Antarctica Peninsular

I had been wanting to go to the Antarctica for a very long time. My main purpose was to see and photograph the emperor penguins. After much research, the only way to really see and photograph these majestic birds seemed to be going with Antarctica Logistics & Expeditions, to live for 5 days on the Snow Hill Island, with the penguins! Unfortunately it was beyond our means. And I'm not sure we we could endure the cold and rather rough conditions. So I settled with a more or less normal expedition which avoids going through the Drake Passage at least one way - the air-cruise with Expedition Trips. Did not know anything about them, especially not sure what kind of photography experience it would offer ....

Keep my fingers and everything else crossed for good luck!

Starting the Trip; Wednesday, January 11, 2017

It was happy anticipation and busy packing until about a week ago, when we received email from ExpeditionTrips telling us the last-minute change that the total weight for each person was changed to 44lbs, including carry-ons. I panicked - with my camera gear which all has to be carried on, there was NO WAY we could meet this weight limit! The cameras and lenses plus the bags would weigh more than 40lbs! I emailed them back - I would NOT have booked this expedition if I had known this! They spoke with the shipping company and Sarah was kind enough to get special permission to let us have all the camera gear (I listed them all) carry on. Phew!!!... That really put a damper on this trip - if this were a photography expedition there would not have had any issue with the camera gear .... Maybe I should have listened to Joshua ....

Then we were told that we will have to walk for 45 minutes after the charter plane lands in King George Island, Antarctica, to where we board the ship. And it will be zodiac boarding. Our expedition coordinator told us they will have boots for us because it might be wet landing .... Gee! with all the camera gear on the zodiac....

So, my happy anticipation has changed into worries and disappointment even before we left ....

We left the house at 8:30am (up at 6:30am), drove to Framingham, parked the car and took the airport bus to Logan. We got to the airport around 10:30, for our 12:55 flight. I would much rather this way. And we got to Houston around 4pm, local time (an hour behind Boston). Here we are, at the AmEx lounge at the Houston airport. Our flight to Santiago is at 9:35pm, so we have quite a few hours to kill.

The AmEx lounge here is new. Bob has been to the AmEx lounge in Vegas and said it was very nice there. That got my expectations up, which only ended in disappointment - nothing special at all! But we have a place to sit and put down our stuff, and I am on the net and can write my journal. No complaint. We will in business for the 9-hour flight to Houston, so things should be fine, hopefully.

We will be staying in Santiago for a couple of days and fly to Punta Arenas on Sunday the 15th. Then two nights in Punta Arenas, and board the charter flight to King George island on the 17th. So many unknowns about the ship and this expedition in general. Somehow I can't feel too excited, but more worried.....

Reading on FB the postings by WildPhoto etc. I am really really in love with the polar regions! If I were perhaps 20 years younger, I would definitely go back to Svalbard and to South Georgia and the Falklands AGAIN! Hope this trip to Antarctica will be as good as the 2 other trips we took, even though this is not a photography expeditions, unfortunately ....

Santiago, Chile; Thursday, January 12, 2017

We are in Santiago now, in the Crown Plaza hotel near downtown. Local time is around 12:30pm, and it is 82 degrees outside. Warm!

Our flight landed shortly before 10am. The flight was smooth and on time. It was our first time to experience United "Polaris" business class, not bad at all! The service seemed to have improved a lot since the time I traveled to China frequently back in 2006-2013. No complaint!

The taxi ride to the hotel from the airport was easy - we went to the official taxi counter inside the airport and paid for it, then came out to the taxi line and there were people there who took care of getting us a vehicle. Unfortunately the driver did not speak any English, and we not a word of Spanish :-( But she got us to the hotel and that's what matters. The car was not a painted taxi, so I wonder this "official taxi" business is some kind of uber ....

The taxi drove through some rather busy areas of Santiago before reaching our hotel. We were here for just part of a day back in 2014, with a guide. Supposedly we're very close to the city center, but of course I have no idea where is where. Time to go out and explore.

After consulting the concierge, we decided to walk to the old town. Oh boy! What a mistake! It really was a walk in hell - SO HOT! 90 degrees! PAINFUL!! And there really was NOTHING appealing about the place. I don't mean to sound so negative, but the heat and the crowd kind of spoiled everything. We only had the free map the concierge gave us, and it took us round and round to finally bump into the tourist office and someone who spoke English!! Then we were able to buy a map that had a bit more information. We were back in the hotel around 4:30. I felt like I was going to faint....

Oh guess what we did for lunch? We walked by a Chinese restaurant and had Chinese food! Surprise!:-) The food was edible, but that was it. Sigh .... I spoke Chinese with the girl there, otherwise we would not have been able to order. Haha!

Relaxed back in the coolness of the hotel. Searched tripadvisor to see what things we can do for the next couple of days in Santiago. I think we will walk to the vegetable market (La Vega Central) tomorrow morning, then to the Baha'i House of Worship in the afternoon - that place looks quite unique and I might be able to get some pictures of it.

Had dinner at the hotel restaurant Caruso. I think its food level is similar to the Chinese restaurant we ate at at lunch but of course with a much much better environment. Good we tried it since it's so convenient, but not again.

We took a stroll out after dinner, after 8pm. The sun was still there, and it did not start to set until around 9pm. It was a lot more pleasant to walk at this time, without the sun beating down on us brutally, but still quite a lot of people. We walked to Opera Cafe which we walked by during the day and got a piece of dessert which looked appealing to me, and a cup of coffee ice-cream. Back to the hotel before 9:30. Ready to call it a night.

Oh, checked online and found out that it is 24-hour daylight in Antarctica at this time! Sigh ... I guess there won't be any magical lights :-( And I really could not imagine what the photo shooting situation will be, as it's not a photography expedition. I really regret ....

Santiago Day 2; Friday, January 13, 2017

We went to bed around 10:30pm last night and got up before 8:30am. The bed was comfortable but I did not sleep too well, waking up too many times.

We were hoping to get up early today and walk to La Vega central before it got too hot, but by the time we finished breakfast and walked out, it was after 9:30. Bob studied the map and learned the way to the market. The walk at that time was not too bad -it was not too hot yet. On the way to the market, we probably walked through the area where a lot of immigrants have their shops - Chinese, Korean, and others. The section across the river from the side where the hotel is seems to be more local. And the river was such a muddy river! The current looked strong.

We got to the market. It was a very large market, much bigger than the one in Barcelona, Spain. There was a section under the covered structure but there were a lot of stands outside the structure. A few things pleasantly surprised me:

- The large quantity of huge water melons - I wish I could have gotten one!

- The kind of HUGE corn on the ears - really huge and fat! I'll be it is GMO'd.

- In such hot weather and with all that food, there was NOT one single fly! NON at all!! Wow!!

I got a couple of apples and 4 pomegranates.

The area around the market was quite congested. And there were a lot of street vendors who sold various pretty junky merchandise on the ground (on top of sheets). The whole area was very local - many many locals were pulling their little carts and shopped there.

By the time we walked out of the market, it was close to 11am and it was getting quite hot! I resisted the urge to get a taxi because we needed some exercise, and we got back to the hotel before noon.

Rested for a little bit, then headed out again before 1pm - wanted to take a taxi to the Santiago grand tower, to shop for a pair of sandals and to see the view of Santiago on its top floor.

The concierge told us we could easily take the subway to the grand tower, but we did not feel like facing the heat, so we got a taxi. There were taxis outside the hotel, not the kind with yellow and green color that we see on the streets, but black sleek looking Mercedes. And they can charge to the hotel. It's a little more expensive than the normal ones, but only by 3 bucks or so. For about $10, we got to the tower, in nice air conditioned car.

The taxi brought us to floor -1 of the tower where the parking was. And the nice driver told us to come to the same floor and to the taxi stand when we want a car back. Between floor -1 and 1 there was a floor called PB and there seemed to be a big grocery store there, plus other stores. We saw people pushing shopping carts like the kind we have in our grocery stores.

Floors 1-5 were stores of various kinds - many are the ones we see in the US. Floor 6 was the food floor - fast food and sit-down restaurants. We first rode the escalator to floor 6 and found a restaurant called Madam Tusan which looked like a fusion style Chinese restaurant. We ate there. The dim sum menu had spring rolls and shumai, which turned out to be decent. I ordered two main dishes, both turned out to be with beef and chicken. The beef with black bean dish was tasty, but the beef was so tough that I could not even chew it. The other beef and chicken dish was totally tasteless. Service was fine, environment was decent, price was high for the food served. We spent more than $70 USD, not worth it, but I was glad to have some Chinese food.

After lunch, we walked the floors trying to find a store that would sell comfortable walking sandals. With this kind of hot weather, you would think this should be easy. But no. Most of the stores selling athletic shoes had only sneaker type shoes. Finally we saw the store Merrell and I was excited. But they had a very limited supply of sandals and did not have my size. After seeing how disappointed I was, the clerk went back in and produced two pairs of my size - not sure why he said they did not have them in the beginning. I got a pair of thongs. The toes on my right foot were killing me, so this pair helped. I walked out in them.

Next stop was the sky view of Santiago on the 61st and 62nd floors of the tower. For us seniors, the ticket was little more than $10USD each. It was very nice on the viewing floors! The elevator took us to the 61st and we could then take the escalator to the 62nd. Really nice views of Santiago!!

The 61st floor was air conditioned whereas the 62nd was not, because it was open at the top on the 62nd floor. We could not figure out the directions of the city. I was hoping to see where the Baha'i house was, but no luck.

On the way down from the viewing tower, we were dropped off on floor 5 (not floor PB where we rode up). I guess this was to encourage people to shop. We walked down to floor 1 then took the elevator to floor -1 and got a taxi back to the hotel, before 5pm.

The temperature today was 95 degrees! No wonder I felt so tired and hot! We were planning to go to the Baha'i house in the evening, but decided to save that for tomorrow.

BTW one thing we noticed and felt most inconvenient was the fact that not many people in Santiago speaks or understands English. In the stores, the restaurants, in the taxies, without the ability to speak/understand Spanish can be quite difficult. And this has been the case with us :-(

After searching online for restaurant for dinner, we decided to go to Pad Thai, the Thai restaurant not too far away from the hotel. We left the hotel after 7pm, and the temperature outside still said 91 degrees. Too hot to walk, we took a taxi. Stupid us, we did not write down the street number of the restaurant. I thought it was 237 (it was actually 231). The taxi dropped us off near 237, but it took us a few rounds back and forth down the street Manuel Montt to finally find it!

The food was very good, and the environment quite lovely - we ate outside in the backyard which had a lovely swimming pool and various plants. There was also a nice dog, an akita and chow mix. His owner later told us he was 8 years old. Very clean and very friendly. Never bothered anyone. The menu was written quite differently from what we're used to in the States. And the waitress did not speak/understand English. She got the waiter (owner of the dog) who did speak English to help us. The dishes were all tasty and I stuffed myself!

After dinner, we decided to walk back to the hotel. But somehow we missed a turn and ended up walking further away from the hotel. We had to get a taxi to come back. By the time we got back, it was almost 10pm. And it was 81 degrees outside - still very warm.

It's almost 10:30pm now. We will call it a night soon. We will do the Baha'i house tomorrow near sunset, but what else??

Oh, I checked the weather in King George island and in Punta Arenas. Not so good! There will be rain, wind and snow .... Pray our charter flight will not be affected and hope the expedition will be smooth and successful!

Santiago Day 3; Saturday, January 14, 2017

Without realizing it, we did not go to bed until after midnight yesterday. Weather was so hot and we had dinner too late. I did not sleep too well, waking up too many times. We got up after 8am.

The weather was hot again. We did not have any idea what to do today - did not feel like taking a tour to the lake or the mountains, and we would not do the Baha'i house until the evening. So we decided to take the hop-on-hop-off bus and get an overview of the city by staying on the bus for the whole ride.

And that's what we did. Price was not cheap - 22,000 pesos (about $33 USD each). We walked to the nearest bus stop across the river to get on the bus, around 10:30am. There really was nothing to write home about for the ride, but we did get an overview of the various areas of the city. So it turned out our hotel is closer to the old town (walkable) than the new/modern section of Santiago. We saw the "NYC 5th avenue" equivalent of Santiago, with high rises and modern buildings, where the affluent people lived. Quite different from the old town, where there was more history. We were given earphones and could listen to the narration in different languages. Unfortunately the quality of the voice was not too good, and it was extremely loud on the streets, so I don't think I got much of the city's history. All is all, this is definitely not one of my favorite cities!

We got back to where we started before 1pm. And we had lunch at the small square that was full of shops and restaurants. We picked a place that served different sorts of rice with chicken dishes, and they were not too bad. It was a decent inexpensive lunch. There was no other places we wanted to go that was close to the hotel.

After lunch, we walked in the blazing heat back to the hotel. Thankfully the walk was not too long. Now I am debating about the trip to the Baha'i house .... The heat is really draining me ....No energy for anything!

We took a nap. Even though we were hesitant to go out, we decided to follow our original decision to visit the Baha'i House of Worship. We got a taxi from the hotel and left at 6pm. The taxi would come back to pick us up at 9pm. The drive was about half an hour. The Baha'i temple was at the outskirt of Santiago, at the foot hills of the Andes. We got there after 6:30 and had a lot of time to kill before the sunset. It definitely was a good place to visit - very unique building and very tranquil place. Unfortunately photos were not allowed inside - I would have really loved to take a picture of the ceiling! There was a rectangle shaped pond outside the temple, with water lilies in the middle. Aside from the building, there really wasn't too much to photograph. But I did get a couple under the golden light of the sunset. And thank goodness I used the 1DX - I had forgotten that I set it to focus using the back button, so pressing the shutter half way did not focus. I panic'd! But finally figured out. Phew!!

The taxi driver picked us up at 9pm sharp. Nice! There was no place near the hotel that we're willing to go for dinner, so we went back to the 2nd floor, the hotel restaurant we did not want to go for the 2nd time. We went, and had a light dinner. It was 10:40pm after we're done. Ugh!

Packing tonight. Up at 5:30am tomorrow and leave for the airport at 7am. The weather forecast says it's raining in Punta Arenas, for the entire time we're there. Ugh ....

Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile; Sunday, January 15, 2017

We are here now, in Punta Arenas, with all our luggage, checked into the hotel, feeling quite relieved! One "step" away from Antarctica! A BIG step :-)

We were up at 5:30am and promptly left the hotel at 7am. Hotel's nice taxi was already waiting for us and a very smooth ride to the airport.

I always dreaded the LAN flights - the last few times left me with a terrible impression - chaotic, no communication, unfriendly people .... But this time things went quite smoothly! And everyone was polite and friendly! Wow! What a pleasant surprise! We stood in a long winding queue for a while. But it moved relatively fast and we smoothly checked in our two pieces of luggage. Then we went down to the first floor and stored the third piece of suitcase which we will take on the way back.

Going through security was a breeze - much better than before! Then we waited at the gate for almost 2 hours. We did not know that we should have got online 48 hours before the flight to do our seating. We did not do that so we were given 2 middle seats away from each other. I asked the gate agent if she could do something. She said unfortunately the flight was full. But after a few minutes, something seemed to have changed and she came over and was able to get us two seats together! Wow! What a nice lady!!

The flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas was a little less than 3 hours and we got here around 1:30. We took a taxi and got to the hotel without any hassle. 

The hotel Cabo de Hornos is at a very good location, right in the middle of town, by the square we had visited a few times before. The hotel foyer was quite dark and I was a little apprehensive, especially thinking of the bad reviews of this hotel .... We got room 605. Floor 6 was a lot more pleasant than the front hall - much much more bright! And our room was fine, better than I expected. Not big, but bigger than the hotel Ilaia where we stayed last time. Our window overlooked the town center square and we could see the pretty church right by. No complaint so far.

Temperature here was around 57, much much cooler than Santiago. The wind was howling though - we could hear it outside from our room. I am a bit concerned about our flight on Tuesday, and the condition on King George island .... Oh well, whatever it is, it is! 

After we rested a few minutes and had everything settled, we took a stroll around town. It was Sunday today, so most stores were closed and the streets were pretty empty. There were a few stands around the town square selling stuff we had already seen before. We walked to the shore - the couple of wooden broken piers near the cruise terminal were still there, with many birds perched on them. But the city looked much nicer than I remembered from last time. The pretty roofs, and the friendly cars which stopped to let us go across the streets. It was warm, but the wind was quite strong. We wore our parkas and they were necessary when the wind blew. We came back to the hotel after 4pm.

All the restaurants here, if they're open on Sundays, will not open for dinner until 8pm, including the one in our hotel. We were hungry, so we went down to the hotel's bar and had a snack. There were quite a lot people in this hotel, and they all seemed to be with one expedition trip or another. We met a couple in the elevator. They were with Nat GEO and will be in Patagonia only. I am not sure what our trip will be like .... It seems that this expedition is done by Ocean One Expeditions and that's the shipping company. ExpeditionTrips will not even have a representative .... I am getting quite apprehensive ....

Bob took a nap after the snack and I surfed the net then watched CNN. We stepped out after 8pm to look for dinner. The next room neighbor told us that they just ate at the restaurant "La Luna" and he said it was pretty good. This restaurant was #11 on tripadvisor and it was quite close to the hotel, so we went there. I had a chicken rice dish and some vege, Bob had a steak, we're both satisfied. It was almost 10pm when we finished dinner, and the sun was still not set yet. It rained a little and the sun periodically came out. There was a nice rainbow - hope this was a good sign for our expedition!

Back to the hotel around 10. Nothing much to do but watching CNN and whatever the TV had that spoke English. Tomorrow afternoon we should be able to meet the One Ocean representative and then 9pm will be the mandatory meeting. The expedition will finally start.

Another Day in Punta Arenas; Monday, January 16, 2017

We went to bed before midnight last night. I was looking for the thermostat in the room hoping to adjust the temperature, but found none. Then I realized that this place probably never needed AC. There was a radiator in the room. Ah! That's all we needed, I guess.

The two full beds were nicely made, but the beds were soft and they sank in when you sat on them. But once we lay on them, they were OK. There was CNN international on TV so I watched it till falling asleep. 

Waking up before 6am and fell back to sleep again till around 8. The wind was howling loudly and the room was chilly. I wondered how badly insulated this building was - even if not considering guests' comfort, they really should do something to better preserve energy. We went down to breakfast and when we came back, we could hardly open the door. Then we found out that the window was somehow open! Not sure what happened - we sure did not open it! We quickly pushed and closed it. We could still hear the wind howling from inside the room but at least not as chilly. We did turn up the radiator a bit.

The view from our room window was really pretty! The pretty church with white and red colors, the different colored house roofs, the green trees, AND a nice big rainbow in the sky! But it really was rather cold and wet (even though the sun is shining). We stepped out for a minute after breakfast and quickly came back in. Things will be much worse than this tomorrow in Antarctica!

Are we ready for it?? .... It is 46 degrees here, and 26 at King Georg island. It's raining somewhat here, and snowing there. ....

We put on our layers and braved out to walk around. Oh My! The wind was unbelievable! It was 48miles/hour! People were wearing heavy winter coats, and this was their summer! Loose trash was blowing all over. An empty coke can was being blown by the wind like a leaf. There were places where I really had to hold on tight to Bob. I am not that frail or light, but I really felt I would be blown away or blown down! Gee!!

We walked into a China market and got some coat hangers - this hotel has the kind of hangers that are fixed in the closet. Ugh! Hard to hang the laundry we wash at night. Then we asked around and walked around to buy a good map of the Antarctica. This turned out to be more difficult than anything. They simply did not have it, not anywhere! I regret that I did not find the map I bought when we were in South Georgia! I looked for it at home but could not remember where I put it:-( Finally, the receptionist at the hotel told us to check the Institute of Antarctica right next door. People there were very kind and helpful. The man told us that they could not sell us any maps, but they could give us a map as a gift. So he gave us each a map of the Antarctica. It was not the kind with a lot of details, but it was a good map. He must be one of the researchers at the institute. Soon later this month he will be sailing to Antarctica peninsula and spend a month there. He had been there 4 times already. Lucky him!

Around noon, we walked around to find a place for a simple lunch, and we stopped at the one called Sotito, very close to the cruise terminal. Very nice environment - white table cloth, etc. Waiters were also nice. We each ordered a "hearty" seafood soup, and a salad. Unfortunately the food was really not that good. The soup was so very salty and we could only fish out the "hearty" stuff. The tomato and lettuce salad came without lettuce :-( Oh well! We saw a young couple eating there, Chinese. I overheard the waiter asking them where they were from. They said from China. Their English was pretty good! Wonder where they were going and if we would be on the same expedition.

There really was not too many places to go, unless we wanted to take a tour out to see the penguins, etc. Somehow in this weather we did not feel like it.

Rain stopped. And the wind eased down a bit, by the time we got back to the hotel shortly before 2pm. Bob is taking a nap, I wrote my journal, and will watch CNN for a while. The One Ocean rep is supposed to be available at 4pm. I'm looking forward to seeing them/him/her .... 

Oh, while we were walking around, we walked by the office of ANI (new name is Antarctica Logistics E....). I was excited and took a picture outside its building. Later when talking with the man at the Institute of Antarctica, he showed us on the map where the Union Glacier was. Wow! It was quite far into the inland of Antarctica!!

At 4pm we went down to the front entrance to meet the One Ocean representatives. One was a local rep named Juan, the other was an One Ocean lady named Chris. And then came a guy whose name I could not pronounce. He apparently was the lead of this trip from One Ocean but he will not be on this trip. Chris will be. I asked what would the situation be like for people who want to do photography. The answers were vague. I don't have much hope or expectations, just hope I won't be too disappointed ....

We later took a short trip to the water front with my real camera, hoping to take some photos of those birds on the broken wooden piers, but it was overcast and I could not really find a good angle.

Back to the hotel, chatted with the One Ocean guy a little and got a recommendation of restaurant from Juan - La Yegua Loca, not too far from the hotel, up the hill. We went there shortly after 6. Dinner was good! Lamb shanks in red wine reduction, some stir fried vege and risotto. Not a fancy place, but well prepared homy food. The place was a few block from the hotel, up the hill, and the last block had quite a steep incline. It took us a while to find it. A kind young man actually took us there. People here seem really nice! Friendly, polite, and willing to help!

9pm we all met in the place at level -1 of the hotel. We got to see a lot of the fellow travelers. Most of them were middle aged or older, but there were a few younger ones. The Chinese young couple we saw at lunch was actually among us! And another young Chinese couple from HK. Chinese now are really all over the world!

We took the two lamb shank bones with us, to feed the stray dogs on the street. And I gave them to the two small dogs who were sniff around the trash on the street. They were quite apprehensive at the beginning, as if they had not seen such bones before. Then they latched onto them, and started busy chewing :-) I wish I ate less of the meat and brought more stuff with us. There were so many stray dogs here! They make me sad and miss our two dogs at home ....

So here's the schedule tomorrow:

- 10:15am to meet at the lobby to take the bus at 10:30am to the airport.

- Flight is at 1pm. Flight will be 2 hours. Followed by a 2km walk to the zodiac.

- Unclear how long the zodiac ride will be, depending on where the ship will be able to anchor and what the weather situation will be.

- We will need to dress warmly 

OK, I'd better get all our clothes for tomorrow ready and have the suitcases reorganized.

Good-bye, "civilization"! Won't be able to post the blog until we go back to Santiago.

King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica; Tuesday, January 17, 2017

We are now on the ship Vavilov, and we are in Antarctica! King George Island, on the Antarctica peninsula. Phew!!

It was an easy morning since we did not have to get up early or anything. We were up before 8, had breakfast, checked out, and stayed in the room till before 10. Even though we were supposed to meet in the lobby at 10:15am, when we went down before 10, most people were already there. The two big buses soon came. We had to drag our own luggage and put them in the storage of the bus. It was a bit chaotic. One Ocean really could have done a better job by either explaining the details of luggage handling last night, or hire some porters to get all the luggage onto the bus. It would have been a lot easier for everyone. I know this is an expedition. But these small things mean a lot, at least to me.

We got on bus 2 and soon arrived at the airport. We had to dress for the Antarctica. But the weather today in Punta Arenas was sunny, no wind, and relatively "warm". This made things even harder since we really could not keep all the layers on us – or we would have been cooked! I sat on the sunny side of the bus and I was really warm L Fortunately the ride to the airport was not too long.

After getting off the bus, we each had to get our luggage and then stood in the queue for checkin. The flight was at 1pm and we were at the airport before 11. Plenty of time.

After checking in the luggage (rather smoothly), we went through the security – no need to take off shoes or taking out the laptop, but watch and belt must be taken off. Then we got to the gate – gate #1 (1 out of the 3 gates). At the gate, we went through immigration. About 20 minutes before 1, we started boarding the plane. No seat assignments, so we could sit anywhere we could find. We were among the earlier ones to get on the plane and we sat in row 4. Small plane, seats were 3 by 3. The flight was roughly 1 hour and 55 minutes. They even fed us a meal – small sandwiches, yogurt, etc. Much better than the airlines in the US!

The plane took off on schedule and we landed on King George island at 3pm. There was no airport here, just gravel runways. We got off the plane on the runway and followed the staff to a spot away from the plane. Then we walked towards the beach where we would board the zodiac to the ship. The One Ocean staff led the walk. It was much shorter than I expected and the weather was "balmy", as far as Antarctica was concerned. We were told that this morning the staff was very concerned that we would be very wet and the zodiac ride would be quite difficult. But I guess we got lucky and the weather changed to our favor! We did not even need the boots or skins! The zodiac ride was smooth. Even with 2 backpacks on my back, we got on the ship smoothly.

When we got on the ship, we first got through the “mud room” where we took off our life jacket, etc. Strangely we were asked to take off our boots and walk in our socks into the hallway. We were told that was because we would not get the floor all wet. I found that very strange …. Oh well. After we got to our room, I put my boots back on. My other shoes were in the suitecase which had not arrived.

We had the Shackleton Suite #434 on deck 4. I must say, this is the best room we had on these expedition ships. The outer room was relatively spacious, and the inner room with the full bed was just big enough to fit the bed, with about 1.5 feet space to spare. Bob and I will have to be cozy in that bed. The bathroom was somewhat small, and the shower was just part of the bathroom, with a shower curtain. The drain was under the sink. Not the best kind of shower. But it would do.

By the time we got on the ship, it was somewhere around 4pm. At 5pm, there was a welcome party on deck 6. And around 6pm, the expedition leader Dave Sinklair gave us an intro, followed by intros by the hotel manager and the doctor (Doc Howard, his wife Sue was the lady in the mudroom who helped us with life vest, etc.)

After the talks were done, we briefly explored the ship. One really good thing was that the ship had ample outside deck space! Love that! And it was so much bigger and nicer than the Polar Pioneer or MS Origo! It even had a library, a gym, a gift shop, and a plunging pool! Wow!

It is 7:30pm now, and the sun is still rather high in the sky. And it is rather warm. There are still about 12 people who were supposed to be in the 2nd flight had not gotten here yet. There was a problem with the plane of the 2nd flight, so the plane that flew us down had to play the role of shuttle. I just heard that the plane now has left Punta Arenas, which means these people will be here probably around 10pm.

Dinner will be in the dining room on deck 3. Just heard the announcement that it is now, 7:30pm. So we're going.

Dinner was more like the Nat GEO Galapagos expedition, a bit fancier than Polar Pioneer or MS Origo. All Russian crew – captain, hotel maids, chef and waiting staff. Dinner was fine – there were choices of pork and fish, and vegetarian. Salad, soup and dessert. We sat at the table where most of the people were getting off the ship from the previous expedition. They were waiting for the 2nd plane from Punta Arenas with the 2nd group of our people, and they would take the plane back to Punta Arenas.

After dinner, around 9:30, we walked out on deck 6 and I tried to take some photos with the sunset. There were many penguins on King George island, but my lens was too short. It’s a pity that we did not get a tour of the island.

Tomorrow I will try to get up early, maybe around 5am, to get some good morning light. The plan is that we will sail tonight and will go on our first excursion tomorrow afternoon.

Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica; Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Last night the sunset was about 11pm, but it did not really get very dark after that. We took our showers and went to bed probably around 11:30. I had a really good night's sleep! Even though I woke up a few times, I was able to fall back to sleep right away. I really wanted to get up early and catch the early morning light, but the earliest I could manage was 6am.

I went up to deck 6 and took a few pictures. Nothing spectacular. Everything was rather far away. But the remote snowy mountains and the sky were pretty. Chatted with a couple of passengers, had my 7:15am fruit smoothie, then it was breakfast at 7:30. Bob did not get up until they called breakfast.

The cruise director David Sinclair announces the day’s plan etc at meal time. The daily schedule/activities sheet was posted at reception on deck 3 and a couple of other places. Today we will have life boat drill, the "vacuum party" when they vacuum clean everything we will bring on shore, and some other talks. And we will do our first landing at 3pm, in Cierva Cove. I wonder what kind of a place that is and what penguins will be there ….

In the morning we took care of various logistics of the expedition. We took our camera bags, tripods, clothes to wear on shore, etc. to the reception area on deck 3 to all get vacuumed. Then we went to the mudroom to get fitted for our boots and pants and coats (our "skins"). They did this by calling room numbers. By the time we fitted ours, it was almost lunch time at 1pm. I was thankful that the ship provided these boots – there was no way we could have brought ours within the weight limit! Those boots were good, but very very heavy. The pants and coats were heavy duty and water proof, but it was really a labor to put them on and keep them on.

Lunch was at 1, buffet style. Food was OK, edible. After lunch, we did not have too much time to rest before getting ready for the afternoon excursion, our first one. And this one was a zodiac cruise only, no landing. It took us a while to get all the layers of clothes and boots on. We had to change into those boots in the mudroom and leave our own shoes there. So we were in the last zodiac, and there were 12 of us! It was the same size zodiac as used in the South Georgia and Svalbard expeditions. With 12 people plus the driver, it was quite cozy and difficult to take photos. There really was very little opportunity to take good photos. I was very disappointed. Our driver happened to be David the expedition leader. He was good! He drove the zodiac to various spots where there was either seals, or penguins, or whales, or icebergs. But unlike a photo expedition, there was not enough time and the zodiac was too crowded. And it was the time of day when the sunlight was quite harsh. Oh well!

The cove had a lot of chin strap penguins! I would have LOVED to find more opportunities to photograph them! Hope we will have more chance in the next days and we can go on shore to be closer and spend more time! We saw quite a few leopard seals. It’s the first time I saw these seals in real life. They eat penguins so I do NOT like them! They looked really quite ugly and fierce, unlike the seals we saw in the Arctic or in South Georgia. We saw a few Mink whales (Mink or Minky??). The most funny thing was that a rather large leopard seal was sleeping on an iceberg. A chinstrap penguin swam in the water surrounding the iceberg. The little penguin kept jumping out of the water, round and round, as if teasing the seal. At one point, the little thing actually jumped onto the iceberg but then immediately jumped back into the water! Quite funny.

We’re back on the ship shortly after 5:30. Then it was for the kayakers to fit their dry suits. After that, it was the mandatory briefing for those who want to go camping on the show, which will happen in the next day or two. We’re not interested in either.

Today it was really quite warm! David said it was probably 3 degrees celcius, but it felt warmer. I was really warm when we first got into the zodiac. But by the time we got back, my hands were freezing.

The day is almost over but the sun is still high. I took a Bonine pill this morning hoping to help growing my sea legs, but it made me extremely sleepy. Today David said we might get wind in the next 3 days or so. Oh Gee!! Let’s hope we continue to have such nice weathers while we’re in Antarctica!!

Dinner at 7:30 and it was 9pm after we finished. The sun had just gotten to a lower angle, but far from sunset. No other activities in the evening except a fireside talk about marine superstitions. Not sure we will attend ….. I am very sleepy. Must be still that bonine! Won’t take it again until on the way back, the crossing which I dread.

1st Landing at Orne Harbour, then Neko Harbour, Antarctic Peninsula; Thursday, January 19, 2017

We were in bed around 10pm last night, depite of the fact that the expedition leader announced that we expected to get a gorgeous sunset. I was tired and sleep beyond description and could not bear the thought of staying up late. Forget about photography!

Had a good night's sleep. Waking up first at 4am, then falling back to sleep and getting up shortly before 6. The sun was way up – missed the sunrise of course. I went up to the lounge at deck 6. Unlike yesterday at the same time when many excited passengers were there already, I was the first or second one there! Gorgeous sunny day and we were in this bay surrounded on three sides by white snow covered mountains and peaks. There were two other ships in the bay, far away. Later I heard someone say one of them was Hurtigruten. Not much for photography but a few shots for memories. The tranquil surrounding was very nice!

7:15am we had our smoothie (frozen blackberries, ripe bananas, peanut butter and some milk), then breakfast at 7:30. The excursion started at 9am. Today we made our first landing at Orne Harbour.

It was a short zodiac ride to the rocky beach. After we got off, we had to walk through a very very rocky and bumpy stretch of "beach" to shed our life jacket and pick up a walking stick which was really necessary! We then started walking up the hill, on the snow (which was probably a few feet deep, of course frozen). I would not have made it without the stick. It was about a half mile hike to the destination where there was a chinstrap penguin colony and we could get a nice view of the harbor. But a third way up there was also a chinstrap penguin colony and that's where Bob and I stopped. We stationed ourselves there, like many others, and watched the adorable behavior of the chinstrap penguins. Even though the light was harsh and not ideal, I got some decent photos of the chin strap penguins and their chicks!

Because of the hike which took a while for people to go up and down, it was after 11am before we realized it. We were supposed to be back by noon. Bob and I were slow, especially because of the camera gear including the tripod. We were probably the last ones but we made it back by noon.

It was such a relief to come back and shed all the clothes!! We were sweating, but could not do without those clothes L. After we came back, we rested a little bit, and I started downloading the photos from the start of our trip. Lunch was t 1pm – pasta and other stuff. Then the afternoon excursion – Neko harbor landing and zodiac cruising - started before 3pm. And we started bundling up around 2:30.

It was really warm today! We had to bundle up and it was comfortable in all those clothes in the zodiac. But once on shore, some people were wearing short sleeves! I had to zip open all the layers, take off my ski head/face mask.

Without having to hike up the snow hill where there was a Gentoo penguin colony, there was a small Gentoo penguin colony right above the rocky beach where we landed. I set up my tripod and stationed there. These penguins were nesting/incubating their chicks! There were many stone nests, with a penguin lying/perching on it. Once in a while, they stood up and the little chicks poked their heads out to get food from the parent. So very cute!! We also saw how the male ones picked rocks to build the nest for the female. Just adorable!

I was going to stay there the entire time, but things for a bit repetitive and the light was just not great. So before 5, we joined a zodiac cruise around the bay and enjoyed the snow/ice world. Very impressive!

Back to the ship shortly before 6. Feeling very relieved! No more excursions today! Can drink plenty of water without worrying about going to the bathroom any more, for today!!!

Dinner’s meat selection was called tandoori chicken which came as a piece of very tough chicken breast with tandoori sauce, wild rice and steamed to death string beans. After dinner at 9:15 there was a movie "Spy in the huddle", about penguins. We went (and had pop corn). The movie was good, one of the BBC series. I think I saw part of it on Netflix. I will confirm it after we get home.

After the movie we came back to the cabin. The sun had set but looking out of the window, there was a really pretty after sunset pink glow in the sky. I went out to deck 6 and snapped a few pictures.

We started going to bed before midnight. Tomorrow we don’t need to be up early, breakfast will be at 9am. This is probably because of the camping – there was the option of doing camping tonight. We heard about some details of it and I really don’t know why people in the right mind would do it. You need to dig a coffin shaped hole yourself in the snow so that you would sleep in the hole and the wind will blow past you; you will have a sleeping bag to keep you warm to -18 degrees; and that’s it! If you need to go to the bathroom, there will be pail – note that going to the bathroom is not allowed on shore in Antarctica! OMG …. The camping people (there are around 30 of them) left on the zodiac at 9. They will be picked up tomorrow morning. Oh BTW yesterday when we zodiac’d on shore, there was the option of kayaking. If I were someone who knew how to kayak and not afraid of water, that would be something I would do, perhaps.

Paradise Bay & Danco Island, Antarctic Peninsula; Friday, January 20, 2017

Today is the day the inauguration day of the new US president – I don't even want to mention his name as I would not acknowledge him as the president. He does not deserve it! We are cut off from any connection to the civilization, so it is just as well that we don’t see anything or hear anything from it!

I set my alarm for 7:30 but I woke up a few times before that, starting from 4:30ish. I turned my alarm off and got up before 7:40. Another bright sunny day! Cannot believe this is Antarctica! We’re in some bay so it is calm. We’ve been in the area between the peninsula and the mainland so water has been like a lake! I am still dreading the final 2-day crossing ….

It is quite warm, by Antarctica standard and for the amount of clothing we must wear to zodiac on shore.

David just announced that we’re at Paradise Bay, the temperature was ? degrees, with a little breeze. Water temperature was supposed to be ?.

Breakfast at 9am, zodiac at 10:30. People were split half as the place only allowed 50 people on shore at a time. So the first 4 zodiac would land then do zodiac cruise, switching with the 2nd 4 zodiacs. There would be a climb to the top of some place for the view, but there would be Gentoo penguins near the landing, and that’s where we would stay.

This morning’s zodiac trip turned out to be very disappointing, for those of us who were not able to climb up the rather steep snowy hill to the top where we were supposed to get a good view of the harbor. The place was some sort of a research station of Argentina. A few tin roofed huts where there. We got off the zodiac and went up a few wooden steps, then it was the trampled snow path towards the top. I wish I were one of those climbers, but we knew our own strength – even if we managed to get to the top, there was no way we could have walked down.

This was the Almirante Brown Station in Paradise Bay, and it was on the Antarctica continent (as opposed to just the peninsula). Down at the landing area, there were a few groups of Gentoo penguins, but we were not allowed to walk the "penguin highway" to get as close as the stated limit, so there really was no point for any photography. Rather ugly setting. We stayed for less than an hour, then got on the zodiac and did a zodiac cruise within the bay. A very nice bay indeed. The weather was absolutely balmy. I used my little camera and tried to capture a few scenery shots.

Back to the ship around 1pm. Lunch at 1:30. Afternoon excursion at 3pm – the Danco island. After lunch, the weather suddenly changed and there was quite a strong wind – a difference from this morning like night and day.

But when we boarded the zodiac on shore to Danco island, the wind had died down. Even though the sun was covered by clouds, the weather was not too cold, and NO wind! We got on shore. One option was to climb up the hill to get a good view of the jagged edged snow mountains and the nice scenery – David said tomorrow we will be at Deception island and will not have this kind of view any more. But Bob and I really did not want to handle the climbing so we stayed on the rocky beach where there was an abundance of Gentoo penguins. We enjoyed 2+ hours of leisurely walking the rocky beach (boy! It was surely not easy walking!) and watching the funny Gentoo penguins. I took pictures. I did not bring the tripod but brought the 100-400mm lens. Hopefully I have caught one or two decent images.

One of the staff, Steve, who had knowledge of the animals etc. said we will see more chinstrap penguins later, and rock hoppers on the Falklands. Yeah!!!

Back to the ship shortly after 6. Again I can relax and drink water now!!

Before dinner we went to the lounge and I spoke with the doc. Tonight the sea might get a bit bumpy and I would like to take a anti seasickness pill to help growing my sea legs. Bonine did not do me good and I got so tired and sleepy after I took it on the first day, so I asked him for something different. He gave me some and I took one. Hope it’ll work.

The outside was so different from the same time the last few days. No sun, and colder. After dinner and we went to the lounge to listen to the story John read, and the outside was all cloudy. Definitely no good sunset tonight.

We came back to the cabin around 10. Now it’s before 10:30, and the ship is rocking a little bit. We were really spoiled in the last few days. Tonight is the first night we are feeling Antarctica! Want to take a shower and crawl into bed. Now the outside does look like “night” – foggy, dark gray, similar to our 9 o’clock at night during a summer stormy night. But this is probably as dark as it gets during the night. Let’s hope for a good day tomorrow!

Half Moon Bay, Antarctic Peninsula; Saturday, January 21, 2017

Well the sea started to get pretty rough last night and we slept in "rock and roll". That was not too bad as we were lying in bed. Getting up to move around this morning was a little tough. It was not as bad as when we came back to Falklands from South Georgia. I could still manage. But I did put on my seaband just in case it got worse.

Around 7:30am we crossed “the bellow”. We went to deck 6 to watch. It was snowing. I did not go out to the outside deck.

At breakfast David briefed us on today's agenda and told us that we might not be able to do our planned landing at Telefon Bay on Deception island, which turned out to be the case. The sea swells were too strong for us to do the zodiac landing, so we sailed through towards Half Moon Bay and hoped to land there.

John the history guy of the staff gave a talk about Deception island at 9:15 and we went. It was a good short talk. I did not realize the Deception island was actually a Caldera, a “circle” with a sunken middle, and with only one entrance which was the “Neptunes Bellows”. Too bad we did not have good weather to get on shore!

We did not attend the 10am photo-101 talk and came back to the cabin an slept till after noon time – I was dead tired, probably because of the anti-seasickness drug I took. The doc warned that the sail out of Deception island towards Half moon bay might get a bit rough so better to prevent. That’s why I took another pill.

Lunch at 12:30. David announced that he will announce later whether or not we would be able to land in Half Moon bay. Around 2:30, the announcement came – yes, we will be able to land, gangway at 4pm. It would be a hike up 10-20 meters and there will be chinstrap penguins.

The gift shop had its “grand opening” at 2:30pm today. Very very disappointing! I took a look and came back. Bob and I went up to the library and looked at a couple books that had maps of the Antarctica and spotted some of the places we have been to the last couple of days. That helped to orient me.

Polar plunging (for those who wanted to swim) was at 3. I was going to go and take a couple of photos, but we did not go. Gangway was at 4 and we needed at least 15 minutes to get dressed to go down to the mudroom to change into our boots and put on life jackets. Time was too tight.

There was no sun and it was quite foggy and very cloudy. Our landing beach on Half Moon island was another rocky beach. The stretch of land we were going was quite bare, no snow. The hiking was not hard, with some incline, but the ground was very uneven. There were many many chinstrap penguins on the hill. Most people walked to the far side but I decided to stay close to the beach, as I would like to catch a few shots with the penguins going in/out of the water. I was not too successful L but it was interesting to watch those chinstrap penguins. This place was mainly a chinstrap penguin colony, but there was one single macaroni penguin – nobody knew how or why it decided to come or where it came from. Today it was home and people who walked far saw it! That was one thing I missed. There were also a couple of Gentoo penguins. Interesting.

We got on the zodiac shortly after 6 to come back to the ship. The weather continued to be cloudy and foggy. There was a polar plunge thing at 7 on the beach. We did not wait long enough to witness it, but after we came back to the cabin, we opened the window and I used the 100-400mm lens and could vaguely see it! I took a couple of photos, but it was too foggy to see clearly.

Dinner was at 8. After dinner we went to the library to look at the maps. Chatted with a couple of others there and figured out the places we went in the last few days. So, most of the time we spent was around the Antarctic Peninsula and we only set foot on the continent a couple of times. Basically, this expedition just touched the very edge of Antarctica! It’s kind of disappointing to me ….

David announced that tomorrow breakfast would be at 7:30am and we will do morning excursion zodiac landing – I did not hear clearly exactly where we will be landing.

Gourdin Island & Antarctica Sound; Antarctic Peninsula; Sunday, January 22, 2017

Up at 6:30 this morning when my alarmed woke me. It took me a while to fall asleep last night and I woke up before 5 this morning but fell back to sleep fortunately. Got 4 or 5 hours sleep and dreamed a lot.

Looking out of the window, it was very foggy and we were still sailing. The sailing has been as smooth as one could hope and I could not even feel the ship moving. Last night when I looked out of the window before going to bed, it was quite dark, probably because it was a very cloudy day.

It was snowing when we started our zodiac landing at 9am, to the small Gourdin Island which was to the north of the mainland. It was a adele penguin colony but also had some chinstrap and Gentoo penguins. Only 50 people were allowed on shore at any time, so we had to divide into two groups – the first 4 zodiacs would land for about 1.5 hours then do zodiac cruising, the 2nd group vise versa. And there were also the kayakers with the 2nd group. As we approached the island, we could smell it from quite a distance away. Really there were thousands and thousands of adele penguins! On the beach, up the hills and mountains, everywhere!! After we landed, the fog started to lift a little bit, but there was no sun or the sun was hiding behind heavy clouds. There was not photo opportunity, as there were too many of us and the staff only allowed us to a very small area by the beach. But I got to see the adele penguins and their big furry chicks, who looked like porcupines, with their fur all muddy and standing up.

After about an hour, we got into the zodiac to cruise among the big tabular icebergs. These tabular icebers came in from the weddell sea and some of them were just huge! These were the famous tabular icebers of this area. I did not bother to use my real camera on the zodiac and just used my RX100 which actually did a decent job.

At lunch time, David told us his plan for this afternoon and afterwards. Because of the ice condition, we may not be able to proceed as originally planned. His plan B was to sail to Elephant island tomorrow and avoid the potential weather. And we might do the crossing a day earlier and spend one more day at the Falklands. That would be fine with me.

The plan this afternoon was to land at Brown Bluff, but there was a stretch of thick ice and the ship would not be able to go there. The changed plan was for the ship to stop at Antarctica Sound for us to get into the zodiac to cruise around the pack ice. Gangway was at 3:30pm and the zodiac cruise would be 2+ hours. They offered a shorter cruise for those who might feel cold and we opted to do that. But after we got into the zodiac, we were offered to get into Cody's zodiac so each would have less people and more room. Bob and I did that. And it was the right decision. Instead of 10 or 12 people, we had only 6! I wish I brought my real camera!!!!! There were a couple of penguins on the pack ice; there was a Weddell seal, and there were ice bergs of all different shapes. And we all got on a piece of sea ice!! One zodiac at a time! That was fun! Cody was the assistant expedition leader and he was a fun guy!

We came back to the ship around 5:30. Cold, but not frozen. Went to the lounge then the library till dinner time around 7. After dinner, there was a fun activity in the lounge. David announced our plan for the next few days. We will not be able to go to the Weddell Sea as originally planned because of the ice condition. Tomorrow we will try to land on Elephant island, then we will do the 2-day crossing to the Falklands, and spend 2 days in Falklands!

Tomorrow breakfast will be at 8am. Landing schedule unknown but will be in the afternoon.

Pray for good weather for the 2-day crossing! And for tonight/tomorrow!

Leaving Antarctic Peninsula; Monday, January 23, 2017

I got up at 7:30 when the alarm woke me. Had a decent night's sleep but still feeling tired and sleepy. Had the smoothie at 8:15 then breakfast at 8:30 – it was a treat to have a later breakfast.

No zodiac or landing activity in the morning and we were sailing towards Elephant island. Apparently this island was a place people seldom could get on because of the sea condition. David was optimistic that we might be able to – decision would come later as we sailed closer.

Morning activity consisted of two lectures – on Antarctic birds and on Shackleton. We attended the bird talk but could hardly kept my eyes open and then we came back to the cabin and slept till noon. Lunch was at 12:30. David announced then that we would be able to zodiac cruise to Cape Lookout of the Elephant island, but may not be able to get on land. Gangway was at 2pm.

The sea was a bit choppy but manageable by zodiac. But the fog was getting thicker – we were able to see the shore of the Elephant island at lunch, but now we could not see anything. We got in the zodiac. Bob carried the dry bag with my 100-400mm lens and 1DX. But looking at the fog, I had no hope to take out the camera. And I was right. Being not a photography expedition, the zodiac was packed, and it did not stop at any point for long enough to take any decent photos. It was a shame, as the island was indeed gorgeous! Jagged rocky peaks came straight out of the ocean, with thousands of penguins colonies all over! Mostly chinstrap perhaps, and there was a Macarony penguin colony. Our zodiac could not get too close because of the rocks, but the view was really nice! How I wish I had the chance to take some photos! But I only managed to use my RX100 to take some videos until the battery ran out.

There was supposed to be another possible zodiac cruise before dinner, at another point of Elephant island ("Wild point"?) where Shackleton landed years ago. But we might not be able to do it because of the sea condition.

It turned out we were not able to do it. We sailed past Point Valentine then to Point Wild – the scenery was absolutely gorgeous! There was very heavy fog all afternoon, until we reached the Point Wild area and the jagged edged snowy mountain peaks with glaciers loomed ahead of us, right around 7pm. David interrupted dinner and told us to get on the deck to watch the scenery. He sent a couple of guides to test out the zodiac but felt it was unsafe in the increasing southern swells.  It was going to be a short zodiac cruise just so people could see the place where there was the monument of Frank Wild. Bob and I were not going to do it so we’re just as glad the cruise was called off.

Now we officially left Antarctica and started our crossing – 2 sea days. We could already felt the ship was swaying a bit. Just pray for things not getting too rough! We already took the pills. But I am looking forward to the 2 days in the Falklands. It won’t be real photography opportunities, but we will probably get to the spots we had never been to before. And I will see those dear king penguins and the rock hopper penguins for the first time!

Sailing towards Falklands, Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Had a good night's sleep last night, only woke up a couple of times but fell back asleep without any trouble. I think I finally got rid of the jet lag. Got up at 7 this morning. David’s wakeup call came through at 7:30. The temperature was 4 degrees Celsius, the water was 3 degrees. We were at 48 degrees latitude. The sea was relatively calm, as far as the crossing goes.

We attended the 9:30am talk given by John about Who Owns and Governs the Antarctica. It was in the presentation room on deck 1. With all the people, it got warm and I got very sleepy. After that, we did not attend more of today’s talks, but remained mostly in our cabin. I took two naps and read the book "The Quest for Frank Wild" by Angie Butler. Fascinating biography of Frank Wild!

The sea has been very benign, as David said. We’re very lucky! I guess it was as calm as it would get, and we could only feel a rather gentle sway of the ship. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Spent some time doing post processing of my photos. Unfortunately I did not get too many that I would feel happy about. Saw the resident photographer Paul’s photos and admired his eyes – the ones he took of the ice bergs and others were quite nice. Perhaps I should go out on the deck and try to shoot some birds, somehow I don’t feel quite like it.

After dinner at 8:45pm, resident photographer Paul gave a presentation “Cryophilia – an ode to ice” – it was his photos of the last three years shooting of ice in the northern hemisphere, Greenland and Banf, Canada. Pretty impressive! And one of the One Ocean staff played ukulele and sang while the video was playing, very nice! The most enjoyable presentation on the ship so far!

Tomorrow will be the 2nd sea day crossing. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the weather to stay as it is! The ship has been swaying but we’re OK with it. David announced that we should be prepared for breakfast at 6:30am the day after tomorrow when we reach the Falklands. We will have 2 excursions that day! We’re looking forward to it! I would LOVE to see the king penguins again, and the rock hoppers!

Tomorrow breakfast will be at 8am.

Sea Day 2; Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Up at 7am when the alarm rang. Did not fall asleep for a long time last night, probably because I slept too much during the day.

The ship was rocking a bit more but still within the manageable range. It was overcast, but maybe the sun would come out later, like it did yesterday. David's wakeup announcement came at 7:30 sharp.

Today’s activities consisted of couple of talks on the history and geography and fauna of the Falklands in the morning, and Paul’s talk on post processing on photography and a talk on penguins in the afternoon. All in the presentation room on deck 1.

I think I am finally coming down with the cold that’s been going around the ship, despite of the fact that I’ve been very very careful about sanitizing my hands all the time, etc. Too many people are sick on the ship, coughing, and it’s been hard to avoid contact as we all have to hold on to the railing bars while walking on the ship. I’m feeling more tired, sneezing like crazy, and a runny nose …. Sigh …. Hope Bob does not catch it!

I went to Steve’s talk about Falklands’ geography and wild life at 11am. That was informative. In the afternoon I went to Paul’s photography post processing talk, even though I was not sure how much he would get into it since the audience was all different levels. But I was pleasantly surprised that I actually learned a couple of things that I had been wanting to learn! The mask for clarity and the adjustment brush. Cool! Really need to take a LR class after I get home!

Did not go to the penguin talk at 5 – the presentation room was just too stuffy and warm, and with so many people coughing, not a great place. We stayed in the lounge on deck 6 till dinner. One passenger put on a slide show at 6:45pm and it was quite nice.

Tomorrow will be an early morning – 6:30 breakfast, 8am gangway. New Island. Hoping to see rock hoppers!

New Island & Carcuss Island, Falkland Islands; Thursday, January 26, 2017

Up at 5:30. Ship was sailing slowly as it approached the Falklands. Sun was coming out of the clouds and the sky was showing blue. I could see some swells in the water from the window. The ship was pretty steady, hoping the zodiac ride would be ok.

David announced that the temperature was 14 degrees Celsius – quite warm! Would be hard to dress. Can't NOT dress warm ….

The New Island was quite amazing! We had to walk on the tussac grass along a treaded path to a cliff over the ocean where there was a colony of rock hopper penguins, Wandering albatross, and some other birds. The penguins and albatross all had their chicks. The albatross chicks were especially cute. Each was lying on its nest. The rock hopper penguin chicks were a dark gray/blackish fuzz ball. Very difficult to get good photos of them because it was hard to distinguish their eyes. And I was not able to catch the light on their eyes. Photography wise, I did more poorly than before. But enjoyment wise, it was pretty fantastic! There were also other animals all along the way – geese, rabbits, etc. A pretty idyllic place! The weather was really really warm – high 50s! I was so very hot!

We came back to the ship shortly after noon time. Lunch was at 12:30. At 2:30, there was a fund raising auction. I bid on the book of Antarctica guide, but stopped at $65 and lost – it went to $85. I would have liked to bid on the map where our route was marked, but it went as high as $450 – sorry, can’t afford that.

The afternoon excursion was on Carcuss island. Because of the shallow water, the ship anchored rather far away and there was a wind. We all got wet during the zodiac rides. We learned the hot lesson from the morning and dressed less, which was a lot better. We walked from the beach where our zodiacs dropped us, to the opposite shore and stayed there – there were plenty of gentoo and magellanic penguins. Unfortunately we had to stay quite far because we did not want to push them away. I got a few shots that were OK.

We came back to the ship before 8 and that was when dinner was served. Tomorrow will be our last day of excursion, onto the Saunders island which was supposed to be fantastic. Breakfast will be at 7am and it will be a long excursion.

Bob and I are both sick with the cold now – he is coughing badly, and I have the running nose and sneezes. Ugh!! ….

Saunders Island, Falkland Islands; Friday, January 27, 2017

Up at 6am when I set the alarm. Last day of the expedition – one last zodiac landing on Saunders island, then packing! The weather was a bit colder than yesterday, but still rather warm; and the wind was at 20 knots, more than yesterday. Looking out of the window, the water appeared quite choppy.

Yesterday's auction included one morning wakeup call and Australian Caroline got it. She just made the call.

Gangway at 8:30 and we got on shore shortly after that. The Saunders island was indeed really nice! There were supposed to be 5 or 6 kinds of penguins, we saw at least 3 – the gentoos, magellanics, and 23 kings. It was great to see the kings again! But the numbers compared to what we saw in South Georgia, this was really nothing. The best of today’s excursion was that we could scatter all over the place without all clumping together, and we could spend 4+ hours there! The best of this expedition was that we got to see so many penguin chicks! The Gentoo or magellanic penguins were so very funny that their chicks chased the adults for food, and the adults ran like crazy! Too funny! The sad thing was that we saw quite a number of dead chicks – we were told that it was because the weather these few days had been too warm and the chicks died because of it. So sad ….

We were back on the ship before noon – we were among the first that came back. After lunch, I started packing and I was pretty much done within the hour. There was not much to do in the afternoon except for some logistical stuff – closing the account, paying, getting the "certificates", etc.

Tomorrow we will dock in Port Stanley and the expedition will be officially concluded. How did I like this trip? If I had not been to South Georgia with the photography expedition, I might have felt differently. I have sworn to Bob that we would only take photography expeditions from now on, if we take any more expeditions. This expedition, for what it’s intended to be, has been quite good. The ship was more comfortable than the previous 2 expeditions. The expedition leader was very competent, and the staff was nice, including the cabin maid(s) whom we never really met. But it is not a photography expedition. And we just barely touched the Antarctica continent! I DO love the landscape of Antarctica! And the wild life – for whatever little we had seen.

At 5:30, David did the talk/presentation summarizing our expedition, followed by Paul’s slide show of photographs taken by various passengers and himself. Both were excellent!! That was one of the nicest things of this trip! And we will all get a USB thumb drive with all the stuff! Yeah!!

Tomorrow breakfast is at 7, then disembark at 8:30. It’ll be a long day of traveling and we will get to Santiago at night.

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands; Saturday, January 28, 2017

The toughest days of the expeditions seemed to be at the beginning and at the end - the long and arduous traveling.

We were up at 6, finished the last bit of packing, left the suitcases outside the cabin, and went to breakfast at 7. Off the ship at 8. Our checkin luggage had already been loaded onto the bus to go directly to the airport. We boarded the bus to Port Stanley, the visitor center. That was a familiar site. The memory from less than a year and a half ago, returning from the South Georgia expedition, was vividly clear. There were a couple of shops open and the best purchase I got this time was a couple of books, one about the Falklands, the other about South Georgia. We walked the main street to past the town hall, then came back. Went into the general store where the last time we had breakfast with Bonnie et all. The weather was really nice - sunny and warm, one of the best days on the falklands. I really wanted to come back here on our own for a couple of weeks - the book listed all the islands and spots we could go! Then at 9:45, we got back on the bus going towards the airport. The same military airport.

The ride to the airport was about an hour. Being so dry, the dust was quite noticeable. We sat in the last row (so that we can put the backpacks on the floor without affecting our own comfort and others') and the dust was bothering me a bit.

The same small air terminal and the same spot where we stood in a long queue waiting for the luggage checkin. But this time we happened to be more towards the front of the queue so even though the line was long and slow, our waiting was more after we checked in.

The security scan was more strict than most we've experienced. They opened both my camera bags and fumbled through everything. Ugh! After that, we waited in the small waiting are for more than 2 hours. We watched the plane coming in and people walking out then into the building. A lot of the people were getting on the same ship to do the South Georgia "photography symposium".

We boarded the plane half an hour before the takeoff. It was so very windy on the walk to the plane and my new hat was blown off. The officer had to chase it and give it back to me - I should have read the sign that says to secure our hats.

The plane took off on time and we landed in Punta Arenas 1.5 hour later. We were checked in all the way to Santiago, it was the same flight. But we had to get off, go through immigration and customs, then security again, then back on the plane, at different seats. I felt almost relieved after we got back on the plane and sat down.

The flight to Santiago was 3 or 4 hours. We landed around 9:20pm. It took a long time and a lot of confusion to get our luggage. The airport was very crowded - many flights seemed to have come in around the same time. The announcements were all in Spanish even though they did post on the screen our carousel #. But later they changed it - we could not understand what the announcement said, just saw the crowd all moving, and we moved. Ugh! One of our 2 suitcases was the last one out - I was really worried that we lost one. Phew!

After we picked up our checkins, we had to go to the storage place to retrieve our stored suitcase which turned out to be quite easy. Then Bob took off to the airport stores to pick up some cold medicine - his ran out and he was coughing quite badly, the result of the ship with too many sick people.

One saving grace was that the hotel Holiday Inn was directly across the street from the terminal! Wow! Better than anyone we'd stayed before! So very close and such an easy walk! But we had to wait a little while because there were quite some people ahead of us. When it was our turn, the gentleman at the reception desk was quite nice and friendly. We got our room, 370. Checkout time the next day is 2pm - because of the late arrival, they kindly extended the checkout time from 10am to 2pm. Our flight is around 10pm the next day and we hoped to extend the checkout time more, willing to pay, but were told to talk with them tomorrow.

Our room was quite nice, 2 queen beds and a rather spacious bathroom, with separated shower and toilet. The building was probably rather new. Pleased! And wifi!! And TV :-)

Back to civilization! I checked my emails an WeChat msgs and msgs and did the initial correspondence in 2 weeks!

Washed my hair (really good shower!), into bed around 2am. A LONG day!

Santiago, Chile; Sunday, January 29, 2017

We were up around 8 even though I woke up much earlier - did not get too much sleep last night probably because of the jet lag. Will be another sleep deprived night today before we get home tomorrow evening. Sigh! The "joys" of traveling :-(

Talked to the front desk, for $60 USD, we could extend our checkout time to 6pm, we did it. Our flight is at 10:40pm! This way we could stay in the room more comfortably than in the lobby lounge. We asked if there was anything to do around the hotel, the answer was "nothing". So we took a stroll into the busy airport. The short distance from the hotel to the airport confirmed my thought that we would NOT go into Santiago in this heat and smog!! It was quite hot and humid out there. Yuk!

Walked around the airport, and found out the United counter would not open until probably 7:30pm and approximately where it might be. We came back to the room and would try to kill the day here. Perhaps go to a late lunch/early dinner around 4, then check out at 6. Get to the United counter around 7. After checking in, will kill the time at the lounge.

Boy I wished I had brought my iPad with the Kindle reader!

Went down to the hotel restaurant around 1:30 for lunch - their food was actually better than what the Crown Plaza restaurant had in santiago. After lunch, we came back to the room and rested until after 4. We will need to check out at 6, then head to the airport.

It's been pretty hard to kill the day idling at this airport hotel :-( .... Need to pack up my laptop now.

For business class, we were able to check in our luggage shortly after 7:30pm, 3+ hours before the flight, and did not have to stand in the very long line. This further strengthened our decision to always fly b class, even if it means we travel less. We're too old to deal with even more hassels of traveling :-(

After hours waiting again in the lounge, we finally boarded the UA flight from Santiago to Boston via Houston!! Nice seats. I finally felt some relaxation!

Home! Monday, January 30, 2017

The 9-hour flight from Santiago to Houston was not bad at all! I watched 2+ movies and slept a few hours. I was so sick of eating the ship and plane food and craved some oriental food, so I bought some fast Chinese food in a bento box and brought on the plane, ate it before the flight took off :-) Even it was perhaps the barely edible "Chinese" food, I devoured it!

The plane touched down at Houston local time around 5am, while it was still dark. We had to get our luggage, go through customs, then recheck in the luggage, then another 4 or 5 hours waiting in the lounge. Our flight was at 11am local time and it was on schedule. We arrived in Logan around 4pm EST. It felt so good to be home!

We got our luggage and did not have to wait long for the logan express bus to take us back to Framingham - this really was not a bad way to go to Logan! Cheaper than a taxi and less hassle than renting a car and less expensive than driving our own car to the airport. By the time we got our own car and started driving on the pike, it was just after 5pm.

Got home shortly before 6. Warm welcome from our 4-footers and a good Chinese dinner by my sister and bro in law!

Home, Sweet Home!!