Thursday, Dec 5, 2024 departed Atlanta

Friday, December 6th - Made it in to Beunos Aires. Delta made up some time from their delay. Delta One was money, slept 9 hours.

Upon landing, we were retieved by our guide. We toured the city, lunch and afternoon walk through the cemetery.

Beautiful and very large city!

Had a wonderful lunch, best steak in a long time.

Argentina marked my 50th country visited.

Achieved reaching 50 countries ahead of my 50th birthday later this month.

Sea day - first full day on Ultramarine

Easy morning, got some sleep after a very long week.

The Drake Passage has been calm thus far, slight rolling seas. I’ve got on a patch and been taking Bonine. So far so good! The Drake Lake! Pray it holds.

The Ultramarine is a great ship!

They allow you to visit the bridge while we are in motion. Very cool experience, most ships do not allow it but for a walkthrough.

Had ship briefing on penguins.

Lunch at The Bistro and visited with one of the 4 helicopter pilots.

Briefing on zodiacs.

Briefing on mammals.

Bio-security preformed on anything that we take to the continent.

Tonight the Sun will set around midnight and it will be dusk until 230 am, it will never get fully dark.

Second sea day

We got to sleep in, had breakfast. You can tell the temperature has dropped but the seas thankfully are calm. The crew continues to comment how lucky we have been though they won’t say much on our return to Argentina.

Briefing / history on Belgica Expedition in 1897

First sight of land, little after noon.

Massive icebergs al around us. We can see large rocks coming up from the sea on approach.

The temperature has plunged and winds are unbelievable.

This afternoon we can start to see land, we can see large mountains.

Passed an iceberg with penguins on it. The ship is weaving around large icebergs.

It has snowed throughout the day.

We are now sailing south along the \240Antartica peninsula.

We are set to make the first landing tomorrow!

Tonight, I joined the Smyrna City Council meeting remotely. I am surely the only person to ever join a council meeting from Antartica.

Preparing for landing and tour this morning, we are set to have two excursions today.

We arrived at Mikkelson Harbor, it is snowing and 32 degrees.

Seas last night were rough, but it is like a lake now.

Should be a great day!

I have one about 5 layers of clothes!

We traveled to Curtiss Bay, it was truly stunning. Huge ice mountains, ice field and icebergs. Beautiful place, we sat for a few minutes and listened to it all. We could hear whales communicating with each other.

Took the polar plunge! It was beyond cold and jarring but cool to do! And it is done!!! 60% of the ship did it.

Today we saw:

Penguins

Humpback whales

Seals

Bird- any birds

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Major bucket list items!

I have a big birthday coming next week, had a goal of reaching all 50 states, 50 countries and all seven continents before my 50th birthday.

Mission accomplished!!

Overnight we sailed to the Weddell Sea

This morning we got to see Brown Bluf - amazing beauty f

Sailing towards Antarctic Sound

Beautiful day, blue sky, temp is right at freezing. Winds are high.

Briefing on ice this morning

Giant ice sheets in every direction.

We visited Andersson Island - another amazing site!

Low key day, this afternoon we toured the area near our ship via helicopter.

Great day and an amazing night!

As we had dinner, the ship sailed and maneuvered around massive ice - all were many times the size of the ship.

Following dinner we watched the captain sail the ship through a deadly maze of ice.

We happened upon an emperor penguin!

Overnight we traveled to the Erebus & Terror Gulf.

It is mostly sunny, temperature around 34 degrees.

The ship is surrounded by enormous icebergs and icesheets.

We are visiting Paulet Island, it is home to over 100,000 Adelie Penguins.

The afternoon we stopped at a bay near the Antarctic Sound, we took the zodiac boats to see another penguin colony, sea ice and glaciers.

Got to see a leopard seal.

Great day!

We have a briefing after dinner on tomorrow’s adventure.

Overnight we sailed to Charcot Bay.

It is snowing and the temperature is 29 degrees.

This morning we head out on a zodiac cruise in the bay. We saw several penguin colonies and several seals.

The enormous bay was largely frozen and there was a large glacier.

This afternoon we sailed to the Bransfield Straight and Tower Island. This afternoon w went for a zodiac cruise. We saw much wildlife and saw massive formations rising from the sea. You could get some perspective seeing the snow and ice on top of the massive mountain range that made up Zig Zag Island.

Having a recap this evening on the wildlife and geology of the day.

The sea was angry this afternoon! Huge swells but the crew did a great job of keeping us safe.

Awesome day!

Today we sailed to Charlotte Bay and Portal Point.

It has been snowing all day, temperature is 31 degrees.

We took a zodiac cruise and saw many icebergs. saw penguins and a humpback whale. The humpback put on a show, breaching at least a dozen times.

Portal Point offered grand views and a hike in deep snow.

It was our final landing of the expedition and it was grand.

This afternoon we traveled to Graham Passage for the last landing. We traversed the bay via zodiac and saw several enormous icebergs. The snow was coming down and visibility was very low.

We have a briefing in a bit.

We start out across the Drake Passage tonight and for the next two days. We know it will be rougher than the journey on the way down.

Hoping for the best!

The Drake Shake!!!!

Today we should reach the midpoint across the Drake Passage.

We definitely had an easy trek south, we are experiencing huge swells.

As you travel throughout the ship you must hold a rail. Good number of the guest are holdup in their staterooms.

Briefing on northwest passage expedition.

A low key day on the ship.

Update: Drake passage is rough tonight

Rolling from all directions!

Waves about 10 feet tall. I was on the bridge and waves crashed into the bow, massive mist hit the bridge.

Drake Passage - day 2

Huge waves all night, the is morning they seem to be even bigger. We should reach the Channell this evening and it should be smooth sailing.

Briefing this morning on the Antarctic Treaty

Early this morning, arrived back in Ushuaia for disembarkion.

Visiting Tierra Del Fuego National Park this morning

Late morning head to Buenos Aires then on to Atlanta tonight

Absolutely wonderful expedition, exceeded all expectations!

Huge thanks to Quark Expeditions!!!