Antarctica – November 20 – November 30, 2025

Day one of my trip on Aurora Expeditions was checking into the hotel in Ushuaia, Argentina.  Upon arrival at the airport in Ushuaia I was met by an Aurora representative.  There were also three girls which we were waiting for and they happened to be sisters from New York who were going to their 7th continent!  The one sister, Nadia, had a shirt on that said “I had my Patience tested I’m Negative.”  After asking to take a photo of the shirt, we ended up on the same bus and expedition to Antarctica!  The four of us waited for the fifth member of our group prior to boarding the bus to our hotel.  The Aurora representative went to make some calls to find this straggler only to find out that he came in a day earlier!  On the bus we went, and off to our hotel in Ushuaia.  The bus was a coach bus and we had a guide for the 20 minute ride to our hotel on the outskirts of Ushuaia.  The hotel was very nice and sat on the top of the hill overlooking the harbor and you could see Chile.  Chile is on the other side of the harbor but still cool to see the other country.  Ushuaia is the southern most city in the world and also the end of the Trans-American highway.  It had snowed the day before my arrival so the mountains to the north of the city were snowcapped.

Day two of the trip I loaded my bags into the lobby area of the hotel and headed to the bus for a tour of Tierra del Fuego, the state that Ushuaia is located.  The bus trip was nice and we had a local lunch with most of the ships passengers, 3 bus loads.  The bus finally got us to the dock at about 3pm and we loaded up on the Sylvia Earle, our home for the next few days.  One of the things that the bus ride did for me was it allowed me to meet additional passengers prior to sailing on the ship.  The ship had the day’s itinerary on the TV and it showed we had some meetings and dinner.  I also had time to unpack my bags into my cabin.  The cabin was very nice and since I was a single/solo there was plenty of space to put all of my stuff.  Aurora provided each passenger with a metal water bottle, and an expedition coat.  The coat was actually two coats one being a thick puffer and the other was a waterproof outer shell.  During the meeting we met the leaders of the ship, and the entire expedition crew.  The expedition crew was experienced and everyone was looking forward to hitting the seas towards Antarctica.  We had dinner on the boat and it was open seating and the expedition crew even sat with the passengers.  Dinner happened while we were sailing in the Beagle Channel, very calm waters, between Argentina and Chile.  The expedition crew leader, Ashley, told us we were lucky as the Drake Passage was not going to be rough for the next two days, but we had two and one half days to transit the Drake.  All passengers were very happy about the “calm” seas.

Day three and four  were days at sea.  The expedition crew used that time to prep everyone on what was to come with various presentations on Antarctica and the animal life we would be encountering.  The skiing, kayaking, and snow shoeing teams had additional safety meetings to attend as their journey was much more dangerous than those of us mortals just going on zodiacs, and walking on land.  Note is that when I go back I will do snow shoeing.

Day five we made it to Antarctica!  Our first landing was Demoy Point on Wiencke Island.  The loading was by cabin number to keep the “mud room” from being overly crowded and as luck would have it my cabin was in the first group called.  I was ready with my layers, waterproof pants, my two new coats, and the muck boots provided by the ship.  Cecilia scanned us out of the boat, she always had great music going in the mud room, onto the zodiac I went.  It was ruff seas and plenty of splashing of water when we were causing to the landing spot.  Upon making the landing spot we had to get into the water, shin deep, and then rocks followed by snow.  The original landing site was not able to be used due to the ice so we had an alternative site.  The new site had us hike in a zig zag fashion today the historic hut.  Being the first group onto land our expedition leader Ashley lead the way up and over the hill to our destination.  The part that about killed me was that the snow was not very compact and about every third step I would sink up to my knees in snow!  Needless to say I was thinking to myself, “what did I get myself into on this journey?,” but I did push through.  One point in the journey, I fell behind the first crew and people walked by me saying hello but nobody was asking if I needed any help, thanks friends.  About a quarter of the way to the hut, I got both feet stuck into the snow and could not get out so I rolled down the hill a bit and got out of the snow, again nobody helped but thankfully nobody took video/photos.  Spent I did make it to the hut and it was interesting to see how people lived in the hut waiting on planes to arrive, very primitive.  The walk back was much better as the snow was compacted and I did not have such a hard time.  Making it back to the zodiac for the ride back to ship, I stopped by a “penguin highway” to observe the little flightless birds.  Finally, I made the zodiac to return to the ship.  Once back on the ship Cecilia, checked us back on (the scan on/off is a safety measure to ensure nobody is left behind) and boots taken off.  Back in my cabin I got out of the sweat soaked clothes and changed for lunch.  The bathroom floor was heated and you could put your wet clothes on the floor to dry but with the size of my clothes and the bathroom floor I could put a shirt or pants on the floor but not both unless I wrapped one around the toilet.  One at a time I went.  Lunch allowed for a movement of the boat to the next spot, a zodiac trip.  The zodiac trip for me was a photography zodiac.  There were two photography zodiac’s for each zodiac trip.  One of the zodiacs held the resident photographer, Carlos from Ushuaia, and the other was the “professional” who was a guest.  The difference between a photography and regular zodiac is that we sometimes were on site of something for a longer period of time and we could stand up when the zodiac was stopped.  One side of the zodiac stayed seated, went down on knees and the other side could stand allowing everyone a good view of the item to photograph.  That evening we transited the Lemaire Channel.  The channel is beautiful with fjords/snow on each side of the channel and our boat going through.  The ships passengers went onto the bow of the boat on level eight and watched us go through this most beautiful channel.  If I were to say it is the most beautiful place on earth others would have other places that are beautiful but this is top 10.  The day ended with the sunset that was late and stunning in color.  

Day six started with a zodiac cruise and me on the photography zodiac.  The cruise was on Pleneau Island and Booth Island Bay.  The sun was out and no clouds in the sky so the ice had many reflections!  We also saw Gentoo Penguins and Lion Seals this day on our cruise.  The island is a place not visited often on Antarctic expeditions so we were very lucky to explore around the island on our zodiacs.  The polar plunge was to have happened here but with the lion seal around it was decided that we best not send 76 people in the water one at a time, so it was postponed.  In the afternoon we went to Peterman Island and that was our Southern most point.  We saw Gentoo and even an Adélie penguins on the island.

Day seven was the day for our landing to Port Lockroy so we had someone from the British Expedition team (6 people live there for the season) come onto the ship and talk about the port prior to us heading out.  The young lady who spoke with us stated that her father once lived at Port Lockroy and she was doing it to be closer to her father.  The landing at Port Lockroy was limited to 30 people since the Gentoo penguins were in abundance and they had eggs.  The eggs meant that we were to keep a further distance from the penguins and the landing area was limited in size.  I got to see my first penguin egg, dropped off post cards and also purchased some items from the gift shop.  After we were done with Port Lockroy we went to Jougla Point.  Jougla Point we saw more Gentoo penguins and even a lion seal on the landing area.  We also had a couple get engaged!  I saw it happening and it was very special for the young couple.  Go Leo for thinking of this as the place to get engaged.  The afternoon we went on shore at Paradise Harbor.  Icebergs were plentiful here and also humpback whales were seen. The days were flying by at this point with the wakeup call being about 0600 and hitting the exploration by 0900.  The nights were ending around 2200 and if you wanted to see the sunset it was as late at 2300 or sunrise at 0330.  I was starting to drag a little from lack of sleep but was having too much fun to stop and sleep.

Day eight, November 27, Foyn Harbor was the first stop with a zodiac photography trip.  The harbor is an historic whaling harbor in Wilhelmina bay.  The bay is home to the grounded whale processing ship Governoren which sank.  The Governoren was a processing ship that was full of whale oil and the captain allowed the crew to have a part to celebrate the boat being full and an offload going to happen.  Well as things happen the party was below decks and someone knocked an oil lamp over that then caused the oil on the boat to ignite.  A full boat of oil will burn a great deal so the captain had the ship grounded ensuring that all sailors can get off the ship and not die.  The ship is still there in all its glory.  We also so some smaller whaling boats while on the cruise.  A Russian sailboat, about 150 feet long, was “hiding” in a bay near the Governoren.  The people on board said they were on a scientific mission but I doubt it as they were flicking their cigarette butts into the water.  Last year the boat was seen taking drone footage in Antarctica.  We did not stick around long but went looking for other things to photograph.  A whale was spotted and we had to stay in place since our zodiac was on the far side of the whale between us and the Sylvia Earle.  Darn, we had to take more photos of the whale.  Once back on the ship we all started to prepare for the polar plunge!  I got into my swimsuit as I did not want to go in my birthday suit since shrinkage was going to be a big factor.  The ship asked us to put the bathrobe on from the cabin, but mine was like a straight jacket.  I could not get it on and getting it off was even harder so I had a cape to wear.  The number of passengers was 76 and that meant that only 30 passengers did not do the plunge.  It took a long time for everyone to do the plunge about 3-4 minutes per passenger but we all did it.  One passenger did the plunge twice, Brian, since he fell in the first time.  I have to say that the water was cold and anyone who does the plunge on New Years day in North America and says it is cold well the 40’s or 50’s Fahrenheit  that your water is and the air temperature being in the 30’s is not close to what we endured in Antarctica.  The air temperature was in the low 30’s and the water temperature was 32 degrees Fahrenheit!  I am glad I did the plunge as it allowed me to get the next to last ocean in the five for me.  Portal Point with its Gentoo penguins was our send stop for the day.  The continent of Antarctica was had marking my 6th continent!

Day nine, November 28, is our last day in Antarctica before we head across the Drake once again.  It started with a zodiac cruise through Graham Passage.  Once again I had the pleasure of a photographic zodiac.  I was not disappointed in the zodiac trip.  We watched a couple of whales, tried photos down low with the ice field, saw an iceberg roll over and also some of the largest most spectacular icebergs you could imagine.  The zodiac trip surely is a driving point of me wanting to come back to Antarctica.  The afternoon was a landing on Palaver Point/Two Hummock Island.  Here I was able to walk to see a couple of different penguin colonies of the third type of penguin we saw the Chinstrap penguin.  The hike here was much easier on the way up but going down was a zig zag hike as it was had and slick.  It was exciting seeing the Chinstraps but also bitter sweet as it was our last stop in Antarctica.

Day ten – twelve, November 29 – December 1, was our trip back across the Drake Passage.  The trip back was a bit more rough as the Drake Passage was making us pay for the easy way down south.  The waves were 3-4 times higher going North due to a storm.  The up and down of the waves was not too bad but the side to side is what I think got most people.  Many times on the way home the dining room was empty as people did not want to leave their cabins.  I powered on and ate well everyday.  We did have some talks about Antarctica and various things during our time going back to Ushuaia.  The trip even ended, the last night, with some of the expedition crew and passengers singing karaoke!  The karaoke went until after midnight but all had a ball.  The last night, day eleven we had to pack our bags as day twelve was breakfast and disembarking from the ship.  Aurora had various buses for us and everyone had to have their bags outside the room by 0900 and we were off the ship by 1100.

I have to say that the trip was worth every penny that I spent.  The other passengers on the trip were wonderful and the expedition crew was top notch.  Our wait staff in the restaurant were wonderful and even provided cakes and singing for anyone who had a birthday on the journey.  My cabin steward, was top notch as well.  One thing I really liked was the cabin steward, and front desk clerks all learned my name within the first two days.  The desk clerks said hi to you each time you went by the desk.  It was “Hi Mr. Jason” as I think that Stefanides was hard for them as English was a second language for them.  When goodbye was said to other passengers some it was not goodbye but until we meet again.  I created a WhatsApp group chat for some of us passengers.  This group is around a little spoon, and that is another story for another time.