, and watching the crowds. Soon a busker set up near by. Those who know me may already know I generally do not like buskers, (especially those ones that trap you on public transport and play two terrible songs and expect to be paid). This guy though was amazing. He played a great mix of western songs and Argentinian songs, he was great at the guitar and it was just a vibe. Some people gathered around and danced and sang, and everyone was happy. 

A cool breeze took the edge off the night, and we ordered some Chilean cheese bread sticks (I can’t remember what they’re called to hand) and another round of beers -  a sour for m that tasted like lemonade (very refreshing) and a Hefeweizen for Dan (both by Gorilla). 

At the conclusion of our beers, we gave the busker some money (I do not do this often or lightly!) and started walking home. I veered us off the path slightly when I noticed a helado shop near our accom - Dan reluctantly agreed as he was full. I couldn’t read most of the menu so I stuck with old favs chocolate and raspberry, and we were able to get toppings too - and with that dripping down my hands we raced back to our balcony to share the gelato. 

It was a lovely way to end a long, tiring day! We had an early start in the morning, so we called it a night. 

Day 21: Drake Passage to Ushuaia

By now we were through the worst of the Drake Passage, expecting to get into Ushuaia by midnight tonight. The Beagle channel is very calm, and would be the last 4ish hours of the journey. I was still a bit swimmy but feeling a lot better. Today would be our last day on board, and there were a lot of sessions to attend!

After breakfast buffet in Aune, we got stuck into packing. I generally have the easier time of it as Dan carried the bulk of the technology (cables etc) and these always get out of whack when we unpack. I found holding my head down to pack made me feel every wave, so I had to stop periodically to lie down. 

Full disclosure: the room we chose was magnificent. Our suite had the best view of the whole ship. To get the best view, we had to be at the front. We were even further forward than the bridge. This meant that the motion of the ship was extra pronounced. When Dan got me a seasick tablet at one point, the lady at reception, upon taking his room number, said “ah I would be having one too in that room!”. I think for future trips somewhere near the middle would be better considered, but hell the view was magnificent through the calm Antarctic waters!

At 11am, our humpback whales group was given the opportunity to visit the bridge. Dan and I left a few minutes early and, maskedup, we managed to join the end of the queue and walk straight in. The first mate was at the wheel, and the lady captain gave us a rundown of the various screens. No wheel at all, just a tiny joystick. Few buttons - everything is touch screen. When asked if the power went down did they resort to paper maps she replied no, there’s electricity backup! It is all digital now. 

One interesting screen showed where the ship had been - as the Antarctic waters are still relatively unexplored many ships share and collaborate with their own charts through the Drake Passage. This contributes to building a bigger data picture. On both edges the floor was glass - this was so the ship could be navigated against a wharf and could be looked down upon. 

Straight after the bridge visit was a science and animal recap. I can’t remember all the stats (we will be supplied all this information in a few weeks time!) but we saw an inordinate amount of humpbacks, about 21 different species of birds, and we learnt that Dougie was “furious” that he missed out on seeing the orcas! The Citizen Science experiments were recapped, including how many birds at various times, how many whales, levels of phytoplankton (microscopic sea plants that is eaten by krill which, if not kept under control, could become invasive), clouds and much more. Fascinating!

The menu for Lindstrom didn’t appeal so we went to the buffet. We ran into a/Prof Anne and I chatted with her about my seasickness. As she researches tourism to Antarctica she was interested in - essentially - how much I was willing to suffer to see it! 

More packing, then to level 10 to see the scientists elevator pitches - each of the main scientists on board (many of the expedition leaders) also have outside research they are conducting. Heidi and Marianne had saved us a seat and we caught the end of the towel folding session (which actually

Looked fun! Sad we missed it) and when it hit 3pm, the ladies and Dan went to the other side of the ship to get some afternoon tea cake. I tried my best to fend people off our group of seats, and one lady got quite bitchy with me for saving so many. 

The research included :

• Helene as we already knew was obsessed with seaweed, and had even compiled a book of seaweeds in South America
• Miguel onboard was known as the bird guy, but outside he has researched everything from elephants to his most recent, the correlation between weaver ants and bee populations/ pollinating (weaver ants seem to eat bees, which means generally less pollinating)
• Mexican Miguel, as he said “During covid we had two options. Stay at home and cry, or find something to research.” He spent much of covid collating tonnes and tonnes of data into a spacialgram that he said himself is too complicated for him yo datamine, so also worked on the dna patterns of fish and various parasites
• Dougie onboard was a whale guy, but outside he was relatively new to the academic world having done his masters during covid. His main research had been on invasive crayfish in the uk and the best traps for catching them. This resonated with me as this had been an issue PIRSA dealt with in SA. 
• Laura, the “ice girl”, who had researched glaciers and ice lakes in Greenland

It was really cool hearing all their passions and explaining the why behind their sliver of research!

More packing, then returned for the activity recap. Even tho we didn’t end up doing any of the optional activities (having opted not to do the kayaking in the end), it was still interesting. Apparently the highest number of kayaking groups to date (8) because the weather had been so spectacular. The groups in many instances even went to places the leaders had never been due to the glorious weather and no issues with wind!

At 5:30pm was the Captains Farewell and we held the fort this time while Heidi and Marianne went back to their rooms. It was extra hard fending people away, almost the whole ship turned out for this one! We got our glass of champagne and the captain recapped what we had gone through and thanked everyone for their patience with our double take start and that the injured passenger is successfully healing from surgery. Our captain said he was looking forward to a cold beer - he was also going home for a time after this voyage! After a quick SKÖL, he passed the microphone to Tousten who introduced the entirety of the crew. We gave them a standing ovation as all 100+ walked past. I don’t think I’ve mentioned but many of our waiters in the restaurants also doubled as expedition crew, helping us in and out of boats and the like! It was amazing. 

Tim the photographer had put together his photos and videos on board. As Tousten said,

“If this doesn’t win an Oscar for best documentary in 2023, they lack vision!”

It brought tears it was so beautiful and also a wonderful memory recap. Tim had also captured some funny/gross animal moments that made everyone laugh. We will get a copy of this in a few weeks too!

Following the recap, The Rolling Waved took to the stage! One of the officers on lead guitar, there were a couple of bass players, drummers and keyboardists - including our sommelier! The first couple of singers were a bit off key and we clapping politely but the third and only female singer took to the stage like she was meant for it! She had a great voice and great charisma and managed to get almost everyone up dancing to Dancing Queen! Had a wiggle with Helene. 

We had to finish our packing and have it by the elevator before 9pm, however we were scheduled for 7:45 dinner. We had shared details with Heidi and Marianne earlier that day and at 7:40 received a message to say they have a big table in the restaurant if we wanted to join them. We had lost track of the time (drinking a vino and eating yesterdays chocolates …!) that we quickly grabbed our bags, literally dragged them to the lift (only two others were there already…I always been uncomfortable leaving my bags for cruises but one just has to trust nothing will happen to them). 

Dinner was lovely and we toasted our good times with Heidi and Marianne. It was very warm at the table, so we had to close the blinds - there wasn’t much to see outside anyway! I had the king crab, we all were a lamb with blue cheese sauce appreciation society, and I ended on the raspberry and jelly soup which was a touch odd. It was so warm our petit fours were melting! We drank plenty of red wine!

We caught the very end of Anne and Hanne’s research talk at 9pm, and ducked out briefly for some fresh air. I ran into Helene and fumbled my way through a thank you for everything. Outside it wasn’t even cold, but we didn’t want to miss the expedition teams sea shanty so we returned to deck 10. The only seats left were right at the front. Tousten did another amazing recap of the tour, highlighting the unimaginably good weather and shared photos and footage of behind the scenes with the expedition team. Expedition crew Paul led the sea shanty - and hell he could sing! The words were on the screen (Nelson’s Blood- Roll the ol’ chariot along) and we all sang along - a wonderfully fitting end to our last night on board. 

Day 20: Drake Passage for the fourth time

And with that we about turned and started returning to South America. 

The night before I had preemptively taken a German reissentabletten which certainly helped to knock me out. We got the cabin ready to tackle to Drake passage again - promised to be a mild 4m swell. 

Again, do not have much to report for this sea day. I remained dosed up and dozed up on the seasickness tablets supplied by the ship - my own failing to work. I was considerably better this time as I was better prepared: and knew not to try to move too much! I did manage to go to Aune for breakfast where they tried to put us right at the back by the window. 

“Excuse me, can we please sit in the middle?” Our waiter looked a tad confused but led us to a high table. Everything was rolling. Upwards downwards sideways. In the kitchen on the other side of the wall came huge BANGS. Draws sliding open and slamming shut again? Meat being tenderised? I’ll never know. 

Everyone was supposed to return their boots and gang patch today - I wasn’t able to stand up for any length of time so after breakfast Dan took our things down to level three. He kindly washed my boots as well as his own to make sure they were free of anything that could harm Antarctica. 

Lunch was chips again. 

While we ate, we gave the movies a go - there was quite a selection! It was freezing a bit, so Dan unplugged and replugged it and it worked well after that. We finished off 3000 years of longing. Interesting movie, think a lot was left on the cutting room floor. 

We watched the disembarkation briefing from our room. It was a little chaotic, and after the fact i told Dan it reminded of this scene from Monty python:

“Now before I begin the lesson will those of you who are playing in the match this afternoon move your clothes down on to the lower peg immediately after lunch before you write your letter home, if you're not getting your hair cut, unless you've got a younger brother who is going out this weekend as the guest of another boy, in which case collect his note before lunch, put it in your letter after you've had your hair cut, and make sure he moves your clothes down onto the lower peg for you. Now...”

We worked out that we were bus 2, leaving at 7:50am for the 12pm flight out of Ushuaia. We needed to have our bags out by the lifts on our floor by 9pm on the last night. 

Laying in bed, it could have been beneficial to have a seat belt. Or bed belt. The rocking would often go around in a circle, so if I was on my side my knee would press heavily into the bed, then I would have a feeling of weightlessness before I was almost rolled onto my back, and then a deep feeling of pressure as I was pushed back into the bed by the ship coming down the other side of the wave. On this journey, the waves caused the boat to smack down at the front regularly, and the whole ship would judder and shudder. Occasionally - stillness - but this didn’t last long before the whole roundabout process would start up again. 

Stayed in bed until about 6:30pm, then pulled myself together to get some fresh air. I stumbled my way down to deck six and stood in the cold freezing air, gasping for breath with sea salt water splashing my face. Then started making my way up to level 9 for dinner. To do so, I stumbled my way up the level 6 corridor, and up a flight of stairs to collapse in a seat by the lift. There was a window but mercifully someone had designed a panel to go across exactly where the horizon was, so I couldn’t see it bucking and swaying. Dan went back to the room and got me an espresso (by the way, I don’t think I’ve mentioned just how much coffee machine coffee we imbibed on this trip! A couple every day! Milk came in a little sachet combined with sugar. Made great little macchiatos.). I found the coffee tended to help my seasickness for some reason, and I felt a little better. I sat here for a while before tackling the stairs to deck eight, and again collapsing in the chairs on this level. The swells were so large the lifts had been disabled. 

This whole procedure to get to level 9 took about an hour and a half. 

For dinner I tried the vegetable soup as I thought the broth would do me good (was tasty actually, the sirloin again (because I knew it was solid) and some blueberry sorbet for dessert to avoid dairy. On the neighbouring empty table, one giant swell caused the bread basket to launch off the table and deposit bread rolls at our feet, the poor waiters crawling around to collect them. 

Meanwhile, dans butter knife went sliding off the table, and as I started to ask him where it had gone, mine followed suit. I think they’re still on the floor to this day! 

I felt a little better with food in my belly so when we finished dinner we visited deck 10 and caught the end of the Tech talk with the engineers, captain and crew. Lots of questions about the engines and the batteries. 

We were also told that the 4m swell prediction was a little off - they were closer to 7-8m. Ah. That explains it. Time to try to sleep again. I’m 

Day 19: Neko Harbour

As it was our last night at Antarctica itself, I had the bright idea to see what it was like trying to sleep under the perpetual daylight. Our room

Was divided into two sections - a front lounge and the bed area, which could be divided by a blackout curtain. In the lounge were two small reclining couches, so Dan and I took one of these each. It was amazing, laying out under the light. I lasted until about 1:30am when I craved darkness - Dan until about 4.30am. 

 Today was our final landing day and we were going to get another continental landing at Neko Harbour. As explained yesterday this is not normally one the expedition get to go to very often, and the crew were very excited! It was another glorious day outside - absolute cracker. 2C, no wind. It turned out to be too hot!

Unfortunately over the announcement in the morning the polar plunge would not go ahead as the glacier was very active, probably due to the sunny warm weather.

 Dan and I were equal parts relieved and disappointed and we shared this sentiment with others at breakfast. “We would have done it if we could!”

As our expedition was right on lunch time we had as late a breakfast as possible. We hung out in our room, and were dressed and ready quite a bit earlier than our 12:10 time as we were going to go for a bit of a wander around the ship. 

An announcement came over:

“For those who wish to do the polar plunge, it had been deemed safe to do so now, so for the remaining groups today who wish to plunge, put on your swimsuits and those who have already been over, we will take you over after! Please be aware these conditions can still change. 

“Shit.”

Dan and I looked at other, hurriedly stripped, threw our bathers on, our all our cold weather clothes *back* on and packed extra socks in our backpacks. At level four we met many others, all wearing their togs and exclaiming “I  was hoping to get away with saying “I would have done it if I could!” -now I have to!”

We had a good chat with Heidi and Marianne who we had met earlier, and discussed the ways of using GoPros. 

Eventually the humpbacks were called and we descended to level 3. The Zodiac zoomed over quite fast actually! They’re normally quite sedate.

The rocky beach was literally covered in penguins. We had been told not to get distracted by them and go straight up the steps onto the snow in case the glacier carves and a wave inundates the beach. The Aussie expedition Lara got us to cheer on arrival, and then “you should know how to get out of the zodiac now. if you don’t get out right we are sending you back to the ship!”

Legs over the side, swing legs towards the driver and splash into the water, we waded up onto the beach and started to make our way to the snow bypassing the penguins. However another crew member told us to stop as a penguin was considering where it wanted to go. Tousten was shouting at us to get off the beach so the crew member directed us around the penguin and we alighted the stairs. 

Todays was a steep climb. If we wanted to do the polar plunge we needed to be back in one hour. Dan and I decided to sort of bypass the penguins on the way up as at the end was a delirious view of a beautiful glacier. It’s funny to say but we had seen many hundreds of penguins by now, so we were ok to move on past them a bit quicker! 

It was very hard work getting up the incline, and it was hot. I ended up ripping off my beanie and stuffing it in my pocket. Others around me were in tshirts. I only had my thermal layer underneath and it was dead sweaty by now, so I unzipped as much as I could and kept plodding! I ended up getting a little sunburnt on my forehead as I hadn’t put much sunscreen there, expecting to be wearing my beanie. Halfway up we met one of the crew (he was kinda the only jerky one) and he seemed to delight in telling us that the polar plunge was cancelled 

“Again?” We said, thinking maybe he hadn’t heard it had been reinstated a short while ago. 

Unfortunately yes. It was cancelled - and for good reason, as we found out shortly. Again Dan and I were conflicted - it would have been great to have done the plunge! But also scarily cold. 

We finally breached the crest and came down the other side to the top of the glacier. Dan and I had a photo taken by a crew member on the edge of the world - tiny ship in the background, glaciers to one side and penguins to the other. It was so bright Dan lamented not leaving his sunnies on. We took some photos of our own here, then back up a little to go back down again. I slipped a bit on the way down and we stopped at a vantage point. 

It’s hard to explain the sound, but all around us were thunders and cracks as bits of ice moved, broke off in neighbouring valleys or just started to shift. The sound was incredible. I also seemed to notice that the penguins knew something was going to happen, so I motioned to Dan to stop moving, trained my camera at the glacier and seconds later CRACK CRASH WOOOOOOOOOSH, a large chunk splintered from the body of the glacier and crashed into the water. Ice sediment scattered on the waters surface underneath a large ice cloud, and from our vantage point we could clearly see the waves beginning to form. 

The sound was indescribable. After the zodiacs sped the deeper water, no human sound for many minutes. All we could hear were the penguins, chattering away amongst themselves and those on the beach had rushed off the shore. The creaks and groans of other ice sheets, booming through the harbour. The wave, making icebergs and ice sheets crash against each other and jostle the rocks and stones on shore was never ending. 

After a number of minutes, people starting moving and breathing again, and a lady swished past me in her parachute pants, breaking the breathtaking serenity. 

Keeping cameras handy, we turned around and continued down. I slipped, and the jerky expedition leader said I’d have to be hosed down when I got back to the ship. I still don’t know if he was joking?

Once back to the penguins, and now we knew there was no polar plunge, we figured we’d just take our time a bit. There was another lower viewpoint of the glacier at the junction, so after a pause we went down. I wasn’t sure how well I’d make it back up again, but we spotted people from other groups being slow too so we gave it a go. Down here we spotted two more smaller carvings from the glacier. Again, it’s really impossible to describe the noise. 

We slowly made our way back up, still with cameras at the ready. At about this point our GoPros both died, and as we had extra batteries on us this time in case of the plunge we were able to change them. At Owens stop, he was called by helene on the walkie-talkie. 

“Are you by yourself?” she asked. 

“I have penguins to keep me company,” Owen feigned sadness. “I’m very happy to stay here.”

In reality Owen had missed each of the carvings by a split second and he wanted to finally catch one! We wished him luck and turning our back on the glacier, trekked downhill until it was out of sight. 

We ended up waiting at the launch point for about twenty minutes as groups were unloaded, but we were not collected. This was great penguin watching time, and they whizzed through the water or lay flat as a pancake on rocks, or failed when trying to jump up onto a piece of floating ice!

Finally it was time to get in a zodiac and we went down the snow stairs. At the bottom

I was stopped - a big penguin was just staring at us trying to decide which way to go. Turning his head this way and that, he just hung about, but as we were on the beach the crew were keen for us to keep moving, so I was instructed to go around him. This got him moving and he went the other day. Getting into the boat was a bit easier this time - Dan stayed outside and helped hoist me in and I had already taken my camera and bag off to make the jumping easier. 

Back on the boat we, like everyone else on the ship, went to the only restaurant open outside of normal lunch hours, Freidheim. It took forever to be seated, and we were asked if we minded sharing. Of course not, just let us eat! We were placed with our new friends Heidi and Marianne and got to know them well over lunch!

Today I had the Nansen burger with blue cheese sauce and coleslaw, and one of their famous chocolate milkshakes. While we were eating and chatting an announcement came over. For those wishing to do the polar plunge, our deck crew are on hand with water directly from the ocean and if you come to deck 10 they can hose you down. This made me laugh a lot, but We opted not to as for me half the fun was stripping on the beach and working yourself up to run into the water! I’ll just have to come back one day to get my certificate!. 

We wanted to join the group checking out some of the things under the microscope but technology wasn’t cooperating. Instead Helene had made a presentation and it was very interesting! She showed some of the organisms in the water up close, and some of her other findings including accidentally catching a sea butterfly  a sea snail that has adapted its foot into wings.

Before dinner Dan and I hit the deck with our cameras and my big lens, and tried getting some last photos. We watched some people do the adapted polar plunge, which looked rather uncomfortable! The boat started to pull away from

Neko bay. Dan and I stood on deck 11 and reflected for long while, watching the scenery go by.

Our standing Dinner at 7:45, and again we sit with Marianne and Heidi. “You’ll be sick of the sight of us!” I laughed. Dan and I really enjoyed talking and learning from these ladies, and we got some inspiration for future travels. As it was our last day on and around Antarctica, we did a big cheers to the amazing days we had just experienced and we’re still trying to take in. 

On the food front, I had steak tartare with a raw egg (risky, but delicious) and we were a sirloin appreciation society as all Four of us got this for our mains! I finished with an interesting beetroot and lingonberry based dessert. 

We all Missed the charity auction as we were having a great time talking, and I’m not actually sure what it was about! Dan and I intended to watxh it back but there wasn’t time (or inclination… as seasickness was to be rife over the coming days…)

As we were finishing dinner, the four of us watched a massive pod of whales out of the restaurant window. One two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve spouts all in a row. Truly incredible. 

After dinner We donned our cold weather gear and made our way to deck 10 (back of the ship) to watch Antarctica disappear. A few people were in the hot tubs, and one daredevil in the pool as it wildly sloshed side to side. We had been told waves waves would be about 4m so the journey back not as bad as the journey there (this turned out to be an inaccurate measurement). 

Behind us, a cloud was beginning to shroud Antarctica like a curtain closing at the finale. 

Day 18: Damoy Point

Today was our third day of landings, and because we had had such early activities the day before we gave ourselves leeway to have a few bevvies yesterday. We were looking forward to a bit of a sleep in, but this was thwarted by an announcement by the delightful Tousten,

“Wonderful, good morning dear passengers!”

This morning at 9am we were to be going through the Lemaire Passage and despite the fog we should be on the deck to witness this - in some places it is very skinny and there is ice to navigate. 

We were slightly hungover, so we had to drag ourselves down to Aune for our breakfast buffet. The breakfast didn’t go so well - my hard boiled egg was soft boiled, and barely even that (seemed mostly raw, not fab in my condition!). 

We made our way out to deck 6 - parts of the side of deck 6 are uncovered but the whole front is glass windows with leaning stations. Lots of people were gathered here watching us deftly navigate through the giant icebergs, knocking the occasional smaller one (probably a bergybit or growler) out of the way. The bang as they hit the Nansen was a bit startling! But obviously no need to worry about doing a Titanic. 

Also at the front on deck 6, Helene was doing a science experiment - she was distilling water collected during the science boat expeditions to find invasive species molecules and the rate of phytoplankton in the water. 

We watched the iceberg dodging for quite some time, and then retired to our room to watch the passage from there. 

I almost instantly passed out on our little lounge, and awoke with a start as we were approaching Una’s Peaks, as mentioned yesterday, also called Una’s Tits. They were indeed mighty. 

Sitting bolt upright, the announcement was to let us know that if we had postcards to send, they could be delivered to reception to be taken to Port Lockroy today. Dan had asked earlier in the trip and had been told there wouldn’t be an opportunity on this trip so we could deliver to reception at any time, and we would use the last two days to write them. This new information sent us scrambling. Between us we scribbled 16 postcards, including one to ourselves. While we were hastily writing, another announcement came through the room. This time it was the captain. 

“In line with protocol, I must let everyone on the ship know that there are two positive COVID-19 cases on board. The people are isolating, and I encourage everyone to wear a mask when moving about the ship.”

Dan and I stopped writing and stared at each other. How? We were all tested? Perhaps someone picked it up in the airport or Ushuaia after testing. “Damn, I was enjoying not wearing a mask.”

Hands cramped, we finally finished writing and donning our masks we ran to reception to make sure the postcards were in the post. Butler James (we never found out his real name!) took our postcards and started to count. He feigned exhaustion when he got to the end and asked if we wanted to put any of the ink stamps on them. 

“No,” we said, “we have another postcard here that we’ll stamp. We are also sending a postcard to ourselves to we will get the port lockroy postage stamp that way!”

He shook his head in disbelief but also awe at how organised we were. Dan started ink stamping our spare postcard - one stamp for each destination we had been and where we were going (which was a sneak peek!), then said loudly, 

“And four Drake passage stamps as we crossed it four times!”

“I like your style,” Butler James laughed.  

Today our excursion was set for 3:20pm and we would be alighting at Damoy Point to view more penguin colonies and to visit the historic Argentinian and British supply and rescue huts. We had lunch on the dot of 12pm, and the scenery outside was magnificent. Entirely different to anything we had seen so far, the sky was indeed grey but there was little wind, and it was snowing gently. 

Just stunning. 

The excursions were running early for once, and many of the humpbacks were ready before the Orcas. We ended up on a boat with the Orcas and we’re some of the first of our group over. 

It continued to snow on us gently on the slow zodiac ride over, due to lots of submerged rocks. We came right up close to the ice sheet and I could see that it didn’t quite seem to meet the rocks at the edge, and could also see that it was melting fast. 

Disembarking the zodiac was legs up over the side and splashing into the water. First time testing out the shoes and pants properly! I did feel a little bit of cool near my toes, and in hindsight I think my boots did leak a little…

We waded through the water to collect our stocks (each time Dan and I considered not getting them, but ultimately the hilly areas are a lot easier with the stocks, and coming downhill, it’s just a pest when taking photos), heard the  briefing (we had an hour on land today) and started up the steps that had been carved into the snow/ice by an expedition leader - probably stair master extraordinaire Maarten, the Dutch expedition leader who described his role as deputy as “everything Tousten doesn’t want to do”. 

The smell here was intense. Penguin guano has quite the aroma, and in the bay it seemed extra pronounced. We started up the hill while skuas watched us warily, and penguins splashed on the shore. 

As the queue to the huts was small, we decided to do that first. The bright blue british hut was able to be entered by a handful of people at a time, and Miguel Mexico was manning the door. It was an interesting change of scenery - being inside a building - and after we carefully brushed our feet to enter we spent some time photographing the now historical artefacts inside. Many shovels, bunk beds (they looked cold, especially as the snow was window height outside!), tins and tins of non-perishables, quick dissolve sugar, custard powder and much more. Apparently after the Falkland war the Argentinian’s wanted to keep a watchful eye on the brits, so they built a tiny hut directly next door. We weren’t able to enter the Argentinian hut but it had a couple of broken windows and looked in a greater state of disrepair. 

Out we walked along the path made for us - it was a little steep (but nothing still compared to day one!) when we reached the top we were greeted by Owen who said:

“Welcome to the Colony of Thieves.”

It was amazing watching the little penguins (and one in particular!) keep stealing rocks from one nest and then presenting them back to their lady at their own nest. It was a constant shuffle of stones. My favourite was one thief who was chased away from a nest it was trying to steal from, when he returned to his own nest and pretended to lay a stone down anyway so his lady wouldn’t know he didn’t succeed! (I got it on film, it’s so cute.)

They were so funny. I assume because it’s a long way to get new stones from the shore so it’s easier to steal from your neighbours who have done the hard work!

The penguins were on little rocky crops sticking out of the slow - I assume their body heat stops the areas from settling snow and ice. The next outcrop had amazing view of the Nansen in the background, and the scene was just magical with the snow still gently falling. 

Further on the next rookery had little penguins running down their penguin-made highways - some were so deep we could only see the top of their heads bobbing along!

We stopped to take photos on the way back, and ended up getting back a little late to the launch site. The ice stairs were beginning to disintegrate so I had to take it carefully. To get into the zodiac was the same as getting out, and I realised I might have some trouble. 

We waded into the water up to our knees, and then had to jump our bums up onto the side of the zodiac, swing our legs around and in. I didn’t see Dan do it but he apparently pretty much stepped in, which resulted in a chorus of other boat occupants chastising him for making it look so easy. My turn. I could not get enough height the first time, and Dan captured me flailing like a bug on the GoPro while the expedition crew tried to lift me in. No luck. I threw my bag at Dan and tried again, this time he helped hoist me from the inside and, Ungracefully, I slid down into the boat. 

“Short people problems!” A lady uttered sympathetically, while I laughed and tried to hide my embarrassment. 

Once back to the ship, we thought - jacuzzi! The weather was colder today so this would be a perfect opportunity to sit in the warmth while the snow fell around us. Because the air temperature was colder and there was no sun, the spa temperature was perfect! We were able to stay in for much longer this time. After a while a young German guy joined and we had a good chat about the snowshoeing that had also taken place at Damoy Point - they walked about 2km around the base of a hill, saw many seals and back again. It hadn’t interested Dan and I, and we think we made the right choice Altho it would have been nice to see some seals!

We got out of the spa and took some silly photos sunbathing and parading around in a skimpy bathers with the big arctic mountains behind us. What a wally!

Back in our room, I tried a Norwegian cola (“tastes like the jagermeister of cola” I said because it was really herby) and Dan had a beer. We lost track of time looking at our videos and pictures that we realised just in time that tomorrows briefing was about to start! We couldn’t get it to load in a room so we jumped out of our wet bathers and back into some civilian clothes and raced to deck 6. 

Tomorrow our group excursion would be at 12:10pm - it would be another continental landing! Apparently we were very lucky to have this landing and it was entirely thanks to the passenger who we had to turn back for - in changing the itinerary a vacancy had come available to visit Neko Harbour. We learnt much later that many sites work on a booking system devised by IAATO, but not every ship is part of IAATO so it can still be a bit hit and miss when arriving at a landing point whether we could go aground. So strange, and I hope this is something that is tightened when the treaty is revisited in a few years (although the fear is of course that the treaty will become more lax, which would be an issue). Only 100 people can be on land at any time, so if another ship is there we must wait our turn. 

We also learnt that ther is a possibility to try the polar plunge again here, but the site is dominated by a large and active glacier that regularly carves, causing tsunami waves to cover the beach landing area. We will find out in the morning. 

While we were in the spa we wanted to have a drink outside but the bar there wasn’t open. Instead we went to the explorer lounge on deck 10 so Dan could have a Mack beer - the most northern brewery in the world that we had visited in Tromso. They didn’t have it, so he got. Svalbaard beer and I got myself an aquavit sour which was very strong. Once we were on the cuddle couch Dan googled the Svalbaard beer and turns out it has topped Mack in being the northernmost brewery in the world, so it all righted itself in the end!

We had dinner tonight in Aune because Lindstrom’s menu didn’t appeal, and we liked what we saw on Aunes (btw the menus for the next day are posted the night before in the app). We were seated near a window and I set up my phone with a Timelapse as we sailed out from Damoy Point, leaving the overnight campers behind. 

At dinner Aune is alacarte, so we both chose the duck breast starter, pork knuckle and potato for main and the chocolate mousse for desert. The service here wasn’t quite as polished as Lindsteom but the food was delicious!

While we were eating an announcement was made that whales had been spotted breaching on our side of the ship. We kept our eyes peeled but saw nothing. 

Shortly after a cheer cane from behind us at the back of the ship, we raced over and saw 3 orcas! You could clearly see their tall diesel fin and white colouring. That takes our whale watching to minke whales, humpback whales and orcas - and later on we learnt that almost every expedition leader missed out on the orcas and they were bitterly disappointed. If we weren’t in the Aune restaurant and hadn’t been placed at the back of the ship, we wouldn’t have seen them either. It’s not usual to see orcas at this time of year. 

After dinner we Finished went to the tiny talk about Antarctica used to be green. It was fascinating, and explained how Antarctica broke off from Gondwana so South America and Australia and Antarctica all used to share land, flora and fauna. At some point in history an ice sheet covered Australia and Antarctica, then Antarctica started drifting south, getting colder and also *making* the atmosphere colder at the same time. Dinosaur fossils and many plant fossils have been found, altho much of the continent remains unexplored. 

Day 17: Petermann Island and and Hovgaard

The alarm went off at 6:20am, which was pretty rude after the late night and slog we did yesterday. We looked a bit like shit. But made our way to the Freidheim restaurant for a continental breakfast - it’s the only one open that early. We spotted another couple people from our humpback whale group in there. 

We were supposed to go kayaking this morning but it clashed with our Petermann island landing. Everything we had heard was that Peterman island was amazing but also - normally the kayaking clashed with zodiac Cruises not landings. The night before, when we realised, we raced to reception but no one was there (no one noticed us - I didn’t want to flag those on the computers out the back). Dan chatted to reception and cancelled for us, hopefully we haven’t wasted €300, but I think we got to it in time. The landing looked so much more interesting than kayaking, so we made that tough decision and stuck to it.

Back in the room Dan and I donned our waterproof gear again, struggled into the moon boots and fretted over how many layers to wear. Outside was grey and overcast, but not cold or windy. I decided to stick with the thermal and one layer beneath my hurtigruten jacket, no snood, and switched the deer stalker hat for the smaller beanie when I realised how much warmer it was doutside. No gloves were needed. I mean, it’s 0-1C, but when you’re moving around you get warm quickly. 

We were not the first down to deck 3 but we were ahead of schedule, and not too long later we were on a zodiac over. Landing was tough - crew members were up to their waists standingin the water guiding the zodiacs in, and one could only jump off when the driver pushed the boat roughly against the rocks, giving you less gap to have to jump over. 

Todays landing was rather spectacular. The small briefing took place on a little rocky inlet, the ice around us visibly and audibly melting cresting streams through the rocks. We collected our stocks and were told to be back at 9.05. We weren’t to follow the original path they laid out as in the meantime a big weddell had decided to lay out and watch its penguin lunch. It was a bit pissed off with us being there and gawking at it, and by the time we had done the round trip it had gone. 

There was an abundance of penguins just as we got off the zodiac but we had to move along to let more boat loads land, so we made our way up a bit of an incline to view the wege of a rocky outcrop. Here, Adélie penguins coexisted with the gentoo penguin and apparently also some chinstraps could be found (we didn’t see them), and also coexisted with comorants! Looking back on my photos it’s amazing to see the fully black Adélie penguins, gentoo penguins and comorants all in the same frame. Many skua were hanging around, apparently waiting for an opportunity to steal eggs. I didn’t see this happen but others on land did. After being overwhelmed by what was going on on one side with all the different penguins and other birds, we shuffled our way around to the other side where the was a beautiful iceberg bay, filled with giant blue chunks bobbing gently. 

On the way, a curious penguin joined our people highway while his friend stood to the side like “what are you doing?” The views were almost too much, my camera had a hard time with the white sky and the white snow, it was stunning. There was amazement everywhere we looked. We were glad we had foregone the kayaking in the end. 

Only a few minutes late we returned to the starting spot and joined the queue to get on the zodiacs back to the boats. It was moving very slowly, and we were surrounded by rockeries so it was a brilliant place to be waiting! We watched the little penguins wander this way and that, jump, slip, shout at each other, gather pebbles for the nests. There was constant movement. One would set off along the penguin highway, meet another penguin, squeeze past each other on the narrow path and continue on. All the while under the watchful gaze of the predatory skua…

Back on the Nansen we chilled for a while, and looked at our pictures. I lamented that we hadn’t seen any chicks on this landing, when I zoomed into one of my wide shots and realised it was full of fuzzy potatoes!! And we also saw a lot of cormorant chicks too, nestled amongst. I was so happy, can’t wait to edit these photos up. 

 Because we started so early and it had been pretty strenuous on the land, by thr time 11am rolled around I was STARVING. We donned our gear and did a lap of the ship to help stave off my hunger. Always constantly so many little penguins jumping and diving like tiny dolphins. 

Lunch was in lihdstrom - carpaccio, seafood spaghetti and chocolate brownie that was really just a sponge cake. While we sat at the window we saw some more humpback whales gliding past. Dan suggested I try filming them with my zoom lense on my canon. It doesn’t have a stablizer so I have to be very still. We watched and filmed as a family of two big whales and a little one eventually fluked in sequence and dove. It was beautiful. 

Saw whales during lunch - videoed them on 

Time for a nap! While I was doing this, Dan  saw a Yugoslavian made ship from the 70s so he hung around outside to photograph that. Soon it would be time for our afternoon cruise on the zodiacs - the hardest part is just waiting around for our group to be called. We knew we would be first again so we put our gear on and meandered down the level 3. 

By the way I don’t think I’ve explained the gear. The outfit goes like this (for me, anyway. Dan were more layers than I do as I am prone to overheating). 

Thermal tights, thermal long top. 

Normal pair of socks, then thick woollen socks. 

Next on go the waterproof pants and I instantly start heating up. I don’t put any of my top layers on until closer to time. 

As the isssued boots are a bit of a process to put on, I’ll often put these on pretty early. The first day I had an issue with one rubbing and bandaids didn’t seem to help, but haven’t had the same problem since.  Actually since it’s been more about the different points where the boots bend and stick in, but I only notice this while I’m in the room once I’m out there - all is forgotten. So the giant waterproof shoes go on and I tuck the inside layer of the ski pants into the top of the boots. My pants are too long so by doing so it helps to make them shorter. My knees get a bit bulgy but that’s ok. Then another outer layer - fleece, or a skivvy, then the hurtigruten waterproof jacket. The life vest is next, complete with an extra strap between the legs to stop it floating off over your head in an emergency. Beanie, sunnies, gloves. I’ve tended to go sans gloves oddly enough, I’ve been warm enough and my camera and phone are touch screen. 

Overheating on level3, we met brian and Suzanne down thrrr already. They’re in minke, but I think they’re getting a bit bored hanging around. We had a good chat while more humpbacks arrived. We hadn’t been called but we were all impatient. About half an hour late(r) humpbacks we’re called and Dan and I were at the front of the queue. 

This meant we could sit at the back of the zodiac and have room to swivel a bit, rather than being a bit trapped in the middle. We sat opposite each other so we could get footage on our GoPros of the other. 

Our cruising this afternoon was around høvgaard harbour through and past many icebergs. I couldn’t hear our crew leader super well, but it was nice still to sit back and rift around. Because I couldn’t hear I wasn’t sure why we were circling a small chunk of ice. Eventually I realised it was black ice and he wanted to show it to us - as well as get it out of the way for the other zodiac drivers. Between him and Dan they managed to fish it out of the water and plonked it unceremoniously onto the boat. It was about the size of w basketball,Crystal clear, and dangerous for zodiacs as you can’t see them low bobbing in the water. The High oxygen content makes them extra clear and and in the water all you can see is the bottom of the ocean.

While out here we Saw a little penguin doing an interesting way of swimming - later on we decided he was probably eating. We also Saw red and green ice algae, which left big stains through layers of the ice, and Some big gulls tried to swoop us!

A seal was spotted sunbathing on a rock - at first the leader thought it was w weddell seal but it turned out to be an elephant seal which was apparently a bit out of character, alone on a rock. he wasn’t super interested in facing the camera and frankly from a distance just looked a little bit like a brownish turd. He did look up at one point and I got a funny little photo where he has a fin up, and looks to be saying “please, no photos.”

It was peaceful and serene and soon enough we were heading back to the Nansen.

After disembarking Dan and I went straight to our room and got into our bathers. We wanted to try out the sauna and figured while people were waiting for their cruise there might be less competition. As we entered another couple stopped talking - we thought they were German but shortly after entering they asked if we minded more steam, to which we said of course that’s fine. They were American, and he said

“I’m guessing by your accents that you didn’t cross the equator?”

“Actually” Dan said “we crossed it twice! But yes we live in Australia. “

Ended up having a good chat while sweating and watching the amazing scenery outside - little zodiacs against the towering icy land.

When we were very sweaty and dehydrated we jumped out of the sauna, had quick cold showers and headed outside. We gave the pool a go - was delightfully coolish and surprisingly salty. We did a few laps then the spa came free, so took the opportunity to Hop in.

Too hot! Especially in the sun.

Because we had such an early start we decided to at last have a look at our wine collection in the room. We popped the bottle of honeymoon bollagers while we got ready for the esrly briefing session. We filled a mug with fancy champagne and giggling made our way downstairs. Everyone else had their mugs of coffee and tea (we presume), and we kept joking we had our camomile. We learned that tomorrow will be a bit of an easier day-just one landing as we had some very scenic sail to do through the Lamaire Channel. We learned about some of the digits to see, including the aptly named Una’s Tits.

“This is a landmark to look out for tomorrow,” Bruno said.

“Two landmarks!” Someone quipped.

After the early briefing it was dinner time. I had the carpaccio, followed by the seafood risotto and the lemon tart. The seafood risotto had a large prawn, de shelled but with the shell placed back as a feature. It was quite unnecessary and a little off putting! When we finished we raced to tonight’s tiny talk about 10 interesting facts about Antarctica. Bruno let the session and we sat with our friends Heidi and Marianne (complete with another glass of wine, this time white, in our mug). Bruno is always good value and his session was very interesting! Most of the facts have escaped me now unfortunately.

We chatted with Heidi and Marianne after the tiny talk had ended. Soon enough it was time to pack it in so we returned to our beautiful room yet again. We spent some time chatting and drinking wine until I noticed the time. 11:50pm.

“Let’s go outside for midnight” I said.

Dan looked at me incredulous. “Why?”

“Coz I want to see how bright it is at midnight in polar day.”

Begrudgingly, but also unable to fault my logic, Dan agreed and we donned minimal amounts of warm clothes and ran outside. We did have our wine windcheater on, so that kept us warm at least!

No one else was out on the deck, and so we ran around generally being quite stupid watched From the bridge above. Not long after midnight we saw two humpback whales go past - as there’s no night/day/circadian rhythm, life just keeps going no matter the time. It was glorious and so bright outside still.

NOW it was finally time to go to bed. A bit of a more relaxed itinerary on the morrow!