Majestic Antarctica

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to write about our amazing trip to Antarctica but, having recently had clients return from there, it seemed like a good time to get on with it! Unsurprisingly, with such a trip-of-a-lifetime we had a special occasion to celebrate and we started with a steak at Rich’s favourite restaurant in Buenos Aires for his 50th birthday – I was thrilled to see it still exists (Desnivel in case you’re wondering) as we were last there 10 years ago. BA is still one of my favourite cities but, as we’d seen a lot of the top sights during our previous visit, this time we took a ferry over the Rio Plate to visit Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay and get another stamp in the passport. It’s a fascinating place and the absolute opposite of BA, with a laid-back vibe and a traditional charm.

Next we flew down to the world’s most southerly city, Ushuaia, where we had a couple of days seeing the sights and reading about the famous ‘pirate’ Sir Francis Drake, before we met the ship that would be our home for the next week or so. I’d deliberately chosen Hurtigruten as I wanted to travel in as sustainable a way as possible to such a pristine place and they have hybrid ships. Ours, the Fridtjof Nansen, has a capacity of around 500 passengers and combines all of the practical features you’d expect for a ship that travels to some of the most remote parts of the world, alongside luxuries such as a swimming pool and hot tubs, spa, sauna and a choice of bars and restaurants. The food was exceptional and the staff throughout were superb. The cabins were spacious and I’d gone for an upgrade to a balcony cabin which turned out to be a really good decision – we were out there every day at some point and spotted lots of wildlife from the comfort of our own small bit of deck.

One of the biggest differences with a purpose-built expedition ship vs your average cruise ship is this one swaps the on-board theatre-style entertainment for a science lab and (very informative) lectures. The ship also carries a fleet of exploration boats (zodiacs) and these are used by both us and the on-board expedition team, who plan out the itinerary and prepare back-up plans as there’s no guarantee that landings will be able to go ahead. We got to know them over the first two days at sea as we crossed the infamous Drake Passage – yes, it was rough, especially the first day! On the second day of the crossing we stopped as we were in the path of a huge pod of humpback whales and we just sat and watched them all around us. At this time and when we were at landing sites the ship used GPS to hold ‘anchor’ without actually using a physical one - another innovation to help preserve this remarkable environment.

The crew used the crossing time to provide us with health and safety briefings, insights into what was ahead of us and about the history, geography and wildlife of Antarctica. We were split into groups of 16 which were used to organise our times for landings and cruises. The plan each day is to visit a new site – both out on the water and, weather permitting, on the land. Again, if the weather allows, there are opportunities to kayak and even camp out one night, but these are both determined by lottery as they are very popular and we weren’t fortunate enough to get selected.

Our journey took us out to the Antarctic Peninsula and our first glimpse of the white continent came in the form of the Yalour Islands where we cruised out on the zodiacs through the icy water catching the occasional glimpse of our first penguins – Chinstrap, Adelie and Gentoo. There’s no denying just how cute the penguins are and it never got boring watching them waddle around. Obviously, being much more adept in the water, on land they take the path of least resistance and that meant using the tracks the expedition team made in the snow to smooth our way. This regularly led to traffic jams as we waited for the penguins to move along! To make our lives easier we were given a pair of walking poles at each landing site but you still inevitably ended up knee-deep at some point as the snow gave way. When that happened we had to ensure we filled in any holes we made as they were perfect penguin-sized…

As well as the many penguin, (Weddell) seal, sea bird and whale sightings, we also saw some incredibly stunning scenery. As we were so far south the sun literally ‘set’ for maybe half an hour, so there was always a glow on the horizon. On our second evening on the peninsula we cruised through the Lemaire Channel – a narrow channel that is incredibly scenic – the captain had to pull off some special manoeuvres to avoid the larger icebergs. It’s really hard to express the scale and majesty of the landscape but I think the thing that made the biggest impression on me was the silence – having a hybrid ship only enhanced this experience as we glided along.

Overall this truly was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me. Unfortunately, my husband enjoyed it so much he wants to go back….better start saving again!