Antarctica Cruise 2025

Updated 2025-01-06 (corrections about sub and champagne).

Click the pics to enlarge.

Overview

In Early December 2025, I went with my long time friend Victor on a cruise to Antarctica. The cruise company Seabourn (a division of Carnival Cruises) calls it an expedition. Sure, I’ll bring my tent and crampons. It is a standard 11 day cruise of which there are many similar. This one starts and ends In Bueno Aires, Argentina. It’s December so I’m heading south for the cold weather.

A bit of perspective. Toronto is about 44°N. Ushuaia is about 54°S, about as far south as Edmonton is north (plus a bit). The tip of the Antarctic peninsula is about 63°S, about as far south as Yellowknife is north (plus a bit). In Canada, you can drive to Tuktoyaktuk, about 69°N. The weather in early December, the start of the southern summer, is around 0°C and can vary quite a bit because of the exposure to the open ocean.

Upon leaving port, the ship is in the Beagle Channel, a shortcut through the tip of South America, named after some ship that some guy called Darwin was on. Within hours the ship is in the Drake Passage for the next day and a half. That is the harsh sea between the southern tip of South America and the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula, roughly 1,000km. Side note for word nerds, Antarctica is the continent while Antarctic is an adjective such as Antarctic penguins. The winds from the west have nothing to stop them, except a little ship. The waves can be several metres high as the Pacific tunnels through the narrow passage. That is called the Drake Shake. Then again, the wind gods can take a day off, that is called the Drake Lake.

Panama

Only a few days here. Some quick notes in no particular order:

• Right from the start at YYZ, the Copa (Panamanian airline) staff made clear that they didn’t want to be there. Not on the plane (happy staff!) but restarted in the Panama airport. Some happy folks too. BTW, Copa Airlines is good, they assume that people want a meal and have luggage (carry-on and first bag) so all included in the very cheap price.
• No one looks at you on the street.
• No one tucks in their shirt except wait staff and tourists.
• Cell phone holders on steering wheels would help free up hands.
• Most people speak as much English as I Spanish. We manage.
• There are slums literally in the shadows of the towers and fancy hotels.
• Petty crime is common, as expected. Everything locked up, gated, barred, locked.
• In the area of my hotel in the touristy old town, barriers to traffic and people on some roads manned by armed police, tons of cars jammed on single lane roads.

• There are pairs of armed police in their 20’s with flak jackets everywhere. Almost all walk, one on a quad, few on bicycles on the promenade, a few in cars. They are all over the city.
• In the old town, barriers to traffic and people on some roads, with armed police, tons of cars jammed on single lane roads.
• In less affluent areas (AKA poor), garbage overflows the few dumpsters.
• Cats everywhere, mostly idle and silent.

• My hotel has no front desk but is nice, large room. Nice view with tide in, but just 500m of mud flats when tide is out.
• Majority of cars are SUVs (why?), very few motorcycles, even less bicycles, surprisingly no electric cars.

• Played tourist on a hop on, hop off bus. Not surprisingly the guides’ English was comparable to my French, which is moitié. Traffic was terrible (worst was about 3m a minute for an hour), heavy use of horns is required.
• The first pair of locks in the Panama Canal on the Pacific side, Miraflores locks, are the must see. I watched two yachts (a sloop and a ketch) share a lock with a ship. In the new adjacent lock a huge Korean car carrier (5,000 cars said the voice overhead) was a 10 storey wall being maneuvered by six mules, the electric land tugs on tracks that pull the ships through the locks. Missed recording the horn, sigh.

• Snack vendors have stalls in the middle of the road, between lanes.
• Went to the fish market, had fish for lunch! As everywhere, each restaurant has someone advertising their joint. Every, single, one, ad nauseum. As annoying as taxis honking, every, single, one.

• Almost no smoking, even less than in Toronto. Never see a group of smokers outside a building. No public drinking, no drunks, no cannabis.
• Panama City is like a US city except that everyone speaks Spanish and there a lot (repeat, a lot) of 20-something armed police standing around everywhere.
• Very few homeless people, signs of where they were. Saw a man in an ad hoc rickety hardware shop give a man a bag of buns. They help each other.
• Only tourists and wimps use umbrellas. Suck it up, or rather soak it up. Only tourists ride bicycles, almost.
• Many colourful and rickety fishing boats but seen only one or two go out. Saw unloading big 1.5m fish, too far away to identify or ask.

Buenos Aires

• We did not have good air (“buenos aires”) flying here. Took me 70 years to cross the equator, cross that off.
• As in Panama, almost everyone is unilingual, including immigration officials. The translate app is very useful. Miss multi-lingual Toronto and Europe. Never met a unilingual rideshare or taxi driver in Toronto.
• Walked out of the airport terminal into a cloud of smoke. Driver alternated between fastest and slowest on the road, quite odd.

• The King Grand Hotel, the king is old and tired. Gravity is winning over the worn out plug sockets. Miss the Panama room.
• Not many homeless, saw a few on the streets, under a bridge. One panhandler. Not good because where are they??
• Although possible for wheelchairs, seen none, nor mobility scooters. Saw one walker (AKA zimmer).
• Panama was American but Buenos Aires is European. Easily mistaken as such, although needs a few more motorcycles and bikes. Had a nice translate app chat with Italian immigrant Uber driver, he agrees.
• People here are happier than in Panama. They laugh among themselves, smile and wave at friends. Any interaction, people are friendly. Okay, few exceptions. They don’t mind my attempts at Spanish, try their English, willingly help with pronunciation when asked.
• About half of the backpacks are worn on the front, making them frontpacks. Except kids, always on the back, nothing worthwhile to steal.
• Walking at first was annoying until I watched and learned to dodge at the last second. Almost knocked over a little girl when mom dodged and she didn’t. Oops.

• Wandered a long open pedestrian mall, other smaller malls branching off. Constant sound from hawkers’ bored calls of “cambiar cambiar” (change, change, exchange anything to pesos) in prime tourist areas.
• Saw a Jewish centre with a memorial to Oct 7 2023, no photos said the polite guard, in Spanish and gestures. Sigh.
• Lots of armed police in flak jackets, all on foot, mostly young, hanging around and chatting. Less police than in Panama, far more than in Canada. One group of ten or so plus a car, all in full swat gear with helmets and large shields, all pleasantly lined up on a sidewalk discussing the weather and last night’s game. Walked around them, almost disturbed the chatter.
• Most streets in the city core are one way. Although there are lights at many corners, motorcycles use them as they wish. Crossing behind a mother with kids is safe.
• Lots of cars, noticeably many France and Italy with less Japan and Korea. No electric cars. Fair number of motorcycles for deliveries, some bicycles. Two e-scooters with immortals (only explanation of how they ride and no protective gear). Zero e-bikes.
• Many streets and more are named after dates, just day and month because everyone knows what they mean. One bus line is “17 de Agosto” (17 of August) which was my mom’s birthday, but more likely for some war guy who has a statue of him on a horse pointing a sword at the birds above. They hate him and paint him with their displeasure.
• There is a dark past in Argentina. From 1976 for seven years Argentina was a dictatorship. Thousands of mostly young people who were against the dictatorship simply disappeared. Few were found alive. Their mothers and others soon began to protest, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. There is a memorial to the Mothers and the Disappeared. I am not sure that I want to go there, might be too hard.
• To lighten the mood, a beer and two empanadas with a tip was C$12. I opted for the fancy empanadas which were cut by hand with a knife for an extra $0.30, each. The hand and knife bit was made clear, not sure why.
• Took an open top tourist bus tour, 3.5 hours plus hops off and on. Recorded audio so easy to understand. If someone looks up and you wave, they invariably wave back and big smile. Saw all of the sights blah blah, see them online if you wish.

• The cruise starts with one night in the fanciest hotel in BA, the Alvear Palace. Our suite has a living room (there is probably a fancier name), two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The adaptor does not fall out of the socket. Afternoon tea is C$70, I will pass. We had a short tour around the city. Catch the bus to the airport at 7:30AM tomorrow. Ouch.
• This 5-star hotel is over the top ostentatious. Gold coloured everything, ornate furniture, three chandeliers in our suite. Gold taps, gold grab rails, gold toilet flusher button, gold hinges on shower door, gold taps, gold door handles, of course gold chandeliers, goldpainted onto furniture, but not the smaller bathroom’s garbage can, it’s silver. Last time I stay at this dump, besides the us$1,000 a night.
• When in Argentina, eat steak. We did but I was not impressed. Too big for me (who rarely eats steak), not great.
• Too early breakfast, bus, plane, bus, boat.

Antarctica

• The ship, Seabourn Pursuit, was built in 2023, 170m long by 24m beam, up to 264 passengers in 132 cabins, all with balconies, large walk-in closets and a sitting area. It has two electric azipods (props that can independently rotate to point in any direction) powered by four diesel generators, plus three bow thrusters. Instead of anchoring it uses dynamic positioning, which is computers using GPS to control the azipods and bow thrusters to hold position.
• All food and drink is free (AKA you already paid for it), no tipping and they took away our bottle of champagne from our cabin because we didn’t open it. I was going to smash it on the bow. Update: On the last day we found the champagne is our fridge so I liberated it into my luggage.
• The majority of passengers are from the US, some from South Africa, China and Australia. So far no other Canuks, never found another. The only language heard is English and Chinese, the latter tend to stick to themselves. I am of typical to older age yet no one listens to my wisdom. Two children, maybe six years old, someone said they are wife and kids of a crew member.
• Tuesday, the Drake Passage, the often dreaded rough 1,000km between South America and Antarctica, is quite smooth on our way south, maybe 2m waves and some rain.
• At the aft end of the ship are two hut tubs and a small pool. I forgot my bathing suit so bought a very mediocre one in the shop with the US$150 ship credit for only C$115 (no tax). Nothing else in the store I want or can afford – if a simple swim suit is that much then I don’t want to even think about the jewelry.

• Beside a bunch of ten person inflatables (Zodiacs) to take people ashore or for a closer tour, there are two submarines. They have two large acrylic bubbles, each with three seats for the passengers, plus a driver. They can dive to a surprising 300m depth, deeper than the crush depth of many WW2 submarines. Not fast, the person showing them said that they have the hydrodynamics of a brick. A normal dive is 45 minutes but of course air reserves for far longer. If necessary, they can blow the tanks to rise fast. If that is still an issue, they can drop 800kg of steel weights. Last resort, each sub is set up to rescue the other. We were signed up on the wait list.
• By international treaty, Antarctica is everything south of 60°. No military other than rescue or servicing research stations, no mining, nothing that will affect the land other than necessary buildings.
• There are several ways to define where Antarctica exists. 1) The outermost is the Antarctic Convergence, the roughly defined area where the seawater temperature drops and is very significant to biologists, they knowingly nod to each other. 2) As described above, 60° is the political boundary. 3) At 66.3°S is the Antarctic Circle, where other geeks nod to each other. 4) Around the land mass is the ice shelf, that may or may not be considered as part of the land. No nodding required. 5) Finally, there is terra firma, the plain old earth that is indisputably Antarctica.
• Eleven babies have been born in Antarctica, to researchers and/or spouses, or whomever. Citizenship is that of the parents’. That would make for an interesting passport and some explaining at immigration in future. So, exactly where were you born?
• We had a mandatory briefing on what not to do when ashore. Keep at least 5m from all wildlife. If they approach you then you back away. No flash photography, no garbage, no food, nothing that can blow out of your hands such as paper, no loud noises, no kneeling or sitting or crouching or lying down, just gawk like a good dumb tourist. Boots (theirs, on loan) and waterproof pants must be cleaned and sterilized every time you board the ship.
• Avian flu hit Antarctica in 2024 (2023?) and spread quickly along the northern peninsula. That has become the main contamination concern. There was a mandatory bio exam by the crew of all exterior clothing, vacuuming and sterilizing as required, velcro is a big culprit.
• Expedition Day 3 on the ship: Our chances of survival are slim. Last night our tent collapsed in a katabatic gale, the snow buried the dogs and sled and my cappuccino slopped out of the cup. Okay, maybe I exaggerated, my coffee did not spill, but we are still headed south (not figuratively). Bigger waves, wind increased to the point of blowing the foam off the cappuccino. This expedition is getting tough. If you want a picture of the view from the ship, please stare at a blank white wall.
• Because the wind, waves and shore ice reports are good, we went relatively far south, past the Antarctic Circle, then worked our way back north. This far south is uncommon, only second or third time for this ship.

• Wednesday Dec 10, we were brought ashore by zodiacs, very windy (25kt g30), just above freezing. On Stonington Island (68.2°S 66.9°W) is a former British research station. It was built in 1946, abandoned about 1960 due to ice, reopened a few years later then closed permanently in 1971.

• About 15-20 people lived there in the summer, fewer in the winter. Two people died after being lost in a storm and are buried there. The station was used for scientific work such as meteorology and mapping.

• Whales, seals and birds! From a zodiac, we watched about 100 huge, ugly elephant seals. Mostly immature males (noticing a trend…), they just lie around in groups with some singles. Occasionally they annoy their neighbour and grunt loudly at each other. They can breed by eight years old. Sorry, too much ambient noise to record them.
• Technically we saw whales from the ship while relocating. Mostly just a few spouts in the distance, a couple of black backs of humpback whales then gone, one fluke came a bit out of the water. Nothing my camera – or anyone’s – could even identify as a whale. David Attenborough’s job is safe. Still, we all ran outside to watch.
• The bird watchers were delighted. Since we reached the Antarctic peninsula there have been birds around the ship. Terns, smaller albatrosses, imperial shags (AKA imperial cormorants), prions and others which others recognize as old friends.
• On Wednesday Dec 11, we were the furthest south ship in the world, although possibly just furthest cruise ship. Not that we have seen any but there could be a sailboat without AIS (dumb thing to do).

• Mostly icebergs around then later icebergs and broken sea ice. The ship goes close to them, knowing that the ice does not suddenly spread out wide below the surface. Bergs are more like hanging from the surface, fat side down, although they can be meta stable. The light parts have lots of air bubbles, the heavier has more salt as it precipitates out.
• Thursday, beautiful sunny calm day about 0°, in an inlet (66.83°S 67.19°W) filled with icebergs and sea ice (AKA pack ice). We went on a zodiac tour for an hour, eight people in each. Stopped at a larger pack ice where the crew had set up a bar and handed out champagne to everyone (except the driver), was surreal. Saw a couple of lone penguins, smaller than expected. Not breeding season so they tend to be loners.
• Ice 101: Glaciers are just lots of snow compacted down to ice by the weight of the snow above; icebergs are the huge chunks that have calved (broken off) from glaciers or ice shelves; ice shelves are where glaciers goes onto the water but are still connected to land and can be many km wide and long; bergy bits are small ice (size of a car or truck above water) when bergs break up; growlers are smaller bits (size of a table or smaller) that growl as they scrape past a ship; sea ice is low above water (less than 1m) and forms then melts every year. Ships avoid anything but growlers, zodiacs can bounce off of small growlers.

• Twice the ship attempted to go into pack ice to let the organic payload (AKA self loading ballast) walk on the ice. Got as far as some expedition [sic] leaders going out to test the ice when cracks appeared and they gave up. As consolation we were taken by zodiacs for a walk on the ice. Really good snowball snow.

• One lone Adélie penguin nearby watched all of the goings on, wondering what the big iceberg was doing and who are those big funny looking penguins? Penguins are exempt from existential angst anyway. Either that or it was dead and frozen in place. Lots of small pack ice with penguin footprints. They jump onto one side, cross over and jump off the other, a make work project. Distant seals on the ice could care less about everything, let us sleep.
• Making our way at safe neck speeds (opposite to break neck) out of the inlet to avoid the bergs and growlers. Occasional shudders throughout the ship, not nice.
• Friday, Dec 12: Calm waters, bright sun, whales, no cappuccino yet. In my humble opinion, whale spotting is overrated. Maybe a water spout just in visible range, sometimes even close. A black back lifts slightly out of the water, a short exhale and inhale, maybe a fin if a humpback, then gone in two to five seconds. If close, there is the sound of air followed by a quieter woosh, all in a couple of seconds. Every tenth whale – they count so as to keep the order – will lift its flukes (tail) to dive. Every tenth fluke lifting, someone gets a mediocre picture, except the ship’s photographer whose job it is to take good pics. I just watch, hear the occasional woosh as they exhale but rarely see those. It is luck of the draw that they cooperate and be where you are looking. The whole process barely makes any ripples, certainly much less than me diving into a pool.
• Speaking of pools, to justify my C$120 swimsuit I go into the hot tub and/or tiny pool every day. It was surreal being on the top (ninth) deck in bright sun, watching the snow covered mountains flow by. A katabatic wind came up. Although the tub was mostly protected, occasionally the 20kt (35kph) headwinds plus the 15kt of the ship would blow in the mostly not protected section and blow the surface off the hot tub. Then 10 minutes later the wind dropped to virtually zero. When I returned to the room, there was a hot bubble bath waiting. The staff had seen me getting in the hot tub, knew who I was and figured that any idiot going out in this weather would want a hot bath after. Service!

• The area is mountains with some valleys between and rare flat spots. The mountains can be a few hundred metre high spikes, similar height bread loaves, rather large ice cream scoops, layer cakes or just plain old mountains. Everything is covered in snow except for nearly vertical slopes. Technically the snow is glacial, even a few hundred metres, because it does not melt over the summer but flows slowly to the sea to become icebergs. Pictures cannot do it justice, why bother.
• Penguins in the water swim in small groups of up to half a dozen. Can see them just under the surface as they flap their fins like wings. If one pops to the surface then the others follow and resume their pointless journey to nowhere. They fly gracefully through the water.
• The Antarctic food cycle starts with plankton living on the underside of the ice. Krill are about 4-8cm transparent fish, much like shrimp, they eat the plankton. Krill form massive swarms, making them the largest biomass of any animal in the world. Some species of penguins and all baleen whales eat krill. Some species of penguins and toothed whales eat squid and fish at depths far below what humans can dive to.
• Allegedly there were orcas. I saw a fin but could be a humpback. These orcas specialize in penguins, other areas they specialize in seals or fish.

• Neko Harbour (64.84°S 62.54°W), strong 30kt (55kph) winds, dynamic positioning is working hard to hold us in place, the whole ship shakes with the wind and waves and dynamic positioning. My scotch is shaken, not stirred.

• Ashore at a gentoo penguin colony. They are small penguins, not much above knee high. There are highways they mostly follow up and down through the snow, mostly because some do get off the track and struggle in the snow.

• Cute and totally unafraid of people. They would hop onto your boot if you were in the way, but we must keep clear, the unilateral 5m rule. Life span is about 25 years. When walking, they hold their wings back and waddle on short legs, occasionally doing face plants but they get back up and hope that no penguin saw them. Oh, there goes Ralph again, the klutz. Mostly silent, especially when quite purposely moving from place to place, they occasionally make a call, part donkey and part squeal. And yes, there is a fragrance in the air, eau de gentoo, has a nice ring to it.
• Saturday Dec13. Cuverville Island (64.69°S 62.62°W), we took zodiacs to go ashore for an hour and a half. Of course zodiacs, the choices are that or swim and the water is around 0°C, although thanks to the salt it freezes at about -2°C. If it did freeze, walking, but the crew may take a dislike to that. I prefer the zodiacs, one driver and 8-12 guests.
• Ashore were more gentoo penguins, distributed in several groups, some near the beach and some higher up. Skuas, a large land bird, were dropping in to steal the penguin eggs. If in pairs, one skua would approach a penguin which would rise to defend its nest while the other stole the egg. Avian flu has hit the skuas but not yet the penguins – not yet…

• Of course after the shore excursion we had champagne and caviar. Although the caviar was from China we managed anyway. Some embargoes are worthwhile, even if we do suffer with second rate caviar. At least the champagne was authentic French, not some cheap knock-off.
• Danko Island, nearby, no relation to Rick I assume. Our boat’s identical sister ship was nearby, we parted ways and are near another cruise ship, objectively ugly. Far enough north to be around other cruise ships. Another time ashore.
• More gentoo penguins, some skuas, some other birds all watching for an unguarded egg. Found a few broken eggs near the rookery, picked up by birds for dinner. One or two eggs per season, a penguin can lay another egg if they lose theirs early in the season. Large too, I can see why they are reluctant to lay more.
• The day was penguins, the evening was whales. In a wide channel the ship slowed so that we could watch a large scattered pod of humpbacks feeding. Dozens of sightings, many probably repeat whales, they just like to be seen, egotists. Nothing dramatic, the back slides up then a fin then it goes below water in a few seconds. People were going crazy. Look, look! There’s one! There’s two! There! There! I was not part of the there there crowd, equally entertaining to watch the people. The wind and sun was perfect. A whale would blow and the mist glistened in the sun. Spouts here and there. Backs glistening and gone. Some flukes, but never anything close enough to really photograph, by me. For at least half an hour we oohed and awed. Then they were gone and we returned to our after dinner drinks and Japanese nuts (don’t ask, specialty of the aft nine lounge, that and sushi).
• Sunday Dec 14, last day before heading north. Deception Island, an island at the north end of the Antarctic peninsula. A volcanic circle, the remnant ring of the big one 10,000 years ago that blew out the centre and almost all of the island, with a small entrance safe for ships, except for the submerged rock in the middle which the crew promised to avoid. The volcano last blew in the late 1960’s but don’t worry, the latest forecast is that it probably won’t blow up that day and kill everyone nearby, probably. I feel really safe-ish now.

• Dig into the shore about a hand’s depth and the water is too hot to keep you hand in. Yet at the surface, normal, cold. Very windy, light snow. Deception Island was a whaling station from 1912 until 1936 when factory ships took over from the shore stations. About 500 people lived and worked there: dead whale dragged ashore, flenced, rendered and oil stored in huge tanks to be shipped back to England. It remained a research station on and off until the late 1960’s.

• But wait, there’s more! I was ashore when there was a radio call. “Who’s in 710?” she called to nearby people. Me! A zodiac came and picked me up, rushed back to the ship, I changed and we went in the submarine. Six people, three per side in seats, plus the driver, two big acrylic bubbles. We reached the bottom at 90m (300′).
• Here is a short sample of the video from inside the submarine, with a longer Audio from inside the submarine, more available in Downloads.
• Although full of starfish, pencil holder sponges and numerous unknown (to me) animals fixed to the sea floor and rocks, that in itself was okay. The excitement was being in a sub, deep down at the sea floor. All in all about 45 minutes. With no zipper pockets, my phone fell while getting out of the sub into the zodiac, but a crew member caught it, thankfully.
• Still in Deception Island in the caldera, at the north end Telephone Bay. Zodiacs ashore. A hike up and around a crater then off to see a couple of Weddell seals hard at work digesting their lunch of krill and fish(?). Both males, one just lay like a big lump of blubber (which it is), the other would yawn and stretch and gawk at the tourists, then lay like a lump of blubber.
• Monday Dec 16. All good things must come to an end and this one hasn’t, yet. We are at sea in the dreaded Drake Passage, leaving the Antarctic peninsula for South America. There are words to describe this: the Drake Shake is when most passengers are feeling a tad off, or worse, or much worse: the Drake Lake is when it is calm: there are no words to describe what we are experiencing, maybe Drake Millpond? Could be worse. Off to the first cappuccino of the day. With cinnamon or not? Ah, decisions, decisions.
• Without cinnamon. The wind (15kt g25) and waves (2-3m) picked up fast, became Drake semi-Shake. Later, Drake Lake although the winds were blowing 15-25kt (30-45kph).
• Surprising number of birds flying around the ship. Small prions skimming the surface, larger strikingly black and white ones (possibly cape petrels, I’m no ornithologist) soaring above, other black with white ones (probably medium size albatross). I would have expected to see them aft of the ship picking up what we disturbed, but they are mostly at the sides.
• Within half a day most of the birds were gone. A few albatrosses. Light fog, clouds, no sun, no horizon, no ice, no ships, no nothing to see. Dip in the hot tub before it got shut down. Nice talk given by one of the expedition team (Alexandra Nemeth or FB) who is a mountaineer, she has climbed the seven peaks on the seven continents, making money here before a trip to the Andes, then hopefully a solo unassisted crossing of Antarctica.
• Tuesday Dec 16. The last day on the ship, in Drake Passage then Beagle Passage between Argentina and Chile, arriving in Ushuaia, Argentina. Wind (<10kt) and waves turned onto our nose so a bit bumpy. Sun is making a valiant attempt. No birds, …, no nothing. The winds shift around both in speed and direction. Arrived in Ushuaia in the evening.
• Wednesday, Dec 17. Argentine air traffic controllers are on a sort of strike, flights delayed. Off the ship early, bus, walk around Ushuaia, bus to the airport. Some people missed they flights, a few going home to Australia.
• Ushuaia, Argentina, is a tourist town, the most southerly city in the world. Caters to tourists and Antarctic cruise ships. Much like Jasper but larger. Argentina has had monetary crisies. There are a fair number of partially built buildings, one we saw leaning precariously. People come here to “del fin del mondo” (the end of the world), a few launch off north by motorcycle to North America, some by bicycle, heard of one who walked. Took two years. That’s determination.
• Back in Buenos Aires, people hug and air kiss when they meet. Lots of smiles and joy, except for Ms Bored at the B&B near the airport.
• Dinner at a cheap local patio restaurant. Watched with others as a late teen or 20-something woman was sprayed by friends with spray string, streamers, powder and confetti as she laughed and danced and waved a couple of smoke flares. Everyone was having a good time. Don’t ask, I haven’t a clue.
• Confirmed, the earth is round. In Buenos Aires south of the equator, when staring at the sun, it moves right to left. Try it. You may go blind but science will appreciate your sacrifice.
• BA airport, 45 minutes to check luggage. Watched a nun who had obviously never flown before repack her luggage then a horde of airport police dressed all in black go through security. I spent several minutes weaving back and forth through the empty rows to get to security, the only other person way back of me tried to remove a barrier for a shortcut and was told off and we all laughed at the absurdity.
• Flight back to blasé Panama. Oops, think I just said that out loud.
• Flight home to Toronto. And so it ends, back to the real world.

Downloads (photos, audio, video)

• Pictures (zip)
  • From Panamã City and Buenos Aires (31MB)
  • From Antarctica (255MB)
• Sounds (mp3)
  • Gentoo penguins (1:22)
  • In the submarine (10:55)
  • Alice the Algae (0:10)
• Videos and their audio description (mp4 and mp3)
  • From aft of ship in Drake Passage with Audio Description (0:39)
  • Bow pushing through last loose ice into clear water with Audio description (0:15)
  • Ship pushing into soft, thin ice with Audio description (0:17)
  • Penguins compilation with Audio Description (3:09)
  • Submarine compilation with Audio Description (14:20)
  • Returning through the Beagle Channel with Audio Description (0:48)

Summary (tl;dr)

• Although quite expensive as a cruise of that duration, I recommend this trip to anyone contemplating it. However, not at all good if you require any guiding or accessibility, impossible to leave the ship.
• Trip was great, from flights to hotels (well, most) to cruise.
• Seabourn, the self-described ultra-luxury cruise company, was great. Surprisingly the total cost was not much more than other cruises.
• Penguins are fun to watch. No fear of people, cute, waddle around.
• Seals come in in second place. Nice but just big lumps that lie around.
• Whales unfortunately are in third place. Mostly just a blow then a black back with a fin for a couple of seconds, in the distance.
• Plenty of birds, both land and sea.
• We lucked out by going well south of the Antarctic Circle to 68°S, not the norm.
• We also lucked out with smooth passages across the Drake Passage.
• Every day, Toronto was colder than where we were in Antarctica.

Okay now, this really is the end of the blog.

Except for this line.