February 22nd, 23rd and 24th, 2020
Our adventrue begins ... we departed Toronto on February 20th, our flight departed at 10:30 p.m. flying through the night arriving in Chile at 8:00 a.m. the followng morning. We then flew from Chile to Buenois Aires arrivig at 3:30 p.m. to a beaufitul 25C day. All was going great, we cleared customs and headed to get our baggage. It all stopped ... we were informed that 10 minutes after landing the baggage handlers went on strike. This happens from time to time in Argentina and it happened to us today. We were told to be patient that they usually last 2 to 3 hours. At the 3 and 1/2 hour point the baggage belt started moving. Off to our hotel and check-in for some rest before our morning flight to Ushusia where we board our ship.
If you are wondering it is now Feb 22nd and we are on our morning flight to Ushusia, also known as the end of the world as the next stop Antarctica. After our 4 hour flight we had some time to explore Ushuaia before boardig our ship the S Midnatsol. We set sail at 6:00 p.m. it was a beautiul sail out amazing sceenery as pasted though the Beagle Straight.
Feb 23rd, at day at sea as we sailed the Drake Passage passage to Antarctica. It was a moderate crossing with some wave action. The day was spent getting our gear needed for Antarctica landings.
Feb 24th mid afternoon we started to see lands and the first islands oif Antarctica. It was a specactular welcome and many things to see and photograph as we cruised towards our first landing location Decetption Island. We arrived late afternoon and traveled by zodiac onto the shore. The interestig thing abou the this island is that as late as the 1960's is was an active volanco. The group temperature is still warm and you can see steam rising from the shoreline. Day one check and off to a great adventrue. Tomorrow we continue to sail along the pensinula looking for wildlife, ice bergs and another landing.
Enjoy our frist gallery and images for our trek so far. The link to the gallery is below. More updates tomorrow.
Link to our First Antarctica Blog Gallery