Antarctica by Days - Curious Karibella

2023-12-222024-01-20

Quark Expeditions: Antarctica, Day 8 (But Not Really Day 8)

Day 8, But not really day 8

When you sign up for the 8-day trip to Antarctica, you don’t actually sign up for 8 days in Antarctica. Day 1 is in Chile. Day 2 is half in South America and half in Antarctica. Days 3, 4, 5, and 6 are all full days in Antarctica. Day 7 is half in Antarctica and half in Chile, and day 8 is in Chile. Day 8, you don’t even do anything with Quark!

Day 8

Location: Punta Arenas, Chile to Puerta Natales

Agenda: Drive to Puerta Natales

On day 8, we woke up in south America on dry land, but feeling like we were still on a ship. Everyone moved as if the ground was gently rolling, just like the ship. We had a 4-hour drive up to Puerto Rico, and we wanted to get there early. So we packed our 12 bags into our rented van (it was filled from Top to Bottom) and drove up to Chile. The drive was very pretty, but it felt so long.

What Is All the Fuss About Patagonia???

I had always heard that Patagonia is SO beautiful and breathtaking and I really was skeptical. That was foolish of me…

The glare from my phone in the window makes it a bit less picturesque, but this is such a beautiful scene, right? This is basically what I looked like the whole time out of my window. Christmas with a view like this was…… AMAZING!!!!!

This was my last day in Antarctica, y’all!!! I am kinda poking fun at Quark for putting the 8th day on the trip because it really is not part of it at all! We didn’t do much; we just drove up to Puerta Natales, adjusted to the new house, and stared at the insane beauty surrounding us. I loved just staring out of the window because the sun was nice and warm, and it all seemed like something that you would only see in a dream, fairy tale, or movie. The best part is there is always a Very loud orchestra to accompany the sight. An orchestra of….. wind.

Wind House

I have never been in a windier place in my entire life!!! This wind was HARSH! Like being the walls and shaking the house! It wasn’t dangerous wind just really strong. Our host said that the winds got up to either 60 km (37mph) or 160 km (99.4221). I think it was 160 because this wind was really hard! As loud and disturbing as it was, I learned to like it. It added sound to the scenery and made all the clouds very beautiful. It also helped cool down the house when the sun heated it up too much. The wind was also extra harsh on us because we were on what we thought was the highest hill in a small trench/valley/fjord with mountains on either side. Our house was a perfect target for the gusts and bullets of wind. We could also see on the water how strong the wind was because it was creating huge whitecaps. Somehow, thankfully, we did not get swept up in a tornado and taken to Oz.

6-Day Trip to Antarctica

In my 6 days of seeing Antarctica, I was mesmerized. It was the trip of a lifetime, but there is no way it’s going to be once in a lifetime for me. One day I Will find my way back to Antarctica. The best way to do this seems to be to get a job in Antarctica which I probably can figure out how to do. I definitely will get back there. Someday 🙂

2023-12-212024-01-15

Quark Expeditions, Antarctica: Day 1

Antarctica Expedition: Day 1

Location: Dream Hotel, Punta Arenas, Chile, South America

Agenda: Packing and weighing to go to Antarctica and also briefing about the ship.

So, after two hotels in two days, we finally checked into the Hotel where we will go to Antarctica from. We had to have our bags weighed. In Quark, you get 5 kg for your carry-on and 15 kg for your checked baggage. This is because the plane that we take to Antarctica lands on a gravel airstrip that is only 1800 meters long. The plane has to be light enough to land on such a short runway. So everything is carefully weighed. After getting our bags weighed, we went to get our special bright yellow Quark Antarctic jackets. And, of course, our fully waterproof, really thick special Antarctic boots! These boots were the best thing ever! I waded through shallow water dry in them. The reason they give us these boots is that they need to keep everything microorganisms free in Antarctica. So they sanitize the boots many times as well as when you get on and off the ship.

After weighing and gear pick up, there is about an hour or two before the briefing and group dinner. In the briefing, we learned about our boat and the process it takes to get to Antarctica. We take a bus from the hotel to the airport, then a plane from the Punta Arenas airport to the Teniente R. Marsh airport on King George Island in Antarctica. Then we take a bus from the “airport” (really, it’s just a gravel runway with a plane parking lot and bus parking lot) to the shore. On the shore, the Zodiacs are waiting. The Zodiacs are our rafts, and they take us out on cruises, and on the first day, they take us out to the boat. (Everything said above is knowledge I learned in the briefing, I will post about the experience in another post 🙂

The welcome dinner is a buffet with all your shipmates and the ground crew. It is a nicer buffet, but it’s not like what’s on the ship. After the buffet, everyone goes up to their hotel rooms to try to get sleep before Antarctica. The next morning we had absolutely no idea what was going to happen…..

Friday, 12/15/2023 Punta Arenas Dream Hotel	Saturday 12/16/2023 Punta Arenas to King George Island
Briefing about Antarctica, the ship, and what will happen tomorrow	Drive to the Airport and board the flight with Quark group 1 (half of the ship’s guests)
Pack and Re-pack to make things fit!	We are on Standby for our flight to King George Island, Antarctica, via Antarctica Airways
Receive Quark Coat, Special Boots, and Bag tags for non-Antarctic luggage	Arriving in Antarctica and working to get onto the ship: World Explorer
Welcome dinner with the rest of the ship guests in the hotel	Being welcomed on the ship warmly and finding our rooms! 🙂
	Drive to the Airport and board flight with Quark group 1 (half of the ship’s guests)

This Table is the schedule of our first two days with Quark Expeditions

Quark Expeditions

Guide Profiles

2023-12-212024-01-20

Quark Expeditions: Antarctica, Day 7

Thursday 21/12/2023

Location: Kind George Island, Antarctica to Punta Arenas, Chile, South America

Agenda: Going to Punta Arenas

Goodbye Antarctica

We woke up early to get out of our cabins so they could be cleaned. Today, a new group of passengers comes in on the plane that we leave on. The entire ship had to be perfectly clean for this new group while the old group is leaving! I ate breakfast and waited for the pink group to be called to the gangway. As I was waiting I went around the ship taking photos and videos of my favorite places. When pink group was called I went down to the mudroom and geared up for the last time. As me and my family waited to go down to a zodiac we said goodbye to all the guides that we knew who were in the mudroom. Ema helped me down to the zodiac which reminded me that she was also the person who helped me onboard the ship on the first day. The ride back to shore felt very long but also too short. I watched the ship get smaller and tried to freeze the moment.

On land, guides helped us get our lifejackets off and get into busses. We took busses up to the “airport waiting area.” It was just some container like buildings on stilts. It was impressive that there was a waiting area at all! I waited outside on the “porch.” When the planes flew in we had a first rate view of their landing! The busses went to collect the new Antarctic travelers. The funniest part was when they all drove past us looking out the windows in wonder. I waved at everyone and a lot of people waved back. I hoped that they were exited about their adventure. The funny thing about my first moments on Antarctica was that I didn’t know anything about what was going on. Like It was all just so new that it seemed funny. I just followed instructions staring around at all the beautiful things! These people were doing the same. Soon Busses took quark group 1 up to the first plane which was funnily enough painted to look like a gentoo penguin! Getting off the bus to the plane went Way too fast. I felt like as soon as I was on the plane I was cut off from Antarctica which felt so sad.

Back In The Real World

Antarctica felt like a wonderland. Punta Arenas felt so normal compared to the ice landscape. It almost felt weird. The landscape in Antarctica feels so natural because there is not human life but in Punta Arenas there are humans everywhere and buildings. I prefer barren nature places to cities because it feels like a little safe haven.

At the Airport in Punta Arenas we got our bags and boarded a bus that took us back to the hotel. For the rest of the day me and my siblings worked on sorting bags to prepare for our drive to Puerta Natales. It felt so weird to not be in Antarctica. We went to a fun dinner in town and tried to sleep before our next adventure.

Photos from today!

A great qout they played on the program the day we left

2023-12-212024-01-15

Photos from Antarctica!!!

Below are all photos of Antarctica and what I consider to be the best photos. A couple of photos are not mine. The beauty and natural beauty of Antarctica is really amazing! I hope you get a good taste of it through these photos!

Below are people’s photos from Antarctica; I hope they show how fun and truly amazing it was. 🙂

On the second to last day of the voyage, I was allowed to get a hoodie or t-shirt. I opted for a hoodie because, well, I just love hoodies. I also wanted to have a hoodie that had the crew’s signatures and the signatures of my friends. This gray one proved to be perfect! I asked Valare (one of the guides, she was the second guide I met on the trip) to do some sort of Antarctica artwork on the back because she is an AMAZING artist! She made it perfect! I then asked all the guides to sign it, as well as my friends and some random people who I did not know. At the captain’s farewell, I played a Ukrainian folk song (the captain was from Ukraine, as well as 12 crew), and then I got to meet the captain and the other bridge people. So, in the end, I got the bridge crew, all the guides, and most of the head of staff to sign it!!!!!!!!

2023-12-202024-01-20

Quark Expeditions: Antarctica, Day 6

Wednesday 20/12/2023

Location: World Explorer, Deception Island

Agenda: All Zodiac Cruising cancelled due to high winds. We sailed to Deception Island to try to cruise, but our efforts were not rewarded.

Another Stormy Day

Sadly today was just a day to watch the landscape and learn history. The winds were too high at our morning location to go cruising, so we aimed for Deception Island. Deception island is like a horse shoe. It was once a volcano that erupted but then the caldera broke letting a bunch of seawater in and making beaches. It’s called deception island because when a ship sails around it it looks like sea cliffs all around but there is a “secret” entrance called Neptunes bellows. This entrance is even thinner than the Lemaire channel, and it has a big underwater rock in it, which makes it extra dangerous. It’s called Neptune Bellows because it’s in perfect shape and spot to make extremely forcefully and high wind, which makes ship navigation even harder! Somehow our captain got us through!

Inside the Volcano

Inside it was still windy but everything looked very still. On the several beaches there were abandoned buildings from old whaling stations and the abandoned research stations from when there was a second eruption. The second eruption was not huge, but it was big enough that the island had to evacuate everyone! We were hoping to cruise and land in Whalers Bay, but it was still too windy. Instead we toured the island via the ship and received a history lesson from Ian.

Don’t Make Me Leave!!!

In the evening we had to gather in the Auditorium for our last debrief and briefing about our departure schedule. We also got to see our voyage slideshow and learn some more about whales. We were told how early we were going to wake up and what sequence we were going to fly home in. Alot of people looked sad and I was sad because who wants to leave Antarctica???

Captains Farewell

Later that evening there was a “party” where the captain came down to socialize and a lot of the crew came through the main lounge and we got to clap for everyone and there was a lot of smiling and clapping. On board, there was also a piano, and I had my violin, so… I got to perform a song with my brother. There is a backstory to the song that I performed. The night before, I was practicing this song with my brother (B). He was on the piano and I was on the violin. The song was Chervona Kalyna (Червона Калина) which is a Ukrainian folk song. This song was sung by Kozaks and soldiers and it is about a Red Kalyna in a medow. I know this song because I have been learning Ukrainian and I mostly only listen to Ukrainian and 80’s music. We were playing the song and a lady came in to listen. When we finished the song, she asked how we knew the song and why we were playing it. I told her how I knew it and that we were just practicing it and then I asked if she was from Ukraine. Turns out, she was! We talked for a while and I learned that 12 of the crew were from Ukraine and then I asked if I could play Chervona Kalyna for them the next day at the captains Farewell. That’s how I ended up playing it for the captain (who is from Ukraine) and a few of the Ukrainian crew and all the passengers!

Disco Party!

After dinner I had to pack all my stuff. This meant that I just put everything in my bag and got ready for the next day. As my bag was being checked by my mom my brother came in and announced that there was a disco dance party in the observation lounge! I LOVE dancing! I immediately wanted to race upstairs but I had to wait for my bag to be checked. As soon as it was I raced upstairs!

The dance floor was empty and adults just stood around talking. Some of the head captains were there talking and a lot of guides were there. As two of my siblings walked in the music changed and people moved to the dance floor. Me and Emmy were dancing like teenagers and two of the guides were doing a dance that we did not know. It was like ballroom dancing but probably less fancy. Me and my sister asked to be taught this dance because it looked fun. Once we mastered it we could not stop! Its a simple 10 step dance that repeats forever until you stop. At one point people started going outside so we did to and guess what we saw?? A sunset! The sun was actually setting! This was very surprising and unusual but I later learned that it was the summer solstice (southern hemisphere) and that’s why it was setting.

It was pretty cool! The sun fully dipped below the horizon at 10 pm! It usually sets for an hour or two around 1 am so this was surprise! It was a perfect last night in Antarctica!

Photos from today!