Blog Archive

Tuesday 14 February 2017

15th February 2017 Antarctica - The Journey Begins

15th February  2017 Farewell to Ushuaia, The Most Southerly Town on Earth.

Regrettably up bright and early today as the ship needed to collect our luggage to get it loaded despite the ship not sailing until 4.00pm.
When you are at the end of the earth, there are not many options for killing time so we went back into downtown Ushuaia, essentially one long street, to have a last look round before we had to board our ship, the Akademik Ioffe.  Made some last minute weather proof purchases, although here, there seems to be little else to buy than toy or model penguins and “end of the world” tee shirts.


We ended at the docks to see our ship and at the dock entrance, to get to it, you had to pass a hand painted sign saying   “El Amarre De Los Buques Pirates Ingleses”.  Our Spanish was not good but we think they were obviously congratulating the English on the success in the Falklands campaign….or something like that!

The end of the world




Finally, there was the Akademik Ioffee, Iooking very big, very blocky, very white and decidedly Russian. This was originally a Russian Antarctic survey ship and the company is still actively involved with Antarctic research. It runs about 18 trips a year to the Antarctic only, plus others to the Antarctic and other islands like South Georgia and the Falklands.
We were both unusually nervous, this was taking us outside our comfort zone.

Akademik Ioffe (right) - our temporary home for 10 days
Soon 4pm came round and we went to the check-in location where we met for the first time the other 94 passengers. Janette spent the time working out that there were definitely several people older and less agile than her!  We were then all checked in, our passports removed and taken by bus to the ship, some 300 yards only…well it’s a small town!  Whilst there were 94 passengers, there were over 70 crew.

When we got to the dockside gang-plank, we were full of excitement along with a distinct dose of fear and trepidation as we learnt that the trip that had just come back had gone through a severe storm on the Drakes Passage with 30ft waves demolishing the entire bar and bar glasses which was not what Janette wanted to hear.
Once on board we immediately went up to the top deck to watch us cast off and head down the Beagle Channel leaving Ushuaia behind us. Last land we’ll see for 1000km until we reach the Antarctic.  We left the last town on earth and now we were on our way to the least visited, hostile environment but the most spectacular place on earth.
Bye Bye World - Nice knowing you

Once underway we settled into our cosy little cabin (bathroom like a caravan where you can shower whilst sitting on the toilet) and unpacked (first time in 10 days). Just thinking about making some tea when a voice invaded our room. This was Canadian Boris on the tannoy, our expedition leader bringing us all down for a briefing.
Once they’d explained what we needed to know for the next few days, it was time for dinner.  The dining room is the only place all passengers can fit into and while it is a bit like school dinners, it’s a great way to get to know the other passengers and we made friends with many nationalities but in the end stuck with a couple from Australia.

Not many Brits, lots of Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. Our first dinner was spent talking to a polar marine mammals PHD scientist who is on board with 2 colleagues from Australia to track and biopsy whales. Just fascinating and there were many scientists.  We just hoped that we were not going to be asked to harpoon a tag to a whale.
It now seems as though the company we are travelling with, take a lot of scientists, explorers, mountaineers and specialists of one sort or another.

Later, and now at the start of the Drakes Passage, in what they were calling calm weather, we realised what the trip was going to be like as by 8.00pm and before we had ever got to the bar, we had probably collided with every wall and passenger on the ship and 94 people were all wobbling and holding onto the walls as the boat rocked from side to side and front to back.  We have no internet or no phone in this part of the world, weather forecasts are notoriously unreliable (irrelevant) so we decided to just go with the flow.
Testing the Foul Weather Gear...and sweating

A quick night cap then off to bed. The rock and roll of the ship was just bearable and after washing but trying hard not to fall into the toilet, we fell asleep being gently rocked although clearly many had already fallen victim to sea sickness and people were starting to sport patches behind their ears. We were warned however not to be lulled into a false sense of security as we now have over 2 full days at sea crossing the notoriously rough Drakes Passage


Monday 13th Tuesday 14th February - Iguazu to Ushuaia (End of the World)

Monday 13th Tuesday 14th February - Iguazu to Ushuaia (End of the World)

Monday 13th

After 2 days being fried poached and stir fried in the Amazonian Rain Forest, the lure of the cold of the south was calling.  Unfortunately, we both had been affected by an alien force field that passed over the hotel in the night.
We woke up only to discover that both of our watches had stopped at exactly the same time, 6.20am.  Janette's equally implausible theory that humidity had entered our travel watches at the same time was derided but soon it became clear that in error, Steve had set his alarm to UK time and as result, we lost 3 hours sleep.  There were retributions.

So after a very very leisurely breakfast , we set off to the airport for our 2 leg flight to the end of the world, Ushuaia and eventually on the the Antarctic.
After the customary delays getting Steve's  new metal hip and camera gear through the scanners, we were off.
When we flew up, the lunch was cancelled do to severe turbulence on the flight but we later learnt that in fact that Aerolineas Argentina (the airline) had stopped doing food altogether and with that news, we had re-written the famous song Don't Cry for me Argentina to.....
"Don't fly with me Aerolinas,
The truth is, we'll never feed you
Not on the short flights, not on the long flights   etc etc".

We met an American on our flight whose grandfather discovered a mountain on Antarctica and bought back a stuffed penguin that he had hit on the head with an ice axe but was now a family heirloom....funny, the people we get to talk to on our travels!

So, after a further 6  hours of flying, we were on the decent to the end of the world and there can be few descents as spectacular in the world - straight up the Beagle channel and below line of the Andes mountains.

Collected by the guide and deposited at our hotel, we were treated to something that never happens here - 17 degrees and bright blue sky.
As we were unable to dry our clothes and shoes from yesterday, they came with us on our two leg flight but obviously they needed to be re-washed.  Now, here is the winning tip given to us by our last guide and everybody does in in the rain forest.  Dry your clothes behind the fridge!!.  The net result of this peach of wisdom was that we had Janette's soggy trainers and all of Steve underwear down the back of the hotel fridge.


Ushuaia the last town at the end of the world...it says so in all of the shops
.
Now, as we had had an odd start, we didn't realise that is was almost 8.00pm so we shot out to explore the town. Here as were are not quite south enough, there is 18 hours of daylight and when we say daylight, we mean so bright that dense sunglasses are required.]


When it finally gets dark, the moon is so 
bright that is is as bright as the town lights.




Temperature at night is still holding up well at a balmy 10 degrees so once again we had got completely wrong our dress requirement
.




So, in the face of adversity and research and especially as most of the shops were now closed, we went to the southernmost pub in the world for a few Beagle Beers. Steve was demonstrating his disappearing beer act in jig time as did Janette who took a liking to this local brew.




Steve below in his spiritual home...
Now, a little lesson on this place !!
Originally, this place was occupied by a tribe who could survive in sub zero temperatures with no clothes just relying on the natural oils that the body produced. 
An British Missionary took a few home (as you do) to study them but one died and the government ensured their return by which time, the missionaries and Natives were getting married etc etc.

Later, after all of the tribes were wiped out by disease that the missionaries had brought with then, the town became a prison which only closed in 1920.  Now only really tourism survives but you can still buy a prison uniform for the kids which is probably more meaningful to Argentinians who visit here....here endeth the lesson.

Tuesday 14th
Steve did remember it was Valentines day so he is in the good books !!

 
Odd things for sale in the luxury shopping mall
We had decided to visit the "newish" indoor shopping mall for an hour for our last minute waterproof and wind proof acquisitions but this all proved futile and the whole place just sold off stuff which for us was of no real use.



We did find a  supermarket that we could stock up for our long boat trip to Antarctica.
In case we were stranded with little hope of survival, we bought two bottles of Argentinian bubbles that we had discovered and had developed a taste for and chocolate and crisps.  We wont be too miserable.








Obviously, all Argentinian children go to school to train to be Pharmacists - the school uniform section.










When packing your gift for shipping, the Post Office provided armed security.... obviously to enhance your customer shopping experience !!







The Post Office - pretty interesting outside and in - Janette was 45 minutes queuing for a stamp. Hope her Mum appreciates the postcard !












Downtown Ushuaia - more North Face, Columbia, Wolfskin shops than anywhere...plus model penguins everywhere

Steve - obviously pondering on sunken Argentinian
 ships fought hard not to say anything

Janette can spot shellfish to eat at 50 paces and she was positively drooling at the sight of the King Crab.
This is a close relative of the one she had for dinner last night !!
View from the Hotel Window in case anyone thinks we were lying about the weather !!