January 8-10: Back to South America, plus trip learnings

Tuesday January 8: Drake's Shakes: seas relatively calm, sea day, nothing to report. However, I will share a quote from a famous explorer of these Antarctic waters:

"I watched the sky a long time, concluding that such beauty was reserved for distant, dangerous places, and that nature has good reason for exacting her own special sacrifices from those determined to witness them."
"Alone"
~Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Antarctic explorer

Wednesday January 9: Finish Drake's, sleep at anchor in Beagle Channel

Thursday January 10: Back to Terra Firma!

We pulled into port today at about 7am, and the whole ship was cleared of passengers by 7:30. I headed up to Javier's B&B, just in time for another coffee. My mission for today: dare to look at my email account. God knows how many messages await.

Trip overview: Antarctica offers many different kinds of wildlife, almost all of which made me smile when I spotted them. Seals and whales have expressive faces, and whales have very expressive eyes. But the penguin, more than any other animal, symbolizes Antarctica. So graceful in the water, so clumsy on land! Watching them porpoise alongside the ship is pure pleasure. Watching them zip under your Zodiac shows you their amazing speed. And watching partners reuniting at their next crow, dance and display -- it is just magic.

The topography and geology of Antarctica also surprised me. I expected a lot of flat pack ice, similar to what you see at the North Pole. But the Antarctic Peninsula is savagely jagged, full of peaks that put the Matterhorn and Half Dome to shame. Since so little vegetation grows here, erosion is slow. Largely granite and basalt, the sharp crags are only softened by snowfall, and eroded by wind and glacial action. The views are breathtaking!

In terms of the voyage itself (and remember, I am biased due to my new role as a Quark consultant), I'm pretty damn happy with my choice of ship. Those of you considering a journey to the Southern Continent should try to book the smallest ship they can afford. The Shokalskiy holds only 45 or so passengers, which means that we can all get on and off the ship (by Zodiac) in about 30 minutes. Imagine waiting hours to get ashore, on the larger ships. And imagine getting only 1 landing per day, when we now know that 3 landings in a day is not uncommon.

Economics: If you book at the last minute in Ushuaia, you can expect to get a discount of 20-50 percent. The discounts are best in November and March. Between those months is peak season, and discounts are minimal. If you book ahead of time, you'll generally pay full price. BUT, there will still be space available on the lists to to activities, such as sea kayaking, ice camping or SCUBA diving (!!!). If any of these activities interest you, it may be worth it to book early. Quite a few of my fellow passengers were disappointed to not be able to kayak (kayak capacity = 10 per voyage) nor go camping (tent capacity was 20.)