The Kindness of Strangers

I've met so many kind and interesting people on this journey. The staff, naturalists, other passengers, everyone has gone out of their way to take care of us. My room attendant tucks Snoopy in at night! But far and beyond all of that, the professional photographer on board loaned me his backup camera body today. Here are some photos that would not have been possible without this incredible gift.

Snoopy and I say, "Good night!!!"

Penguins and Whale, oh my!

 The view in the morning...

We hiked on Danco Island, one of the many tiny islands along the peninsula. Lots of penguins.  I got a few okay pictures of penguins.  My iPhone does not have 3 lenses, so anything a bit too far is just a tiny spec, and zooming in just gets me very pixelated penguins.  So here are the few okay pictures and one video from Danco island.

 

 

 

 

 

Brave penguin hanging out by a predator. The predator goes after eggs and small chicks, but the adults were still quite cautious approaching the predator. This one adult did decide to walk by.
 

A view of a glacier as we were leaving Danco Island.

The afternoon trip was initially planned to be a hike on the peninsula proper.  However, too many molting penguins were at the shore where our intended hike was. So that we could set foot on Antarctica itself, we were allowed to disembark on a different part of the shore for 10 minutes, and then the rest of the outing would be cruising around on the Zodiac. When we were on the shore, we could hear whales, and then when we were cruising in the Zodiac, we saw LOTS of whales. The video was taken on shore, but the point of the video is *not* the penguins, it's the sound. Turn up the volume. You will hear whales. One whale got very close to our Zodiac.  The rest of the whale sightings were much farther away, and all of my pictures were total fails. Enjoy the one shot I got.

 Good Morning, Antarctica!

This is what I saw when I woke up on my first morning in Antarctica.

 

 

And here's Bev the Polar Explorer before her first Antarctic excursion, where we saw...

 

Whales!

 

Penguins!

 

A Leopard Seal

who bit the Zodiac I was on plus one other! We tourists, in our ignorant bliss, all thought she was cute. The naturalist guides who knew better were scared as heck. They said she was definitely not cute. We were told to kneel down inside the zodiac and keep our hands in.

and lots of blue ice.

Back to the ship.

 

And here is polar explorer Bev ready for her second excursion of the day. She will set foot on an Antarctic island, which is still considered part of Antarctica. She is psyched to try her mid-range zoom lens on her new camera. (Most of the shots to date have been with the standard lens, and some iPhone shots.)

 

More blue ice!

And lots and lots of gentoo penguins.

I tried to get a video of this cutie as s/he waddled past me, but then my month-old camera died. No, it wasn't a dead battery. I had the professional photographer on board take a look at it. He uses the exact same equipment, has several of this camera, and swears by it. He tried various things. His conclusion: Your camera is sick. So after spending a bucket of money on a camera and three lenses, spending time learning how to use it all, after my 1st day in Antarctica, I am stuck with using an old iPhone. At least I have that as a backup. I gave myself the night to be upset.

Drake Passage

It's said that Drake Passage is either Drake Shake or Drake Lake, meaning rough seas or calm seas. We have Drake Shake. It hasn't been bad, and my Scopolamine patch is working well.  The side effects (mostly dry mouth) have been manageable.  So if I'm sitting or lying down, it just feels like a bit of rocking. But if I stand up and try to walk, it's difficult keeping balance.  There were a lot of reeling people walking through the hallways. The shake was severe enough that the elevators were shut off.

I asked Dyan how the seas we are dealing with compare to her 8 other crossings. She said that this one is comparable to the others, but this ride has been smoother because the Ponant ship L'Austral is longer and wider than the ships she has been on, and the L'Austral is much newer and had the stabilizers incorporated in the original design rather than being an add-on on an older ship.

Access to the bridge is allowed at times. So here I am checking up on the Captain.

our route

The Drake Shake!

 

 

First iceberg sightings

 

 

Hello, Antarctica

 

On our way!

At about 7:00 PM (ART, UTC-3), L'Austral departed for Antarctica!  You can track her here. Smooth sailing in the Beagle Channel right now. We'll hit Drake Passage at about midnight. Swells may be up to 23 feet. I applied my Scopolamine patch around 1 PM today.

Back to Buenos Aires!

I'm now back in Buenos Aires, alarm set for 4:00 AM for the early morning flight to Ushuaia! It's happening! There's some sort of celebration going on outside my hotel. I hear cheering and a band playing.  Any ideas?

Meanwhile, let me flashback to my first day in Argentina and my exploration of Buenos Aires.

The Hotel Madero, where I'm staying, is in the lower left corner of the map. I set out to go to the big park to the east. After some meandering, I got to the area abutting Laguna de los Coipos, the long narrow body of water on the west side of the park. The problem was that I couldn't get in.

 

This is what abuts the laguna. Between this and the area I wanted to go, there were locked gates.

 

The birds could fly to where I wanted to go, but I couldn't figure out I how I could get there until...

 

I spotted these two gentlemen inside the area I wanted to go.
"¿Habla Inglés?"
"Yes we do!"
"How do I get in where you are?  All I see are locked gates all along here."
They pointed me in the direction of the main entrance, and success!!!

The Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur is a climate refuge which provides "a comfortable and cool space open to the public, where you can take refuge during hot days. You can cool off, rest for a few minutes, and then continue with your activities."

One last bird from the eating area. The rest of the pictures that follow are from the refuge.

 

 

 

 

It's the Atlantic Ocean in the southern hemisphere!

Fun in Bariloche

This is my fourth day in Argentina. The days have been so packed, I haven't had time to post. But here are a some fun things from my last day in Patagonia.

 

We hiked a trail with a view of the Andes. No, we didn't get to the top.  

But we got here!

Our tour took us to a farm in Bariloche to get a cooking lesson followed by lunch cooked by the son of one of Argentina's best chefs. Some were interested in the cooking lesson...

...and others of us were interested in the cat.

And here is the amazing meal!

 

We got some entertainment from the chef after the meal. I have a nice video, but blogspot is refusing to accept the file.

I skipped the group dinner and decided to walk around Bariloche.

This gives a sense of how steep the streets are.  And this isn't at the top. And yes, I did climb to the top.

 

Nice skate park!

 

I ran into this street performer. He pulled me into the act.
"Hola!" he said.
"Hola!" I replied.
"Hola!"
"Hola!"
"Hola!"
"Hola!"
He gave me a funny look and made a comment that provoked laughter from the audience.  Clearly, I wasn't getting what I was supposed to do.
"¿Habla Inglés?"
"Oh, English! Where are you from?"

"Los Estados Unidos."

"From the United States! What brings you here?"
Somehow talking about Antarctic cruises and pre-cruise trips didn't feel like the right response.
"Hiking in the mountains!"
Later he was trying to get me to do something that I just wasn't getting, to the amusement of the audience. So he just hugged me.
There wasn't a container to drop money, but I did notice when people left, they handed him some money. So I handed him American dollars. He said, "American dollars! Thank you so much!" And the whole audience cheered.