Blogs from Antarctica, Antarctica - page 9

BUENOS AIRES Our adventure begins with a two night stay in Buenos Aires. It allows us to have a quiet day in the city and recover from the flight from Sydney via Auckland ans Santiago. We decided to just have a wander around as we were last in BA 4 years ago and saw many of the sights then. We walked up the shopping street of Florida to the sounds of "cambio, cambio" from the many people trying to get us to exchange money at what I am sure would be a great rate. Buenos Aires has some beautiful buildings with very ornate street frontages. Our main purpose was to visit the historic Cafe Tortoni - a very ornate bar and coffee house founded in 1858. It has a very long main section and smaller rooms ... read more

“I have often the impression that, to penguins, man is just another penguin – different, less predictable, occasionally violent, but tolerable company when he sits still and minds his own business.” Bernard Stonehouse. The Antarctic Circle - 66°33’16”South… The line of latitude that gets at least one day of every year when the sun doesn’t set and at least one day a year when the sun doesn’t rise. King Neptune let us sail over the Antarctic Circle into his icy realm of sea-ice that sprawled from horizon to horizon as the vessel nudged its way southward towards Marguerite Bay. Eventually the ice tangle turned to a solid barrier and we could go further. The massive ice sheet blanketing Adelaide Island lay before us but there was no way of reaching it – it was a spectacular ... read more

Back to Antarctica. Beyond this flood a frozen continent Lies dark and wilde, beat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice... MILTON, Paradise Lost. It was the best of crossings it was the worst of crossings. The Drake Passage is a rite of passage for most people visiting the Antarctic and it is usually a bumpy, stormy passage. We got tossed around on one of the crossings as a Beaufort Force 9 slammed the sides of the vessel – truly spectacular waves hammering over the bow. However, our southbound voyage was a tranquil, peaceful passage with the company of the majestic fin whales and the mighty albatross. I love the sea. I love being ... read more

Hi to all of our loyal blog followers. It's always great to learn new words and phrases in different languages and with an all Chinese charter, learning was inevitable! My counting in Mandarin has greatly improved for example. Prior to the trip I could quite confidently count to nothing in Mandarin, now I can count to six... I can even say 'once, twice, sold'.. Eetze, artze, maila! Please and thanks, good morning and seal. Rocks and kettle, cold and look... 春節 I can not read any of it though. The writing is very complicated and has thousands of characters. It's interesting that the Chinese writing system is so complex yet the Chinese eating system, with chopsticks, is simple... Curious... Anyway... The Year of the Cardboard Dragon I've just spent another three weeks in the Antarctic on ... read more

Es hat ein paar Tage gedauert, aber nun steht der Antarktis Blog mit vielen Fotos und zwei eigenen Videos! Wir sind am späteren Nachmittag mit unserem Gepäck und viel zusätzlichem Proviant zum Hafen spaziert, wo die Plancius und das Expeditionsteam bereits auf uns warteten. Als erstes haben wir unsere Kabine bezogen, welche zu unserem Erstaunen eine Suite war. Offensichtlich hatten wir Glück und wurden upgraded. Schon bald haben wir den Hafen Richtung Antarktis verlassen und als erstes Stand der Rettungsdrill auf dem Programm: Schwimmweste holen, anziehen und raus zum Rettungsboot. Glücklicherweise war dies nur eine einmalige Übung und dabei blieb es auch auf der ganzen Fahrt. Es schien eine ganz tolle Reise zu werden, denn schon nach 2 h im Beagle Channel haben wir die ersten Delfine gesichtet. Es war eine ganz seltene Rasse und sogar ... read more