February Reviews

The first landing

The trip was even better than expected... The highlight was crossing the polar circle and seeing ice bergs the size of skyscrapers--who knew ice could be so incredible!? The landscape was amazing--like walking around in a painting. And the wildlife was unreal! It was everywhere and so untouched. The people were fascinating--loved the diversity in age, country and interest. I learned a lot from them! Someday, I'll tell my grandchildren that I went to a place that was so untouched by man--that it was nature at its best. Biggest surprise was that our ship didn't have a stabilizer! Haha.

Oh so many! Kayaking up to an ice floe to stand on it, our Polar Plunge (!), watching humpback whales play near our zodiac, seeing the sea ice fracture beneath our ship's bow as we pushed farther South, and the cuteness and absolutely endearing quality of all of the penguins!

Outdoor Camping! And just how much wildlife is down there. Absolutely stunning

This is difficult as my adventure was filled with many memorable moments...but the first day after flying in will remain indelibly in my memories. We had cruised for 21 hours south in rough seas (at least for sea sick me it was rough!) That day I set foot on the continent of Antarctica, it was windy, snowy and blustery, everything I anticipated Antarctica should be! The gusting wind forced us to take a knee to avoid being blown over as we climbed up a small hill to our first penguin colony. That experience was quickly followed by our first whale citing during our zodiac back to the ship. But it was not one whale, oh no, it was 5 whales with a tremendous flock of birds hovering above tracking the leftover krill. You would think it would be difficult to beat this day but each day was as special in its own way as Antarctica shared its wonders with us!

The scenery and wildlife were terrific and it was a pleasure to meet with many of the passengers on the boat. The two big negative surprises were the Chinese school children party on the ship that seemed to constitute nearly 20% of the total passenger group. Not sure of we would have taken this particular voyage if we had known about this. Nothing is mentioned in any of the literature about school parties being on the voyages. The other negative was that we paid for the most expensive standard of cabin but the heating was not working in the cabin. It took a great deal of work to repair the heating unit and on the first evening the men called a halt to the work at 10:30pm as my wife was falling asleep while they worked in the cabin. The repairs were completed the next day. Major pipe and electrical work was needed. I would have thought checking that heating units worked before heading to Antarctica would have been standard practice.

We had 9 excursions in 5 days, 7 landings and 2 zodiacs. One of those zodiacs was supposed to be a landing but the tide wouldn’t allow us go ashore, so we did zodiacs instead at Heroina Island. I had lowered my expectations a bit since it was a plan B, but it was probably my favorite excursion of the trip! There were thousands of penguins all over the rocky island, some chilling, and many diving into the water in what seemed like swarms. We kept circling all of the action with dramatic waves crashing against the rocks as the penguins jumped with us safely and calmly very close by in the zodiac boat. Then a leopard seal came up right next to the boat and stuck his head up just to see what was going on, a little before we saw two whales surfacing side by side slightly in the distance. It was everything I could have hoped for and more.

Highlights: 7 species of penguins, wale watching, information given in the lectures, food on board. The people were nice and many charing also pictures and videos. The weather surprised us with lots of sunshine and one hurricane - the Drake was calm and smooth. A magical moment was a wale appearing right next to the zodiac and staying a while to be filmed.

Seeing tens of thousands of penguins going about their business, and realizing that I was irrelevant.

St Andrews Bay and the whales circling us while kayaking in Neko Harbour

While kayaking in Graham Passage I was lucky enough to witness a huge ice calving. Throughout the voyage there were so many whale sightings and even a few leopard seals.

Seeing my first large building-size iceberg in real life was heart-stopping. I also saw ice fields and tried to imagine what it is like when everything is frozen.

The majority of the trip was a memorable moment, but the giant, steaming pile of male elephant seals was incredible! Got some great video of them "talking" to each other. Also got some great video of a close-up humpback whale slapping his fins back and forth.

The abundance of wildlife and incredible scenery made each day uniquely memorable.

This is so difficult because there were so many memorable moments. I think the one that will stick with me for the rest of my life, and the one that had me feeling the most emotions, was the sunset near Liard Island. We had just crossed the Antarctic Circle and the captain held us stationary as we watched the sunset. The sounds of whales were all around us and the light was perfect. I’m a sucker for sunsets and this one brought tears to my eyes. I will never forget this moment!

Kayaking south of the Antarctic Circle.

Seeing sea ice south of the Antarctic Circle.

Camping out with friends

Very difficult to choose. Probably the first Zodiac excursion but the night there were around 25 humpbacks feeding all around the ship flipping flukes and lunging was spectacular.

A very spiritual moment standing alone amongst thousands of penguins, seals, and nesting birds as I realized that because of man's efforts the many travesties of the past devastation are being (at least to some degree) reversed. We can make a difference, and this incredible world is worth it!