AmyHuang
The Antarctica Diaries - Part 1
Finally, the long awaited travelogue....
(Text by Jane - Travel String's sister)
The trip started off on a typical sunny/rainy day in Ushuaia where we spent a night before boarding the ship.
As we booked our trip over a year in advance, we were lucky enough to have been upgraded to the category 5 suite, so we got to enjoy our own little lounge room and looking out through 6 big windows.
3rd – 4th March 2010
We spent the first couple of days going through the Drake Passage, which really was an experience on its own. This part of the sea is well known for its roughness, no matter what the weather is like. Motion sickness tablets were my best friends during this part of the trip, I ignored the warnings on the packages of ‘do not exceed 6 tablets in 24 hours’; I was taking the tablets every 3 or 4 hours, with all 3 different brands as well. But even with the excessive amount of drugs I was taking, I still found it extremely difficult to even just sit up from the bed. Walking around was almost impossible as the ship was rocking at 45 degrees. The furthest I got to from the bed was to the toilet (which is right next to the bed as it was an ensuite).
5th March 2010
On the third day of sailing we were called down to the Mud Room to vacuum all our outer layers of clothing and backpacks. This was to prevent us bring any foreign materials onto the islands/continent (we also has to disinfect our boots every time we get off the ship and when we come back from an excursion). We also had to sit through a mandatory lecture regarding the special protocols that must be followed when visiting this continent as instructed by IAATO.
We finally spotted some icebergs during late afternoon on the third day. It was all very exciting as most of us have never seen icebergs before. By this time the sea has calmed down a lot, and we were able to have some decent meals in the dining room.
The ship quietly crossed the Antarctic Circle at around 12:30-1am on the fourth day while most people were asleep, including us. Only a few managed to stay up and celebrated the event.
6th March 2010
Our very first excursion of this trip was a zodiac cruise around Crystal Sound. This was the first time many of us got up and close-ish to icebergs and glacier cliffs; we couldn’t be too close to them just in case of avalanches, which we witnessed quite a few times during this trip.
Each iceberg had their own unique shapes, they were like natural sculptures. The glaciers were at least 10m tall with beautiful shade of blue showing through the cracks… simply stunning.
We also had our first sighting of Antarctic Fur Seals and Crabeater Seals when we cruised around Crystal Sound.
During lunch, the ship sailed to Detaille Island for the afternoon’s landing. This island used to be a British base which was built in 1956 and abandoned in 1959. The large base hut was still in a pretty good condition and still contains all the contents just as they were when the base was deserted 50 years ago.
This was my first time walking on snow, touching snow. The snow was so deep every now and then I will sink my whole leg up to my butt into the snow. It was very exciting for me as I made my very first snowman.
We headed back to the ship after spending a few hours on the island. And as we waited for dinner to be prepared, we all went out on the deck for a little bit of whale watching and we were very lucky to have spotted a pod of killer whales and also 3 humpback whales bubble net feeding very close to our ship.
At around 9:30pm after dinner, we celebrated crossing the Antarctic Circle (this time everyone was awake!) once again as we headed back north. We were given free champagnes for toasting as the bridge sounded the ship’s horn.
(to be continued....)
(Text by Jane - Travel String's sister)
The trip started off on a typical sunny/rainy day in Ushuaia where we spent a night before boarding the ship.
As we booked our trip over a year in advance, we were lucky enough to have been upgraded to the category 5 suite, so we got to enjoy our own little lounge room and looking out through 6 big windows.
3rd – 4th March 2010
We spent the first couple of days going through the Drake Passage, which really was an experience on its own. This part of the sea is well known for its roughness, no matter what the weather is like. Motion sickness tablets were my best friends during this part of the trip, I ignored the warnings on the packages of ‘do not exceed 6 tablets in 24 hours’; I was taking the tablets every 3 or 4 hours, with all 3 different brands as well. But even with the excessive amount of drugs I was taking, I still found it extremely difficult to even just sit up from the bed. Walking around was almost impossible as the ship was rocking at 45 degrees. The furthest I got to from the bed was to the toilet (which is right next to the bed as it was an ensuite).
5th March 2010
On the third day of sailing we were called down to the Mud Room to vacuum all our outer layers of clothing and backpacks. This was to prevent us bring any foreign materials onto the islands/continent (we also has to disinfect our boots every time we get off the ship and when we come back from an excursion). We also had to sit through a mandatory lecture regarding the special protocols that must be followed when visiting this continent as instructed by IAATO.
We finally spotted some icebergs during late afternoon on the third day. It was all very exciting as most of us have never seen icebergs before. By this time the sea has calmed down a lot, and we were able to have some decent meals in the dining room.
The ship quietly crossed the Antarctic Circle at around 12:30-1am on the fourth day while most people were asleep, including us. Only a few managed to stay up and celebrated the event.
6th March 2010
Our very first excursion of this trip was a zodiac cruise around Crystal Sound. This was the first time many of us got up and close-ish to icebergs and glacier cliffs; we couldn’t be too close to them just in case of avalanches, which we witnessed quite a few times during this trip.
Each iceberg had their own unique shapes, they were like natural sculptures. The glaciers were at least 10m tall with beautiful shade of blue showing through the cracks… simply stunning.
We also had our first sighting of Antarctic Fur Seals and Crabeater Seals when we cruised around Crystal Sound.
During lunch, the ship sailed to Detaille Island for the afternoon’s landing. This island used to be a British base which was built in 1956 and abandoned in 1959. The large base hut was still in a pretty good condition and still contains all the contents just as they were when the base was deserted 50 years ago.
This was my first time walking on snow, touching snow. The snow was so deep every now and then I will sink my whole leg up to my butt into the snow. It was very exciting for me as I made my very first snowman.
We headed back to the ship after spending a few hours on the island. And as we waited for dinner to be prepared, we all went out on the deck for a little bit of whale watching and we were very lucky to have spotted a pod of killer whales and also 3 humpback whales bubble net feeding very close to our ship.
At around 9:30pm after dinner, we celebrated crossing the Antarctic Circle (this time everyone was awake!) once again as we headed back north. We were given free champagnes for toasting as the bridge sounded the ship’s horn.
(to be continued....)
