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) |