My next adventure - the White Continent!
Santiago, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina to the National Geographic/Lindblad Resolution
Tuesday & Wednesday, November 8 & 9, 2022
Flew to Santiago, Chile via Atlanta. Arrived in Santiago on Tuesday at 8:10 am.
Santiago is 2 hours later than Detroit
Flying above the Andes in the clouds
Surreal looking
After landing I think I walked about 2 miles from the plane, to passport control, immigration, luggage and then to the Lindblad bus to take us to the hotel! Lots of traffic in Santiago, checked into the Mandarin Oriental, went to a local artisan craft village, then a tour of Santiago. Max, our guide, took us to the Chile pre-Colombian museum.
Chile means “end of land”. Santiago, the capital, is in a valley with the Andes along the east side, with the Mapocho River dividing the city. Chile’s latitudes allow many different seasons, desert in the north, parks & fjords in the south. Population of Chile is 8 million people made up of many immigrants, with the Mapuche being predominant in the southern part. Mining is a huge industry in the country. Really good wines they don’t get the bugs that attacked CA & France; Historical district continent of immigrants; 1973 -1983 Pinochet dictatorship lot of unrest. Patagonia in southern Chile (Patagonia is also in Argentina) means "Land of the Big Feet" - originated by Ferdinand Magellan who first explored the region and found big footprints from the natives.
Early record keeping - a quipu used as an abacus to keep track of animals, female, male, crops, etc.
Bicentennial Park created to commemorate Chile's 200 years of independence
A coot, beautiful colored feet
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Beautiful flamingos!
Pool at the Mandarin Oriental in Santiago
Leaving Santiago on the way to the airport, today you can see the Andes
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Arriving in Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia - El Fin de Mundo - The End of the World
We took a cruise on the Beagle Channel while enjoying our lunch on a private catamaran
South American sea lions basking in the sun
We boarded the National Geographic Resolution ship after our Beagle Channel cruise.
Mount Olivia and our boat docked in Ushuaia, Argentina.
My lovely room 517, starboard on the Resolution
My orange Lindblad jacket and a stuffed penguin on the bed - nice gifts!
(and my first night on board). Housekeeping staff has a staff of 75 mostly all Phillipeans. There were 99 passengers on board.
Friday, November 11, 2022
Today, we leave Ushuaia and head for the Drake Passage.
We had a life saving drill and then an introduction to the Captain and Crew. I met and chatted with Sebastian Maliszewski, our chef, who hails from Gdynia in Poland! And I met and chatted with Adam, the Chief Engineer of the Resolution, who I met on our Greenland trip. Martin Graser, our Captain is from Norway, but he has lived in Germany for the last few years. He was a key participant in the planning and building of our ship, the Resolution.
At sea heading for the Drake Passage
Drake Passage, a 500 mile wide strait between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. It's one of the most famous bodies of the world because sometimes it is ferocious and sometimes flat calm. Sir Francis Drake, English explorer, slave trader, went to sea at 18 years of age & very quickly was commanding his own ships. Between 1577-1580, Drake, under the rule of Queen Elizabeth, became the first English to sail around the world. He charted new sea routes while plundering Spanish ships and South American ports. In 1577 his ship, the Pelican, successfully sailed thru the Straits of Magellan. The Drake Passage stretches between Cape Horn and the Shetland Islands and is the narrowest body of water between land and Antartica. Because of this, there is an extremely powerful mixing of ocean currents. Also because of the lack of land masses, it allows for unhampered eastward flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, also know as the West Wind Drift. This means we will have exciting or very calm days on our 2 days before we arrive in Antartica.
Petrals searching for dinner
Saturday, November 12, 2022 - First encounter with the Antarctic
Today we finished our crossing of the Drake Passage woke up in Antarctic waters, continuing on to the Weddell Sea and Paulet Island, Antarctica. Shayne Sanders, naturalist, gave a presentation on penguins and Andreas Alexander, naturalist, presented an introduction to Antarctica.
Antarctic Sound forms the northwestern entrance to the Weddell Sea. Antarctic Sound has a lot of icebergs, and is nicknamed “Iceberg Alley.”
First iceberg I saw about 20 miles north of the Sound. I thought this was an awesome site and later was amazed at the constant breathtaking views.
Sunday, November 13, 2022
We traveled further into Antarctica and enjoyed more of nature's ice art.
Monday, November 14, 2022
An overcast day in Antarctica, we took the zodiacs on to our first expedition to see the Adelie penguins on Danco Island.
The Adélie penguin is common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
I saw this fur seal from my balcony on the ship.
Zoomed in on the seal
We boarded our zodiacs to looked for wild life and saw these emperor penguins.
Emperor Penguin photo taken from the Zodiac
Admiralty Sound - Our walk on the ice
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Traveling to Deception Island
Deception Island is an active volcano in Antarctica with a huge colony of penguins and glaciers that cover almost sixty percent of the island. The remains of the historic Hektor Whaling Station are all over the beach where we saw fur seals and gentoo penguins.
Old rusted oil drums used to store whale oil at Port Whalers Bay on Deception Island
Our group walking on the beach at Deception Island
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Colony of Gentoo penguins - such fun watching them hopping in and out of the water
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Andvora Bay, Neko Harbor, walked trail among Gentoo penguin colony on Danco Island, Paradise Harbor Zodiac Cruise & Polar Plunge
Ice scatters blue light the best and absorbs the rest according to our naturalists
Danco Island
From the ship, we watched the penguins climbing the 450-meter, snow-covered hill like ants all in a row. The staff went ashore to prep the landing site by digging in some snow stairs. We loaded into our Zodiacs and headed for shore. The landing was slightly rough with lots of ice, rocks, and a huge snowbank.
We enjoyed the gentoo penguins as they walked along their “penguin highways” and we stepped aside and even saw penguins mating.
Paradise Harbor - Polar Plunge - I chickened out
A ship bring supplies to the Argentinian Antarctic Station
Helicopter with supplies heading to the - America's Palmer Station is about 20 miles away from here but we didn't see it.
Spotted a seal while on our zodiac
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Friday, November 18, 2022
We start leaving Antartica heading toward the Drake Passage. The waves were 5-6 meters high and many on board were feeling the affects, fortunately not me!
Saturday, November 19, 2022
Still going through the Drake Passage, but the sea calmed down. Two presentations today in the Ice Lounge - one about ocean acidification and what might happen to our oceans if global warming is not managed, the other presentation by Tiffany about her life in the Falkland Islands where she lives. We arrived in Ushuaia in the evening.
I was so surprised when the staff presented me with a birthday cake - even though my birthday wasn't until the next day.
Friends that shared my birthday cake!
Robert Parks from New Jersey, Ning Fan from Virginia, and Troy and Margaret McKay-Lowndes from Australia
Pilot leading the Resolution into Ushuaia
Arriving back in Ushuaia
We traveled over 2,000 miles on the Resolution
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Leaving Ushuaia to Santiago, Chile to Detroit
Leaving Santiago, Chile
Monday, November 21, 2022
Getting ready to land in Detroit
Plane circling around Detroit, Belle Isle in the distance, to land at Metro
A TRIP OF A LIFETIME! - BEST EVER!
I am one very fortunate person!
