Antarctica & Easter Island

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14. januar 2025
Antarctica & Easter Island Olddustyboots.com
Buenos Aires welcome dinner
15. januar 2025, Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
It was such a long day to travel from Canada, through the US, and flying overnight to reach Buenos Aires 26 hours after leaving our house in Morinville, AB. But we arrived without incident, collected our bags and located our Gate 1 representative.
The Recoleta Grand Hotel was lovely and it felt like an "old home week" when we found out that our tour manager was Andrea Fernandez. She had been our tour manager in 2017 when we visited Buenos Aires and it had been fun then, so we expect fun this time too.
After meeting the 36 other tour companions in this very big group, we headed to San Telmo for supper near the canal. This restored warehouse area boasts some of the best restaurants in the city, and we quite enjoyed our first supper in Argentina.Læs mere
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Plaza de Mayo
16. januar 2025, Argentina ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
The main square and oldest square in Buenos Aires is called Plaza de Mayo and it was named after the Argentine revolution which started in May 1810. The square houses the Casa Rosada which is the government palace, the Cathedral and other important buildings.
This area also hosts protests and is the site where the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo still meet every Thursday. Since 1977, these women meet to demand information about the hundreds of children who disappeared during the last military dictatorship in the country.
We also visited the Cathedral where the Pope used to speak, and where St. Martin's tomb rests. It's a beautiful church and it's mosaic floors represent Argentina with its passion flowers surrounding the Crown of Thorns are also amazing.Læs mere
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La Boca
16. januar 2025, Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
La Boca is located in the poor South part of Buenos Aires and is recognized by it's narrow streets, crowded tenement houses and colourful buildings. During a bout of yellow fever long in the past, the rich people moved north out of La Boca and this area became the home of all the poor immigrants.
La Boca is the origin of the Tango, and is full of music, ethnic food and traditions. We visited an area that boasted blue and yellow everywhere because their football team boasted those colours on their jerseys. Andrea cheers for Riverdale and her colours are red and white so she pretended to be offended by this part of town.
We didn't have long here, but calls to come try roasting meats, look at the art displayed in the street and to buy pastries carried in a basket on the man's head surrounded us and built on our experience. Tango dancers were getting ready to earn their living by entertaining us on the streets of La Boca. Everywhere is colour, aromas, music and art!Læs mere
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The Tango
16. januar 2025, Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Tonight we had a tango dance class where Doug and I were the star pupils. That reflects more on our tour mates lack of talent than our skill, but at least we could move in unison and have some rhythm.
Dinner was at a hotel with a caped and top hatred concierge. The Tango theatre was fashioned as a 1920's speakeasy where the musicians were very talented, and the singers evoked emotion with every wonderful note. The Tango dancers had amazing costumes and created love songs through motion as they danced traditional tangos right through to modern, steamy numbers.
We've seen tango shows before on different tours and cruises, but this was the best we've seen by far.Læs mere
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Ushuaia, Argentina
17. januar 2025, Argentina ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
We were up by 4 am to take our domestic flight to Ushuaia. Our checked bag limit was only 33 pounds, so we each left a carry-on bag at our hotel holding items for our hot weather tours so we could have lighter bags
Our 3 1/2 hour flight delivered us to Ushuaia just before lunch and we immediately boarded a bus to tour around this 80,000 person town at the bottom of the world. The wind was howling around us so hard that it was hard to stand up straight and I wondered how that would affect us in the Drake Passage.
Ushuaia used to be a naval base and Andrea, whose Dad was an admiral in the Navy, spent some of her childhood here.
After touring through this picturesque town, we drove onto the pier and boarded our expedition ship, the MS Fridtjof Nansen. Upon entering our suite 848, we found a bottle of champagne chilling on ice and a gift of two watches waiting for us. What a surprise!Læs mere
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Drake Passage
18. januar 2025, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 4 °C
Today is day one of crossing the infamous Drake Passage where the Pacific ocean and the Atlantic ocean come crashing together. This area has two personalities. The first is peaceful and quiet, which is called Drake Lake. The second is an angry, blustery wild character called Drake Shakes. When we arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina to board the Fridtjof Nansen expedition cruise ship, the wind was blowing so hard that it almost blew me over. By the time we left the Beagle Channel, the wind had whipped the Drake Passage into a frenzy and we've been experiencing the Drake Shake with 6 metre or higher waves all night and day. Despite the delicious meals offered, our appetites are quite subdued.Læs mere
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Drake Passage Day 2
19. januar 2025, Argentina ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C
So the Drake Passage has not calmed down. Overnight, we could hear items crashing to the floor in other cabins. I got up in the middle of the night to put all our items on the floor because the ship was bucking so violently that it felt like we might get thrown out of bed. I had to cling to the bed or walls just to get to the bathroom and back.
Despite the nauseous feeling that the waves were creating, we had some chores to complete today. First, we had to vacuum our outer clothing that we will wear during Antarctica landings. This prevents any introduction of seeds, pathogens or animal hairs that could expose the local animals and birds to disease.
Next we had to get fitted for expedition rubber boots that have been cleaned and decontaminated. These are the only boots allowed to touch the ground here. We got our "animal" patch that velcros to our jacket sleeve. We're Humpback whales, and that grouping is used to let us know when to line up to board our zodiac boats when we get to leave the ship.
We also attended a lecture today. The ship presents many lectures throughout the days and on a wide variety of topics from the geology of this continent to how to identify the different types of penguins.Læs mere
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South Shetland Islands
20. januar 2025, Syd Georgia og Sydsandwichøerne ⋅ 🌬 1 °C
After two very rough days and nights crossing the Drake Passage, the Captain announced that it was the worst crossing he's ever experienced! But this morning Doug threw open the balcony curtains and said, "Oh, Wow!" Brilliant blue skies set off the icebergs and ice chunks in the calm water surrounding us. Whales spouts could be heard because there were no competing noises here. Even our hybrid ship was in stealth mode.
Two humpback whales were feeding just off the stern of the ship and they lazily dipped in and out of the waters until they waved goodbye with their flukes
We got our first experience of zodiac cruising, dressed in layers under our waterproof coat, pants and boots and we visited a colony of Adelie penguins with their fuzzy brown chicks that looked like old men in huge buffalo coats. We also got to see a crabeater seal basking in the sun on top of a rocky outcropping.
Icebergs with vivid blue cracks and glowing blue arches decorated this foreign landscape.
Later in the day, we donned our gear again and landed on a rocky shore to walk in Antarctica. We visited Gentoo penguin colonies with their grey fuzzy chicks and took photo after photo of these amazing birds!Læs mere
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Snowshoeing at Damoy Point
21. januar 2025, Antarktis ⋅ ⛅ -1 °C
Snowshoeing was an optional activity that cost extra, but it was so fun! We crossed the land by zodiac, carrying our snowshoes by hand. After wading to shore, we climbed up to the top of the snowpack using ice stairs cut out by the crew.
We put on our snowshoes with help, and headed off across the hills in a single file, following our guide.
We saw a mountain range called Seven Sisters, visited a Gentoo penguin colony and completed our circuit by returning down the hill to the UK research hut at Family Point. We had a quick peak into the hut and then headed back to our zodiac boat.Læs mere
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Sunset at the Neumayer Channel
21. januar 2025, Antarktis ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we passed through the Neumayer Channel tonight. We were surrounded by mountains and glaciers, while the water was full of ice chunks and ice bergs. It was eerily quiet in this passage and it was a perfect way to close off our dayLæs mere
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Feet on the Continent
22. januar 2025, Antarktis ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C
This is the first and only time we will walk on the actual mainland of Antarctica. Until now, we've been walking on islands in the Antarctic Peninsula, which has been great, but knowing we're actually standing on the continent made us feel like we accomplished our goal.
We had quite an uphill climb to get to the viewpoint and Doug didn't think he would try that climb. But he started step by step with rest, and lo and behold, he made it!
This is Continent number 6 for us.
We did have to yield to several penguin highways on this trek, but that just added to our experience.Læs mere
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Half Moon island Polar Plunge
24. januar 2025, Bransfield Strait ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C
The Half Moon island landing was chilly and we were glad for our layers. Here we saw a large colony of chinstrap penguins with their iconic black stripe similar to the Buckingham palace guards. These penguins were very noisy, all chattering at once, and they sound quite different than Gentoo penguins.
This island has some rock columns on the crest of the hill reminiscent of Stonehenge. Just past those stones, a large seal lumbered up onto shore where he took an inordinate amount of time scratching all over with his rear fins.
We could see a research station on a nearby strip of land. These isolated huts must be quite lonely in the winter, but there's an attractiveness to the solitude.
Some people were stripping down to their bathing suits on this shore and were plunging into these frigid polar waters. We were definitely not doing that! And then suddenly Doug decided he was going to take a polar plunge!Læs mere
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Boot cleaning & Knots
25. januar 2025, Antarktis ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C
We started off with fresh churros drizzled with chocolate this morning, which was a delicious treat. But then we had to get down to work. It was time to hand in our Humpback whale coat patch and our expedition rubber boots. Although it wasn't mandatory, Doug and I pushed up our sleeves and scrubbed our boots so no soil or diseases are spread into Antarctica. We used wire and metal tools to clean out all tread cracks and crevices. Then we scrubbed the boots with a stiff scrub brush in a plastic sled turned wash tub of soapy water. After enjoying all the wildlife we saw, we wanted to be part of protecting them.
After a bowl of hot soup, we headed to a knot tying lesson taught by Martin, a Norwegian crew member with a great sense of humor.Læs mere
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Spert Island
26. januar 2025, Antarktis ⋅ 🌫 -1 °C
Spert Island greeted us with higher waves and cooler temperatures. The steel grey sky ¢ to threaten a stormy day for us, but we still headed out on our zodiac cruising adventure. As our zodiac pushed through the ice, we were serenaded with an abstract music of scraping, bumping, clunking and the odd sudden crack from the glaciers.
It's hard to describe the blue colour that shines through the frozen ice and simply glows when the light hits it. It's bright, crystal clear and heavenly.Læs mere
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11. februar 2025