Blogs from Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 16

Geo: 18.4606, -66.1138The Puerto Rican capital of San Juan was a bit of a surprise, with its pop of 1.6M people and its big city feel. Puerto Rico is a US Territory that is on the path to statehood after its people voted (inconclusively, so far) to seek to become a state.The points of the Bermuda Triangle are generally agreed to be: San Juan, Bermuda and Miami. Haven't heard of any strange happenings for a long time, though.... read more

Geo: -62.5933, -60.0183This was our last day in Antarctica. By early afternoon, we were headed back toward the Drake Passage. This morning, the Zodiac landings started very early—5 a.m. for the first group. The captain had made arrangements with another ship in the area to share the landing site with us going early and the other ship stopping there after we left. Yesterday, Iggy said that even though the ships are competitors when it comes to booking passengers, they work well together once they are in Antarctica and cooperate to share space and times for landings. Our purple group was fourth today making our time for a Zodiac landing at 9:30, a very respectable hour. We have been lucky with most of the timings of our group's landings. We were parked in Half Moon Bay to ... read more

Geo: -64.8236, -62.8581We have arrived! After days at sea passing through some rough and raging areas as well as, thankfully, mostly calm and friendly waters, we have made it to the continent. I could say that we have stepped onto our seventh continent of Antarctica, but that would be way too simplistic for the process involved. We took a Zodiac over to the Gonzalez Videla Base, a Chilean research station and inactive naval base now manned by Air Force personnel, on the Antarctic mainland at Waterboat Point in Paradise Bay. When the Zodiac pulls up to disembark passengers, they have a few different ways to do it. This time the boat headed straight in to nose its bow up on a rocky point. The passengers, one at a time, slid up the side of the boat ... read more

Geo: -64.8407, -63.0662This morning we woke up to the captain's voice over the intercom saying that we were not able to go to Cuverville Island after all because of bad weather there. We were in Paradise Harbour, but were not sure at that time if anyone would be able to get off the ship. As it turned out, they allowed the Zodiacs to take passengers out for a cruise, but would not make any landings. With snow falling and the sky overcast, Philip and I decided to forego the Zodiac tour and stay on the ship. The people we saw returning from the tour said it was fun but very cold. We took the opportunity to sleep late, enjoy lunch in the Colonnade, and listen to a lecture on how climate change is affecting the penguins ... read more

Geo: -57.426, -58.0146We slept late today, but got up when Sean, the Whale Guy, made an announcement about seeing fin whales from the deck. Philip went out and saw a few spouts. By the time I was wrapped up warm enough to go outside, they must have been gone although I did see some lovely birds, probably cape petrels.We skipped breakfast but went for lunch in the dining room. We have been traveling a week now and have had some wonderful food, but it felt like time for a hamburger. After lunch we had our first daily recap and briefing for the next day. We learned again how to dress for the landings in Antarctica. This time they added the importance of putting everything on in the proper order: waterproof pants outside the boots, life jacket ... read more