(11/20 – 11/29/2019)
Rei managed to book a triple cabin to Antarctica on Ocean Nova for about $15,000 through Eclipse Travel. This was an excellent deal, because that was about the regular price for a single person on an Antarctica cruise ship. We were taking Sister (our daughter) with us. Rei and I have been to Peru and Chile, but this was Sister’s first South America trip.
Day 1: Embarkation Day (Ushuaia)
We arrived in Ushuaia a couple days earlier just to be on the safe side, and this gave us extra time to explore Ushuaia and the surrounding area. The embarkation wouldn’t start until 3pm, but we had to check out the hotel by 10am. So, we left the luggage at the hotel and headed to the Maritime Museum.
When we walked past the port, we saw four ships anchored there, and the Ocean Nova was the smallest one! I was a bit worried, because I am prone to motion sickness. But the ship looked very neat. We were very excited and took a couple of photos of the ship.
The Maritime Museum was really interesting! It was originally a prison. Some parts of the prison were turned into exhibitions, while other parts still preserved the original prison cells. The prison was not highly secure, because they reasoned that the prisoners had nowhere else to go! That turned out to be true, because some escaped prisoners actually returned for the safe shelter and food.
There was also a nature exhibition with a lot of information about penguins, so we got to learn about different kinds of penguins before the trip. A resident museum cat strolled around in the area and received many pats from visitors (us included!).
It started to rain again (typical Patagonia weather!), so we went to Tante Sara to have more coffee and desserts and to wait out the rain. Afterwards we returned to the hotel to pick up our luggage and walked to the port to wait for the boarding.
I was very surprised that no one checked our IDs. They simply checked our names off the list and told us that we would be in Cabin 314, a triple room. The cabin was small but very comfortable. Sister got the upper berth above mine.
We went through the mandatory briefing and crew introduction. They provided us with some very delicious snacks; I really loved the cake! This was really an international crowd. We met people from America, Asia, Europe and New Zealand. Some people were part of a tour group, while many like us were independent travelers. From our conversation with fellow passengers, most of them were experienced travelers.
After Ocean Nova left Ushuaia, we sailed through the Beagle Channel. The water was very calm inside the channel, and view was excellent! I could feel the excitement from all the fellow passengers. Everybody was either inside the observation lounge or out on the deck busy taking photos with their cameras or phones. Several people were carrying professional cameras (including Sister).
Ocean Nova is a small ship that takes only around 70 passengers on each sailing trip. There’s only one restaurant and one dinner seating, so we all ate together as a big group. Even though it’s an expedition ship, the food was excellent!
Day 2: Drake Passage
We were passing through the infamous Drake Passage today, and we all got sick! The waves were not very high, and we all took motion sickness medication, but we still felt very dizzy. I thought part of the reason was because Ocean Nova was such a small ship. We probably wouldn’t be so sick if we were on a larger ship.
We were all too sick to have breakfast and ended up eating some crackers in bed. Sister wasn’t so sick, and she could still move around a bit. She went up to the panoramic lounge to listen to Snowy’s bird lecture and even went out on the deck to take some photos.
Rei felt better and decided to go up to the panoramic lounge to get some hot water. He didn’t return for a long time, so Sister went up to check. She returned a bit later with two thermos and reported that Daddy “died” at the lounge!
We all had more Bonine and were finally able to move around in the late afternoon. I managed to go out on the deck to have some fresh sea breeze, and that really helped! The waves calmed down even more, so that we could all go to the restaurant to have dinner.
Day 3: More Drake Passage
We had double Bonine last night. Also, as we were closer to Antarctica, the waves were smaller, therefore we had no problem moving around the ship today and thoroughly enjoyed the sea day.
After breakfast we went to the lecture held at the panoramic lounge and chatted with fellow passengers. Most people were about our age or younger. Sister was probably the youngest passenger on board — at least she looked the youngest! It seemed that people were all well-travelled. They were not the “typical” cruiser passengers — rich, older retired people enjoying their retirement life sailing around the world. Many were just “regular” working people saving up their money and vacation days to make “the journey of the lifetime”!
Sister and I spent a lot of time on the deck trying to take bird photos. We saw many petrels flying around the ship. We also saw some whales. Both of us took a lot of pictures. Sister did a better job than I did, because she was using a professional camera. Even though we were very close to Antarctica, the weather was not too cold.
In the evening briefing, excursion leader David announced that the ship has made very good progress due to the nice weather and lower waves; therefore, the captain has decided to sail by the Smith Island — a very rare destination. Nobody on board had been to Smith Island, and it seemed that the crew members were even more excited than us!
Two crew members, Jonathan and Elena, joined us at dinner. Jonathan was British and has been working in Antarctica for 41 years! Elena, a young American girl, also had a lot of travel experience. She told us that she had hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail! We were all very impressed.
After dinner, around 9pm, Ocean Nova sailed by Smith Island. It was a very small island almost entirely covered by snow. We all went out to take photos. It was very cold outside by now, so people all went out to take a few pictures, and then rushed back to the warm lounge to have some hot drinks. Later we were told that several crew members left on a Zodiac boat and had succeeded in landing on Smith Island!
Day 4: Half Moon Island and Fort Point
We had our first Antarctica landing today! David mentioned yesterday that we were on an expedition, not on a cruise ship. Therefore, there’s no pre-set schedule in Antarctica. Everything would depend on the weather and the ocean conditions. This explained why none of the Antarctic cruises list detailed itineraries, because no one knew in advance.
Breakfast was at 7:30am, and we had to get ready by 9am for the Zodiac ride to Half Moon Island. Getting ready involved wearing warm and layered clothes, putting on a hat and a scarf, wearing waterproof outer layer, putting on the provided rain boots and life jacket. It was actually very complicated!
Because Ocean Nova only took about 70 passengers, we were under the 100-people Antarctica landing limitation even with the additional crew members. There’s no need to have a staggered schedule; we could all be on land at the same time. This was a major reason many people chose Ocean Nova over a larger ship. This was our first Zodiac ride, so we were all understandably excited. We had to learn how to get on and off a Zodiac boat.
Zodiac ride was quick, short and pretty smooth. After the landing, we immediately saw many Chinstrap penguins on the shore. Those penguins had a black line under their chin like a chinstrap, and that’s how they got their name. We were required to stay at least 5 meters from the penguins, but the penguins did not need to follow the same rule! Therefore, the best approach is to simply stay put and to wait for them to approach you. Penguins are curious creatures, and they will approach you sooner or later if you are patient. Surely, several penguins did walk very close to us, allowing us to take some excellent photos.
There was a special Macaroni penguin, which the crew named Kevin, staying with a Chinstrap penguin colony. Everyone in our group wanted to see Kevin and to take pictures. In addition, we also saw some Gentoo penguins, cormorants, seals, and even a whale! It was really a very exciting experience for all of us. We spent a couple hours on Half Moon Island before returning to the ship for lunch.
We lunched with two sisters, Karen and Laura. Karen has been to six other continents and Antarctica was her last one. We were certainly with a bunch of experienced travelers.
This afternoon’s destination was Fort Point. Instead of watching many Chinstrap penguins building nests, we now saw many Gentoo penguins nesting. We were still early in the season, so we only saw penguin nests and eggs. If we came later in the season, we would be able to see baby chicks. There were still quite some Chinstrap penguins at Fort Point. In addition, we saw a couple more Macaroni penguins and one Adélie penguin near the beach. Everybody loved penguins. When Sister asked her friends what kind of souvenirs she should bring them, everybody replied: “A penguin!”
We climbed a very snowy hill for a better view. The climb was strenuous due to the deep snow. Jonathan and another crew member helped us climb onto a large rock. The view from there was indeed amazing.
It’s windier in the afternoon compared with the morning. The returning Zodiac ride was bumpier, and we all got splashed! We had to wash many clothing items after we returned to our cabin, because they were all soaked with salty ocean water. However, it was worth the trouble.
At this evening’s recap, Snowy the ornithologist told us that the penguins with pinkish underwings were the ones just returned from the ocean. Jonathan followed with a joke: Once a tourist asked him why all white penguins were coming down from the hill to the ocean, but only black penguins were going back uphill. Hahaha. (If you didn’t get it — penguins have a white belly and a black back. Therefore, they are white when viewing from the front and black when viewing from the back.)
Day 5: Foyn Harbor and Danko Island
The weather was foggy last night, so I was concerned. But this morning’s weather was gorgeous! There was only light wind. I went up to the deck in the early morning and was able to take photos of several Gentoo penguins “dolphining” (i.e., they were swimming like a dolphin in the ocean) in the sea very close to our ship.
This morning’s excursion was a Zodiac cruise at Foyn Harbor. We were lucky to have the ornithologist Snowy to be our Zodiac driver. First, we saw some shags on the rocks. From far away I thought they were penguins, because they had the same black and white coloring. But they were actually flying birds nesting on the rock.
Then we saw some Arctic Terns flying near a shipwreck. There were a lot of pretty icebergs and floating loose ice chucks. The view was so stunning, with snowy cliffs at the background and icebergs in front. It’s amazingly beautiful! There were some Weddell seals near the wreck too. We also saw some Wilson’s storm petrels on the water.
We tasted the clear Antarctica ice; it was crunchy and salty. Snowy caught a krill, and we all got to take some nice photos before he returned the krill to the water.
The sea was very calm. The kayakers had their first excursion today. We hailed them and took a couple pictures.
We had a great morning. The Zodiac cruise was a great variation of the land excursions we had yesterday. It was certainly more relaxing, and the views were truly magnificent! We returned around 11am.
There were a couple of whale sightings around noon. I managed to take a photo of a humpback whale though the whale was quick small in the photo. Sister got an excellent photo of tail flip!
We stayed on the deck to see Ocean Nova sailing through some loose ice patches. The view was fantastic! When the ship hit the loose ice, we were all super excited to feel the motion and hear the crunching sound.
This afternoon’s excursion was to Danco Island. The island was named after Emile Danco, a Belgian geophysicist who died on the island in 1898. Some people joked that there were a couple ways to have an island named after you: you either discovered the island, or you died there!
When we landed on the island after 3pm, there were many Gentoo penguins there, but we didn’t see any other types of penguins. We hiked to the top of a small hill that was about 1,000 ft high. Rei, Sister and I were proud to be the first hikers to reach the top, and we almost tied with the snowshoe team!
The view from the top was of course magnificent! There were many gentoo penguins there too. We could see quite some penguins climbing up and down the hill. They were so cute! After spending more time observing and taking photos of penguins, we returned a bit after 5pm.
We took a quick shower before going to the fourth-floor deck to observe the “polar plunge.” Many brave fellow passengers changed into their swimming suits to jump into the freezing Antarctic water. We were certainly not that crazy!
Tonight, we had a surprise “tropical” barbeque dinner. Crew all dressed in Hawaiian shirts or other types of tropical outfit. It’s quite contrary to the icy environment we were in.
Day 6: Andvork Cruising and Gonzalez Videla Base
Our previous landings in the past two days were all on islands off the continent. We were supposed to have the first Antarctica continent landing this morning. However, the weather was not cooperating. The wind was really strong, and the snow was blowing too! Therefore, the plans kept changing: We would land, we would not land, we would land, we would not land … We were told to dress up only to be told fifteen minutes later that the plan had changed. David joked that he was glad to see how fast we could dress and undress. In the end, we had Andvord cruising instead for the morning.
We had Snowy as our Zodiac driver again, so we had another bird watching tour. We saw lots of loose ice chucks and larger icebergs. Several Snowy Petrels were flying around.
The view was again fantastic, but it was also very windy and very cold, with snow blowing on our faces. The Antarctica continent was not flat; there were many small mountains or hills covered with very thick layer of snow. The photos we took looked black and white. There were several glaciers too.
Not too long after we returned on board, there was an announcement that a humpback whale was right in front of Ocean Nova. I got some photos of the whale’s back fin.
Today’s lunch was very delicious. I really like the spicy chicken they served. They usually provided better desserts at lunch than at dinnertime. I tried both the Scotch pudding and the date strudel. Though this was an excursion cruise, the food was certain at gourmet level.
This afternoon we landed at the Chilean Gonzales Videla Base as planned. This was our first true continental landing. We were told that we could bring our passports to get stamps, and we all did. My passport started to look like a stamp book now!
There were only Gentoo penguins near the base, but there was a nearly-albino one with very light brown color instead of the usual black. The views we saw were wonderful again. There was a signpost pointing to North Pole, South Pole. and many other major cities. People all stood in front of the signpost to have their pictures taken.
We visited both the museum (where we got our passports stamped), and the living quarter of the scientists. The rooms and the kitchen were quite small. It would be hard living in such a small space when harsh weather confines the activities.
I took many more penguin photos, including some penguin mating scenes. A curious little penguin walked very close to Sister, which allowed us to get an excellent picture of both. We also got to see some penguins “dolphining” in the water — that is, they swam in the ocean with the movement we usually saw what dolphins did. Rei took a video of “dolphining,” which was truly interesting.
There wasn’t much else to see, so we decided to return to the ship a bit earlier to shower. After that, we all went up to the lounge to enjoy some hot drinks. They served an excellent hazelnut cake at the lounge this afternoon.
Day 7: Whaler’s Bay and Pendulum Cove
Today would be our last day in Antarctica. I woke up around 6am and walked up to the upper deck. The weather was fine, and the view was great. I got to take some really pretty photos of Deception Island, then the fog came in and everything became invisible. People joked that’s why it was called “Deception” Island.
We landed at Whaler’s Bay shortly after 9am. The area was a caldera. We could see streams coming up, and the sand was warm. There weren’t big penguin colonies in the area. We only saw several Chinstrap penguins and some Gentoo penguins walking around. But there was a big crabeater seal lying on the beach. We could also see some very small krill and a couple of big ones in the water.
We had a group photo near the beach landing site. Then we walked up the Neptune’s Window. From there we could see cliffs and ocean. This reminded us of the Northern California coast hikes we had.
After we came down, we saw four young Chinstrap penguins frolicking on the beach. They came into the water together, then one suddenly got out of the water and returned. The penguin looked around but could not find its companions. The bird was a bit scared and “complained” very loud. Soon the three friends returned to the shore. They “shouted” at one another for a while — seemed to be arguing. Then the lone one went back to join the group, and they all walked away together. It was very funny to watch.
A fellow traveler told us that she saw the penguins walking close to the seal and hesitated. Then one penguin “pushed” another one closer to the seal. After they observed that the seal remained quiet at the same spot, they all walked safely past the seal. Haha.
We then walked to the other side of the bay. There were several abandoned houses used by previous whalers. There was also an abandoned aircraft hangar owned by the British.
We returned around 11am to wait for lunch. There’s another planned landing at Pendulum Cove around 13:15. Shortly after lunch, we landed at Pendulum Cove as planned. The sky was overcast. There was the ruin of a Chilean base destroyed by volcanic activities. We saw three fat Weddell seals lying on the beach.
Suddenly a blizzard came, and we were all soaked. Sister was shrilled. She commented that it was great to have a “true Antarctica experience”!
Day 8: Drake Passage Again
We had to brave through the Drake Passage again on our return journey. The sea was calm per David, but we still got motion sickness. We all took more Bonine and slept a good portion of the day.
I felt a lot better in the afternoon, so I went to listen to some of the lectures and stepped out to the deck to take more bird photos. I had a very good photo of a large bird. Snowy said it’s a Gray Headed Albatross.
They served delicious cake again at the Panoramic Lounge at 4pm, and I had a piece. Later, I didn’t feel hungry and decided to skip dinner. Sister returned from dinner to tell me that the dessert was flan, one of her favorite desserts!
Day 9: Last Day of Drake Passage
Happy Thanksgiving!
We were on the second day of returning journey sailing through the Drake Passage. The waves were smaller today, but I still got sick.
We shared the same table with Snowy and Pablo at lunch. They both enjoyed the lunch (pizza and pasta) very much. Snowy commented that it’s nice to have simple food.
I found out that it’s easier to take bird photos from the back upper deck, so I spent a good amount of the afternoon there. It was windy!
After this evening’s recap, we toasted to the ship captain to celebrate our very successful journey to Antarctica!
Tonight was our last dinner onboard Ocean Nova. We shared the table with crew members Kenn, Willy and Blake. Blake saw a dolphin jumping outside the dining room window, but I missed it! The dessert was Baked Antarctica, which was the same as the Baked Alaska we had on an Alaska cruise, but there was no parade.
There was an excellent slide show of the excursion after dinner. This was a very memorable night.
Day 10: Disembarkation at Ushuaia — End of the Journey
All great journeys must come to an end. Breakfast was at 7:30am this morning, and we had to disembark at 8:30am. Thanks to the great crew members of Antarctica 21 (the owner of Ocean Nova), we had a very memorable journey!
Sister and I both felt that the Antarctica journey was our best adventure so far, and it would be difficult for us to have another trip rivaling this one. (A few years later, Sister had another Antarctica adventure onboard a tall ship!)
Amy 'n Rei 