The 7th Continent
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| Ushuaia - known as the end of the world |
Antarctica has been on my bucket list for years but as I get seasick I never thought I would ever go. Life is too short so I decided to go regardless. I already knew that I wanted to do the long itinerary which included the Falklands and South Georgia as well as the Antarctic Peninsula. Lindsay had always said he didn’t want to go, so I knew I would have to share a cabin with someone I didn’t know.
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| The only photo that survived my iPhone erasing. Jacket gratefully lent by Mary |
Getting to the end of the world takes some doing. Living in Australia means that you often have to take multiple flights when you go anywhere but this time I had to take five. When I made the booking through a travel site I actually didn’t know who the company doing the tour was but I was very happy when I got my paperwork and it said it was Quark Expeditions as I had read some good reviews about them. The ship I had chosen was new and had stabilisers which would help reduce sea sickness.
The trip started in the town of Ushuaia in Argentina, known as the end of the world, although there are a couple of other places, notably The Falklands and South Georgia that are below it.
Ushuaia
Day 1 - February 28, 2020
Quark picked me up at the airport along with the other people on my flight and took us to a hotel they had booked for the first night. There was a tour to the national park the following day if we wanted to go but it was raining and I didn’t have a jacket, raincoat or umbrella so I had to pass. We were supposed to have an information briefing that night but it was postponed due to Coronavirus concerns.My hotel room-mate was from Melbourne and lives a ten minute walk from where we used to live in Glen Iris, that 6°of separation keeps popping up. We soon realised we had different cabin numbers so would not be sharing on the boat which was odd and we it seemed we weren’t the only ones. Even though I knew Ushuaia would be cold I didn’t bring a jacket as I knew we would be given one on the ship. The next day was fine and Mary and I trekked up to the glacier to fill in the morning the next day.
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| Walking through the forest to get to the glacier. |
It took longer than we expected leaving ourselves only 20 minutes for lunch as we had to be back at the hotel for the bus transfer at 15:15 to go to the ship. They gave us a questionnaire asking us where we had been lately and if we had drunk any unfiltered water as well as checking the stamps in our passports to make sure we haven’t been in China in the last 14 days. We were supposed to have our temperatures checked but for some reason this didn’t happen.
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| We went the red route on the way up and mostly down the white path, the road on the way back, bypassing the bottom section |
We were on our way, it was very exciting! Like most of my fellow travellers, I’d never been on a ship before. My cabin mate was Pennsylvanian and about my age which was good. Our beds were so close they were practically touching which was not good! Pretty much the first thing she said to me was that someone else wanted to bunk in with her and would I swap. This other lady was in a cabin without a verandah, so I said no. I had chosen this cabin so that I could open the door to take photos if I wanted. It wasn’t a very warm welcome L but we did get on for the rest of the trip.
The afternoon was taken up with a welcome and safety meeting, then a life boat drill. Down to the mud room to try on our new jackets and the boots that would be lent to us and make any changes. The size of the jacket was perfect, but somehow a size 12 boot had been allocated to me which was not what I ordered, even with 2 pairs of socks I only needed a size 9.
It was dark by the time we left port. While dinner on the first night was a buffet, all the other nights were à la carte – 6 courses if you could eat them all!
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| Glacier Martial |
Booking a taxi from the EZE airport to the city
Most taxis only take cash Pesos, Euros or USD. Trips to the city are a set rate of $AR1590 peso or $US28 and there is a booth at the airport. Before I left they said they took credit cards but when I got there they didn't. There is an ATM at the airport and even though it said it would charge me a fee, I didn't get charged. You will need cash if you take a taxi from AEP airport, there are yellow boxes that you can put in your destination and get a print out of the fare which you give your taxi driver - it was $AR300 to Palermo.When to go to Antarctica and what to you will see
https://explore.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctic-peninsula/visit-antarctica-where-to-go-what-you-ll-see#2. There are three distinct phases of what you will see.What to pack: A couple of you tube clips other people have put together
https://youtu.be/aPQw5gWFd4Ihttps://youtu.be/sG8zKQ8kfyk
Before I left I downloaded a few apps:
Google Translate. It comes with your language downloaded but you need to add any other languages you need to use it offline. Press the expand button so that the translated text is all that you see.Buenos Aires Wifi app to help locate free WiFi spots.
Uber to organise transfers without having to worry about local currency
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