What a great couple of days! You can hardly put it in words.First of all the ship „the Ushuaia“ was an old research ship with max 86 passengers. This is important as only 100 people are allowed on shore at one time. I got lucky with my cabin, got one for my own. There was a good mixture of people on board, from all over the world. Even a retired Minister of Turism of Thailand. But also some people my age I had a fantastic time and a lot of fun with.
About the cruise. The 2 day Drake Passage was very good on both ways, no strom and only small waves. The Ushuaia is a small ship and does not have stabelizers like other cruise ships do. It was a big up and down for the two days on the Drake but could have been a lot worse. My cabin was an inside cabin without windows. The first 3 days in the Antarctica the weather was cloudy the next 2 days it was great and sunny and the last day cloudy again, so a good mixture. The first landing was already on the Antarctic Continent (and not on the South Shetlands). Landing means we had to put on life vests and gummi boots and get on shore via a Zodiac. Every landing was very unique – from the wildlife and from the landscape point of view. The original plan of navigating into the Weddel Sea was changed due to the Ice conditions, so all 6 days were spent on the top and east side of the Antarctic peninsula. Especially the Gerlach Strait was amazing where we had great sunny weather and beautiful sunsets . One of the Highlights was Deception Island (a vulcano crater that you can enter with the ship) were I took a swim.
We did following landings/ excursions
– Weddell Sea Ice Cruise
– Browns Bluff
– Madder Cliffs
– Argentine Station Esperanza
– Gourdin Island
– Hydruga Rocks
– Foyn Harbour Zodica cruise
– Neko Harbour
– Useful Island
– Paradise Bay
– Desception Island
– Aitcho Island
I just add a couple of pictures below. More will follow when I am back home. Enjoy