While checking for last minute deals on cruises to Antarctica, we found a super one! We booked it just a day and a half before departure, so were scrambling to get our rental waterproof pants and gloves and pack our warmest clothes for a cruise to the White Continent! We got our voucher to board just a couple of hours before we boarded. Our new, all-inclusive, 5-star luxury, class 6 ice ship, Diana, in the Swan Hellenic line. A beauty.
We spent 10 days on the cruise, spoiled ourselves and took lots of pics on our first ever cruise and visit to Antarctica. Lots of photos follow, so take a deep breath and enjoy.
Our balcony cabin was sumptuous, with a separate sitting area, mini bar (included), fake fireplace and ton of storage. Our free 3-in-1 parkas and waterproof drybag with reusable aluminum water bottle waited for us on our bed.
The view of Ushuaia from our cabin balcony.
Winds whipped up in the Drake Passage so our captain decided to spend the night in the Beagle Channel and delay our crossing until the next afternoon. These wind-whipped waves are just off the dock way deep in the harbor. We were all glad to stay put for the night!
We had to get our outer gear that we'd wear ashore cleaned and vacuumed so we didn't contaminate the places we landed. This shipping line is a full supporter of the treaty re: Antarctica and keeping our impact as low as possible.
Giant shrimp for an appetizer. The food on board was top notch all the time.
As the crew readied the Zodiacs for our first landing at Barrientos Islands, an iceberg floated nearby, with a handful of little Adelie penguins on it. We watched it drift very close to the boat. Looks like a giant aqua tooth to me.
Karen and Jason kitted out for our first landing.
We dressed in our waterproof gear and put on the boat-loaned Muck boots and life jackets in what they called the Base Camp, on the level where we boarded the Zodiacs. Each cabin had its own locker here to put our stuff away while we were ashore. Hot chocolate or teas were always ready when we came back, too.
Our first landing on Barrientos Island with penguin rookeries all around us.
Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins shared the land here.
The large bird is a skua and is trying to steal eggs and chicks from the penguin's nest. The penguins put up quite a clatter when it was around.
A chinstrap penguin waddles by.
Penguins sitting on nests. Their nests are basically made of rocks clumped together.
We had to back up and give them the right of way on land. We aren't supposed to get closer than 15 feet. There is also some bird flu going around here so we couldn't touch anything on land.
A cute little Gentoo.
Another Gentoo. They were curious little fellas.
The chinstrap penguins would get close, then get worried and turn around unless we moved out of its way.
A skua stole an egg and then dropped it.
Jason and Karen on Barrientos Island. Our ship is in the fog in the background.
I walked along the stony shore and these penguins walked towards me.
Penguin footprints in the wet sand near the shore.
Our Zodiac heading back to the ship had to dodge the ice berg in front of us.
Penguins swimming and frolicking in front of the Zodiac.
An ice cave/cave-in along the face of a wall of snow and ice on the shore.
Our Zodiac driver scooped out a bit of floating ice. Very dense, with little air in it.
Cool rock formations. Note the hole in the one on the left.
Jason on our cabin balcony as we move to a new location.
Little 'rice krispies' of ice float along the side of the ship.
A big chunk of ice, this.
More ice carving by Mother Nature.
I especially liked this one. The left looks like the leaning tower of Pisa and the claw on the right looks quite ominous.
These huge blocks of ice were everywhere.
Some of them were grounded below the water and seemed to be stationary for now.
Cool scoop out of the ice. They changed as we moved around them.
That horizontal brown blob on the snow is a crabeater seal.
Jason and Karen on the Zodiac in Antarctica.
The white dot is just sunshine coming through an opening on the sunny side of this iceberg.
Lots of little chunks floated in swarms on the water in certain areas. They'd fallen as part of a calving or had been crushed by some other force.
Karen and Jason in the pool on the ship. Warm water and sunshine in calm waters.
What a view. A kiss for my lover.
Jason in the hot tub.
This berg reminded us of the rock of Gibraltar.
Antarctic scenery. Zodiacs were watching a group of humpback whales feed. They were creating 'bubble nets' that corralled and confused the krill and then would come up inside the circle of the bubbles and gulp a mouthful of them. Our driver got some really great shots of the spirals of the bubble nets with his drone.
The flukes of a humpback whale feeding.
A humpback surfacing for a breath. They look like submarines coming up in front of you if you're close enough.
Another whale tale. 'Happy Whale' is a site that identifies and tracks whales by their distinctive fluke markings.
The green/blue of the water around the ice under the surface was an awesome color.
Cathy, a retired OB/Gyn from San Francisco had the cutest tiny hat she wore for Christmas. And yes, that's a grand piano in the background. The ship had a guy who played and sang at night and he was great.
More ice and rock in Antarctica.
Gertrud and Keith and Jason in the lounge. They are also van lifers in a 2021 Ford Transit from Oregon. They were the only other North American van we'd seen down here and when I went up to talk to them in the parking lot, we realized we were all going on the same cruise. They ended up in the cabin next to ours, too. We had a great time with them onboard.
Snow on the balcony.
Jason got into the habit of eating eggs Benedict for breakfast. He won't expect that once we're back in the van.
Christmas carved watermelon on the breakfast buffet.
The Christmas breads and cookies in the dining room.
This ice berg passed very close to us. I'm looking down from our balcony.
Jason dressed and ready to head to Base Camp for another outing.
An old airport hut from the 1960s.
The inside was left just as it was when the people abandoned it.
Old cans of products still sit on the shelves.
Pots and pans and kettles still sit on the stoves and countertops.
Even a joke cartoon remains tacked above the door. "Oh hey! I just love these things!...Crunchy on the outside and a chewy center!"
Hard wooden bunks don't look comfortable. The wooden slats on the right are window shutters to keep the strong winds out.
A little penguin wants to get by. Sometimes they'd flop on their belly and propel themselves along the ice with their flippers. So cute.
This couple had a nest with an egg on it below the airline hut. They were't terribly happy about us all looking around their nestin locale.
Karen on land at the Melchior Islands.
The desserts on board were as creative as they were yummy. Here, the chocolate log has merengue mushrooms on it.
Our cabin strewn with outer wear after a wet Zodiac ride back from the land. It was quite warm and dry in our rooms on the ship, so everything dried quickly. They had a free laundrette on the 4th floor if we needed it, too.
Snow on the front deck beckoned me to draw YOLO in it. It was gone in a matter of hours.
Jason sporting the 'Loser' symbol as he gets ready to take the Polar Plunge.
Karen and Jason before he took the Polar Plunge. I figured if the heart gave out, I'd have a last photo. His heart made it fine. My brain said 'Don't do it!" and I didn't.
Jason harnessed and ready to jump into the icy Antarctic waters on Christmas Day.
Amazing how quickly he got back on board!
Oh yes, it was cold!!!!!
Wrapped in his robe, with a towel to dry off and a cup of hot tea or chocolate after the plunge. Almost half of the passengers participated in the jump into the cold waters. I was part of the smarter half who declined.
After the plunge, Jason headed for the hot tub to get warm again.
The snow was starting to gather into an icy layer as the later jumpers took the leap.
More ice caves on the shore rocks. I'm not sure how that stuff stays up there.
Ice, snow, and rocky mountains poking out of the ocean. This is what I thought all of Antarctica would be like. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The edges of the glaciers and the ice caves formed by calving or collapsing ice were amazing to see. Too bad I didn't have a decent zoom camera.
A notch in the top of this big iceberg caught my eye.
A lonely penguin stood sentry on this iceberg all day as we motored past to land on shore.
Quite the inticate design in this ice chunk floating by.
A rookery of chinstrap penguins on the rocky shore.
That orange smear on the front of the penguin is poop. They really didn't seem to care where they pooped and it was all over their nesting areas. What a stink, too.
Jason on land with a walking stick. If you stepped off the packed path, you could sink in up to the knees. The crew from the boat preceded us to mark out a safe path.
Keith and Gertrud with their landing party.
Poopy penguins wander down to the water to go for a swim and a feed. They'll come back cleaner.
Karen and Jason at a penguin rookery in Antarctica.
Penguins on the rocks. They squawked and called to each other and to assert their dominance, claiming to be the biggest and best in the area.
These Imperial cormorants shared the nesting areas with the penguins. I guess as long as you're black and white, they don't care.
A very protected cove we landed in to see the seals and more penguins. Another gorgeous sunny day for our explorations. The captain and crew said they'd never seen such good weather like we had.
Weddell seals lounging on the softening snow on the rocky shore.
They'd wriggle around to settle better into the snow for a snooze, but weren't very active when we were there. We saw Weddell, crabeater, and leopard seals during our forays.
Notice the pink tinge of the rocks. That's from all the penguin poop after they've eaten krill. Only the leopard seal eats penguins, so they weren't bothered by these lazy seals.
A penguin wanders past two sleeping seals with out worry.
The dark diagonal line from the bottom left is a 'penguin highway'. They use the same route to come and go to the water and it becomes a little like a ditch. It too, is usually pink from the poo.
A snoozing seal, either a Weddell or a crabeater.
Penguins hopping around on the rocks and ice.
The seals were big and ponderous and only wanted to sleep in the sun.
Penguins jumping up and down the rocky ridges to get to/from the rookery. They were funny to watch jump--so ungainly.
Another penguin rookery.
Jason and Karen on Hydrurga Rocks. You can barely see the ship in the distance. It was warm and the snow was getting really soft.
We thought the iceberg in the water looked likea chicken on her nest.
Another lazy seal sleeping in the soft snow.
Karen and Jason on the 7th continent. Aran and Luke from NYC had this flag made to commemorate their visiting their 7th continent. They were kind enough to let us borrow it for the photo as we too have been to all the continents now,
A bleached bone on the shore as we waited to board the Zodiac for the ride back to Diana, our ship.
Such a placid finger of water to land in, protected by that ridge of rocks in the background.
Boot brushing was mandatory as we didn't want to bring any avian flu from one landing to another. We shuffled our boots in the brushes in the water before going back to the ship. We also had to step through a basin of disinfectant before leaving the ship to land ashore. They're serious about trying to minimize our impact.
The Champagne Barge met us on the way back from our last landing and passed over glasses of champagne. What a nice surprise.
A quick toast and we were off again to get back to the ship for another wonderful meal. All food and drinks, including alcoholic ones, were included in the price of the cruise. They restocked the mini bar in the room daily if anything was used and refilled the candy, nuts, and chips in the room, too.
Gertrud and Keith on our last day. Such a fun couple, we hope to run into them again in our van travels.
The acting Captain on the bridge. They let us tour the bridge on our last day. Everything these days is computerized and run by electronic controls, but they still can do things by hand if needed.
A chart of our voyage that one of the crew decorated. It was auctioned off later that night for over $1000. The proceeds went to a fund for the crew. Tipping was not expected on this crew as it was included in the 'all -inclusive' price, but donations to the crew fund were accepted if folks wanted to give something to the crew. They were all excellent, and most of them learned our names and greeted us daily.
Karen in the Captain's chair, ready to navigate us to the next location. Really, I didn't touch a thing! Way too many buttons and dials for me.
The puzzle I started on day 1 and didn't complete until the last day of the cruise. Anyone could work on the puzzles scattered around the lounge, but we found better things to do with our time on the excursions. And looking down and concentrating with the eyes wasn't the best strategy when feeling queasy. One piece was missing; perhaps a casualty of the beer spill the first afternoon.
The Captain on the far left, thanked the entire crew and had them come up after he said a few words. They really were an awesome bunch.
A display of our landings during this cruise. They are all different and all dependent on the weather. Our expedition leader, Richard Simpson, had to scramble to find us safe places to go when the weather systems whipped up. We went to Barrientos Islands, Fort Point, Melchior Islands, Patagonia Bay, Damoy Point, Hidden Bay, Palavar Point, and Hydrurga Rocks on our cruise.
Argentina still considers the Malvinas (aka Falkland Islands of the UK) theirs and Ushuaia is the capital. We see signs about them being Argentina's all over this country.
Janice and Tino loved listening to the tales of our travels. We met so many nice folks on the cruise.
View of Ushuaia at night from our ship's bow.
One of two huge spare propellers on the front deck of the ship. They carry them on the ship because to get one if/when/where needed would take at least 10 months. They are massive.
Keith and Aran, some of our regular drinking and dining partners.
Gertrud and Keith having a cocktail before dinner.
