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 🙂
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
Agenda: Skip the morning cruise and sail to Danco Island, Zodiac Cruise, Onboard Auction
Antarctica Is Not Always Majestical
Yesterday was beautiful. Today… Today is stormy, windy, and cold. I can’t blame Antarctica. Weather in Antarctica can turn at any moment. Today, it turned out, and we had a very cold day. We were not able to go Zodiac cruising in the morning because it was too windy and the waves were too big, so instead, we cruised to Danco Island. On the way we had a little entertainment provided by no other than the Great Breaching Whale!!!
So, You Saw a Whale Breach?
Yeah, I saw a whale breach, not once, not twice, but over 40 times!!!!! When a whale breeches, it expends 2-5% of its daily energy. This whale breached non-stop for over 40 minutes with over 40 breaches!!! Usually, on the ship, when a whale breaches, they announce it, but the whale is done by the time you get to the right side of the ship. This time, they announced it once, thinking it was a one-time thing. About 15 minutes into the breaching, they announced it again, telling people that they weren’t gonna miss it. They announced it twice more, each time sounding more and more excited! Annie, the marine biologist who specialized in whales, was stunned. All the guides on the ship, some of whom had over 30 years of polar trips, said they had never seen a whale do this. It was a natural phenomenon! It was pretty insane!
The Bridge
Since the whale stole 40 min out of our voyage to Danco Island, we had extra time. Time enough to do bridge tours! The bridge is the part of the ship that the captain steers from and controls everything. It was really cool to visit! It was very quiet and spacious, with wraparound windows and “wings” that go over the side of the ship to see the side of the ship. There were two main captain chairs in the main controlling area, which had sonar, radar, and other fancy equipment. There was a chart room and the captain’s quarters all in the bow of the ship! I ended up visiting the bridge twice because I did not have much else to do, and it was cool, so why not?
Warning: Zodiac Cruising Can Be Wet
Be aware that when you are in a small boat in waves, the ocean can rise to meet you in full force. I am probably making it sound super dramatic, but what I am saying is I got wet. It wasn’t really a surprise because it was raining and it was very windy, which made bigger waves. The good thing is that I had some pretty awesome waterproof pants, so it was really only my face and coat that got wet. Lol
My biggest tip is BRING WATERPROFF PANTS! Some people did not, and they were sad and wet. The waterproof difference is really big. If you are sitting on the cold side of the Zodiac when you are soaked is not fun. Bring pants that have unzippable breather sides so you don’t overheat when it is sunny and warm.
Back to the Cruise
Our afternoon Zodiac driver was Jensinna from Alaska. She took us to watch a penguin colony that had elephant seals on the beach! The penguins were the best part, though. They were waddling up this big hill and tobogganing down. It looked like a penguin ski resort! They had little penguin highways that they would all share, walking in a line, stopping at the top, and sliding down. The penguins who were going down probably did not just make it to the top, but that’s what it looked like! I guess this is when people think penguins are cute. 🙂 We also saw some Ice caves and Ice cliffs, which was pretty cool! We had to head in quickly because the waves and wind started picking up.
Auctioning in Antarctica
What better pastime in Antarctica than an auction? On the second to last night in Antarctica, the on-board penguin research team held an auction to raise money. It was a lot of fun! Adrian, the assistant expedition leader, was the auctioneer, talking very fast and raising the price of things almost as fast! Some of the stuff auctioned was swag from the penguin organization, but some of the things were pretty cool! There was a map of our voyage with art on it done by Valarie (The same person who did the art on the back of my Antarctica sweater). There was also a bottle of Antarctic Glacial Water which got lots of laughs. One of the guides also was making good jokes out of it. Ian, the historian, was showing the bottle around, and Adrian was joking that Ian is over 100 years old because he drinks glacial water, and that’s how he knows all the history of Antarctica so well!! It was pretty funny! Those were the coolest things, but there were many other things auctioned off. I was sad for it to be the second to last night, and I started to be worried about leaving. Nobody ever wants to say goodbye to Antarctica.
Here are the Photos from the day!
Valarie holding up one side of her art! All the animals and the ship were done by her!This ice berg cliff, with a shaft of sunlight on It was asking for a picture.Cool Ice caves!Just the usual veiwAs close as you get to sunset in Antarctica. The sun is still pretty high in the sky.Typical Outer Layers for an outing.Controls on the BridgeA window in the floor to see if icebergs make it past the bow.RadarZodiac Cruising past Glowing Ice Bergs!They look like skiing penguins right?
Location: Lemaire Channel, Peterman Island, on the World Explorer
Agenda: Visiting penguins on Petermann Island, visiting iceberg graveyard on Zodiacs, and the Polar Plunge!
Lemaire Channel
In the morning, I woke up earlier than usual and joined the few early risers in the observation lounge to witness us going through the infamous Lemaire Channel. The Lemaire Channel had been blocked up with ice for the whole season, and it was foggy, and it looked like icebergs were blocking it up. Thankfully, our amazing captain thought it was okay to go through, so he very carefully and slowly navigated us through the foggy, extremely narrow channel. On either side, tall mountain cliffs and glaciers rose up, making it seem like we were sailing through a trench. The end did have icebergs in it, but not too many. Our expedition was the first of the season to make it through the channel!!
On The Other Side
On the other side, we cruised to Pettermann Island near the Kyiv peninsula and the Vernadsky base. The Vernadsky base is the Antarctic base that Ukraine bought from the British for one British pound. The British really did not want the base, and the Ukrainians wanted a base but could not build one, so they got one almost for free.
Petermann Island has a penguin colony and a Chilean hut for emergencies, but the hut has been overridden by penguins, so we could not go see it. The place where we landed was a small rocky “beach” big enough for two Zodiacs side by side. There were penguins everywhere! The guides made trails through the snow up to the main penguin nesting spots, and we trudged up perfect snow hills to see them.
Are Penguins Actually Cute?
Everyone says penguins are super cute, and I think they are mistaken. In my opinion, antarctic penguins do not look cute. They have beady little eyes and are covered in their own poop. The smallest penguin, however, is very cute. The little blue penguin is the only one that is cute, and it’s not in Antarctica. I saw some in New Zealand but only for a few moments. These Adelie penguins on Petermann Island were funny, not cute. They go around trying to make nests for their mates by piling up rocks. Antarctica naturally does not have many small rocks, so penguins just go around stealing rocks. I watched a single penguin go around his group, trying to find rocks but resorting to stealing. Meanwhile, his mate was protecting their nest from a greedy neighbor who repeatedly tried to steal the same rock, only to be fended off by loud penguin squawks.
After Peterman Island
After Petermann Island, we did not get to cruise around in Zodiacs; we just went back to the ship. On the ship, I had lunch and worked on felting penguins to pass the time. We were heading to an iceberg graveyard. You might be wondering, what is an iceberg graveyard??? It is an area with a bunch of grounded icebergs. They don’t move, and it does look rather eerie.
Ice Berg Zodiac Cruising
In the graveyard, we carefully cruised around because it was very shallow. Our guide was Shasha (Alexander), and he got us to a seal! This seal was just lying on the ice, totally chill. Seals have very chill lives, they eat fish and krill and lay around all day sleeping. This seal took the trouble to wave at us and lift its head, but then it went back to sleep. There were no clusters of penguins, but we found a single penguin trying to fish in a foot of water. It just stood there, dove down, then came back up to stare at the water. It looked very sad. On our way back to the ship, we rounded a corner and encountered some whales hanging out, logging by some zodiacs. Everyone was silent, just watching them, and it was very beautiful.
Polar Plunge
Who would go to Antarctica, be offered to do the polar plunge, and turn it down?? Me. I was sadly the only one in my family who did not get into the -7 degrees Celsius water. I don’t like jumping into ocean water, and if it’s freezing water, I definitely didn’t want to do it. I greatly enjoyed seeing my sister be the first one on the whole ship to get in the water! One after the next, my family went. Almost 80 passengers went, and the best part was hearing their surprised yelp of “It’s cold!!!” or “It’s salty!!” Alot of people were surprised that it was salty. lol
After my family went, I raced down to the mudroom to greet them, and I saw a lot of people lined up in white bathrobes, waiting to jump willingly into freezing water. I don’t understand it! I would not put myself through that. Alas, I will probably regret it later in life…
Lemaire Channel, Again
The rest of the day was spent on dinner, relaxing, and drinking a lot of cocoa. All of that is very uninteresting, though. So, I get to tell you about the night time Lemaire Channel. In the morning, when we went through, it was foggy, cold, rainy, and not very majestic. In the night, however… I will let the following picture do the talking
How insane does this look?? The water was like glass, and there was a gentle mist on the tops of the mountains. Everything was perfectly quiet, and it was not too cold, so everyone was outside. It was just so breathtaking!! I can’t get over the moments I spent staring at this mountain, open-mouthed, silent in awe.
That’s what Antarctica does to you. It makes you stop and stare at the world as if it’s your first sight of it because it is just so beautiful!
Here are the pictures from today! Enjoy!
This ice berg spire was super cool!Ice berg shelfThis was the silly diving penguin I was talking about.Just Majestical!Hold your breath! I wish this moment lasted forever!
Where: World Explorer, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctic Continent (Exact locations visited will be updated when I receive the voyage log)
Agenda: First 2-hour Zodiac cruise, First Continental Landing, Captain’s Welcome “party”
Zodiac Cruising!!!!!
Our first Zidaic Cruise was with Vladimir. When our zodiac was fully loaded, he turned to us and said: “Here are the rules; there are none. But please don’t stand up while I am driving, and we will switch off standing and sitting to for wildlife. Also, we go fast [because] I am Russian.” Sure enough, he zoomed away from the ship, and we quickly found ourselves watching a group of chinstrap and Adelie penguins. They were the first penguins I saw, and they were pretty cute. Cartoon penguins are much cuter, and in real life, you can see how silly and dirty these creatures are. We did not see Emperor penguins (the ones in Happy Feet) because they live much further inland. After we were done with the penguins, we drove past some ice cliffs and towering Icebergs. We found some whales that were logging (sleeping) and hung near them for a while. At one point, some other whales came in between us and an iceberg, and they were so close that we could hear them super loudly! It was just so cool!!!!
Post Zodiac Cruise
Coming back after a Zodiac cruise to a warm cup of rich cocoa is like nothing else in the world! The coffee station that I mentioned in an earlier post became one of our favorite places on the boat. After each Zodiac cruise, I would hurriedly get my coat and boots off and rush upstairs, get a cup of cocoa, and then walk up to my room to drop off all my gloves, hats, etc…
After our first Zodiac cruise, we had some time before lunch to chill, so I went up to the Observation Lounge. It is on the seventh deckhand and has almost complete wrap-around windows off the bow of the ship. It has an outside deck that goes all the way around the ship. Lots of lounging space, the ship library, a bar, and space for the afternoon tea to be served 😉 Lunch was really good! The lunches on board are buffet, but you can also order steaks, chicken, and other things. Each day, there is also a special dish that you can get at the counter. For example, one day, they were cooking pasta, especially on demand. Another day, they had whole pigs roasted and carved into nice chunks of meat right in front of you. Pigs, plural, over the course of the hour, I think they probably had 4 pigs served. Pigs for lunch in Antarctica!!!! Another thing to note, the buffets are not your normal buffets. These are nicely arranged and full of beautiful and delicious food. There are always mountains of bread (there are small plates of GF bread) and soups at lunch. Everything is kinda fancy but at the same time casual. With such few people on board, you get to know people, and everything seems so free and calm. On a large cruise ship, everyone is in their own world, but on our expedition ship, we were all in one world together.
After lunch, we waited and prepared to arrive at our afternoon continental landing site. My family was in the Pink group, and in the morning, we went last, so in the afternoon, we got to go first. There are four groups Pink, Green, Orange, and Yellow. The groups rotate each time we go out to give everyone a turn being first. All passengers go to a group, and you pick your group so you can be with family and friends. You stay in the same group throughout the whole voyage, but that’s why there is a rotation of the group exit times. Somehow, the majority of the pink group was from floor 6. This was a good thing but also bad because that meant that we all were cramming into the floor 6 locker row, which got very crowded very fast.
Sweating? In Antarctica????
My biggest fear of going to Antarctica was the cold weather. I had never been in below 0 celsius temperature. I grew up in Seattle, where it is normally in the 60’s and sometimes drooped below freezing in the winter, but rarely. I ski, and I’m used to cold weather, but the thing most people think about Antarctica is polar bears and cold. FYI there are NO polar bears in Antarctica. It might blow your mind, but they are only in the north. Well, on our first continental landing, we had a short hike up a “hill” to get a good view. Hiking in the cold Is hard because your breath does not come easily. Hiking in the sun on snow with about a million layers on makes the air seem like an oven. Once I reached the top, I immediately unzipped my coat and all my sweaters. I took off my gloves, hat, and neck warmer. I had a bag to put these in, but the thing is, you can’t touch anything but your shoes to the ground. There are bird flu bacteria and little microbes that we cant see that shouldn’t be spread around. This made de-layering extremely hard. So, the fix? Choose one person to be the bag and coat rack for a few minutes as everyone de-layers. We must have been a funny sight. Eventually, we got to the proper amount of layers, and all cooled off, I was able to practically run in the snow!
Yeah, I think this picture is pretty awesome because we are like in base layers with icebergs in the background. We had to keep our life jackets on because, of course, you can easily drown on land, right? 😉 The Quark coats we got also had these really nice “backpack straps” inside the coat, so you can wear It like a backpack if you get too hot.
After climbing the snow hill, my sister and I went back down to the boat area to wait for our family. We helped people navigate the slippery rocks to the boat, but in the end, we had to take the last boat because the rest of my family was stuck at the back of the line. This proved fortunate for us because we ended up in Vladimir’s boat. This meant that we were going to be able to go just a little bit closer to wildlife and go just a little bit faster than the other boats. Sure enough, we had whales swimming just below our boat!! They were so huge! A bunch of Zodiacs were just floating around and these whales were swimming around them and playing and showing their tails! We did not see any penguins, but Vladimir told us all to take our cameras out and start a timelapse. We followed his instructions, waiting for something, and then he drove really fast around an iceberg, and it created such a cool timelapse!
In Between Outdoor Adventure and Really Good Food
What do you do on a small ship in a quiet ocean? Well, there are plenty of things. Staring at icebergs, reading a book, walking around the ship, looking at the ship’s boutique, standing outside for as long as you can before you freeze… That last one is legit and it is very fun.
There are plenty of things to do, and in Antarctica, I was never bored. In the afternoons there is also afternoon tea served in the Observation lounge. There are drinks, snacks and sweets. Everyone hangs out and watches things, and it is super fun! The ship library is in the observation lounge, and it has books in several languages about Antarctic and polar adventures!
Before dinner, there was a “party” in the Main Lounge on deck 4. The captain came down, and all the staff captains lined up and introduced themselves and a lot of people dressed up nice. The adults drank champagne, and all the kids had orange juice. There were toasts to the voyage, and then everyone went off to dinner. Dinner was very good, but the dessert was so good!!!
Friday, 12/15/2023 Punta Arenas Dream Hotel
Saturday 12/16/2023 Punta Arenas to King George Island
Sunday 12/17/2023 World Explorer, Antarctic Peninsula
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)
First full day on the boat!! First breakfast and earning up in mudroom!! We are Pink Group, so we go last today.
Pack and Re-pack to make things fit!
Receive Quark Coat, Special Boots, and Bag tags for non-Antarctic luggage.
Our first Zodiac cruise! Our guide was Vladimir! He was very funny and good at getting us close to the whales and penguins.
Arriving in Antarctica and working to get onto the ship World Explorer
Being welcomed on the ship warmly and found our rooms! 🙂
First Lunch aboard! We also hung out in the observatory lounge and met Annie, the Marine Biologist!
Welcome dinner with the rest of the ship guests in the hotel
Lifeboat drill!! We had to all find our life jackets and go to our muster stations with our key cards! They scan every one to make sure nobody is missing. What a good system!
First Continental Landing! We had a very hot, sweaty snowy hike on the continental Antarctica! There was a seal by the path, and it was super lazy!!
Off to sleep we go before our big travel day!
Wow! Our first dinner was so good!! They have gluten-free bread and a basic menu, as well as an international menu that changes every night with different themes!
Afternoon Zodiac cruise after continental landing with Vladimir again! We got very close to some whales, and they were breathing right next to us!! I also got a super cool wrap-around timelapse of an iceberg!
This Table is the schedule of our first two days with Quark Expeditions.
