40 Below: An Antarctic Birthday Quest #2 (Ushuaia)

Sunday February 26th, 2023 

Ushuaia to the Beagle Channel, Southern Ocean
Embarkation day!!

Woke up early and enjoyed that sumptuous breakfast buffet for the last time. I drank specially prepared maté, fresh squeezed orange juice, ate a delicious plum, an omelet, and fresh baked alfajores (an Agentinian dulce de leche sandwich cookie). I then headed into town to get the shuttle to Laguna Esmerelda. 

I only had 4 hours to hike about 12 miles so I had to really go fast. The hike to the beautiful glacial lake was gorgeous and not too strenuous, just very muddy. I’ll let the images speak for themselves. And then from the Laguna, there is another another hike that goes straight up the mountain into a glacier called “Ojo Del Albino” and started going through the muddy trail until it ended in the rocky scramble up the side of the mountain at a steep incline. I made it most of the way up before I had to turn back due to time constraints. It was a beautiful hike. Dare I say glacial lakes are my favorite landscape feature? They never disappoint.

Laguna Esmerelda

Ojo del Albino

I was running back down from the lake to get the bus back into town to catch the boat to Antarctica. I made it with about 20 minutes to spare. I met a lovely young couple waiting for the boat, we’ll call them Yucca and Naranja. We’ve shared a meal at least once a day so far. They are among the 5-6 people on this boat (non-crew) who are under age 60.

We boarded the boat and were greeted by scads of friendly staff and delicious treats and welcome drinks, and comfortable cabins, and lots of information, and all was excitement! We stood out on decks and tried on our spiffy new expedition jackets, and milled around sizing up our new boatmates for the next three weeks of our lives. We had to do a lifeboat drill within the first hour. We put on our life jackets, they played the emergency signal, and we all went to our lifeboat stations. That’s where I met Tomato and Parsnip, because Tomato was cracking jokes about how I would push everyone overboard and give no regard for my elders. I told him I’d push him first, and he laughed and we became fast friends. His wife, Parsnip, is a treat and you can tell Tomato is a big personality and that Parsnip has really learned to hold her own and thinks Tomato is hilarious.

Beagle Channel - underway!

We soon got underway and gathered for dinner and then an informational orientation session with the crew. We were told that we would be in protected waters getting out of the Beagle Channel for the next four hours through dinner but right around bedtime we’d be hitting the open ocean with 30+ knot winds and 15-20 ft swells. Everyone recommended taking meclizine before going to bed. So I did. I was exhausted and slept soundly despite it being my first night ever on a cruise ship. The rocking of the boat did wake me up in the night but didn’t keep me up and was oddly calming.

Monday February 27th, 2023

The Southern Atlantic - en route to the Falkland Islands

I woke up very early the first morning and the boat was rolling from side to side, clearly indicating the seas were very rough. I thought, “hey, now would be a great time to check out the fitness center” but they told me it was closed because when the seas are that high it’s unsafe. On larger boats, days at sea are just days where you get to enjoy the floating city you live on. On a small boat like mine, you get to explore one of 5 common areas, and the meals that are provided, as well as three to five lectures on science and history that are provided for you. I attended all the lectures offered that day and fell asleep during all of them at least once. The first one was an introduction to the mammals, geology, and botany of the Falkland islands. I didn’t fall asleep because I wasn’t interested or the presenters weren’t good. I fell asleep because of the great rolling sea underneath me, and general exhaustion. What I can tell you is that I know what a black browed albatross and a blue-eyed shrub look like now. Also, I know what tussock grass is, and I also know how old different layers of the rock on the Falklands are.

My other best boat friends so far are Celery and Cucumber. They live on Martha’s Vineyard and prior to that, they lived on a sailboat they spent seven years building and then traveled the world in for something like 20 years. Celery calls this their honeymoon. Celery is tall and lanky with long hair (hence his veggie name), makes wooden sea kayaks by hand, used to be an industrial baker, keeps bees, has built three sailboats from scratch, and has spent more of his life on the water than he has on land. He’s from Saskatchewan. MORE evidence that Canada is just the best. Cucumber is his Long Island Bride of 35 years. They’ve lived on boats for more than half of their 35+ year marriage, sailing the world together, and they still seem very much into one another. That’s saying something! Celery and Cucumber are the definition of chill.

I spent time in the library doing a puzzle that TB sent along with me. In the 60-90 minutes it took to complete the puzzle, I made a lot of new friends. A Welsh doctor (Gooseberry), a lawyer from DC, and a law enforcement agent from SoCal all stopped by to chat and help me with the puzzle at various points. Gooseberry is maybe my very favorite lady on the boat so far. She’s really funny, warm, not very chatty but engaging, and just fun to be around. She hung out with me and did the puzzle and we didn’t even talk that much. Also, today I caught her just staring out the window lots and lots and ignoring everything else round her and that makes me feel like we are kindred at least in that way. Her Irish husband is really funny too and is always singing the cheesy pop songs that play in the lounge to himself like no one else is around.

Breakfasts and lunches are buffet style, and include more choices than I could ever hope for from a hotel buffet. The food and drink has been truly excellent. I’ve been tending towards eggs or smoked salmon with some toast and jam. I start my day with a coffee in the “Seabreeze Lounge” which is great for people who wake up early and want to take a hot drink out on the deck and watch the sea roll by. Many of the die-hard photographers (who are, of course, birders with massive telephoto lenses) are already out there snapping away even before I get out there.

I like the boat at this time because it’s nice and quiet. Even though it’s only 100-odd passengers, the boat is always busy and there are always people around. I like to find the quiet moments where I can. I can’t imagine what it would be like on a massive ship with thousands of people.

Dinners are sumptuous, 5-course affairs. I’ve enjoyed sitting with a different group of people for dinner each evening. There is such good conversation and so many good stories traded. I can’t believe I don’t have to cook for myself for three whole weeks! What a treat. I have been going to bed really early because I’m finding I’m exhausted at the end of most days by about 9pm. But sometime I’ll stay up late and listen to Randy, the Czech singing machine. He can play guitar and piano very well, and knows every song you do, in English, Chinese, and Czech. Though, he tends to prefer songs with long guitar solos so he can show off his skills – Cream, Journey, Santana, etc…

Some of my favorite dinner friends