Dave’s Antarctic Trip

These daily posts chronicling my trip to Antarctica are presented in chronological order, so that you may read them from start to finish.
Click here to jump to the latest post.

December 27, 2023 - 48 Hours Before

Well, by this point I’m 48 hours before I make my way to Toronto Pearson airport. A lot of planning has gone on, mainly with the help of Blair and Christy - a kind of son-in-law and youngest daughter.  The airplane connections look pretty good. I have a 12-hour flight from Toronto to San Paulo, Brazil. I stay there for about two hours, and then head further south for three hours to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Blair, Christy and I will spend a couple days there before flying further south again to Ushuaia, Argentina - a three-hour flight.

The good thing about the first part of the flight is that I fly business class, so I can have a glass of wine in the first-class lounge, then get on the plane and have a dinner. Air Canada has already asked me what I want for dinner.

Hopefully I’ll get eight hours’ sleep so that by the time I wake up, it will be a short flight into San Paulo. At that point, it’s going to be early morning before we take off again to Buenos Aires.

I managed to get a limousine booked for when I land at the EZE airport in Buenos Aires. My challenge is going to be making sure I get a limo here in Toronto. Otherwise, Judy’s going to have to give me a ride, and I don’t think she wants to do that on a Friday night during the rush hour.

I’ve been breaking the story of my trip to Antarctica to most people that I would normally interact with this time of year - associates, staff members, friends who are golfers, people from Rotary and family.

The response has been broad and interesting. It ranges from, “…oh, we just had friends come back from there,” to “what’s Antarctica?”

I guess that some people are geography challenged and have no idea that there’s a bottom to the world, and there might be a continent there. A bit fascinating for me having to explain that. Yes, there is something at the bottom of the world, and there’s something called the South Pole.

I see some of them have their eyes open up as if this is the first they’ve heard it. I’m not sure how they got through life this far, but perhaps all you need to know about the world is how to get to Tim Horton’s and the mall.

Most people think that I don’t know that Antarctica is full of penguins, so I’ve heard a lot of penguin jokes and stories. When I push the story a little harder, I tell them that I’m looking forward to some fresh penguin meat. That gets a response. “I can’t believe you just said that!”

Over the last two days, it’s been a challenge for me to think about what to wear when I get to Buenos Aires. I’m very lucky Christy said that they wanted to go to a tango bar on New Year’s Eve. She looked up the prices - the tango bar dinners are fairly expensive, and they charge in US dollars. But now that the Argentinian peso has been devalued, I think we will get pretty good value for US dollars. So, we found a dinner package that is kind of in the upper middle part of the cost bracket. It looks like we’re going to have a good evening.

I have no idea, however, what Spanish men dress like when they’re formal or semi-formal.

So, I researched and found a Toronto men’s store that has a good reputation. I asked them, “If I’m going to Buenos Aires, and going out for a nice dinner, and I’m Spanish, what should I wear?”

I was thinking that they would recommend a good kind of Mexican Spanish shirt or something like that. The salesman started by complementing me for at least phoning around. He said they have some Nehru shirts with collars on them, and that they’re coming back into fashion.

However, I don’t want to be the first person in Buenos Aires to be wearing a Nehru shirt from the 1960’s. So, I asked him, does he have anything else? He said no. But he said I should go to a vintage shop and find a 1960’s shirt.

And then he doubled down and told me to go to Malabar costume rentals and get a fluffy front shirt that also had puffy sleeves and so on, and then get a red bandana and wear that too. I thought about it for a while. I thought the last time I went to Malabar's for a costume it didn’t work out well.

And how am I going to feel being a kind of senior gentleman wearing a puffy shirt and a red bandana, in a tango bar in a city I’ve never been to?

My thoughts came back to watching the movie Dumb and Dumber, and how they managed to get their hands on 1960’s flamboyant, puffy shirts and suits for a formal affair that Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels were going to.

The puffy shirt wasn’t going to work. Then yesterday I spent time looking up men’s shops close to the Palacio Paz hotel, where I’m staying. Lo and behold, I found three or four high-end men shops, and they’re all walkable.

The only challenge is, will they be open when I get there on the Saturday afternoon? And, I’ll probably be quite exhausted. On Sunday (New Year’s Eve), I could walk to the men’s stores but I’d have to have something off the rack. Stay tuned.

Today, I was following the instructions of the tour company saying that I needed waterproof hiking boots. They stressed not to bring water-resistant or water-friendly boots, but only waterproof boots. Again, my daughter Christy helped me a lot and I went online. I found out that one brand of boots call ‘Keen’ got really poor marks because the bottom of the boot separated from the top. So, she gave me some recommendations and told me to go to Mountain Equipment Co-op. And that’s what I did.

When I got there, I saw a crowd of five or six individual seniors and senior couples checking out the hiking boots. I thought that was odd, except it seemed that almost all of them were looking for boots that they could wear so that they wouldn’t fall in the snow. In contrast, I was there to look for a waterproof boot that would be useful for me getting off a zodiac and then stepping in the water.

When I told the clerk about my trip, I got the ‘that guy is weird’ look again. Happens to me all the time, so I’m used to the look. There were only two sales people on the floor, so I guessed it was going to be a long wait to get served.

I watched one senior couple who seemed to be from Eastern Europe try to get a pair of winter running shoes for the lady. She kept complaining to the shoe sales person that she had very wide feet. She kept showing her shoes to the sales person. She explained that her feet were so wide that she had smashed out the side of her current shoes.

I took a look, too. He had a point. You don’t see feet that wide all the time.

When the sales person went in the back of the show room to try to find wider shoes, the lady shopped around for other shoes. And then she started screaming that she lost her bag.

I figured, how could you lose your bag? In Canada, shopping bags are a luxury item. Anyway, her scream got other sales people from other departments to look for her bag. When she walked by me, it was obvious that her bag was hanging from her elbow and she just didn’t bother to look down. Another senior and myself were going to point out to her that the bag was on her elbow, but it was a bit comical watching her go back and forth in a panic looking for a bag. So, we didn’t.

Eventually, the shoe sales person pointed to the bag on her arm and she stopped complaining.

I got my waterproof shoes at a discount. Yahoo.

So, I’m 48 hours before the trip.

December 28, 2023 - 24 Hours Before

Well, it’s almost 24 hours before I leave. I still haven’t booked the limo to get to the airport, and I haven’t finished packing.

Last night, I saw a documentary on TV Ontario about Shackleton and Scott’s attempt to get to the South Pole in 1901 using the ship Discovery. They made several attempts to get there, and in January 1912, Scott finally made it only to find that a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen got there first a few weeks before in December 1911. Bummer.

December was supposed to be a warmer month for getting to the South Pole. They must have brought a movie camera with them, because the film showed that the trip was anything but warm. They pulled a sled through the snow and blowing gales with their provisions, which mainly consisted of pemmican. Pemmican is a hunk of fat blended with meat bits and flour. Apparently, you can leave it on a shelf for six months and it still looks like food.

The TVO announcer cooked up the exact pemmican recipe and tried a spoonful. It looked like he tried to do everything possible to stop throwing up. Come to think of it, having the announcer throw up on screen would have made for one of the more interesting TVO documentaries - or perhaps a blooper segment on the Food Channel. He said that the British expedition in Antarctica would eat nothing else for six months straight. Given the past and current state of British cuisine, I supposed they considered it a delicacy.

Several takeaways for my Antarctic trip.

Yesterday, I commented that my daughter and son-in-law looked upon me poorly for saying that I was looking forward to eating penguin meat. “How could you eat something that gets made into a plush toy?” Well apparently, the Scott and Shackleton expedition ate dozens of penguins and found the meat quite tasty. Also, they killed dozens of seals and ate their livers because their livers contain vitamin C. And, if you don’t have vitamin C, you get scurvy. Apparently, you can die from scurvy. So, note to self: Eat oranges and leafy vegetables while onboard the trip. That way, I can avoid thinking about eating seal livers or getting scurvy.

Second takeaway. The Discovery became frozen into the ice for several years. Scott would have the men use saws to try to carve a passage through the ice and get the ship freed. They had 20 miles of frozen ice to saw through to get the ship out. After about six weeks, they sawed about 600 feet. Just thinking that my Swiss Army pocket knife has a saw blade, and it might come in handy… Perhaps I should pack it. Eventually, they had a season of warmer weather - the ice melted and broke up, and they sailed the Discovery back to England.

Once back, Shackleton apparently made a career on the lecture circuit. When I get back, maybe there’s a side gig for me talking about my Antarctic adventure.

December 29, 2023 - Bon Voyage Day

I got up this morning in a panic. It struck me that I was going to spend four days in a Spanish speaking country and I don’t know a word of Spanish. The challenge is, how do I learn some key Spanish terms during the few hours left before the limo picks me up?

After giving this dilemma some thought, I calmed down. As a family, we’ve had this challenge before, so I remembered a fallback plan.

When the kids were young and the business was starting to make some money in the early 1990’s, we decided to spend a month in Europe, starting and ending in Paris. We had no itinerary, so we just drove around in a big circle - France, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, and back to Paris. We had a Lonely Planet guide, and it had key phrases for each country. So, we tried to get along with Judy taking on Spanish and Italian, and me taking on German, French and Flemish.

As the weeks passed on, we were also getting pretty good at hand signals. We basically abandoned learning the language and simply defaulted to rubbing our fingers together if we wanted to know the cost. Or, putting our hands together beside our heads, showing a lodging owner that we were looking for beds, and so on. We got so good that the lodging owners thought we were a family of hearing impaired people. It worked.

But in the hours I have left, I’ll at least need to know some key phrases. Microsoft has an English to Spanish conversion program, and that’s what I used.

So as you can see, I learned the phrases and printed off the phrase sheet to put in my pocket.

Just about to head off. With any luck, next posting will be from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

December 30, 2023 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

The trip to Buenos Aires was actually quite nice for me. I was able to sleep on both the overnight flight from Toronto to San Paulo, and morning trip to Buenos Aires. Christy and Blair, on the other hand, found that the flight out of Calgary was delayed four hours. As a result, they missed their Cancun, Mexico connection and subsequent connections in Lima, Peru and Buenos Aires. So, they rebooked a flight to Vancouver and Mexico City, and from there to Buenos Aires, arriving about seven hours after me (without baggage - this will be a bit of a challenge for the Antarctica leg of the trip).

Buenos Aires has a population of over 3 million, but unlike Toronto or San Paulo, Buenos Aires is comprised mainly of low-density housing. I had a great view of the Parana River that separates Argentina and Uruguay as we landed.

I spent part of the day enjoying the warm and sunny centre of Buenos Aires. My hotel is beside a park, and close to pedestrian friendly roads and shopping areas. My first task was to buy a Spanish suit or dress shirt suitable for our tango night tomorrow. The men’s store I found on the internet was closed, but because there were so many clothing stores on the pedestrian malls, I kept shopping.

I came across a store that sold iPhones and accessories, and because my hotel room only had ‘V’ shaped sockets, charging my phone and the computer was going to be impossible. Fortunately, they had a universal charger for sale and I purchased it. As I was about to pay, the store clerk was somewhat embarrassed to say that he was going to charge me 12,000 pesos for it. I thought, “Here it starts, the old foreigner getting taken advantage of.” I paid. Then outside the store, I asked Siri what the amount was in US dollars. Siri pleasantly said $708 USD. After regaining my composure, I looked at the screen again and noticed that Siri quoted Mexican pesos. I then asked for the US dollar amount in Argentinian pesos, and she said $14.50 USD. Fist bump.

Staff directed me to Galerias Pacifico and said I would find men’s shops there. The Galerias is huge, and seemed to draw in shoppers from across Argentina - mainly families and people who seemed to be doing post-Christmas shopping. The men’s shops only carried clothes of interest to young men and summer flowery shirts, so I left. 

Going out the wrong door of the mall resulted in me getting lost. However, I printed out and had in my pocket the dozen Spanish words and phrases I thought would come in helpful. I found a policeman and asked him how to get back to the Palacio Paz Hotel. His directions were good. That said, I noticed he had a Federales insignia, a large pistol and bulletproof vest. No taser. As a criminal, you would quickly come to the conclusion that the police don’t fool around.

The highlight of my day was dinner. I went to a very old restaurant beside the hotel and made a reservation. That was the first challenge. At the reservation bar area, there were five young ladies in their 20’s. The one who took reservations asked for my name. Of course, given the little amount of time I spent learning Spanish, the question threw me. So, I answered, “Huh?” She asked again and I gave the same response. At that point, the four ladies at the bar in unison said, “Your name.” Their voices were actually harmonious and I turned to them, smiled, and said, “Mucho gracias.”

As I started dinner, I remembered that I had printed off a phrase for ordering a rum drink before dinner. As my Spanish pronunciation was off (note: I need to work on this phrase), I showed them the phrase I had printed out. The waitress responded with ‘no rum.’ She then showed me the cocktail list. I saw that it had ‘caipirinah’. It was a drink I had the last time I was in San Paulo. In fact, I had several of them while watching a large stadium concert on the bar TV. It is comprised of cachaça, lime and sugar - something like a mojito. So, I had four to five drinks then because I wanted to make sure that the San Paulo bartender was able to maintain the quality of the drink from the first to last. This time, I only had one.

I ordered a shrimp platter, which arrived as a fried potato platter with a few shrimps scattered among the potatoes. As my hand sign language was becoming more obvious, several staff came over and used me to practice their English language skills.

Believe it or not, a male waiter wanted to know the difference between the use of ‘sorry’ vs. ‘excuse me’. The top word on my printed list was ‘sorry’ - lo siento - so he considered that I was an expert. I explained that if you are an American, ‘sorry’ is the word you say after you’ve injured, insulted or done something wrong to another person. If you are Canadian, you basically start every sentence with sorry, in case there is something you might say that would be offending. I shared the well-known fact that after Canadian newborns learn their names and the words Mommy and Daddy, the next word they are taught is ‘sorry’. The waiter thanked me for the clarification.

December 31, 2023 - New Year’s Eve

Today I’m able to tie up a few loose ends - appropriate for the last day of the year. I’ll also share my bucket list experience at the Tango Bar.

Christy and Blair started the day still without baggage. During breakfast, I pointed out that the largest mall in Buenos Aires was just around the corner. In the middle of an Argentine summer, they knew they couldn’t buy Antarctica gear. But at least they could shop for clothes for the tango night. While there, Christy pointed out a men’s shop that I had missed, and I managed to buy a suit so that I could blend in tonight as an Argentine gentleman. Unfortunately, she could only find a pair of sandals for herself.

So, we headed to the Mercado de San Telmo. This market started many years ago as a food market, but is now also a flea market that extends along city streets within a kilometer grid. The market is near the Plaza Dorrego, where tango dancers practice, and a short walk from the presidential palace - Plaza de Mayo. It is only a pedestrian access area with stalls selling just about everything, including clothes. Al fresco restaurants are located behind the stalls. I was getting peckish and found a spot to sit down. I wanted a light salad and pasta, but the waiter said ‘carne,’ meaning ‘just meat.’ I ordered chicken breast and some fries. What I got was a huge plate of fries and some chicken breast. What is it with these Argentines and their love of potatoes?

Christy and Blair had success shopping, so we now had our tango night clothes. We rested during the afternoon so as to have enough energy for New Year’s Eve.

Everything in Buenos Aires and other Latin cities starts late. We didn’t sweat it when our ride to the Michelangelo Tango Bar didn’t show up. Instead, we caught an Uber.

Before getting there, I had an idea that a tango bar was a large dance floor with a band playing tango music, and many couples dancing. I thought that there would be old ladies just waiting for me to ask them to dance. I would be the leading man and we’d dance the night away.

Instead, our tango bar was a restaurant with a stage. We sat with a young girl of 15 and her aunt and uncle from southern Brazil.  She explained that a lot of Brazilians come south to Buenos Aires for vacation and shopping. We had a great meal, and then watched the show.

The show started with an MC and two singers - male and female. The band featured two accordions, a piano, base fiddle, violin and two Spanish guitar players. Combined, they rendered a sultry, emotional tango vibe. The show featured three couples dancing the tango, a bit of comedy (all in Spanish so I didn’t get the jokes, but I laughed anyways so as not to appear standoffish), a dance featuring a drum, and a woman pounding out a beat on the floor using two bolas. Bolas are rope throwing weapons with weights at the end. The rope is meant to be thrown at animals’ legs to trip them.

We saw four sets of tango dancing with costume changes for each new set. I saw that the dancers were very athletic, well trained and precise in their dance steps - able to convey a mood. It is as much art as it is dance. Many in the audience were cheering. Apparently, ‘tango‘ originated from both African and European culture among impoverished people in the Uruguay and Argentina river areas. I feel a bit embarrassed in thinking that my 1980’s training as a disco dancer would have been good enough to dance the tango.

The show was excellent. It was only one of many tango shows across Buenos Aires that night. Note: None of the men were dressed in Jim Carrey or Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber) puffy shirts. I would have really been embarrassed had I followed the advice of the Toronto men’s clothing shop to wear one. The restaurant put on a techno music dance party with champagne for the New Year’s countdown. A few old ladies were dancing and I danced along.

After the show, we caught an Uber back to the hotel. As it was New Year’s Eve, and since Christy and Blair were still on Calgary time (four hours back), they bailed out of the Uber after seeing a large crowd of people near the obelisk (a prime Buenos Aires attraction built in the Plaza de la Republica in 1936 to celebrate the quadricentennial of the foundation of the City). They watched the fireworks and then made it back to the hotel.

Feliz Ano Nuevo!!

January 1, 2024 - The Hurtigruten Expedition Tour

This was our day to switch hotels and join the Hurtigruten Expedition Tour. We moved to two rooms at the Sofitel, Buenos Aires Recoleta. At almost $950 CDN per night per room, the rooms were expensive but much better. Fortunately, the cost of our rooms was picked up by the tour group. I’m sure they got a discount.

After registering with the front desk, we dropped off our bags in our rooms and proceeded to the meeting room being used by the tour. The local tour instructor was giving instructions to groups of passengers in English and Spanish. She introduced herself to us as being 35 years with Air Canada as their local rep before retiring and joining Hurtigruten tours. We also started to meet other English passengers, a couple in their late 30’s from England, two ladies in their 70’s from Ajax, Ontario and a middle-aged Japanese gentleman from Toyko who had spent a year in Canada. There would be about 350 other people on board.

We learned that we still had a way to go before getting on the ship named MS Fridtjof Nansen. The tour group wanted bags outside our hotel room door at 8:00 pm for transfer to the airport. We had to sign a waiver giving them permission to look through our bags. We were to get up at 3:00 am the next morning for breakfast, and at the front door for a 4:00 am bus departure. The airplane was scheduled to depart at 7:00 am for a 4-hour flight further south to Ushuaia. At just below the 54th parallel south latitude, the Canadian equivalent is Edmonton, Alberta at 53 degrees north latitude. In 2018, Christy and I travelled up the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk, North West Territories at the 69th parallel.

The plan is to fly to Ushuaia by late morning. We are to collect our bags for transfer to our rooms and then, as we have time, the tour group was taking us to a nature reserve for an afternoon hike.

January 2, 2024 - Travelling to Ushuaia

When travelling, you have to expect that plans will have to be altered. We started out as planned at 4:00 am, after a 3:00 am wake up call. The drive through Buenos Aires showed the city at night when all is calm and somewhat beautiful - tree line streets, store show rooms with well designed displays, and every so often a police presence. We got through airport security by 6:00 am and then boarded the airplane for the flight to Ushuaia at 7:00 am.

However, at 6:30 am the pilot announced that the JetSMART plane had a mechanical issue, and it would take about an hour for the repair crew to arrive. We had to return to the terminal and the bags were going to be removed - not a sign that matters would be resolved soon. I figured that the name JetSMART was a corporate name for a low budget airline, but given the repair issues, the name could also be a play on the name of the 1960’s comedy TV show featuring bungling secret agent Maxwell Smart and his side kick Agent 99 - ‘Get Smart.’

To compensate for the long delay, Hurtigruten Tours had us line up again. They then put us back on the bus and dropped us at a door of the next terminal, 300 meters from the door we left from. The cafeteria had enough seats both inside and out to accommodate 350 people, but there were only three serving staff.

We found a seat at an umbrella table outside. The sun was out, the day was warm and we were chilling. Finally, a server arrived. I asked for a calzone and the server said the lunch menu for us was two mini croissants per person and a coffee or tea. Take it or leave it. I suppose that the tour operators had only budgeted $500 for a contingency meal, and this is the meal that fell within the budget for a group this large. I did manage to order a rum and coke as a separate tab and the server brought two double rums in separate glasses. A mistake, but the better part of me said, “You need to make do”. And, I did.

Six hours later, a new airplane had arrived. When I travelled in Latin America in the past, I concluded that South American staff get 95 percent of their services right and five percent, not so. For example, when staying on the 28th floor of a lovely hotel in San Paulo, I saw a strongly printed sign beside the elevator call button saying, “When door opens make sure elevator has arrived.” Got me thinking that some poor sap met his demise by not being attentive. 95 percent great elevator design, five percent not.

The tour group loaded us back on the bus. I and another man were last on the bus, and we pushed our way on the bus through the rear doors. We stood on the bottom step and held on to a hand rail. Without closing the rear doors, the bus took off. The baggage handlers must have seen the looks of terror on our faces. Fortunately, the journey was 500 meters and we arrived a little wind blown, but unharmed.

Ushuaia is an Argentine naval base, as well as a cruise ship port. I only saw three ‘PT’ size boats at dock. These are small torpedo boats that were used in the second World War. ‘PT’ stands for ‘patrol torpedo.’ Ushuaia is likely also the administrative, school and health facility centre for the Tierra del Fuego region.

The internet states forestry, fishing and sheep raising, as well as hotels and recreational facilities, are part of the economy. After arriving, we were efficiently bussed to our room on the ship. This time, I had a seat right across from the driver.

On the ship, we were shown to our rooms. Both had a Scandinavian design using oak, birch cabinetry, and very comfortable wool linens. I have a balcony. We were invited to and attended the captain’s reception, and attended a mandatory safety briefing. Christy and Blair had a wonderful dinner of halibut and king crab. I had a rack of lamb.

We sailed out of the Beagle Canal on our two-day trip south. The canal is a long estuary that also separates Argentina from Chile. So, during dinner we could watch the Chilean shoreline from the window.

After about four hours, we entered the Southern Ocean.

January 3, 2024 - The Southern Ocean

Today is the first half of our two-day crossing of the Drake Passage. This body of water is south of South America’s Cape Horn, and north of the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It is where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet, and is also known to be a very treacherous body of water.

For the first hours, the waves were calm. Later in the evening, the waves picked up as we were away from land. One good thing about the MS Fridtjof Nansen is that it has an electric hybrid engine, which means that the engines are quiet. When I was young, I travelled with my father from North Sidney, Nova Scotia to Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland. I also travelled on the original ship named Northern Ranger, along the Atlantic south coast of Newfoundland. Both had diesel engines and rattled significantly while under power. And, the ships smelled of diesel exhaust.

About 12:00 midnight, the wind started howling through cracks in the balcony door, and the ship started rolling and pitching as it dealt with the Southern Ocean seas. The Southern Ocean is also known as the Antarctic Ocean. It generally encompasses 60 degrees south latitude and higher. In Europe, cities north of 60 degrees north latitude include: Helsinki, Finland; Bergen, Norway; and Reykjavik, Iceland. In the US, it’s Anchorage, Alaska.

At this latitude, the sun kind of sets at about 11:30 pm and rises again at 2:00 am. If you’ve been north of the Arctic Circle, you know that it never really sets. It’s just a line of brightness on the horizon at this time of year. I woke up at 4:00 am and tried to do some writing. My stomach said, “Not now. This is your time to be sea sick.” I looked out the window and saw that the waves had white caps, and they were very high. I had my first gravol tablet and, along with two patches, my stomach calmed down.

Over the day, there were several mandatory briefing sessions. The first was on the Antarctic ecosystem, and how you should behave while there. Like, don’t bring a plastic bag and throw it on the ground. Don’t throw cigarette butts on the ground. Go to the washroom before getting on the zodiac. We also learned about the great efforts many countries, their scientists and their tour companies make to keep the continent pristine. That’s good to hear.

It seems we will see penguins and seals. Penguins apparently make ‘penguin highways’ in the snow where, after thousands of years, trails are carved that they all walk on. We were told not to walk there. The instructor informed us that crossed red flags meant you don’t go there, due to bird eggs, sensitive flora or crevasses (or other reasons). They told us we need to vacuum parts of us and our equipment that might have spores, seeds or bugs. We had to learn how to wash off our boots before getting back onto the ship. The boots would then be clean for getting back on shore. The ship supplied the boots.

At noon, the captain gave a briefing on the PA system. He said we were at 53 degrees south latitude, and would see the first Antarctica island late in the day tomorrow. He commented on the rough seas and basically said, “Hey folks, this is what you paid for.” He also said there was a mandatory training session for boot washing and how to clean yourself with a vacuum. Given that I went to great lengths to buy new boots, I’m going to give boot cleaning a pass. At least for today. I’ll compromise on the vacuuming yourself part by having a shower.

Getting back to my room, I noticed that the cleaning staff adjusted the handle of my sliding balcony door so as to seal it shut. No more howling.

January 4, 2024 - The Iceberg Display

Looking out the restaurant window during breakfast, we saw our first icebergs. Later, we saw what my Newfoundland cousins call ‘bergy bits.’ These are very small icebergs (but still the size of a house) floating just at sea level. The captain has slowed our speed to 9.5 knots and made small course corrections to miss them. Overall, we are headed due south at 62.25 degrees south latitude, at 65.11 longitude. About the same latitude as the south tip of Greenland, and about the same longitude as Iceland up north.

Our ship, the MS Fridtjof Nansen, was built at the Kleven Yards in Norway in 2019. It is 140 meters long and has a beam of 23.6 meters. The ship is rated as PC-6, meaning Polar Class 6 (out of 7 classes). Apparently, each ship traversing ice has a rating.

PC-1 is rated for year-round operation in all polar waters. PC-4 is rated for year-round operation in second year ice, which may include multi-year ice conditions. PC-6 is summer/autumn operation in medium first year ice, which may include old ice conditions. At this rating, the ice may be 70 to 120 cm thick (or 2.3 to 3.9 feet thick). The hull of the ship is designed with steel that can address this ice load and interacting with the ice in a glancing manner. The propulsion system, propeller design, water intake and whether or not the ballast will freeze are all taken into account.

The MS Fridtjof Nansen has a passenger capacity of 530 people in 264 cabins. Today, there is a crew of 160 persons, including an on-board scientific team. It is powered by four engines with 2 battery units, which allows it to travel with 20% less fuel consumption.

By noon, we travelled to about 175 nautical miles off the Antarctic Peninsula. The temperature dropped to just above zero degrees and I saw the first snow flakes. The captain came on the PA system and informed us we were headed to Hovgaard Island, being part of the Wihelm Archipelago at 65.7 degrees south latitude. Hovgaard was a Danish polar explorer.

I’m a bit embarrassed at what I’m about to say, but from about 3:00 pm on we were surrounded by the most incredible iceberg display. Sitting at the windows watching them go by was an unexpected pleasure. There’s one that looks like a jet plane! There’s one that looks like an angel, and so on. But wait, there’s more.

At 6:00 pm, we reserved a table in the Lindstrom Restaurant, the ship’s best eatery (and 90 steps from my suite). We had a five-star meal of Alberta bison, accompanied by spinach, new potatoes, mushrooms and a juniper sauce - who would have thought? We also had ravioli filled with seaweed pesto, accompanied by flowfood mince and sundried tomato. Our third meal was Argentinean farmed pork tenderloin with fried polenta, pea puree and beer sauce from Mack in Tromso. Our appetiser was smoked shrimp. This is the first time I’ve heard of smoked shrimp, and it was delicious. Along with an excellent Argentinean Malbec wine, and excellent service, it made for a perfect meal.

So, we ended the day with fine food as we watched the icebergs at the port side of the ship. By the way, Mack is a brew pub in Norway with 72 taps. Tromso is said to be the city that has the northernmost brewery in the world.

As I sign off, we are at 64 degrees southern latitude, and on to the orientation about how to get off the ship and onto the soil of Antarctica tomorrow.

January 5, 2024 - Antarctica

The ship arrived over night, and by morning we were moored in a bay comprised of Hogvaard Island to our west, and Pleneau Island to the north. We are at 65.6 degrees south latitude and 64.3 degrees west longitude. Yesterday, staff let us know that we will not be crossing the Antarctic Circle. But that’s ok.

As I look out my balcony window, I see high, steep rock cliffs mostly covered by snow, glaciers and low cloud cover. As they touch the sea, the glaciers are threatening to calve off into the sea as icebergs. The ice on the glacier is significantly cracked, exposing crevasses. There is one iceberg in the harbour near the shore. It could have been part of the glacier in the not too distant past. Looks like it has become grounded.

Onshore activities have started, with the first groups of people wanting to do snow shoeing headed out. Others are boarding the zodiacs and are headed for a water-based tour of the icebergs and bays near the rocky shore. Several people saw a pod of whales in the bay early in the morning. Christy posted on WhatsApp that she had seen her first penguin. I then saw a pod of penguins swimming together. They dive just under the water, swim for about 10 meters or more, and then pop up for air. From my vantage point, I can clearly see them swimming under the water.

We are part of the “Snow Petrels” group, and we don’t get on the zodiac until 11:40 am. The cruise staff formed 12 zodiac groups, and gave them Antarctic wildlife names - e.g. Minke whales, crabeater seals, leopard seals, etc. This evening, we depart once again for a hike on land. As we have 22 hours of daylight, there is no concern about it becoming too dark to see.

Our first cruise on the zodiac was an incredible experience. There were 12 of us plus a captain commanding a 60 horsepower Yamaha outboard engine. She also doubled as a guide. We headed about ½ kilometer across the bay to a colony of several hundred Gentoo penguins. Apparently, Antarctica has four types of penguins: Adelie, Emperor, Chinstrap and Gentoo. While I had four layers of clothing on, I was still cold due to the just above zero temperature, wind and snow hitting my face. Better layers tonight.

You could smell the penguins as we got closer, as their bathroom habits could be described as basic barnyard. Several were situated on a rock just above the ocean, and one by one they dived in. Most of the penguin colony was about 200 meters higher and set back from the shore. They went up and down the snow hill via several penguin highways (trails).

We motored further along the shore and saw three seals - two elephant seals and one Weddell seal. Weddell seals have large bodies and tiny heads; kind of the Beetlejuice’s of the seal world. After checking out several icebergs, we headed back to the boat and had a gourmet lunch. Life is rough.

Just after 6:00 pm, we headed out for our onshore hike at Port Charcot. Charcot was one of the first French Antarctic explorers, and is also famous for having a photo taken of him and another shipmate drinking a bottle of Mumm’s Champagne (label clearly showing) while sitting café style on the ice with the ship in the background. Only the French would make the best of a hostile environment. I wonder if there were royalties involved?

We boarded the zodiacs once again, and headed off to a massive penguin rookery. After climbing a snow stairway made by the crew, we entered a level snow patch with two pathways. The first took us to a cairn of rock and a cross made a hundred years ago by the French. The cliff underneath the cairn is the home of both penguins and kelp gulls. At this time of year, most of the eggs have hatched and parents are protecting the young.

The second path led to a colony of penguins 300-500 strong. We were told: Don’t be surprised if the penguins cross your path, but give them about five meters’ berth. They are fearless, and there were frequent interactions. Several penguin paths led up the snowy side of a mountain. It spoke to how much effort they go to in protecting their hatchlings. Tired of doing the ‘penguin walk,’ many times the penguins resorted to sliding on their bellies. Very amusing to see.

Back on the zodiacs, and on to another gourmet meal. Staff are great, and they’ve made the effort to remember everyone’s names. We had a window seat in the Lindstrom restaurant on deck nine. As we were under sail again, the scenery during our meal was spectacular - including a visit from a whale chasing krill. At three knots, the captain entertained us with the cliffs, glaciers, blue crevasses and rock cuts on Booth Island.

Doesn’t get much better than this.

January 6, 2024 - Port Lockroy

Overnight, the Fridtjof Nansen sailed north to a bay formed by Doumer Island and Wiencki Island at 64.49’ south latitude and 63.31’ west longitude. Barely visible was Mount William at 1,514 meters. After a fine breakfast, we boarded the zodiacs.

The sea was calm, and still and scattered with small bits of ice. Except for several rock islands, the bay was characterized by glacial ice cliffs about to calve and become icebergs. Our skipper was a young Frenchman who was clearly enjoying his job. He asked a young woman to grab some ice and taste it, which she did.

Got me thinking that I could grab some too, and bring it home in a baggie to give to friends as ice for drinks. On the other hand, it might be easier to hand out Toronto tap water in baggies as a symbol of what glacial ice might look like. However, I think they’d know I was pulling their legs.

From the sea, we saw many more penguins and a colony of over 100 Antarctic shags. The chicks were quite hungry, and the parents were feeding them through regurgitated food placed down their throats. Among other seals, we saw our first leopard seal. It was grey with dark spots.

I learned that Port Lockroy is part of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust - a charity whose mission it is to preserve the six British heritage sites in Antarctica. It has a seasonal staff of five, with occasional visits from carpenters and curators. From 1911 to the 1970’s, it was used for a Norwegian industrial whaling operation.

British scientists also occupied the site in the 1950’s. After the Antarctic Treaty in the 1990’s, the site was restored as a residence, museum and shop. It is solar powered with gas for cooking and heating. The cruise ships bring in water and food, and allow the staff to go onboard to shower and have a good meal. It also has a post office and small gift shop. Today, they do atmospheric tests, like measuring the ionosphere, and once a month they do a shoreline count and pick-up of plastic. I was pleased to hear they find very little.

In the afternoon, we got on the zodiacs again for a trip to the Danroy Hut on Dorion Bay. This is an exploration and safety hut for English scientists and heritage specialists. It is painted bright orange, making it easier to see across the vast wilderness. I had a chance to look inside, and it featured several small rooms - a kitchen area, tool room, supply room, and a room with about ten bunk beds. Using all the space, it can sleep 15.

I was informed that Twin Otter airplanes have landed on the glacier nearby. Ironically, the Argentine emergency hut is beside it and it is painted powder blue and white - the colours of the Argentine flag.

The bay was spectacular, hosting many alpine glaciers. We hiked a while along a slushy snow trail that passed several penguin rookeries. I needed two walking sticks. The penguins were lying on top of their eggs, and the eggs were visible when they got up to stretch - or whatever it is that they do when they stand up.

Getting us off the island was a challenge, as the water was shallow and rocky. When full of returning passengers, the zodiacs bottomed out. Staff suggested that the passengers bounce up and down on the rubber sides of the zodiac to give it a lift when it rebounded from sea floor. They all did. Some bounced quite high. But since no one was bouncing in unison, the zodiac had effectively become a bouncy castle.

Seeing that this solution wasn’t going to work, the rest of the staff came and gave it a great push. That worked. I expect the passengers had not had this much fun since they were children.

January 7, 2024 - Meeting the Passengers

Well, it’s Sunday morning. The ship hasn’t moved over night, and the only activity so far is the kayakers heading off to explore the ice flows. My daughter informed me that this was my day to be alone. I said I hadn’t seen the ‘alone’ program in the notes, and she said it must have been erased from the Hurtigruten app.

I’m slowly meeting the other passengers. I went to the 11th floor deck to check out the hot tub. The hot tub seating area also doubles as the smoker’s corner. It’s an odd mashup of old men, below deck ship staff and women in bikinis.

As one stout smoker was lighting up a cigarette, I asked him how he was enjoying Antarctica. He said it was great because this was finally his seventh continent. Then he introduced himself by saying, “I’m in concrete.” I looked at his shoes, saw nothing and jumped to the conclusion that he meant he was in the concrete business. He said, “During the coldest three months in the Kansas City area, you can’t pour concrete. So, I travel.” He said his wife had died quickly of kidney cancer seven years earlier. She was the company bookkeeper and made sure that, financially, he was set for life. So as to impress me, he mentioned that he had a toy hauler for his Harley Davidson trike. And, he said he sometimes travels across the US to stay with Americans he has met around the world.

At about 10:30 am, two humpback whales appeared about 500 meters off the bow of the ship. They swam straight toward the kayakers, who stayed back about 50 meters. Rhythmically diving, rising, slowly arching their backs on the surface exposing their tail fin, blowing out a strong mist from their blowholes and diving again with tail in the air.

Over the noon hour, the MS Fridtjof Nansen sailed north, taking extra time to get to Danco Island due to thick impassible ice conditions. It is a one-mile-long island in the Errera Channel. It offers a great opportunity for hikes and penguin spotting. As we approached, we saw a very large colony featuring many penguin trails on the snow and down the side of the hill.

On our way, we passed the Gonzalez Videla Base, an inactive Chilean research station named after a former president. In the 1940’s, he was the first chief of state from any nation to visit Antarctica. The Chileans occupied the station in the early to mid 1950’s. There is a Chilean flag flying and Chilean symbols on the buildings. Apparently, in 1921-22, two Brits overwintered there in an abandoned whaling boat while doing work for the British Imperial Expedition. They were exploring which aircraft could make it to the South Pole, and also did the first research on Gentoo penguins.

We also passed a 45-foot sailing schooner that had made the Drake Passage. The three sailors gave us a wave. We saw other schooners over the next few days. What guts.

The afternoon activity was a hike up the Danco Island mountain to see the spectacular peaks and glaciers from a height. The hike was about two kilometers, involving a rise of about ½ of a kilometer. I took one look at the trail and the hikers already headed out and said, nope, not for me.

After about an hour, I noticed about 50 hikers stopped at the halfway mark. Staff had put red flags on both sides of the penguin trail so as to force the hikers to stop if a penguin was on its way up or down. And one penguin was taking his time.

Five minutes, ten and then twenty minutes. Staff disobeyed the cardinal rule and swished the penguin out of the way. The thought came to mind of what the result would be if there were penguins on Mount Everest, and if they would have had the way over climbers.

January 8, 2024 - Deck Ten

We are under sail again, headed further north through the Antarctic Peninsula archipelago. We are in open water in Fornier Bay at 7.8 knots, and the MS Fridtjof Nansen has a slight roll. Emma and Nansen Islands are to the east. Brabant Island is to the north. Apparently, Fridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat and winner of the Nobel Prize in 1922. He led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior and explored the furthest north at the time. Ship staff will host a lecture on his life this afternoon.

At one point, I was the only passenger at breakfast. I expect most of the passengers were still in bed after the strenuous climb yesterday - and karaoke singing last night. The Filipino staff spotted a colony of penguins on an iceberg, and then several whales. Cameras came out, they all gathered at the windows and showed they were just as excited as the passengers.

I spent the rest of my morning on deck ten. It’s the highest enclosed deck and has wrap-around windows seating about 300 people on chaise lounges, bar chairs and sofas. The décor is Nordic with false fireplaces, and table lamps having chrome shades and stands. Quiet buddha-bar music plays in the background with occasional coffee house music interspersed, occasionally interrupted by the noise of the espresso machine.

People chose to sit with people from their home countries: Brits with Brits, Germans with Germans, etc. They scanned the seas, knitted, read or checked internet messages. I enjoyed listening to two American senior couples from the Bradenton Beach area of Florida. Sitting with their iPads and binoculars at window seats, as did most of the other passengers, they commented on what the icebergs looked like. They also they commented on cruises they had been on or wanted to go on. They discussed a cruise out of Tampa going to Spain, a cruise out of Miami going to Iceland, and cruises into the Arctic.

As the seas rose, they speculated as to whether they’d let the kayakers off the boat. A Canadian couple interrupted and said they’d been on a kayak trip yesterday, and the ship would be headed to calmer water for this activity. The Florida lady said she had seen the kayaks tied together yesterday (note: with passengers safely in the zodiac, this is how the kayaks are pulled to the kayak area and back), and she wanted to know whether the kayaks are tied together when the kayakers are kayaking. The couple said no - they are untied.

At an earlier lecture, I noticed that one of the passengers had a professional recording microphone and recorder. I’ve been interviewed by Toronto media on many occasions, and that’s what they use. She was also typing actively on a laptop. She was quite attractive, although her features were somewhat hidden by large, library bookworm type glasses.

I leaned over and asked if she was a writer, and being somewhat annoyed at my interruption she responded, “Yes. I’m on a media pass. I hope someone will publish this.” I responded that I was doing a blog. Later that evening, back on deck ten, she came over and introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Ellie and I’m a comedian.”

That’s the first time I’ve heard someone introduce themselves that way. I’ve heard a lot of people introduce themselves as someone who they are clearly not, and my thinking is always: They must be a comedian. So, I went online and discovered I was in the presence of a real comedian. Ellie Taylor is an English comedian, television personality, actress and writer. According to Wikipedia, she has performed many stand-up comedy shows, including one featured on Netflix. She’s also a best-selling author - “My Child and Other Mistakes.”

She asked me about my blog and I gave her my business card that included the web address through which she could follow the link. She asked me what the blog was called. I responded, “Dave’s Antarctic Trip.” Being embarrassed by the lack of creativity in the title, and while in the presence of greatness, I lied and said that it was ‘focus grouped’ and that’s the best they could come up with. I got a friendly nod and we parted. Afterthought: I need to come up with a better title.

Eventually, the clouds broke and the midnight sun showed the beauty of the mountains.

January 9, 2024 - South Shetland Islands

Last night, we loaded onto the zodiacs and went deep into Wilhelmina Bay. It’s hard to get across in words the great beauty we experienced. The bay is completely surrounded by high snow capped mountains, rock cliffs, glaciers and snow cliffs crowding the shore. Icebergs and small icy bits littered the sea. All of the great masters combined couldn’t duplicate the artistry.

The Antarctic is a very quiet place, and our skipper took us within 2 to 300 meters of a pod of about 12 humpback whales and turned off the outboard motor. We all hushed. It was a sound I’ve never heard before. I became emotional. Whales surfacing. Hearing and seeing a second or two of rushing air and 20-foot-high mist sprays as the bad air was blown out. Then a guttural, almost happy sound as new air was sucked in.

The sound echoed off the ice cliffs. Whales dived again with tail fins waving in the air. Repeated by the next whale and the next, sometimes in unison. Long pectoral fins protruding on the surface, whales flipping their mandible fins with wart-like growths visible, heads surfacing with one whale breaching. All within the still sea and dead silence of Antarctica.

This morning, we are headed northwest across the Brandsfield Straight, technically leaving the Antarctic Peninsula. We are headed to Deception Island, and will moor at Whalers Bay at 62.56’ S and 60.40’ W. This will be the last land excursion on our trip.

Deception Island is actually shaped like a croissant (I had one for breakfast and that’s what comes to mind), and is a volcanic caldera that formed 3,600 years ago. Over time, it sank 90 meters, creating Port Foster Bay and allowing ship anchorage.

Whalers Bay is a second crater on the island. The island last erupted in 1970, destroying the British and Chilean bases. It’s the only place on earth where you can sail a ship into an active volcano. Staff assured us that the Spanish government monitors tremors, and this will not be the day that the eruption will happen again. I have my fingers crossed.

I’m not sure I completely understand it, but it seems that passengers who have not yet paid their bills are required to do something called the polar plunge. And when we arrived at Whalers Bay, it was the place to do it. The excursion director promised to keep them alive by having towels nearby. I expect management staff also had a credit card machine on the beach. But I couldn’t see it.

Blair actually took the plunge voluntarily. He stayed in the water for a full four minutes, up to his armpits. A male staff member looked at me angrily, stating, “What is he doing!” perhaps thinking he might have to go into Whalers Bay to save him. My daughter explained that he and friends regularly do cold plunges in the Bow River in Calgary, so he is used to it.

I turned to a staff person with a clip board. She records who does the plunges for possible future medical purposes. When Blair came ashore, he gave her his name and room number. She said he actually broke the Hurtigruten cruise line record by a substantial amount of time.

Not to be outdone, I took off my boots and socks and waded in. When I came out of the water, I looked at the clipboard lady, and she said I had also broken a record. At just under three seconds, I won the record of being the most cowardly passenger. I offered, but she said she wouldn’t take my name and room number.

We spent about an hour walking on the black lava sand beach. At one end is a naturally made cut in the rock called Neptune’s window. At the other is a tidal pond. In between are several chinstrap penguins (showing a chin strap-like line of black feathers around their necks), a cemetery with two graves and an empty but open wooden coffin. We saw a dilapidated airplane hangar, houses for whalers and scientists, and equipment for boiling whale blubber and storage tanks for whale oil.

Back on ship, we started the Drake Crossing.

January 10, 2024 - Return to Drake Passage

We ended with a sunny day. As we cruised, the illumination of the icebergs and silhouette of the mountainous islands, such as Snow Island, was breathtaking. We passed a solitary pinnacle of rock in the waters of the Southern Shetland Islands standing 30 meters high. As evening comes on, the seas are calm.

As morning breaks, I concluded that, as almost no one was at breakfast, many of the passengers are again sea sick.

Today is the day that we return our shore expedition gear. We do this in an orderly fashion with our group, the ‘Snow Petrels,’ returning our rubber boots and orange jacket identification patches at 1:00 pm. We have to clean our boots.

Staff gave me an eyebrow clipper do it with. I must confess that it’s not a tool I’ve used before. Once I pick all the sand grains out of the crevices, I’m told to use a scrub brush to clean the rest. I learned that my scrub brush skills are not optimal, as I managed to splash a woman sitting across from me with soapy water. She was graceful and didn’t make an issue out of it.

As the morning wore on, we saw fewer icebergs and bergy bits. And the sea picked up with strong wind, whitecaps and waves. We are still seeing whales, with my daughter spotting a breaching humpback.

Around 4:00, the ship hosted a ‘tea’ - a British custom, I believe, that gives hardworking limeys a break in the afternoon. The captain, chief engineer and other executive staff spoke as a panel.

I asked the captain why we travelled at 15 knots on the way to Antarctica, and 12 knots on the way back. He explained that the ship can go even faster, but disembarkation is scheduled on the morning of the 12th and that’s the speed that would meet this objective.

He said ships have a 10 knot or lower speed limit in Antarctic waters. He was asked about traversing ice and talked about the hull structure, adding that when we’ve heard the ship tremble, it meant we’ve hit a growler (larger ice just slightly above the surface with most of the mass below the surface). Yikes! I’ve felt the tremor quite a few times.

Late in the evening on deck ten, the Filipino staff introduced a music group called ‘The Rolling Waves,’ complete with drums, a bass and electric six-string guitar, organ and several microphones. All of the Filipino staff were on deck singing and dancing, and the dance floor was packed. Music included: La Bamba, Twist and Shout, Sweet Carolyne, Proud Mary, Dancing Queen, and John Denver’s Country Roads.

It was great to see the staff brush off the rough seas and party.

January 11, 2024 - Second Day at Sea

I was hoping that when I woke up, we would be closer to land. But we are still very much in the Southern Ocean. With any luck, we will be on land tomorrow morning, January 12th. The good thing is that I can see the tip of Terra del Fuego on the real time map on the TV screen. I’m looking forward to seeing the actual mountains of southern Chile this evening.

Over night, the wind and waves rose considerably, with a wind speed of 42 knots and wave height of five to six meters. I thought I had tightened down any items that could rock and cause noise, but the higher wave conditions and more pronounced pitch and roll of the ship said otherwise.  So I conducted my own scavenger hunt while trying to stay on two feet.

I found a can of coke in the fridge that would have normally been secure on the ribbed shelves, rolling freely because of the strong movement of the ship. Wooden hangers in my closet were rubbing against each other, making a drum stick type of sound.

At about 10:00 am, the Fridtjof Nansen was making progress at 13 knots in a north-northeast direction. The air has warmed to five degrees Celsius. The sun is occasionally breaking through the clouds. Seeing the sun makes the ocean part of the trip a bit more enjoyable. Staff have started the second safety drill and over the loud speaker, we were told we could participate. If I could be assured that it was not a randomly picked ‘passenger overboard’ drill, I might be tempted to join. On second thought, I think the best way to help is by staying out of the way.

After lunch, we were invited to the bridge. For a ship this new, the bridge is comprised of a computer console with six screens and three chairs for the captain and staff. A person is assigned as lookout and checks for growlers, small craft and other objects. The ship has a dynamic positioning system that helps them navigate, and minimize fuel consumption and wear and tear on the propulsion system. Apparently, it helps the ship stop fast if required - faster than dropping an anchor. There is another control room in the engine room.

On-ship communications are excellent. Bridge staff can track the routes of all other ships in the area. For shore excursions, they are in contact with staff driving the zodiacs. The ship has 800 cameras. If anyone falls, they are able to see the passenger and ask staff to assist. Apparently, outside of geographic sea boundaries claimed by various countries, the captain has legal authority to enforce the laws, in this case, based on the law of Norway. The ship has a brig that has rarely been used.

The captain also has powers to marry someone, if the country the bride and groom are from allows this type of marriage. Otherwise, the couple would only be legally married while on the ship.

At 55.5 degrees north latitude, the days are now getting shorter. Sunset occurs at 10:00 pm, and sunrise at 5:00 pm - losing four hours from the length of day in Antarctica. This afternoon, the sea was calmer. The ship has slowed to 8 knots, and now has less roll.

We will continue sailing into the evening and all night, with docking in Ushuaia, Argentina at about 6:30 am. We will pack tonight, and leave the ship for a local hotel at 8:00 am. At this point, we will part ways with Hurtigruten Expeditions and continue our own touring.

January 12, 2024 - Tierra del Fuego Park

Since we missed the visit to the Tierra del Fuego Park on the way to Antarctica, we decided to take an extra day and book a separate flight north to Buenos Aires tomorrow. We also booked into the Albatross Hotel, which is a modern hotel walking distance from the docks. The docks were very busy with Nansen passengers waiting for busses, several other cruise ships loading provisions, a military ship flying a Spanish flag and two commercial ships.

Once we dropped off our bags, we walked to a private bus operation taking tourists to Tierra del Fuego National Park. More 95% excellence and 5% chaos. After waiting for about ½ hour, we were finally directed to a bus. After five minutes, we were asked to get off the bus. We were then directed to a second bus and got on, only to be asked to get off again and onto a third bus. The third bus left and was in a great hurry.  Ten minutes later, we caught up to the first bus, which was parked on the side of the road waiting for us.

We were getting to know more about Ushuaia on the way. Although it was the peak of the summer, it was still cold - single digit Celsius. Forsythia is out, along with sap dragons. Like a Canadian northern town, the streetscape is geared to snow piles rather that decorative landscaping. Somewhat like Banff, it is a tourist town, for South Americans further north wanting escape from the summer heat. We saw licence plates from Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil. Many tour busses and a BMW riders’ motorcycle club from Brazil. Once we were in the park, we saw young, global backpacking European couples.

From Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego park is about a 40-minute drive. Less if a local Mario Andretti is at the wheel. But it is well worth the trip. Sharp-peaked, snow-capped mountains on either side of the road. The sunny sky, forests and mountains reflected by the many lakes. This is the furthest south national park in the world.

I became curious about why the park is such a big deal. First, it is large at about 62,000 sq. kilometers. The western side forms the border of Argentina and Chile. It was glaciated, but the glaciers retreated about 4,000 years after the northern glacier retreat 10,000 years ago. That somewhat explains why there are fewer species of trees - only four or five broad-leafed deciduous varieties, and only a handful of different types of small animals. Foxes and otters are at the top of the food chain.

The park is about 40 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean on the east and 100 kilometers from the Pacific on the west. And, south of the Beagle Canal, both oceans merge as the Southern Ocean - the Antarctic Ocean at Cape Horn. In terms of ecosystem diversity, Patagonia is a landscape characteristic of northern Yukon Territory and Alaska. My daughter and I experienced these vegetation varieties on our trip up Canada’s Dempster Highway in 2018.

I found interesting the characteristics of the early indigenous residents as reported through interpretative signage on trails, and at the visitor’s centre. Apparently, the Yaghan people were here about 6,500 years ago, based on the date of artifacts. So it took these folks about 4,000 years to get this far south after their ancestors crossed the shallow Bering Sea. They had lots to eat, including seals, shell fish and other mammals. It wasn’t hard to see where they lived, as the centuries of eating mussels and then throwing the shells out the door created huge mounds. The same mounds can also be seen in south Florida protected areas.

Christy and Blair decided to go on an afternoon hike. They made it to the Chile-Argentina border and back. I was exhausted after walking from the parking lot, along a wooden trail and then to the visitor centre cafeteria.

After lunch, I found a comfortable chair and fell asleep in spite of the loud hubbub of about 200 visitors talking, kids running around and the noise of dishware being cleaned from tables and stacked. Signs outside said that Alaska was 17,848 and Buenos Aires was 3,079 kilometers distant.

About 3:30, most of the visitors had left and the music that was playing all the time in the background was easier to hear. I had time to reflect and absorb as the clouds started to roll in. Friday afternoon, at the bottom of the world, a lovely melody of Spanish coffee house, bluegrass music blend.

Another great chance to chill out.

January 13, 2024 - Road Train Trip

As this was a travel day, we had to make the best of our time before making our way north to Buenos Aires. Our checkout was early and non-negotiable, so we stored our luggage behind the front desk, including the bag holding my new tango suit. Christy and Blair headed out shopping, and I grabbed an office desk in a lounge off the lobby to continue writing.

At 11:30 am, they came back and told me they had bought three tickets on a tourist road train. It was actually an old Bedford bus, designed to have the driver and motor up front over the axle. The bus section had about 40 wooden seats, and was customized to look like a train car. The front section was customized to look like a steam locomotive engine. All kind of lame, except all the seats were filled and we and our fellow tourists loved it.

As we started the trip, a recording of Ushuaia’s history and sites was broadcast in Spanish, and then English. The recording had a strong emphasis on its early history as an Anglican missionary outpost, national jail and military base.

The tourists in front of us were speaking English, and several times I heard the words football and snow. I put my brain in motion and deduced that this could only mean one thing - Buffalo. I bleated out, “Are you Buffalo Bills fans?” “Yes,” they replied. “We’re from the Rochester, New York area.”

“Me too. Do you mean the Bills are in the playoffs?”

Well, they gave me a rundown of how the Bills had been doing while we were away. I was very happy, but surprised they made it this far. My New York State neighbours were complaining that, if this Sunday’s game was to be played, they were going to replace the cleats with snow shoes. Not sure if I understood the footwear reference correctly, given their western New York accents, but that’s how it sounded.

The tour was good. They took us to several lookouts where we could see the harbour. The second stop was an environmental conservation pond, which in the Toronto area would be the size of a storm water detention pond. What I liked best is that much of the tour went through residential neighbourhoods. We got to see how people lived. Public schools, playgrounds, single family houses, dogs in the front yards, occasional variety stores and car repair shops passing by.

Back at the hotel, we were getting hungry and found a pizza restaurant not far away. I ordered a seafood pizza that had mussels, scallops, shrimp, olives and cheese, which was excellent.

As we were eating, all four of the TV screens were playing Knight Rider. This was a 1970’s law enforcement hero show featuring a car that had an - air quotes - onboard computer with artificial intelligence. The driver, named Michael Knight on the show, was one of the world’s greatest actors - David Hasselhoff. He was also a star of Baywatch and The Young and the Restless. I was so pleased that the depth and breadth of Hasselhoff’s acting had finally reached people of the world’s most southern city.

We caught a hotel-recommended taxi to get us to the airport. When we arrived, Blair noted that the charge was considerably more than indicated on the meter. He pointed this out to the driver, reached for his phone calculator and, as we were paying in American dollars, showed the driver what the actual rate should be. Acting surprised, the driver grabbed his phone calculator and did the same calculations that yielded the same result. The driver said he must have miscalculated. Blair said no, and the driver pretended he was embarrassed by saying that math was not one of his strong subjects. We gave him a tip anyway.

We had an uneventful flight via Aerolineas Argentinas. We flew along the Atlantic coastline and landed at the City Centre airport. We had ordered a taxi in advance and arrived at the Huinid Hotel safely - and without my tango suit.

January 14 & 15, 2024 - Final Thoughts

I arrived safely back in Toronto after an overnight flight from San Paulo, Brazil, so this will be my last post. Christy and Blair chose a Buenos Aires, Lima, Los Angeles and Calgary route to get home. So even though we left at relatively the same time, they are still in transit.

It was very reassuring to be able to travel far away with two seasoned world travellers. In addition to being an unexpected bucket list trip, our Antarctic trip provided the longest opportunity I’ve had to spend time with Christy since she was in university. And, it provided a great opportunity to get to know Blair better. I’m thankful for that.

I’d also like to thank Tristan Cuschieri for all the help with formatting and posting the blog posts. He turned my hen scratchings into something special. As blog readers, I’d also like to thank you for your comments and encouragement. We are fellow travellers in this life, and it’s good to have camaraderie along the way.

The Hurtigruten Explorer Group and staff of the MS Fridtjof Nansen were excellent. Compared to other cruise ships, and because of their commitment to sustainability, passengers are allowed to get off the ship and explore. All their programs and rules were strategically focused on making sure that we didn’t leave an Antarctic footprint. From the food, accommodations, commitment to safety, staff professionalism and programs, I only have positive things to say.

Antarctica. A huge continent. We only touched the surface, but what an incredible surface it was. Given the beauty, silence, mountains and glaciers, penguins, humpback whales and other species, it gives you a taste for more.

Regrets?

I kind of regret losing the tango suit. However, when I arrived home, my wife said that my granddaughter saw the photo and said it made me look like Elton John. She laughed until her sides hurt. So I guess it’s not the look I was going for after all. Maybe someone in Ushuaia will find it in a used clothing bin and decide that this just might be the outfit that will allow him to take the next step in life.

Final thoughts.

I chatted with my daughter about maybe changing the name of the blog. When I ask for advice, both my daughters have no difficulty ‘giving it to me straight.’ I suggested that “Profiles in Courage: The Hardy Antarctic Expedition” might give the blog more zing. She said that, first, calling our trip an ‘expedition’ would be disrespectful to Roald Amundsen, Ernest Shackleton, Robert Scott and James Ross – who, over 100 years ago, found the South Pole and magnetic south pole, and did serious exploring.

Since there were two last names involved, just calling it ‘Hardy’ would leave out Blair, although he wouldn’t want to be associated with a trip so named anyway. And finally, given my polar plunge cowardice, I had very little courage, if any.

So, the blog will keep the name, “Dave’s Antarctic Trip.” I hope you enjoyed it.