March 15, 16 and 17, 2023 = Around Cape Horn, and into the Garibaldi, Hyatt and Agostini Glaciers in the Chilean Fjords

This is the map of the second segment on our trip.

Viking sold the “Translongitudinal” from Antartica to Milwaukee in six segments. Forget that when we booked in June 2022 we were told that all 378 passengers would be making the entire trip together. No sweat — they couldn’t sell more than 30 full passages, which was great for us — they treated the 30 of us magnificently.

The map above is the map of the second segment that began in Ushuaia on March 14 and ended in Valparaiso on March 27. Those joining the ship on this segment flew down from Buenos Aires on the morning of March 14, just as we did on March 3.

The Turnaround day on March 14 followed the usual pattern. Departing passengers left the ship early and were flown to Buenos Aires while new passengers joining the ship flew down to Ushuaia. Once all new passengers were on board and sorted out, and once the Worlders like us were back on board, the ship sailed in the early evening.

There were a couple of exceptions to this procedure.

In Fort Lauderdale huge rains (16 inches) closed the airport and almost a third of the new passengers did not arrive in Fort Lauderdale. Meanwhile all of the departing guests were trapped in Fort Lauderdale because their outgoing flights were canceled. Eventually the Octantis sailed at 11 pm that night with 56 new passengers still not on board. All but four of them caught up with the ship at our next stop in Charleston, South Carolina. The remaining four boarded in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Fort Lauderdale passengers were star-crossed. Scheduled in leave the ship in Toronto at the end of the Fort Lauderdale segment, most of their travel plans were again upended when the St. Lawrence Seaway closed for five hours due to fog. The Octantis arrived in Toronto hours late, long after most of the flights for the departing guests were gone for the day. It was a shambles.

The map of our route from Ushuaia around Cape Horn and into the Chilean fjords and the Garibaldi fjord. We would spend several days in the Chilean fjords, followed by a day in Punta Arenas, before returning to the Chilean fjords.

Route into and out of Garibaldi fjord/glacier.

At sea off the tip of South America on our way to the fjords.

We spent a total of five days in the Chilean fjords.

This is one of my favorite places in the world and these are the most beautiful fjords I have visited. New Zealand and Norway fjords are gorgeous, but popular. Norway’s fjords had 6 or 8 ships running back and forth the days we were there. New Zealand was not quite as bad.

But here in Chile the grandeur and quiet of the fjords can be enjoyed devoid of any trappings of civilization. When the Panama Canal opened in 1914, there were economic reasons for commercial ships to no longer go around the tip of South America. The traffic of commercial ships on their way to somewhere else largely ended in South America and the nature here — Patagonia, the Chilean fjords and more — were left unspoiled.

A zodiac from the Octantis threads its way through floating ice. Ninety percent of a chunk of ice is under the water. At one point a zodiac we were on was trying to return to the Octantis but blocked by a long line of ice. Bumping enough ice out of the way with the zodiac and looking for how to create pathways through the ice took time.

We had a similar situation on our Northwest Passage expedition off Canada when the weather turned and ice and shoals just under the water blocked our ability to get back to the ship which was running in the open sea parallel to us. We have had several incidents like this. Another time in the South Sandwich Islands in 2018 on that Antarctic expedition, the situation became challenging when the weather suddenly turned and our group of zodiacs were a considerable distance from the ship.

One of Viking’s sales pitches is “Sail the World in Comfort”. Here’s proof. This is the view of the fjords from Explorers Lounge on Deck 4 on the starboard side of the ship. This is a few steps from our stateroom. In the early mornings I would sit in the Lounge with John, another passenger going the full 65 days, talk and drink coffee and watch the sun come up. We made new friends on this trip. We always do.

In the fjords I found grandeur and serenity in being two giant steps away from civilization. It is why I love the Inner Passage on the way to Alaska — why I love the Arctic, the Antartica and the Northwest Passage through Canada — why I love Greenland — and why I especially love the Chilean fjords and love the movie “Local Hero” (shown recently on TCM movie channel after many years of being missing in action). It is a movie far ahead of its time. It was produced by Davina Belling and her husband in Scotland. The three of us worked hard to find a movie project we could develop together during my days in Hollywood in the early 1990s.

We spent several days in the fjords, then a day in Punta Arenas and then returned to the fjords for a few more days as we trekked further north along the west coast of South America.

March 14, 2023 = Ushuaia Turnaround Day – off we go to Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego

Snow and sleet at Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego where we spent the Ushuaia Turnaround Day.

“Turnaround Days’ are days when the ship disgorges most of its passengers and takes on new ones. There were six Turnaround days on this voyage (Ushuiara, Valparaiso, Fort Lauderdale, New York, Toronto and Milwaukee), with the first one taking place in Ushuaia. With only 30 of us going the entire distance to Milwaukee, we saw a lot of new faces on the evenings of Turnaround days, and, as a result, as time went on, we bonded closer with those who were familiar faces — the other 30 passengers who were “Worlders” going all 65 days with us, and the ship’s officers.

Turnaround Days are really hard days for the officers and crew. Beginning the night before, luggage has to be collected from the hallways, and then after docking the following morning, all of the luggage has to be moved to shore and sorted. The cabin crews have to tear into all of the rooms being vacated, remake beds, re-stock toiletries, vacuum, and that might be easy if each cabin crew member didn’t have 15 or 20 rooms that had to be ready for new passengers who would be boarding as early as 11 am.

Meanwhile, all of the new passengers coming on board have to be processed, given cards to their rooms, be given the life preserver and lifeboat briefings and more.

On the docks replenishing of food stuffs and other needed items was underway which had to be sorted, accounted for and stored. Bunkering (fueling) also might be underway — and all this activity was bracketed by a time lock of the ship having to surrender its berth and return at sea usually around 6 pm.

That’s why they would round up a bus and get all 30 of those us us continuing onward off the ship and out from underfoot for the day. On Turnaround Days the thirty of us were always lured off the ship with exclusive, sometimes sumptuous outings, just for us. That bus we were carted off on only returned to the ship late in the afternoon when the coast was clear and when the Octantis was bundled up and ready to sail — and sail we would, often within a half hour of when we returned.

On the bus and moving early on Turnaround Day / Ushuaia, long before any new passengers were in sight.

Viking paid for our tickets and lunch on Turnaround days. From a weather standpoint the Ushuaia Turnaround day would be the worst weather we experience until we got to Mackinac Island in Wisconsin where it was freezing cold. Mackinac was colder, in fact, than any of our days in Antartica.

The post office at the end of the world in the Park. For two bucks you could write your friends and tell them you had been here. We didn’t have two bucks.

This sign should get everybody oriented as to where they are, but only if they think in terms of kilometers.

A kilometer is 5/8 of a mile.

You do the math.

For lunch we were taken to Alakush after touring the Park by bus. Alakush has a small museum, great food and a charming gift shop.

A penguin mannikin wears a apron for sale in the gift shop.

Bundled up, snug in my Viking jackets and covered with snow in Tierra del Fuego on Turnaround Day / Ushuaia.

Besides giving all Antartica passengers Red jackets, and Blue jackets that fit inside the Red jackets, Viking crew all also wore red jackets. That meant that in Antartica almost everybody wore red jackets. But, because only passengers who went to the Antarctic were given Red jackets, fewer and fewer passenger Red jackets were seen as the cruise went along and other passengers who had not gone to Antartica came on board.

So, eventually, with only the crew and the few remaining Antartica passengers like us, other passengers seeing us in Red jackets (as in rain, high winds and on the zodiacs and shore), began mistaking us for crew and asking questions.

Late in the voyage, at Niagara Falls, a passenger stalked up to me and demanded to know onethingoranither, and when I replied that I did not know, he became angry and snapped, “then what good are you?”

I should have pointed the guy seven blocks up the hill and told him to turn left for a quarter mile. We’d have never HIM on the ship again.

Tierra del Fuego is shown on the map above the Red Dot.

Early evening back at Sea. We are leaving the Beagle Channel and returning to the South Atlantic Ocean.

By early the next morning ( 7:40 am ) we were again rounding Cape Horn on our way west to one of the most beautiful places in the world, one of my favorites — the Chilean fjords.

Cape Horn (“C de Hornos”) bottom central of the map. Cape Horn is located on Isla Hornos (Horn Island). This map gives you a better idea of what the neighborhood at the very bottom of South America looks like.

March 12-13, 2023 = Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos), Crossing the Drake Passage & returning to Ushuaia, Argentina

Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos) on the Drake Passage at the southernmost point in South America. It is lightly manned, and accessible only by docking and climbing a long stairway. We crossed it on March 15 after leaving Ushuaia.

. . . . . .

We have crossed north and south across the Drake Passage from Antartica four times over the years.

The Drake Passage has deservedly an awful reputation, although it is actually calm three days out of four. ‘Calm’ was our experience the first time we crossed the Drake. It was so still we’d seen more ripples bathing in a bathtub that we saw in the Drake.Then came our northbound 2018 crossing.

When the Drake Passage is violent, it is gut-wrenching.

Nothing has come close to the violent rocking and heaving of our ship crossing the Drake in 2018. Not the Tasman Sea which was ugly indeed as we crossed the “ditch” between New Zealand and Australia. Not Mykonos in the Greek Islands when we tried to reboard the Cunard Queen Victoria. Not the … you get the idea … we’ve been rocked by rough seas a lot, but that crossing in 2018? It remains in a league of its own.

Now.

I happen to love violent seas and sometimes point out to people that at Disney World people pay to get the beejeebees kicked out of them, whereas a good mugging in the Drake Passage comes at No Extra Charge. Rough seas don’t particularly bother Carol Anne either.

Ship location, the night of March 12, 8:44 pm.

The Drake Passage between the tip of South America and the tip of the Antartica Peninsula is one of the most violent bodies of water in the world because the two land masses funnel wind at accelerated speeds churning the water.

Before the Panama Canal opened in 1914, ships had to sail around Cape Horn. In the days before power, sailing ships heading to the far east, or those returning to England, depended on the winds and had to wait until the winds were favorable — occasionally as long as four months by one account — or they could turn around and go to the far east around Africa at the Cape of Good Hope.

The map above shows the route of our entire journey to Antartica. When this photo was taken the ship was halfway through its return to Ushuaia and its location is marked on the map with the Red Viking Ship Sail. Crossing the Drake takes two days.

Ship location, the afternoon of March 13, 12:49 pm.

Map showing where we departed on March 3 from Ushuaia, and where we returned on the evening of March 13. Four of those days were spent crossing the Drake Passage. Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn), the southernmost tip of South America, is shown on central left of the map (look closely).

Ushuaia on the Beagle Channel claims to be the southernmost city in the world, but lately Puerto Williams (Port Williams) has been gaining population on the other side of the Channel from Ushuaia and has begun to claim it is the southernmost city. It might not matter to anybody but the locals. Ushuaia has the airport where those coming to Antartica fly into, and where ships sailing to Antartica dock.

Birds with wingspans up to 12 feet are common in Ushuaia and Antartica. Returning to Ushuaia most of the passengers got off leaving only thirty (the “Worlders” as the Viking officers called us) who were going all the way to Milwaukee and along with a few others on board who were going a bit further.

The mood and culture on the ship changed at the end of each of the six segments. Those who went with us to Antartica were true explorers relishing the experiences and capabilities of the Octantis. Those boarding for the segment from Ushuaia to Valparaiso were less somewhat expedition people but plenty game.

After Valparaiso, on the leg to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the ship became more like a cruise ship with some passengers who boarded complaining about the lack of nightly entertainment, casino and so on. Many who boarded in Valparaiso appeared unaware of, and uninterested in, the capabilities of the Octantis and the science being conducted on board. They seemed mostly just to want to go through the Panama Canal.

Maps and globes are in abundance on the Octantis for those who want to study the geography. This globe is turned upside-down and shows the South Pole and Antartica instead of the North Pole. When we were in Tasmania, the island off the southern tip of Australia, we noticed maps with the same orientation. For the record, most of the land mass of the world sits north of the Equator.

Ushuaia late the night of March 13 when we were safely across the Drake Passage and docked.

Carol Anne on the night of March 13, 2023 in Ushuaia, a cold and quiet night.

Home from the sea.

March 10-11, 2023 = Neko Harbour & Damoy Point … Our final two days in Antartica

This is what it looked like on the night of March 9 heading for Neko Harbour. It was perfectly awful weather and Neko Harbour was shaping up as the only landing for the Octantis to land passengers on the Antartica continent itself. It did not look good. Thumping their boots on Antartica itself is a Big Bragging Deal for a lot of people.

In 2018, after nearly 23 days in Antartica waters, our ship, like the Octantis, had not managed to land anybody on the continent itself, and, although we had landed on a number of islands, grumbling was afoot, and the ship’s officers had begun sweating. One potential landing site after another on the Antartica continent kept becoming unavailable because of weather. As the end of that voyage approached, all passengers had to show for their trip was “interaction with lots of penguins on lots of crummy island,” as one passenger put it.

But! Finally! In 2018 it was Neko Harbour to the rescue! … in 2018 off we all went, tromping around for a while on the Antartica continent’s ice and snow — and that was that. Everybody went home able to say, not merely that they had “been” to Antartica, but that they had “walked around on the Antartica continent itself, and not some dinky island or two”.

For most, us included, it meant they had visited all seven of the Earth’s continents. I guess it’s sort of a big deal now that I think about it.

NEKO HARBOUR

Dawn, March 10, Neko Harbour on the Antarctic continent. The snow and choppy seas had settled during the night so it was: All shore wishing to go ashore! … Carol Anne went. I didn’t bother.

The penguins had taken their young and gone back to sea, and since I had landed at Neko Harbour in 2018, I considered myself an Old Antartica Sea Salt. I was savoring the idea of an empty ship and sniffing those freshly baked cookies over by that comfortable chair across from the coffee machine on Deck 5’s World Cafe.

Neko Harbour is in the Red Box at the Tip of the black arrow. The line two thirds down the image is the Antarctic Circle.

A lone zodiac heads toward Neko Harbour. This is the first step in preparing for a landing. The preparatory landing procedure is always the same: The ship stops, stabilizes using GPS and one zodiac with several crew members is sent to shore to scout a landing location, and to land provisions and tents for a 72 hour survival. These provisions assure that should passengers be stranded on shore by a sudden change in weather, they will have a chance to survive. Some years ago an Antarctic party was trapped on shore by a sudden change in weather. They all perished.

Two more zodiacs head to Neko Harbour. Other passengers are already on shore and two of them can be seen climbing the hill on a path cut by penguins in the middle right of the photograph.

Kayaks from the ship off Neko Harbour.

Early evening, March 10, leaving Neko Harbour. Usually the zodiacs, kayaks, submarines and special operations boards (SOB) are collected back into the hangar at the rear of the ship by late afternoon, and the ship gets underway before 6 pm. March 10 was a gray day with a beautiful sunset. The most spectacular sunrises and sunsets we have ever seen were crossing the Pacific Ocean from Valparaiso in South America years ago on our way to New Zealand.

Neko Harbour would be our last landing in Antartica. The following day rough seas and weather made it unwise to attempt the Damoy Point landing.

DAMOY POINT

We did not land.

DECEPTION ISLAND ,,, where we landed in 2018 but bypassed in 2023

As small as the Octantis is, it cannot navigate into Deception Island. Deception Island’s single entrance has a large underwater rock outcropping square in the middle of the entrance which could sink the ship, and has done for a few times in the past. On a much smaller ship in 2018 we slipped in and spent the day ashore here. Cruising Antarctic waters requires captains and crews who are judicious, highly skilled and watchful. Deception Island is not for sissies.

The Octantis has screens, like the one above, which rotate with sayings about traveling and places. The ship offers a rich education for those with curiosity about polar expeditions. Hallways and walls throughout the ship have photographs of earlier expeditions. Public areas are chocked full of artifacts about explorers and exploring.

For us, the Octantis was a feast. We love the grand elegance of the Antarctic and the Arctic. These are places that call us back.

We love how the Octantis celebrates all aspects of the magnificent places. We will return, and take others with us. We want to see these places through the eyes of others as they see for the first time that which we have seen.

Our 23 days in 2018 in Antartica was immersive, but this 65 day voyage from Antartica along only two longitudes between Earth’s north and south poles may stand the test of time as our best trip ever.

Gifts, like the certificate above, would appear from time to time on the end of our bed. As time went on, it got crowded — nine bottles of wine, a six pack of South American beer, two ball caps, two Panama hats, two backpacks, chocolates from South Africa, fudge from Wisconsin … you get the idea. Lots of loot.

Our close special friends, the Novaks, spent the day with us when we docked in Norfolk, Virginia, and they haul a lot of this stuff to Williamsburg. Without their help, we might have had to rent a U-Haul.

In our library/guest room in Florida we have a world map with pins stuck in the places we have been. The map is flanked by framed certificates like the one above from other voyages.

March 9, 2023 = Submarine diving 300 feet below Antartica waters off Melchior Island

Aboard one of the two Octantis’ submarines, afternoon of March 9, 2023, off Melchior Island in Antartica heading down to the bottom 300 feet below. The Viking submarines can dive to 1,200 feet, but operationally the depth to which they dive depends on the depth of the ocean. The subs dive straight to the bottom and then lurk around. That depth can be anything down to 1,200 feet.

Diving straight to the bottom makes sense since the Viking Octantis’ submariners do not know what is on the bottom in the Antarctic (think jagged scattered rocks) and they only have a rough idea of how deep the water is.

Moreover, no one has likely ever dived these waters before.

On the few days the Octantis was able to deploy its submarines the depth of the dives were 180 feet, 300 feet (my dive), 600 feet and a thousand feet. With the submarines only able to carry six passengers, and a pilot, and with the submarines having to be balanced with equal weights of the passengers on each side, and with each submarine dive taking roughly two hours (only an hour of which is under the water), only about 100 of the 350 passengers on the Antarctic leg were able to make submarine dives.

The dives in the Antarctic were the only dives the Octantis subs made on the 65 day voyage. Muddy waters in the Chilean fjords precluded dives there, and none of the Octantis’ toys are allowed to be deployed in United States waters.

So how did I manage to get on a dive? — and how did I manage to be offered a second dive? I went to guest services and sniveled, and, glory be! The next morning I was booked. I think it helped that I was going on the entire 65 day journey and was in one of the higher priced cabins.

One of the two submarines docked and secured in the hanger.

Once in the water, the pilot (shown standing), drives the sub away from the ship to the diving site. Then six passengers, each with a seat assigned by number, go out to the sub on a zodiac, and climb down into the sub one by one, in a specific order taking their numbered seats on each side of the submarine. The inside is cramped.

A surface boat shadows the submarine on the surface and while it is diving and remains in constant contact with the pilot driving the sub. Although there are two subs, only one sub at a time dives and the other is not deployed until the first sub is back on the surface and its passengers safely back on zodiacs and headed back to the ship.

Before being booked on a sub dive, all passengers wishing to go must view a ten minute briefing, and pass an agility test.

Entering and exiting the sub is a challenge. The zodiac that brought us out to the sub is in the foreground. Passengers must climb from the zodiac onto the black surfaces by gripping handles and then turn around and climb backwards down into the sub itself.

You think it looks easy? Well, my goodness … Think again.

The three passengers facing me on the other wide of the inside of the submarine. A small portion of the ladder we climbed down is visible of the left. The pilot navigates the submarine by sitting at the controls shown on the right and remains in contact with the surface ship. If the pilot does nothing for ten minutes, the sub automatically returns to the surface. If the pilot becomes incapacitated (WHAT?!), any passenger can press a green button on the console and the sub will return to the surface,

When I asked one of the young women who manned the Guest Services desk if she had ever done a submarine dive, she replied, “yes.” When I asked her if she would do it again, she replied, “oh, no.”

The pilot. He was as close to me as it looks in this picture. We spent 45 minutes 300 feet down on the bottom. The dive was about an hour. It took a total of about 15 minutes to go down and up.

What I saw — which was not much. The sub has high powered lights which lit things up outside. The dive was more like being in a diving bell. We did not wander around. We went straight down, sat on the bottom for 45 minutes, turned a little bit this way and that, and then returned to the surface. Because Viking doesn’t really know what is down there, it is wise to limit the wandering.

Melchior Island. We dove in the far waters on the other sides of the rock in the foreground. With so many passengers wanting to make submarine dives, and with the need to have good weather, only a limited number of dives could be made. That left many disappointed. Operating the subs was complicated. Even when the day began with subs diving, sometimes the dives had to be called off because winds came up and sea conditions became dangerous. Other times, as with the muddy waters in the Chilean fjords, there was no visibility, and so no point in diving.

In Milwaukee, as our voyage ended, Viking announced that starting June 1 the sub dives would no longer be free. The charge was going to be $500. That ought to cool interest in going diving on their subs, I’d guess.

Carol Anne and I have done submarine dives in Hawaii and in the Caribbean on much larger submarines.

She had no interest on going on a sub dive on the Octantis.

March 9, 2023 = The Octantis and Science Activities on Board

The Octantis’ Science lab overlooks the hangar where the two submarines, seventeen zodiacs, two special operations boats and eight kayaks are stored, and from which they are launched.

On the second day of each segment of the voyage, a lecture on the scientific activities underway on the Octangts is offered, followed by an invitation to visit the laboratory and assist in the experiments. Two weather balloons were released during the voyage timed to other balloon releases all over the world. More balloons would have been released, but until the Octantis was resupplied with helium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the ship did not have enough helium for additional launches. Bird and wildlife were catalogued and written on a white board on Deck 2 in the Expedition area.

Tne Octgantis mapped the seabed as we went along. A surprising amount of the ocean in the southern seas and Antartica remain to be mapped.

THE HANGAR

March 7-9, 2023 == In Antartica … Detaille, Beer, and Melchior Islands

. . . . .

NOTE TO READERS & SUBSCRIBERS —

Internet did not permit my blogging this journey day by day as we went along so, now home, I have begun to reconstruct this remarkable trip day by day. From Antartica to Milwaukee took 65 days and ended on May 5, 2023, when we flew back to our home in Florida.

Blogging this journey will take awhile, and posting will probably not happen every day since we are beginning to travel again, but, stick with me, I will get you and us to Milwaukee … and … it’s going to be worth the trip. We have been around the world four times in the past fourteen years. There has never been anything like this remarkable trip — nothing even comes close.

. . . . .

(Above) BEER ISLAND, LOCATION inside Red box = Exploring Antartica is always an iffy endeavor. The Octantis landed zodiacs once before reaching Neko Harbour which was actually on the Antartica continent. Rough seas caused us to cruise by Deaille and Melchior deploying the Special Operations Boats only once to have closer looks at the shores.

Carol Anne, suited up, waits to board one of the two Special Operations Boats (SOBs) which would head in closer to shore at Beer Island.

“Suiting up” became more of an issue as the expedition went on. Although temperatures were commonly only in the 20 to 30 degrees F, winds could be sharp and the SOBs moving through the water could, and often did drench those on board. This meant anticipating how much to layer was tricky and sometimes we over-layered and other times we under-layered.

We both would start with two under layers — a teeshirt and shirt. Then we put on our blue down feather jackets, followed by our red outer jackets (outer red jacket is shown on Carol Anne). Next came cumbersome black life jackets (shown), tall boots, head gear and heavy waterproof pants, usually over bluejeans. Suiting up was time-consuming, and tricky, and took time to master. Landings on shore from zodiacs, which we did numerous times in 2018, are almost always ‘wet landings’, meaning wading ashore through the freezing Antarctic waters. So, be prepared.

Wearing all of this gear slowed mobility. Moreover, expedition landings, submarine dives, kayaks and use of the SOBs was limited by rough seas. Sometimes even after deploying the toys, exploring had to be called off and the deployed zodiacs, kayaks and SOBs had to return to the ship. I did only one zodiac landing, one SOB trip and one submarine dive. Carol Anne did several zodiac landings, several SOB trips and no submarine dive. Neither of us kayaked.

Approaching Beer Island. Some who have never visited Antartica say there is nothing here to see. They are wrong. We have spent nearly a month in Antartica and the southern oceans in the past five years. Once you have seen the grandeur and the birds and wild life here, you will view the world differently, and long to return.

Beer Island, inside red box. Explorers who got to Antartica named every single thing they could find for themselves or their dogs (consider the name “Beagle Channel” at Ushuiara).

Melchior. As with most outposts in the Antartica, Melchior is rarely inhabited. We sailed past and did not land due to high winds.

Our location on March 8, 2023.

The ship’s officers held numerous events for the thirty of us traveling with them for the full 65 days from Ushuiara/Antartica to Milwaukee. They created a surprisingly close bond between the thirty of us and themselves. Their first event (invitation above) went awry when they mis-dated the invitation. March 4 was not a Sunday and most of us did not know of the event until the day after it was held.

March 3-6, 2023 = Ushuiara across the Drake Passage and across the Antarctic Circle to Stonington Island … and the ‘Aging Leif Erikson’

PREPARING TO GO AHORE — BOOTS ISSUED, AND GEAR INSPECTED AND CLEANED

Mid-Ship, Deck A, tender embarkation deck, where boots were issued and gear cleaned and inspected. The tender, smaller boats, are used in ports where quays are either not existent or insufficient for ships to land and tie up. The embarkation deck is adjacent to the Hangar where the two submarines, seventeen zodiacs, eight kayaks and two special operations boats are stored.

Carol Anne waits as two Viking crew members inspect and clean all clothing and other gear that Carol Anne will wear ashore. The tender embarkation deck was site of the “camp out – cook out ” that the ships officers threw later in the journey for the 30 of us who spent all 65 days on the ship. Yes. They built a (faux) fire and yes we roasted marshmallows and yes there was a tent..

THE MAPS

In the Aula (the Octantis’ auditorium) one of the first lectures was on how Antartica and the other continents broke away from other lands masses to form the geography we know today.

Maps of Antartica above and below.

The Antartica Peninsula of the Antarctic continent lays on the upper left. The Peninsula is the only reliable part of Antartica that where seas are sufficiently and reliably ice free allowing expedition ships with heavily reenforced hulls to venture safely. To reach the Peninsula, ships must sail two days across the Drake Passage.

The dotted line is the Antartica Circle which we crossed and sailed below four times on this expedition.

The bottom of the Earth and Antartica’s relationship to Africa, South America, Australia and New Zealand. The two main jumping off places for Antartica for expeditions since the 19th century’s first Antartic expeditions, are Ushuiara and Christ Church (Port of Lyttleton), New Zealand. The favored expedition for cruise lines is Ushuiara. Before covid, one cruise line planned to run an expedition out of southern New Zealand southerly across the islands between New Zealand and Antartica. They have for not renewed those plans, and we hope they will. Carol and I are all in to do it.

STONINGTON ISLAND

Site of our first landing. Stonington lived up to its name, being virtually all stones and rocks. It lays south of the Antarctic Circle.

Dawn, approaching Stonington Island, morning March 6. Departing Ushuiara on the night of March 3, we sailed across the Drake Passage in relatively peaceful seas for two days, and then continued south along the west of of the Antartica Peninsula until we reached the southernmost point on this expedition, Stonington Island.

One of the two Special Operations Boats (known as “SOBs”) touring off Stonington Island. SOBs, unlike the ship’s 17 zodiacs, never land on shore.

Two zodiacs carrying ten people each head into shore. Some sites in this part of the world limit the number of people allowed on shore, and all sites require that gear be inspected and cleaned both before and after visiting shore.

On shore with the Octantis in the distance and a zodiac (far right) returning to the ship. Although the Octantis has anchors, she rarely uses them. Instead she uses sophisticated GPS to hold position. The Viking Octantis and her sister ship, the Polaris, are the most advanced ships sailing the seas today. The ship is actually driven by a team inside a windowless room below decks crammed with monitors and computers, although the Captain and other officers are on the Bridge.

Stoningham is not an easy place to hike. I tried but gave up. We would see a few penguins on this trip, because, unlike when we were here in 2018, the mating and birthing seasons were over and the penguins had already headed back to sea. In January and February 2018 they were everywhere. Penguins will come up and nuzzle you. They nuzzled us like crazy in 2018.

Carol Anne on Stonington Island on /march 6, 2023.

Later in the voyage I stopped shaving for a while and Wendy, the housekeeping manager (#2 officer on the ship behind the Captain), said I had begun looking like an ‘aging Leif Erickson’. During our 65 days, the senior crew interacted with the 30 of us making the entire trip, and we bonded. We have never had such a trip like this before and we have been around the world four times. On the morning we left the senior officers were waiting on the gangplank to hug us and walk us to the buses. Our cabin Steward cried.

March 3-5, 2023 = Buenos Aires to Ushuiara, Argentina … Organizing & Outfitting

We flew from Orlando to Miami, and then flew overnight the night of March 2-3 into Buenos Aires. There we spent the entire day of March 2 while the rest of the passengers going with us to Antartica streamed into Buenos Aires and gathered in our hotel. We walked the area around the hotel for a while, but it was beastly hot, so we spent the bulk of the day resting and reading in the hotel. We have been to Buenos Aires a couple of times. I forget how many.

Carol Anne in our hotel. Viking chooses the most elegant and upscale hotels for its passengers where they gather and move as a group onto the ship. We waited in Buenos Aires for a day before flying to Ushuiara, Argentina, at the tip of South America early morning, March 3. Ushuiara is on the Beagle Channel adjacent to the Drake Passage which is between Argentina and the Anartica peninsula.

The Green dot is Ushuiara and the white peninsula below is the Antarctic peninsula and Antartica. Inbetween is the Drake Passage, a notoriously violent body of water.

The Viking Octantis shown crossing the Drake Passage on its way to Ushuiara on March 2, 2023. We would board her late in the morning of March 3 in Ushuiara after she completed her second to last expedition to Antarctica of the season. Our voyage would take us deep below the Antarctic Circle for nearly a week and would be the Octantis’ final trip to Antartica until she returns in the fall. Winter in Antartica begins in April and runs until September. The seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres are reversed. North of the Equator is summer when it is winter in the southern hemisphere.

Below is a map of the areas the Octantis visited on our expedition.

Carol Anne waits to board our chartered flight from Buenios Aires to Ushuiara on March 3. It was a three hour flight. We arrived shortly before noon and buses took us directly to the Octantis. About 350 passengers boarded the ship in Ushuiara, but only 30 of us were going the entire 63 days to Milwaukee. Most others were only going to the Antarctic and back to Ushuiara and then going home.

Ushuiara, Argentina. We have visited Ushuiara several times previously, including on a previous expedition to the Falklands, South Georgia, the Antartica Peninsula and the South Sandwich Islands. That expedition, in January and February 2018, lasted 23 days. This time we go directly down the Antartica Peninsula and will explore for less than a week, but we will explore far further south on this expedition than in 2018. For the first time, we will cross the Antarctic Circle, and cross it four times.

Outfitting. We did not bring winter coats because Viking gives each of us two coats. Shown here we are in our outer rain/snow/wind coats. We are also wearing, unseen, a separate blue inner coat made of down feathers. I pretty much lived in my blue coat during the early chillier weeks of the voyage, and again began wearing the blue inner coat as we moved further north into Canada later in April. The red outer coat wards off splashing water when heading into shore on zodiacs, and is excellent in high winds. The coldest temperature came at nearly the end of the voyage on Mackinac Island, Michigan. On our 2018 expedition, one day the temperatures in Antartica and in New York City, were both 50-degrees. Antartica surprises and often not in ways what one might not expect.

This is a floor to ceiling photograph of Aud Bob, a sledge dog from a 1913 Antarctic British expedition. Awd Bob’s photograph is across the hall afrom the door to our stateroom. I always said hello to him when entering or leaving our stateroom. Carol Anne also sometimes spoke to Bob, and also rubbed Bob’s nose every so often. The halls and public areas on the Octantis are full of floor to ceiling photos like this one celebrating Antarctic expeditions of more than a century ago.

I love Bob’s photograph. I am naming my next dog Awd Bob in his honor.