gone living

Beagle Channel

It's my first evening on board the Orlova. The sea is calm, the evening was beautiful and low-wind when viewed from the bow of the ship, and I watched the land (islands?) roll by as a fellow passengers related the history of Tierra Del Fuego, conjuring up the images of the native Fuegians coated in a glistening layer of seal oil, lighting fires from on top of the mountains when they were first sighted by Magellan.

This morning started in my Ushuaia hostel with a packing panic, as I shrunk my backpack by putting all nonessentials into a large plastic bag and storing it at the hostel for my return. I then went down to the Albatross Hotel to catch the briefing by the Quark staff (where I realized that my ship is Quark's last sailing to Antarctica this season!), and hopped on the bus for the must forgettable tour (at least it was well-organized, but quite sterile) that i've taken on this trip.

After our tour was completed, we had a few hours to "explore Ushuaia" (ie. go to the internet cafe and surf the web for a while), then we headed down to the Antarctic termial for the briefest of customs inspections (since our ship wasn't visiting Chile or any other countries, and Antarctica isn't a country of its own, we were technically staying in Argentina the entire time), and finally hopped on board the Orlova to head out through the Beagle Channel, escorted by a "pilot boat" for some historical and probably-quite-obselete reason until we made it out of the channel.

"It’s unpleasantly like being drunk."
"What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?"
"You ask a glass of water."

- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Drake Passage

Passengers are still stagering through the halls and stairwells as the winds pick up or fall off as conditions change. Luckily we should be out of the Drake Passage tomorrow and should be at Deception Island at last!

I just finished attending a great lecture of early Antarctic history from our ship's historian, John, and while my near-indefeatable Dutch roommate has headed up to the top deck for a Bird ID session, i'm headed downstairs for the first nap of the day at 10:30am. Whether it's the constant rocking of the boat, the anti-seasickness medication i've been taking, or just a desire to avoid having to sit around and feel the constant rocking of the ship, i've been taking a lot of naps lately. Judging from the lackluster attendance in the dining room at mealtimes, i'd say a fair amout of passengers are doing the same thing.

i just showed up in ushuaia and bought tickets on the spot in Ushuaia for a ship on Quark Expeditions from Turismo Ushuaia for the same price as they normally cost from Quark (i believe it was around $3,000-4,000 USD). Quark doesn't offer discounts, but Turismo Ushuaia offers free winter jacket/pants/boots rental with the cost of a ticket from them (also note info on them at http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Antarctica/Packing_Lists-Antarctica-BR-1.html). note you need to have travel insurance in order to get the ticket -- i recommend buying a policy from Seven Corners before you leave. they are cheap and have great coverage, i used them for my whole trip. but you cant get it after you leave, so plan ahead.

if you speak fluent spanish, some of the other ships might be more young/party oriented, since Quark's crowd tends to be older (read: the average age is close to senior citizen age), but they are top-notch with regards to ship quality, number of landings/day, briefings and lectures. and theres usually enough younger folks as well along to keep it interesting. and they have cool hikes etc. I strongly recommend Quark.