We arrived in Ushuaia on around 8:00 Tuesday evening. But the Carnival Splendor was pinned to the dock due to high winds and we could not get in. When we awoke Wednesday morning we were now docked to the pier and is was a beautiful day. Ushuaia is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego and the southernmost city in the world. Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of the island of Tierra del Fuego, guarded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel. Its [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday morning we woke up safely nestled behind Lennox Island in Chile. Later that morning we raised the anchor and sailed around Cape Horn. Conditions around Cape Horn were pretty bleak, but considering the weather it was amazing we were able to do it at all. Later Tuesday afternoon we started our transit up the Beagle Channel. One of the first things we saw was the shipwreck of the bible study ship Logos. Had we not left Antarctica early to beat the storm we would not have been able to see the scenic Beagle Channel. We were scheduled to sail through [View Full Entry]

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On Monday we crossed the turbulent Drake Passage. We were scheduled to cross on Tuesday, but due to a severe storm that was approaching we left Antarctica early to get a 20 hour head start on the storm. While the crossing wasn't exactly smooth, it would have been far worse had we waited and crossed on Tuesday as originally planned. [View Full Entry]

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We spent most of Sunday in the Neumayer Channel and the Gerlache Strait. The Gerlache Strait is a channel/strait separating the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula. Neumayer Channel is 16 miles long and about 1.5 miles wide, separating Anvers Island from Wiencke Island. There were countless icebergs of all shapes and sizes. It wasn't a very clear day, but the landscape was no less impressive. The overcast skies brought out the deep blues in the glacier ice. I spent most of of the day outside on the open decks. I had on about six layers of clothes. Neumayer Channel is [View Full Entry]

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Saturday morning as we were approaching Hope Bay there was a thick fog and you couldn't see much of anything. But when we got there at 7:30 A.M. the fog lifted and there was beautiful sunshine. This is the tip of the actual continent of Antarctica. Up until now we had been visiting islands. Hope Bay in the Antarctic Sound. The large research base is Esperanza Station. Built in 1975, the base houses 55 inhabitants in winter, including 10 families and 2 school teachers. There are 43 buildings in all. 4800 gallons of fuel are used annually by the 4 generators [View Full Entry]

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Friday morning we arrived at our first scenic stop in Antarctica, Elephant Island. This is my second visit to Antarctica. On New Years Eve 2006 I took a 12-hour scenic flight out of Sydney, Australia. We spent four hours circling the frozen continent aboard a Qantas 747. The plane never landed though, so this is my first time here at ground or sea level. Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands in the Southern Ocean. Its name was given by early explorers sighting elephant seals on its [View Full Entry]

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Thursday was a day at sea as we made our way from the Falkland Islands to the Antarctic Peninsula. We started seeing some ice late in the day as we were sailing through the Southern Ocean. [View Full Entry]

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We sailed into the Port William, a large inlet on the east coast of East Falkland island, shortly after sunrise. The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located 300 miles from the coast of Argentina. They consist of two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, together with 776 smaller islands. Stanley, on East Falkland, is the capital. The islands are a self-governing Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. In 1982 the islands were invaded by Argentina, precipitating the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom, whic [View Full Entry]

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This Tuesday was the second of two sea days as we made our way to the Falkland Islands. It was a nice day, but much cooler day than yesterday, so I couldn't spend the day lying out on deck like I did yesterday. [View Full Entry]

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This Monday was the first of two sea days on the way to the Falkland Islands. It would also be the last warm day as we were heading for a MUCH cooler climate. I spent a lot of the day out on deck relaxing in the sunshine. Early in the day as I was doing my laps around the prominade deck, I saw literally hundreds of dolphins flying through the water. In the evening it was the first formal night and the Captain's Welcome Reception. [View Full Entry]

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