An extremely quiet day for me. Not feeling yet 100% recovered from my cold and a bit stiff from all my walking in Colonia yesterday I did very little today. The four of us explored the Recoleta Cemetery in the morning, then Sheila, Gail, and Annie had lunch with an old work colleague of Sheila’s … Continue reading Post Trip Day 2: Return

Colonia del Sacramento is a lovely, small Unesco World Heritage town located across the Rio Plata from Buenos Aires. Several years ago when I first visited B.A. I had hoped to see Colonia but either the ferries were booked up or not running that day, or some such thing so I made sure to book … Continue reading Post Trip Day 1: Colonia, Uruguay

Ushuaia: our final stop and the city from which we leave this fantastic vessel and our first Antarctic expedition. The early morning cruise into the flat calm Beagle Channel was not enough to wake me and so I got out on deck just before we docked in the port, catching the first rays of sun … Continue reading Day 18: Ushuaia

Well, the cold that’s been running through the passengers ever since Day 1 has finally hit our little group.  Sheila had it a few days ago, now the other three of us got it yesterday and it’s a doozy. Nothing but sleep and drugs will help and therefore I’ve not done much outside my cabin … Continue reading Days 16 & 17: Drake Passage

Bright sun blinded my eyes as I peeked out from behind the curtain this morning at 4:30am. It was still blazing at 5:37am so I decided to get up and see what the outside world was like. It turns out it was very icy! Lots of small and medium-sized icebergs in the water and thick … Continue reading Day 15: Antarctic Peninsula

The Vavilov docked in the ice  Another fantastic day on this amazing adventure! We have been so so lucky with the weather, it’s crazy. I thought at 5:30 am when I got up that things were looking bleak but the sun broke through and our first outing was absolutely perfect. The ship cruised into Wilhelmina … Continue reading Day 14: Antarctic Peninsula

We had calm seas but a big rolling swell last night that rocked the ship from side to side often and far enough to keep me from sleeping much. At one point, 2:37 am, I decided to glance out the window above my bunk and I saw the sun had already risen! We are so … Continue reading Day 13: Antarctic Peninsula

The weather was against us again this morning. At 5:30am the fog was so thick you couldn’t see a thing, by breakfast at 7:30am the visibility had strengthened but a light snow had started falling. By our 9:00am launch time this turned into thick, wet snow.  Luckily the anchorage at Half Moon Island was protected … Continue reading Day 12: Antarctic Peninsula

The one day I didn’t get up early there were tons of icebergs passing by our ship! Normally I’m up at least an hour or more before our wake up PA announcement but this morning I thought I’d try to go back to sleep to pass the time. And this is what I was missing: … Continue reading Day 11: Antarctic Peninsula