It is hard to believe it has been nearly two years since a travel blog post. This one is one of my longest trips to a place where I did not work as a doctor. I will try to make it as user friendly as possible, but the temptation is there to make it very long and detailed, as so many thing happened, both bad and good, in the days before and during the trip.
Summary: I booked the trip at the relative last minute, in early November, as Delta Covid was on the wane, and I realized they were doing cruises this year. It was very difficult to find affordable flights, and the cruise was pretty expensive. I got there, got on the boat without covid, and made it through the rough first night at sea with pretty bad seasickness. Antarctica was so beautiful and haunting, a fantastic place of awe and wonder. The firsts for me: Orcas, snowshoeing, kayaking in ice, mountaineering, penguins in the wild, seasickness, a whale coming up while I was in the rubber boat, covid precautions at sea, and camping on ice and snow. Goals I didn’t meet: kayaking with whales around, pullups in Antarctica. Then I had a tough trip back.
Technical details: The cruise was with the same company I cruised the Arctic in June of 2017 around Svalbard: Oceanwide, and on the same ship, the Plancius. It sailed from Ushuaia, a city in Argentinian Patagonia on Tierra del Fuego, apparently the southernmost city in the world. It is not easy to get to Ushuaia, especially not in covid times; flights usually go through Buenos Aires, and the main airline, Aerolineas Argentinas, made nothing easy (see the end summary 2). If I had it to do over again, I would do it through a travel agent based in the US, as I had multiple flights canceled and rescheduled with lots of aggravation and extra expenditures. I also stayed at a pretty bad hotel in Ushuaia. I used the Hotel Clasico in Buenos Aires, which was nice enough and very helpful online. I was able to arrange a car to take me to the hotel and booked the night of my arrival in the early morning through them directly. It is in the Palermo area of the city, near many parks and green spaces, which were nice for my run and walks on the two days I was there. The Hotel Monaco in Ushuaia was cheap for the night I needed them initially, $64, but with taxes $83ish. The room had only a bed and two small end tables as well as a table/closet combo. No place to sit. Terrible breakfast, but they did have a nice sitting area in the lobby, though that is not so desirable in covid times.
Pretrip: Super intense as Omicron surged. I was hoping Oceanwide would cancel and refund the money. They never blinked. I thought I would be ok getting there, but because the trip was so long, there was a good chance I could have troubles on the way back. I needed to be back by the 9th of January to start my new job the next day, and, after the airline canceled my initial flight back from Ushuaia (I would have been in PA the 4th of January) making my connecting flights impossible, I now was getting back no earlier than the 6th of January. I could not afford to test positive for covid later in the trip. I also needed to get a test the day I flew back to the USA, so I had a kit I could do with online consultation (QURED) and was pretty sure I would be able to swing a test at the Buenos Aires airport as my first option. The thing I worried a bit less about was getting tested prior to leaving. I needed 72 hours before leaving but also 5 days before getting on the boat. So, Friday the 17th was the best time with a Sunday flight at 3:30pm. I could not find anyone who guaranteed a 24 hour turnaround in the Lehigh Valley. CVS suggested less than 2 days. That would work, EXCEPT Argentina didn’t just need a test; you had to upload a PDF of the results to their website with proof of travel insurance to cover covid no sooner than 48 hours before departure, then have a printed copy of a travel document containing all that information before you could get on the plane (!!!!). I was freaking out on the 18th, the day before my flight, waiting for the test. I was calling friends and testing sites arranging plans B through H, and thanks to Mike Guro and Greg Miller for listening to me and helping me think it through. Fortunately the test came from CVS around 9pm. It took me a while to get it in PDF form, but then the Argentina website would not work - things as simple as the dates could not be put in. Finally I tried my rarely used Safari browser and was able to do the forms in 5 minutes, but the printed copies had a 5 font and were almost impossible to read. I was so wound up I could barely sleep and might have gotten about 3 hours.
Getting there: There aren’t many ways to get to Buenos Aires. I was able to get a direct flight from JFK, but that is not an easy airport to get to and from. Still, I was in Bethlehem; how hard could it be? Well, there is only one bus from the area that goes to NYC before mid afternoon on Sundays, and that left at 7:30am. Mike Guro picked me up a little before 7 and dropped me off at the bus part of the terminal. The bus was not crowded and made few stops. We were at the Port Authority a little after 9am ($40.40 each way). From there I took the Blue E train to Queens to catch the AirTrain ($3 subway, $8 AirTrain, a longer ride than you think). The subway was something else on a Sunday morning. There was a guy with a shopping cart asleep on a row of seats in the car I rode in. I wore goggles and two masks, BTW
I thought I would have a long wait at the airport, but everything took a long time and I was soon on the plane. It was PACKED. No open seats, and in the front of our cabin a baby who SCREAMED for about 4 of the 10 hours (scattered throughout, for good measure), usually worst after the call bell for a flight attendant was dinged. The seat was hard and uncomfortable, so I hardly slept. It is always so weird to arrive in a strange city so early in the morning - 4 am is a crazy time! Still there were plenty of people checking passports and the like, though the airport was otherwise empty. My driver was right there when I walked out! What a relief. It cost $40, but it was well worth it. The ride was long and the sun was just coming up. Buenos Aires is not an impressive city. Most of the buildings look unfinished - there are lots of upper floors with open areas and exposed beams. My hotel was on a narrow street next to a few restaurants. I took a shower and read a little to settle down and was asleep a little after 6am.
Buenos Aires: I thought I might run when I got up, but it was already 84 degrees. I went to the restaurant next door that gave guests at the hotel their “free” breakfast. It was pretty full of unmasked patrons talking loudly. I sat down after asking what to do and no one came to my table for over 30 minutes despite me getting up to ask a few times. The breakfast I chose was some yogurt with nuts and a small amount of granola, s small roll that was toasted with two kinds of jam, and an orange juice (there were lots of other options). After breakfast I fell back asleep, and then again after reading for a while. I finally got myself to go for a walk in the later afternoon. There was a major road just a block away, and ATMs there to get some cash. I got in line and tried three of them but none would work for me. Finally someone told me they would not work for people with international bank accounts (the people were generally nice). I found another one with a green LINK sign that worked, though I only was able to take 2000 pesos out, which was basically $20, and I paid a 1000 peso fee! Fortunately most businesses took my credit cards.
I headed towards a green area on the map: parks and gardens and the zoo. Most of them were closed. There were still large open areas that were nice to walk in. I walked for more than 2 hours and covered 4-5 miles. On the way back I saw a bakery and bought a huge piece of chocolate cake. I stopped at the restaurant next door to try to get some takeout. After talking about what was available for takeout (only pizzas), they told me they didn’t open for dinner for another 90 minutes, but I could order in advance and then pickup the pizza and a salad at 7:30. I was super hungry, since I’d only had the breakfast, but I was able to resist the cake. I ate a Clif bar instead.
I went down to the restaurant at 7:30. It had been only 2 hours, and there were only two other customers, but they didn’t seem to remember me. They had not done anything. Someone from the kitchen went out into the outdoor seating, where an old guy with a lot of tattoos and saran wrap on his right arm was smoking. She talked to him for a bit and he came in and started working on the pizza oven. About ten minutes later he came over to me and asked me what kind of pizza I wanted! I had told them at 5pm and again when I showed up. He made it from scratch, and someone brought out the salad. I had the pizza a little after 8pm. It wasn’t very good, and the salad was terrible. They left me with little appetite for the cake, and I only ate about 2/3 of it and threw it away. Sad. They did allow me to borrow a knife and fork, and I took them back in the morning.
I slept well. I was a little worried. There was a sign in the room warning about the sounds of the nightlife, but there was only a quiet piano playing somewhere when I nodded off. I got up at 6am and felt fresh. I ran in some of the areas I walked and beyond, 4.28 miles. There were lots of runners out there! Lots of pedestrians going to work as well. This morning breakfast was much faster and the same otherwise. I made plans to come back to this hotel for the two days I would be in Buenos Aires on my way home. I took a taxi to the domestic airport, which did not appear to be far. But you basically drive all the way around it and then loop back on the way there. It was bedlam inside, with huge crowds and lines. I asked right away where to go and had to stand in line a long time to check in. After that I went to the airline’s ticket office and tried to find out whey I was charged $865 for my flight change, and he would not talk about it, just about other ticket options, but that was no help. I finally told him I was giving up and would leave. There was a huge line to check in for security for domestic flights, but there was a separate line for Patagonia, so I was through in minutes, though I was behind a couple who had to take their cat out of the carrier and hold him while they went through the metal detector (!). Interestingly, there is free internet at the airport, but in order to sign up you have to give it your birthday, and you cannot type the date in; you have to scroll back month by month. I did not feel like scrolling back through 700 months.
Ushuaia (above photos): The pilot did a tremendous job setting the plane down in terrible crosswinds. Ushuaia is a windy place, and this day was really windy. We waited a LONG time for our bags, and then I went looking for an ATM. I couldn’t find it, so I asked the women at the taxi stand inside and she pointed it out. This time I got 4000 pesos and paid only 600 in fees ($40/$6). When I walked outside, I was nearly knocked over by a gust. There was a friendly man getting taxis, and he called someone to come, as all the rest had gone after the flight. A taxi came tearing up to the zone and a skinny old man got out. A man of few words, I told him where I wanted to go and he put the bag in the car, and then we were off, like it was a time trial. That rate of driving only lasted to the main street in town, where we sat and sat. I did not know the hotel was about 80 feet beyond us, but ten minutes later, we got there. I endured his honking and grumbling before that.
Inside the Hotel Monaco, there was only one desk clerk who understood English, and she only helped when she absolutely had to. I was on the second floor, in a special room that pokes out onto the main street, with a tiny window you can see from the street. Otherwise it was a charmless chamber, with a wood and metal table that served as a closet as well, and only a bed and two small end tables bolted into the wall for furniture. It was time for me to eat, but no place opened until 7:30pm. I went out for a walk. The wind was terrible by the water, but it was pretty enough for some photos. I thought i would order takeout to keep away from others, but on the walk I ended up stopping for dinner at a very uncrowded Italian style eatery (Italian and Steakhouses dominated the restaurants in Argentina). The restaurant was crowded by the end of my meal, which lasted a long time and took 30 minutes to get the check after I was done. It was the best meal I had in Argentina, which isn’t saying much: pumpkin soup, veggie ravioli, and flan with dulce de leche. I got back to the hotel by 9:30. I rearranged what I would need during the next day before getting on the ship - we got a message we needed to drop off our luggage to be taken onto the ship by 11:30am (within walking distance of my hotel), and then we would board between 4 and 5pm, so I needed to be ready to spend a while without much stuff.
I slept well - it was not noisy there but it did seem to get darker for a few hours. I got up at 6am and went for a run along the water and out a nice running path on the way to the airport, along a bay where the wind was still blowing hard but much less than the day before. On the way back I stopped at an outside gym and did some dips and then even tried my first pullups since my shoulder got bad in May. I did 4 without much trouble (!).
I checked out and took my bags over to drop off. They talked me into keeping my backpack since it might get hot, and I would need a water bottle. I went back to the hotel, reading and using their wifi for about 90 minutes, sharing the area with a sleeping teen and her family. When I felt ready to eat, I wandered all over again.
I was sort of looking for a specific vegetarian place, but I didn’t find it, and I wandered in the hills and back, settling on a place called the Dali Cafe. They had vegetarian options, again with a long delay and no rush. I stopped at a pharmacy and bought a bottle of cheap moisturizer for the cruise, and then I went to the grocery store and got a bottle of air freshener in case I had to share my room on the boat (more for the other person’s benefit than for me). I regretted not getting a bunch of chocolate bars. Then I walked to the site where we were to wait to be taken to the boat and also, much to my relief, get tested for covid.
The line was much longer than for dropping off bags. At the end was a red haired young woman from Michigan. We chatted a bit while waiting. Inside was a gym, and they had plenty of chairs set up. I didn’t realize it, but one of the ship’s two doctors did my first covid test - somehow I had dodged them to that point. EVERYONE WAS NEGATIVE! They took us to the pier/departure point in coach buses. From there we were allowed to walk up the gangplank and I was escorted to my room. The attendant was surprised when we walked in; there was only my bag. I HAD MY OWN ROOM!!!! This was a key development. I was so excited. I did a few quick things in the room and then headed out to the deck. I was one floor down from before, a good spot, right by the launch point for the rubber boats they called Zodiacs, and right by the boot room and equipment handout place, as well as the same floor as the dining room. The main lounge was two floors up and had been refurbished. I went out to the external decks and walked around and chatted with a few people. I was quite eager to share I had been on this boat before. I forget the flow, but I think we did some safety briefings before they were allowed to sail, including all putting on our big, puffy life vests and looking at the life boats (they were the same, only this time they told us there were no toilets on them, but enough provisions for two weeks). I chatted with a number of people, and they all seemed nice, eager and excited. We were all very happy we were covid free.
We were welcomed to dinner then. Our trip leader was Eduardo, a thin and slightly short man who had a PhD in Astronomy and often repeated himself. We were assigned the same seats at the same table initially until the next covid tests. The group I sat with were generally friendly and interesting, from all over the world, but who generally lived in the USA. They warned us the seas were to be rough that night once we got out of the channel into the open sea, called the Drake Passage, where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. I was back out on deck with my new friends chatting and taking photos until around 10pm. I took some melatonin to help me sleep and 25mg of meclizine, a good motion sickness medicine, before going to bed.
The views above show the early part of the voyage, on smooth waters, looking back to the Chilean side of the channel and the impressive mountains of Chilean Patagonia (which I visited and wrote about in late 2015) and one of the more interesting things we saw on the way.
THE NIGHT WAS ROUGH! I was frequently repeating the beginning of George Costanza’s telling of his day as a fake marine biologist at the beach. It got rocky soon after I went to bed and even worse as the night progressed. The meclizine was helping a little; if I stayed still on the bed on my back, I was generally ok. I slid up and down in the bed as the boat rocked side to side. Any time out of the bed was spent in a furious attempt to keep from falling. Eventually, after another dose of meclizine, I was pretty uncomfortable. I ended up on my knees over the toilet about 5 times, mostly dry heaving and then calming down enough to go back to bed, but I did vomit once, breaking a new streak of more than 6 years, which followed a streak of 22 years. I also had belches that seemed to come from the bowels of Hell.
They announced breakfast, but I knew there was no way I could go to the dining room and eat. I finally called the hotel manager, and they had the doctor come by to see me, and a waiter brought up some toast, jam and fruits to my room. It was all so nice. The doctor, a beautiful woman from the Netherlands, gave me a scopolamine patch. I was too shaky to open it and put it on myself. I told her I was a doctor and that I had not liked the bitter taste and blurry vision the patch gave me the last time, and I had never had motion sickness before, so I thought the meclizine would be fine. It was AMAZING how fast the patch worked, BUT, they made us go to a mandatory briefing right after breakfast at 9am. I had to go. I was pretty miserable and tired at that point, but I ate some things after, took a nap, and then was myself except with bitter saliva and somewhat blurry vision, while it also helped that the seas had calmed significantly. They stayed much calmer until we got to Antarctica. I was on deck a bit, watching things, and also reading a lot (books read on the trip: The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary {a history of Islam}, Attached, The Long Fix by Vivian Lee {medical reform}, and Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You? {meh}). There wasn’t much else to do in the open sea. A huge number of passengers had seasickness, by the way.
When I got to breakfast the next morning, I was reminded of how the rest of the world views cereal: this ship had the three worst cereals, one of my pet peeves: Rice crispies, corn flakes, and Wheetabix! I wanted cereal so bad I ate some wheetabix and All Bran with jam in them, but I found the next day they had oatmeal, and I ate that with some all bran and jam the rest of the time. We did more the 24th, since people were feeling better, including another covid test (all negative, so we were allowed to eat with other people), briefings, sign ups for activities. An amusing anecdote: they had recommended we bring gaiters, the shoe protectors, for hiking in the snow. I bought some and took them with me to a Biosecurity briefing, where anything we might wear to Antarctic landings had to be inspected for seeds or potential contaminants. When I got back, I could not find my gaiters. Did the guide take them? I checked repeatedly at the lost and found, and in the lounge where I had last had them. Nothing. 5 days later I found them at the bottom of my back pack, which I had emptied out and searched at lest 10 times.
Christmas Morning, 12/25 - We arrived!!
I woke up around 3 am and looked out my port hole - icebergs! They woke us early, at 6:30, as we finally had stuff to do. The typical wake up involved a two tone signal, followed in 5 seconds by new age type music, then multiple good mornings from Eduardo. He would tell us the general early schedule and where we were. It was a cloudy day, but we could all see icebergs, some mountains and glaciers as well as a few other ships in the distance. We ate breakfast and got ready to leave the boat on the zodiacs. That involved waterproof jacket and pants and rubber boots to just under the knee. We were not aware at the time how much went into these adventures. The guides had already been out and scouted landing locations near enough to penguins and other nice things, but not too close, and set up snow shoes there for us to use, as well as stairs up through the snow (made of snow). We all followed instructions - I was terrified of falling and getting wet while walking in the water, so I was super careful. There were hundreds of penguins, including all around the little rocky area going into and out of the water! They are very cute. They look at you, and then pretend not to look at you some more.
I got my snowshoes on - first time (moderate complexity) - and started walking around. There were several paths for us to take between the penguin colonies that were safe to use. I was a bit overdressed - not sure what it would be like. I had lots of energy, so I walked around rather than staying in a few places. At the end of the biggest hill climb there was a small group of penguins and then a hill back down to the water. I asked a staff member there to take a photo or two of me, and she kept telling me to back up, which got me closer and closer to the steepish drop, and then I lost my balance with the snowshoes (they told us not to walk backward in them) and fell onto my butt, landing awkwardly on my right hand. I got up and dusted the snow off my butt and walked around some more. They had told us the strategy was to get down low and stay still and the penguins will come up close to you. I never did that. I found the best way to get close to them was to see when they were going to cross a path near you and just stand still. They would walk right up to you, then around you.
Two things about penguins, and one of the things has two things: they smell terrible, most likely because their poop/feces smell terrible, and they basically poop all over where they live. The second thing is they are pretty loud. Lots of chatter and occasional loud outbursts while craning their necks back and looking to the sky. The other things you should know are they are remarkable climbers, having nests far up steep hills, and they can only nest on rocks (at least the ones we saw, the Gentoo and Chinstraps). We were out for a while, then back to the boat for lunch. We started to move then, and were starting to hit ice, which I love to watch, so after lunch I was out on deck a lot.
Digression: Lunch was much better than breakfast. There was always a “vegetarian option” that usually had some dairy in it, but was always good. We could get salads, occasional soups, and there was always fresh fruit, as well as some meat based entree. They sometimes had a sweet thing as well (always at dinner, which was similar overall). The amounts were not large; I was often still hungry, which was all right. There would be a “sweet of the day” put out in the lounge around 4pm, though we were usually off the boat at that time. I would still get some, usually cookies, and would often dip them in hot chocolate from their machine.
It turned out the place we wanted to go was too icy (we heard several times there was more ice than usual this year). The boat couldn’t get to where we needed to go, and then the zodiacs would not work if we did get there. It was snowing off and on much of the time, but not that cold - maybe the high 20s F. They found an area with less ice and we went out for a quick zodiac cruise in a bay, looking at the ice and then the penguin rookeries and other birds nests on the cliffs. It was 90 minutes long - sitting in the boats that long, especially if we were driving fast, could get cold.
After we got back, I took a shower (I did not shower every day - it was hard when the sea was rough, and we didn’t do that much. I also wore the same clothes over and over. You can get away with that in merino wool). I went to the lounge to watch the journey after dinner. The captain then came on the system, and said the magic words on Christmas day: They saw a pod of orcas in the distance and were going to go to them. We all ran out onto the decks, but it was cold and they were far off, so I ran back in and got bundled up and went back with my camera equipment. Soon we were seeing them, zooming near the boat and in the distance. It was fantastic. Then I saw what looked like other whales, and sure enough, a bunch of humpback whales were swimming in the area as well. As the orcas moved off, the humpbacks came right up to the boat. It was speculated we’d crossed into a big area of krill (we’d just had a lecture about them). What a Christmas Day! I was thrilled.
Our morning routine the 26th was interrupted by an important announcement. The Red Team got it first. I was on the Blue Team. They set that up in case we needed to be separated and to keep the dining room less crowded. Anyway, it was about COVID! A passenger had reported a sore throat and some congestion, and they tested positive. We all got tested again, and two of their close contacts were then screened and they were asymptomatic positives. CRAP!
We were in a place called Paradise Bay, and I had been out several times to take photos and look around. It was initially foggy, but the light improved and revealed it to be a spectacularly beautiful place. We were scheduled to tour it, but all the morning activities were canceled while they rolled out the managing covid plan.
We then left that area, going through a disappointing day with lunches now separate and with us socially distanced, and trying to stay away from others inside, wearing masks while inside. They finally got us off the boat later in the afternoon for another zodiac cruise. I was in a bad mood because two of the loud talkers got on that boat and they were going on and on, as if we needed some entertainment. This was to be the first night people went out camping, but it was canceled due to fairly heavy snow and a fair bit of wind.
On 12/27, we began our new routine. the blue and red teams would alternate going to breakfast first with going for our covid tests first. The staff were great, handling all the testing with good cheer. One of the biologists was the person to swab everyone in full PPE. The rest checked us in, screened for fevers, labeled the vials and then ran the tests.
We got good news in that everyone tested negative. We had a lovely cruise through a narrow channel with big cliffs and glaciers all around. It was fairly chilly and windy, and the area we had entered was quite icy. It was our group’s day to do the mountaineering. Mountaineering had been the thing I was least excited to do, but I still wanted to do it. We were told to get good, waterproof boots that went high up the leg and could fit into crampons for the ice. I was not sure I wanted to do ice climbing with an ice ax because my right shoulder was just getting better from a six months long bout of frozen shoulder, though I was pretty sure I could handle whatever they threw at me, and there did not appear to be anyone on the boat fitter than I was at the time. Still, I was a bit disappointed when the guide told me my boots I’d brought were not good enough for the ice and crampons. Anyway, the activity involved us getting roped together and walking slowly around the terrain, with the goal of climbing a peak or two.
This area had no big peaks, but there was a mild one in view, maybe a 150 feet vertical. Unfortunately, we could not get to it; the ice was too thick. We tried but had to turn around. This all took quite a while, sitting in the zodiac boats while they tried to pick our way there, then turned around and had to maneuver through what we had just struggled through and then to the other place, which was a fairly flat island with some penguin rookeries but still with ice packed on the way.
We got through the ice and the rocky landing area was not slippery enough for any of us to fall (I did not want to slip and get wet and have to freeze or make us all turn around after all that effort!!). We got into the deep, wet snow, and frequently one leg or the other would go hip deep in it moving around trying to get dressed properly and get our snow shoes on and get roped together. There were penguins constantly on the move around us, especially by the water.
We finally started moving after taking off some layers, and it was a slow go. There were lots of stops for photos, some of them quite long. It was not very steep or hard, but you do tend to do some extra work in the snow shoes so you stay warm. I was at the very end - the lead guide said he would put me there because I looked strong (I said, “Looks can be deceiving.”). I didn’t get to hear any of the information, and by the time I would get to where most of them were taking photos, they would be about ready to leave. That included a penguin rookery with a rare Emperor Penguin mixed in. I had noticed it right away - way bigger, like a football guard on the cross country team. I, of course, did not get a photo of it. It was still a lot of fun. Any time we got off the boat was very enjoyable, no matter how bad the weather, with the possible exception of the camping (spoiler alert).
When we got back there was a lot of work to get our layers back on, our boots sorted, and the site leveled off so penguins wouldn’t get stuck in the deep holes in the snow left by our boots.The zodiacs had a very hard time getting there, and then it took a long time to get back, probably at least an hour, as the Plancius had to move to a less icy area while we were on the land. It was a chilly ride back, but that island was absolutely full of penguin rookeries in other sections we did not see as well while on the land.
I ate a huge lunch and then was sleepy. They woke me up at 3:45 to go out on a zodiac again, and I forgot my life vest and had to go back (my cabin was about a 20 second walk away, so no big deal). I was distracted by my extreme desire to not be in the boat with the loud guys, but I ended up with them again! It was only a short ride to shore. There appeared to be an insatiable desire for penguin photos among the guests. I already had plenty, so I did laps back and forth for the exercise. Without trying I had multiple very close encounters with wandering penguins, and thus appeared in lots of other photos people took. I am able to stand very still for a long time in snow shoes, so I have that going for me. We got on the boats and went to see some seals on the ice. It was a long time in the boats and I was cold and hungry still when we got back. I was still hungry after eating as much as I could - it was like a normal day for me with some exercise a few times but without eating enormous amounts!
Digression: It is hard to pack enough clothes to wear for an 18 days trip without planning on doing some laundry. On the ship, they would do laundry for you, but a t-shirt would cost $3. I had done this before on my Arctic cruise: washed my clothes in the bathroom sink using the hand soap. That was why having my own room was so clutch: no one to fuss over the clothes soaking in the sink and then hanging all over the bathroom to dry (there was a heated drying rack in there that helped). I was particularly fond of my tight t-shirts to wear to dinner, as the boat was generally warm, and my arms wanted to be seen.
The weather took a big turn for the better on the 28th, with a clearer morning that was warmer. The good weather was countered by the bad news that two more people had tested positive for covid. The night before had been the first attempt at camping, and during the night the campsite got iced in. It took over three hours to get them back to the boat, so we couldn’t do anything else that morning but walk the decks and take in the great views. Sad! But the Lemaire Channel cheered me up - it is fairly narrow with huge mountains, cliffs and glaciers on each side.
We ate lunch early and then went out in the boats again to see penguins at 3pm. I was in the second boat to leave and as we were getting everyone seated, a humpback whale came out of the water just a few feet behind me and sprayed its mist in the air. We all scrambled to get our cameras out (you had to have everything stowed and your hands free to get on the boat), but watched as it moved away, breathing periodically and then diving while about 40 feet away, its tail well caught on my video, though looking more distant than it was. I had really wanted to get close to a whale in the zodiac - you are not allowed to approach closely, but the whales are allowed to get as close as they choose!
We got to the shore quickly and I was one of the first ones on the trail. I went out to what appeared to be the end, where one of the guests I had gotten to know better was standing. She said, “There is no path!” I said, “So, let’s make one!”. I noticed some deep footprints in the snow going up a hill to the left. I could see someone walking well off in the blue jacket of a guide and noted a few marking poles had been placed. So, off I went, charging up the snow, filling his huge holes while making many myself, even with the snow shoes. It was good work, and I was catching up fast. He finally put two poles in the snow marking the end of the trail near another group of penguins and collapsed in the snow! I got there a few minutes later and he was still breathing hard. I asked him if he was ok, and he said he was pretty tired as it was hard work. I acted like it was pretty easy for me (classic Terry;-). We talked about what exercise they could get on the boat, and he said they had a gym, but it was small. A few others started to arrive , so I went back and forth again, filling in as many big holes as I could in the snow. I loved being out in the snow and getting to move around, but I didn’t need any more penguin photos. They are cute and interesting, but at this point we seemed to mostly be annoying them. I was one of the first to take a boat back to get ready for dinner and camping later that night.
The camping would be a challenge for an insomniac who typically can’t sleep if his bladder is sending signals, and access to toilets during the “night” would require walking through snow to a tiny toilet. I tried not to drink much fluid at dinner and braced myself for a long night. I needed to…The spot was where we had been earlier that day, with penguin colonies on each side. The snow was deep and wet, and it was hard walking in our boots, but we tried to pack down paths into and out of the camping area. I walked up to a patch along the far edge and tried to stay away from everyone who was noisy, keeping Michael, my German dinner companion on one side. Alas, the loud Englishman who was very fond of his booze took the spot next to the foot of mine, and then a loud mom and daughter squeezed into the spot between me and the guy at my head. Worst case scenario!
We were to use a small shovel to dig out blocks to stack on the windward side to keep the elements off us some. I was not very good at it, but my wall didn’t take long and was serviceable. Others built elaborate show-off walls with windows, including the loud Englishman. HIs took forever. The demos about the sleeping bag set ups were not very illustrative of what we actually had to do, standing in wet snow, in hard rubber boots, where one false move and we could be up to our hips in snow and smash a bunch of melting snow into our sleeping bags! I worked and worked on getting the bags ready, but it seemed like it was not big enough. I am tallish, but not that tall, and not very wide, but my feet could barely get to the bottom and my legs were wrapped so tight they could barely move. it took a few tries, but I finally got the layers somewhat together with my feet in two layers of socks. My feet were slightly wet, though, and they quickly got cold. I couldn’t stand it, so I finally, after about 30 minutes, got back out and changed to dry socks. Fortunately that change worked, but there still wasn’t much room for my feet. It then became clear I had too many layers on my upper body, so after another change I settled in, getting that pretty close to correct. I was as comfortable as I could be in the bag, which was not very. Now I was more aware than ever of all the noise: the women chatting and laughing, walking around to have drinks with the Englishman, who was still stacking blocks on his walls. I knew I was unlikely to sleep, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be torture.
It had been nice when we got there, but then it got cloudy, and pretty soon it was snowing and sleeting. The outer shell was waterproof, but it not sound proof, so every flake and ice bit made a noise, and not a soothing one. I might have dozed off a few times - I recall a dream about my brother at one point, but I also found ice accumulating in any weak spot. I tried to roll around, but nothing was comfortable. Things did get quieter, and I could hear my neighbor, Michael, snoring, but the minutes oozed by.
finally, it was 4am. The snow had been accumulating, but had stopped for the moment. We were to leave at 5am-ish, with the area all flattened back and everything picked up, to go back to the boat for a nap before breakfast. I couldn’t take it anymore; I got out of the bag and started getting ready. I knocked my walls down and smoothed the area, while one by one others got out and started as well. Michael slept a while longer, and the Englishman had to be wakened by one of the guides. By the end it was sleeting sideways and the water was very rough for the ride back to the boat. I helped all the people around get their walls down and smoothed, even the women. I made it 9 hours without peeing. We shared our stories on the way back and at breakfast (I was able to get a nearly 3 hour nap in before breakfast - it was glorious). Everybody I talked to slept well except for one of the guys near me. He was also taller. My dinner table mate fell asleep right away and slept through the night! He was an experienced camper and boy scout leader.
After breakfast, we went out on the zodiacs to an area of vast penguin rookeries, the most we’d seen. The guides had decided we wouldn’t need snowshoes, but the snow was very deep and everyone was griping about how hard it was to walk anywhere. You never knew when you would crash through to your crotch. Still, I embraced it and was happy for the exercise. It was already warm and getting warmer. I went back early, thinking we would eat quick and get back out since it was so beautiful, but we had to do more covid testing. This day was the best weather we would have, and things finally went my way as it was my day to kayak, something I had looked forward to the whole time! The guide had seemed taciturn, but it was only because I had never seen him doing what he loved, which was kayaking. He had been on his country’s national kayaking team, and somehow he loved going kayaking so much he could put up with taking a bunch of hacks with him. We had all sorts of layers on but they were both warm and functional. We helped unload the kayaks, then rode in the zodiac, which towed the kayaks behind it to the site
The area was stunning, the water like glass and ice bergs a plenty! A dream come true. We cruised around a bit and then the guide, Set, said there was a seal on the ice he wanted us to go to. He pulled us up close to the shore and we got out. We followed him up on the ice shelf as he walked right up to the seal and took a lot of photos of it. It was fascinating how much he enjoyed seeing this seal, something he had likely seen hundreds of times. We spent a while taking photos right near it as it mostly tried to ignore us but occasionally looked at us, bored.
I enjoyed it all so much, but we had to get back to do the polar plunge! Everyone was nervous, but I was excited. We took the kayaks back to the boat and loaded them back on, then rushed to our rooms to get the kayak gear off and change into our swimming clothes. I forgot a swimsuit and had only my merino wool boxer briefs, which would do. We got to the beach where it would happen, and they told us they were not ready for the blue team to jump in yet, so we walked up a hill and got warm and sweaty. I was ready to go, but they still surprised us by yelling GO! suddenly. I was slow, as I have delicate feet, but I dove in and went completely under, then sat on an iceberg on the way in. It was a great finish to the most beautiful day! To top it off, it wasn’t even that cold when we dried off and got dressed. Oceanwide always goes the extra mile, and some of the hotel and kitchen staff were out in boats handing out hot toddies and hot cocoa to us as we left. I was so exhilirated by the day I could have kept going all night, but I was also pretty tired and eager to get some sleep. I ended up with the latter option, getting 9 hours!
We got good news in the morning. If we were negative the rest of the voyage , we could be released, but then they made a special announcement. It was a false alarm: still all negative. The water was rougher and it was gloomy early, but then it got nicer as we landed at a place called Mikelson Cove, where there were remnants of a research station and lots of penguins (and a few whale bones). The coolest thing was a cove/beach with small icebergs all over. We posed with them in all sorts of ways. There were also a few calving glaciers in the distance. Then a research sailboat went past. Lots of good photos.
On te zodiac ride back, we stopped by two beaches and went onto them to view two different groups of seals as they sunned themselves on the ice nearby. Set, the kayak guide, egged our guide on and we had fun. On trying to get off the second beach, somehow we got turned the wrong way in the surf and the boat kept getting swamped. I got pretty wet and even got water in my mouth. After this long morning, we made it back just in time to eat, but it turned out the mountaineers had bitten off more than they could chew climbing a peak nearby. We could see them from the Plancius - they stood there, not moving, for 10 minutes at a time, sometimes with a few of them lying in the snow. It was weird in so many ways. They were coming down; it shouldn’t be that hard, but they later said they were exhausted and it was too steep to come down easily in snow shoes. Waaaa. {Co-wusses-ugh!} They wasted hours of our time, so instead of a big landing on the Antarctica continent, we only got a quick crossing to an ice filled bay and a few minutes on a rocky outcropping theoretically connected to the continent. There were some funny moments when the photo guide, George, announced on the radio that it was clearly still an island, and others argued on the radio that it was high tide, and at low tide it was part of the continent. I didn’t care - it was all Antarctica. The water was very rough and there was a lot of ice, so it was a tough landing no matter what. On the long ride back we saw a seal swimming in the water and I also picked a piece of ice out of the water and put it in my mouth. It wasn’t salty at all.
After a good dinner, we went on the highest deck to look for whales but only saw one humpback far out. We were onto something, though, and that became our obsession, especially my table mate, Joe, who seemed to spend every waking moment spotting whales the rest of the journey. We then began to spot more later and soon they were all around, humpbacks showing their tails, spouting, and flipping their fins in the air.
The next day we were to enter a caldera from a huge volcanic explosion that was filled with the sea. It had an impressive entrance, so we were excited. They announced it as we approached and everyone was on deck as we cruised through. It was rough and windy, but the day got worse and worse. We were able to get the zodiacs to the beach, but the wind was howling the whole time. Still, there were things to see: an albino penguin, some seals on the beach, the remains of the whaling station that had been there, and the steam vents in the ground. I walked around alone, going to the scary, windy cliffs along the edge and all the way to the other end. When we finally went back to the boat, the seas were the roughest we saw while on the Zodiacs. It took several passes by the deck on the boat before we could get secured and get off, and the waves were crashing all around us. I joked they won’t show that part on the advertisements for the cruise! I was drenched, but it was exhilirating.
It was going to be rough the rest of the way; this was our last time on land for a few days, as the afternoon activities were canceled due to the wind and rough waters. I don’t think too many wanted to go through what we’d done in the morning again to get in and out of the zodiacs.. I put my scopolamine patch on and got ready. Fortunately there was plenty of time to practice our new hobby, and we could now regularly spot whales.
We settled back into our cruising routine, with lectures in the lounge and watching whales, but it soon was too rough to do much else. I was so worried my patch would fall off! I did not want to be sick again. When I woke up the next morning, all of my stuff had fallen from wherever I’d put it onto the floor of the cabin. It was a cold and windy day - I was on the deck only a few minutes, and otherwise tried to go to the lectures, which were good. I got some internet time - was supposed to be 100MB, but it lasted only a few minutes and I only sent two emails. I finally went to bed again after more lectures.
Our last full day at sea was started with a foreboding huge wave hitting our side of the boat while at breakfast. It was a stunning noise and visual. We quickly got used to that all through the morning, and it was only to get worse in the afternoon. It was too rough to leave our cabins for lunch, so the staff came by and quickly handed out bag lunches. Mine had ham, but I ate it. The afternoon was ferocious. After it calmed down some later in the afternoon, we found out we had sailed through a cyclone, with some winds over 80mph and 30 foot waves. Our spirits were not ready to find out the Argentinian authorities had notified Oceanwide that we would be held in port until we had negative PCR tests done by official testing facilities the next day. How were we going to pull that off? We had the ability to do our own testing with rapid PCRs in just a few hours, but they would not accept that. We were cheered more while eating by tiny dolphins swimming alongside the boat as we got into the calmer waters of the strait.
Despite all the stress, I slept well the last night. We had reached Ushuaia, and somehow they had found a team of testers to come on board. They said the results would be back by the late afternoon. It was now sort of clutch my 2:30pm flight had been canceled and now I left at 8:30, but that was not guaranteed. I was comforted some by not needing to be in Buenos Aires for another 2 days, but it was still super stressful for all of us, especially if we tested positive, as we would be quarantined in Ushuaia for ten days.
They had enough food for a pretty good lunch and dinner as we waited and waited. Finally, at around 7pm, they announced they were opening up the internet for everyone for free as we were going to have to work on rescheduling everything since the tests had not yet come. I tried to change my flight but couldn’t, and instead paid for another flight in 2 days. I hoped I would be able to recoup the money later. Then I booked a hotel for two nights in Ushuaia, choosing the same hotel I had stayed in before, forgetting about the terrible breakfast and rooms. It was much more expensive, but I did not have much time to look around. I was still VERY lucky - since my original flight left at 8:30pm, I was with the group that needed to leave as soon as the tests allowed. They finally came in at 8:40pm, and I was negative. Michael, who was on the same flight, and I went out with the rest, but since we were too late for our flight, they did not take us to the airport. We waited nervously, hoping not to be kept on board. It was a tense, tense evening, every moment full of portent. Finally we got word they were going to take the two of us to our hotels and we could leave, BUT all the rest of the passengers would have to spend the night on the boat! I felt terrible for them, but I was happy for myself. At least I would be able to go running in the morning and sleep in a proper bed. After I got to the hotel, the first thing I did was go to the grocery store right before it closed and bought a huge amount of chocolate, eating most of it! But the chocolate and morning run were the only benefits. That hotel was terrible. The breakfast was awful, and there wasn’t much to do during the day but walk around, which I did all day. I ate at the same lunch place and then a closer restaurant, super paranoid about getting exposed to covid before trying to go back to the US.
Here are the maps with the stops.
I ran a glorious 4 miles, covering some ground I had not been on before, but ending up on the bay on the other side which was nicer than the prior super windy day. it was still fun. I heard from my friends on the ship they had gotten angry, and the boat gave them an open bar. They tried to have some fun while a few others were whisked away to quarantine along with the male ship doctor, all of them now positive (Oceanwide canceled all the cruises for the near future)! I went on long walks in the morning and in the afternoon. On the latter, I stopped at the outdoor gym to exercise in my jacket while a family used some of the equipment. I apparently made the dip bar look easy, as one of the women went to it and nearly collapsed with effort after not being able to move up and down at all. My last night in Ushuaia came to a close after a disappointing dinner and a short night of sleep before getting up early to get a taxi to the airport with my last bit of cash.
GOING HOME: The trip home was a saga in itself, worthy of Homer or a movie like “After Hours.” The airport was typically strange but there were no major issues on the boarding. I saw one of the men I’d met and spent some time with on the boat before they split our groups up, and we chatted while waiting for our bags in Buenos Aires after the 3.5 hour flight. He told me more about what had happened on the boat before heading off. I had to get from the more domestic airport to the international airport. I went outside and started towards where the taxis were. I saw a taxi slowly moving by and I gestured to it and it stopped. I could see an older man inside and moved over to talk into his window when a younger, tattooed man in a tight t-shirt cut in front of me and said, in broken English, “Taxi for you? No, you must come here.” I thought he might be like the guy in Ushuaia who organized taxis, so I followed him. It was quickly evident my assumption was wrong, but my spirit of adventure and interest in what he was doing kept me listening. He said he would take me to the airport; it would be very quick and safe. He was a non-licensed taxi guy for sure; maybe he would be cheaper? I made a big mistake in not negotiating before I got in the car, but I was not afraid, at least initially. He spoke very loudly and was hard to understand, playing music loudly. He kept telling me it was only a short drive, but it seemed to take forever. I started to have my doubts and was wondering if he would take me somewhere and try to steal my stuff, as he occasionally took phone calls. We occasionally passed signs for the airport but kept going and going. Finally, we got there, and he started adding with his fingers and came up with the figure of….$90US! I had no Pesos left. I immediately said it had cost me only $40 for the taxi into the city nearby the other airport, and that was what I would pay. I knew I had the upper hand because I was there and bigger than him, but at the same time, I have plenty of money and was happy to have gotten this far. I gave him $60 and walked away after a long and heated argument.
It was only 2 pm, and I had to wait until my flight at 11:30pm. First on the agenda was trying to get the covid test I needed to board the flight. I asked some airline personnel who had just emerged from the terminal where the testing tent was, and they asked someone else, who told him it was outside the next terminal over. It was warm and sunny, a pretty nice day, so I walked over there with my bags and found it. They did not speak English well, but after a short wait it was my turn. Despite lots of uncertainty, I kept asking and eventually I got just what I needed: a printout with the negative results on it, and it was only about $20. I took that with me inside the airport, where there was a small coffee shop. I had hardly had anything to eat all day, so I ordered lunch and sat there for more than 2 hours eating and killing time. I went back to the other terminal, which was busy, and found out from another employee who spoke English poorly, I could check in for my flight 5 hours before. I only had to wait another half hour and then went over. The line was not long but it moved slowly. I finally got a pleasant, pretty girl who seemed very helpful. She accepted my covid test and then told me I had not done my paperwork. She let me log in and do it while standing there, which took a while, then she said there was a problem and left. I stood there for about 30 minutes until she came back. The gist was my new tickets did not cover my checked bag, so I could not get a boarding pass until I went to the cashier and paid for the bag. I, of course, told her I was paying a huge amount of money for the return trip and was astonished the bag was not included, but she smiled and brushed it off. I had to take everything over to a booth in the middle of the terminal and wait a while. When I got to the guy, he tapped and tapped on the keyboard and told me it would be $189 for my bags! I was already paying $2000 for an economy seat on this airline and now I had to pay that? He told me I could go to the website when I got home and ask for a refund. Now I was able to drop off my bag and go through security, which, for a flight to the US was not too bad, though they looked at the papers long and hard.
AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS is a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE business (more later), but their planes leave on time and arrive early. I had a window seat next to a woman, and I never got up the whole 9 hour flight. I didn’t watch any movie or inflight entertainment, reading and sighing the whole time. If I slept, it was for a few moments at a time, but we eventually made it to Miami and I was able to get through customs and passport control, always chaos, without exasperating me too much. now I had 4 hours to kill before the flight to JFK, so I got some breakfast and sat and read some more. We got there just early enough I could get a taxi to the Port Authority in time for the early bus to Bethlehem. We left with plenty of time to spare but we needed all of it, as traffic was bad, but I knew my driver took it seriously as we tried to pull out of the taxi lane (I walked right past all the fake taxi guys and went to the legit ones who charge a straight fee for that trip, though I had to pay a little extra for the traffic delays), a woman went onto the crosswalk right before we got there and he shouted “You g***n M*****r!” He drove like a maniac and dropped me across the street. All the side entrances were closed, so i walked an extra two blocks to get in, but from there hustled to the gate and was probably 20th in line. The bus left a little late but was not full, so that was a relief, and Mike Guro picked me up at the bus stop not long after I arrived.
Summary Part 2: I LOVED Antarctica. It is so beautiful, and Oceanwide did a great job making it work despite all the problems. BUT, it is very hard to get there and get back, especially with COVID, and AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS is so terrible I refuse to fly with them again.
WARNING!!! I was unable to make any contact with Aerolineas Argentinas - they have no email address, no customer service line. They insist you can call them on WhatsApp. I am not super familiar with WhatsApp, but I have called people a number of times on it. Every time I called AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS I got a message that said they do not accept calls on WhatsApp. They have online forms in Spanish that are incomprehensible, asking for vague information, and many, many answers and numbers I could not discern. I finally filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, asking how a company can possible provide services in the USA with absolutely no customer service at all and no recourse to abuse and poor service. About ten days later I got an email from Aerolineas Customer Service. After some back and forth, they said they had reimbursed me for the flight change in Ushuaia (they had not), then they said they had no record of a claim I had filed (I had attempted to submit claims about 20 times and could not tell if it worked. They had none of those!) It dawned on me the BBB complaint had gotten to them, so that prompted their response. I confronted them with that information, and then they countered, after they had helped explain the forms, (“They are not customer friendly” they said), that they would not reimburse me because of a technicality and I would have to go through another path. MEANWHILE, I also tried to file a claim with the travel insurance company to whom I had paid $485 for trip insurance, and they would not take any calls or answer any questions, responded to emails with substantial delays, and would not even consider reimbursing me without full documentation from the airline! I was reminded of what the taxi driver yelled at the innocent pedestrian who crossed the crosswalk as we approached, costing us 12 seconds. All their terrible service cost me $1600 and hours and hours of time on hold, filling out forms, writing emails, all for nought. I got an email from the Better Business Bureau saying they had to close the case because Aerolineas Argentinas never responded to any of their attempts to contact them. Do not fly Aerolineas Argentinas, and if you try to go to Argentina, use a travel agent who will get your flights changed for you and get your money back from the travel insurers or the airlines.
Slideshow link: https://youtu.be/89pMM-kqD0E
Video link: https://youtu.be/OBahqmW3Yng
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