Antarctica - Dec '18
- Gopal
- Feb 1, 2019
- 5 min read
Antarctica – the white continent, I remember having read about this in the geography subject in school. I never even dreamt of putting a foot here. But thank God that happened. With this I can proudly say that I have travelled to all the seven continents.
Having gone all the way, I combined this trip with a tour to Argentina and Chile (Refer my separate blog on this). The expedition cruise starts from Ushuaia, the southern most tip of South America, nicknamed the “End of the World”. From Chile I landed in Ushuaia on 8th so that I get time to explore this small town. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do much in Ushuaia except exploring places to eat and shop. But there are quite a few activities that can be planned in Ushuaia.
Cruise Date : 10th December ’18 to 19th December ‘18
Company : Darter Photography & Quark Expeditions
On 8th I checked into Los Acebos Hotel as Quark Expeditions had booked us in the same hotel and the cost was included in the overall pricing.
On 10th I was all set to board Ocean Diamond, our expedition ship. The entire process of reaching to the boarding point, transfer of luggage and helping us to board the ship was meticulously carried out by Quark. At 1600 hours, the ship started to sail. That moment was a great feeling. Everyone was excited and people were out on all the open decks available, to watch Ushuaia and the surrounding landscape from the deck. It was a great feeling to see the excitement in everyone’s face and each of them taking pictures with their friends & family members and selfies.
About the ship :
The ship has 4 accessible decks, from Deck 3 to Dec 7. I had my cabin in Deck 4 which was a twin occupancy with two single beds and an attached bathroom. The cabin also had a large window which gives a very good view. It is very clean, and the housekeeping staff cleans the cabin twice a day. The ship has quite a few open decks for viewing besides a theatre style auditorium, library, bar, dining room and a small gym. The interesting part is the bridge which is equivalent to a cockpit in an aircraft. I am told that in most of the ships the guests do not have access to the bridge. However, in this case the captain was nice to keep the bridge open 24 x 7 for all guests. It is very interesting to stand in the bridge and watch the ship cruise in the Pacific Ocean. I would strongly recommend spending as much time as possible in the bridge if the ship policy allows it.
The expedition team and the crew are extremely nice and courteous. The food served is amazing. Lunch and Dinner is a four course meal with variety of options. Burgers are available alwayst. If one has a dietary restriction it is important that this is said at the time of booking and also inform the dining head on Day 1. Being a vegetarian and off dairy product, I never had a problem throughout the trip.
Sailing / Landing Log :
Zodiacs (small boats) are used to move people from the ship to land. The landing to a large extent depends on the weather condition. I was fortunate to have about 6 landings. The chart below gives the complete details of the sailing and landing :
Source : Quark Expeditions
Activities :
There are many activities that happen during the landing and most of these are published at the time of booking. If it is of any interest, then it is advisable to book in advance and these also has an additional price tag. Once such activity I did was overnight camping. There is no tent and one have to sleep in a sleeping bag (provided by Quark) in the open wilderness. Certainly, it was an amazing experience. One interesting activity that happens is the Polar Plunge. This activity is open to all and there is no additional cost. I picked up courage and did this and definitely an experience I will cherish forever.
Birds and Marine Mammals :
The Antarctic region has an extensive of birds and marine mammals. The table below give the list of them and the days when they were spotted.
Source : Quark Expeditions
Drake Passage :
All cruise shops going to Antarctica have to cross Drake Passage. I have heard a lot about the difficulties one can undergo while crossing the passage. While going from Ushuaia, we didn’t even realise that we crossed the Drake. It was so quiet and all the people on board had a big sigh of relief. Of course, there were a few who also felt bad for having missed the notorious experience of Drake. However, on our return the Drake had a completely different Avtar. The sea was rough with almost 11 meters of waves and with the ship rolling and pitching it makes it worse. Chairs suddenly start moving, people slip and fall, people don’t get up from their bed for almost 30 hours etc. I am sure nobody wanted this experience. The ship has a doctor on board who advises and also gives the medicines with appropriate instructions. It is advisable to follow the instructions. Other option is to consult your physician and bring in your own medicine.
I will never forget the Drake passage experience !!
Tips :
The cruise cost is somewhere in the region of USD 9,000. Of course this depends on the expedition company, number of days, cabin you choose etc. I heard co-passengers in the ship saying that there is a possibility of getting a highly discounted price closer to the cruise date as the expedition company would like to fill the vacancies. In fact some of them did get a good price. If you have the appetite for the "wait and watch" game then you can consider this.
Internet connection is quite important these days. I never even imagined that we will have 24 x 7 connection on all days of the cruise. The ship had two packages. One is a paid one for USD 50. This is unlimited usage including video chat, voice chat, sending pictures etc. The other one is free and with this only text messages. This was extremely useful. When you book a cruise it is better to check this in case internet connection is important to you.
Having gone all the way, it may be worth considering visiting a few places in South America / Argentina and before the cruise. I did Argentina and Chile first before doing the cruise.
To do the Antarctic expedition cruise, one will need Argentina Visa. Mumbai has one and since I live in Mumbai I applied here. The Argentina Embassy takes time to process the visa application and there are multiple steps involved. Hence it is advisable to apply at least 6 weeks before the travel date. The Embassy requires all the documents sent from Argentina in Spanish. However the flight tickets, booking done through booking.com etc can be in English.
I travelled Ethiopian Airlines Mumbai – Addis Ababa – Buenos Aires – Addis Ababa – Mumbai. I travelled Business. It was a very comfortable flight and for the price tag is definitely value for money. It may be useful to check this option before booking in other airlines.
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Excellent life time cherish-able experience Gopal. This is my dream destination too. Your photographs partially quench the thirst.