::Title: Antartica / Argentina / Uruguay Trip 1998
::Author: Steve Engelhardt, steven_t_engelhardt
::
Antartica / Argentina / Uruguary Trip 1998
Prolog
On this trip I travelled from Minneapolis to Miami
to Buenos Aris to Ushuaia to the Antartic Circle and back.
This trip was arranged by Marine Expeditions of Toronto Canada.
It was an absolutly fantastic voyage, it was special.
The crew, the staff, the passengers we all know it was special
Our cruise is a bench-mark that other Antartic cruize's will be
measured against. I have to Thank Captain Nikolay Apekhtin
and his fine ship and crew. Our expedition Leader Brad Rhes
and his fine staff. Our Hotel Manager Bob Hunter and his
staff especially our Russian Ladies. Us as paying passengers
could not have asked for more, we did everything that was planned
and more. Even when we had to change plans it turned out for the better.
For instance we had to duck into the inside passage because of a gail
and because of that we spent 2 exciting nights dodging icebergs
with the help of radar and searchlights so we could reach the Antartic
Circle.
Antartic Peninsula - Click for larger Image
Feb 18: Wednesday: Mpls - Miami
I got up a 5:30 to start my long trip to
Antartica. At 7AM I left on American Airline for Chicago where I transfer
to another plane for Miami. We flew along the West coast of Florida and
flew across the Everglades to land. After collecting my bags I rented a
car at Budget and upgraded to a Mustang Convertable. It is now 1 PM and time to
cruise to Miami Beach. I park and check out the Art Deco of South Beach.
I stop at Johnny Rockets for lunch and check out the beach, it is about 86
nice and warm. I next stop at Coconut Grove for a bit and then drive US 1
down to Key Largo, traffic was heavy. At Key Largo I stop at a ocean park
for a bit and then head back for Miami, this time I took the express-way.
I head to down-town Miami and Bayside Market. The place is hopping, I get my Hard-rock
tee-shirt. There are lots of fine eateries and its a fun place. There
is a band playing doing a perect Santana. Well its time to back to the airport
and the overnight flight to Buenos Aires. I checkin at 9AM and we all on
by 11PM for the 8 hour flight. We are on a Aerolinas Argentina 747 fully loaded.
Feb 19: Thursday: Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires Obelisco
We land at 9:15 as scheduled and we also gained 2 timezones. After everyone has made it through
immigration/customs we meet our guide and we proceed to our bus for our
trip to Hotel Presidente in the center of town. We are all tired, it is
difficult to sleep on the plane so most of us take a short nap. I meet my roomate Allen
who has come from California. We have a short meeting at 12:45 and I join a 2 hour
walking tour on the general area. I go out and shop a bit and walk up to the
Cementiero De la Recoleta where I find another Hard Rock cafe and another Tee-shirt.
I return to the hotel to crash.
Feb 20: Friday Buenos Aires - Ushuaia
This morning after an excellent buffet breakfast at the hotel I have a couple hours
to do more shopping, I exchange some money. The US dollar and Argentinian pesos
are essentially equal but you do need some pesos for postage and other offical things.
At 11AM we check out of our hotel and proceed via bus to the Domestic Aeroporte Jorge Newbury
We are slightly delayed until 13:30 when we depart for Ushuaia. We approch to magnificant
scenery of Ushuaia at 5PM. After landing at the new airport we get on our busses for the
trip to our Hotel Del Glacier. We get there get our room keys, have a meeting with Dixie.
By this time it is a little late but some of us try to walk up to the Glacier del Martial.
It is starting to get dark so I turn back, some of the others continue on. Later several of
us skip the dinner buffet at $25 and go to Restaurant Parrilla just down the road. This was
a good choice, the place was packed with locals a good sign. I have Lamb it was excellent.
Feb 21: Saturday: Ushuaia - Beagle Channel
Ushuaia
Today we check out of Hotel at 9AM and board our Bus for Parques Nacionals
Tierra Del Fuego. We make seveal stops for pictures of Beagle Channel. We have a
box lunch and stop at the end of the Panamerican Highway. The weather is excellent,
we are told this is the nicest day Ushuaia has experianced this summer. We have 1.5 hours
to do more shopping in downtown Ushuaia. At 5PM we board are ship the Akademik Ioffe.
There are 79 of us paying customer and we added
1 additional before we left. That leaves us with 80 passengers, 9 Staff, 43 Crew which
equals 132 which matches our lifeboat capacity our 2 boats. I am assigned cabin
509 to myself it is pretty nice. We had a short meeting at 5:30 to meet the staff and we are under way
at 6PM. There are Penguins allong side the ship as we proceed down the magnificent Beagle Channel
It is nice and calm. We have a mandatory lifeboat drill and find out which boat we are assigned.
At 8PM we have dinner in the dinning room. At 11PM we leave the Beagle Channel for the Drake Passage.
Feb 22: Sunday: Drake Passage
During the night the seas have gotten rough and we are going through 30 Ft waves.
Our ship is excellent in these conditions but most of us are Sea sick some worse than
others. Mike had left his port hole open and got a salt-water bath about 3AM, I am on the
5th deck and there is water splashing on my window. Breakfast was something else, when we
were all seated the ship lurched to one side and the table cloths and plates started sliding
along with us passengers, we could here plates breaking in the galley. The ship righted its self
quickly before too much damage was done, however many passengers grab a barf bag and made a run
for the lobby or their cabin if they could hold out. It was quite a scene. I took Dramamine
less drowsy, I was pretty much out all day however and I did get a little sick. They put on
seminars all day I attended a geology seminar. They had tomato soup for dinner and I took extra helping
of that and skipped the main course. I went up to the bridge for animal watching but the motion
and watching the waves make you more sick. I take another pill and huncker down for the night.
I am also trying wrist bands but I am not sure it helps, I attually feel I am doing pretty good
so far.
Feb 23: Monday: Drake Passage
Our first Iceberg
This morning the seas are better, we are still in the Drake but getting closer.
We can see Sea Birds mostly Albatrosses. We have crossed the Antartic convergence during the night.
I have a full breakfast, most of us are feeling better
we are getting use to it and the seas are smoother. At 8:45 we see are first Iceberg.
At 10:30 I attend a lecture on exploration of Antartica and at 3PM we attend our Zodiac instructions,
I am in group 7. We continue to see additional Icebergs including tabular ones. We continue
the rest of the day with more lectures.
Feb 24: Tuesday: Cuperville Island - Neko Harbour - Lemaire Channel
Cuverville Island
Penguins Neko Harbor
Lemaire Channel
We have made a change in course durring the night, we were heading directly for the
Antartic Circle but due to a Gail we turned into Boyd Strait to give us so protection
from the storm. Because of this we will be making landings today at Cuverville Island and Neko Harbour.
At 9AM we are ready to land at Cuverville Island. The process is this, we get our jackets and other
gear on and proceed to the Mud room where we put on our boots. We then make our way to the ladder
where we get on our zodiac. Since there are 8 groups (10 each) and 4 Zodiacs this means 2 trips
for each zodiac to get us on shore. After we land on the island we find it full of Gentoo Penguins.
They are mostly juveniles and most are molting, the last step before they go to sea. I spend
2 hours on shore and see several Whale bones and Fur Seals. Back on the ship we see a school of
Humpback Whales. The scenery is spectacular. We have lunch and at 2PM we are ready to make a landing at Neko
Harbour on the Continent. We see a German cruise ship in the distance. We find some Ice as we get in
position to land. We land on Neko Island and find more Gentoo Penquins. There is also an abandoned
Argentinian refuge. The scenery is terrific with a glacier near by. There is also plenty of
gueno to go around for everyone. At 4PM I take a zodiac back to the ship. It should take 5 min.
but it takes 20 because as we have been on shore ice has started collecting in the bay, we had to fight
through it. After we all return to the ship they decide to have a barbque on the aft deck.
I took my food and went back inside, Im not going to freeze out here. The temperature is about 32F +or-
2-3 degrees, but with the wind blowing ant the ship moving at 15knots it is damm cold. Soon the other
passengers wise up and we re all inside. We see a seal pass by on a Ice flow and also some Adelia Penguins
float buy. As we head south through the Lemaire Channel we pass another Russian cruise ship quite a bit
smaller than ours carrying about 44 passengers. We also spot the Yacht Itaska anchored off of Galindez Island.
We spend the next several hours manuvering around Icebergs making our way through the channel as it is getting dark
the captain in dashing back and forth between the charts and the radar and the have turned the spotlights on at
dusk. As we work our way south one passenger asks our Expedition leader if you do this often and he answers
NEVER and he has been on 60 such expeditions. One of our lecturers USN retired is very impressed at our Russian
Captain, he is excellent. The scenery is fantastic with the continent and its glaciers, the many Icebergs,
the 2 ships with its lights, the Sun setting with low angle light, it is breathtaking. And we see more Humpback
Whales. After making our way through, we anchor for our landings the next day.
Part 2 of Antartica
Antartic Peninsula - Click for larger Image