No need for any Jr. Modding- report any posts that need attention instead.
Thanks.
I’d love to hear this as well. I’d love to travel all over the world on bird-watching tours so I’ll have to enjoy yours vicariously!
Did you listen to this when you were down there?
**How did you organize the trip? I’m assuming it was a package deal, sort of like when booking a Caribbean or Alaskan cruise. Since I’ve done neither I’m not sure how such things are arranged. If I recall you live in Oregon, as do I. There are some direct flights from PDX to Santiago, which would make the travel easier. **
It was marketed as a complete trip, with an air special and no added solo traveler fee. I flew from Oregon to Utah to Georgia to Santiago, Chile, then after an included hotel night, to Punta Arenas to embark. On the cruise itself, most activities (Zodiac cruising, landings, lectures, movies, meals) were included (a few had additional fees; I opted to add snowshoeing and kayaking), as well as meals (soda and alcohol not included, but drink prices were reasonable and soup, rolls, tea, coffee, and cookies were available in the afternoon). All landings were restricted and structured. I saw not one speck of trash–everyone was very careful.
For those familiar with cruising, I’ll say that there were pretty much no non-Antarctica-related lectures or movies (other than one about Norway, which is the ship’s other route and a couple about the ship itself). No dancing, no magicians, no plays, no star-spangled musicals. There was a napkin-folding demo and a crew talent show, and a little music in the lounge. Two jacuzzis and a sauna; no pool.
The return trip was delayed by a day because of the shutdown at ATL. My travel insurance will presumably cover my extra hotel night in Santiago. I was rerouted through Seattle.
**Did you get any souvenirs? Or mail a letter to yourself so you have something with an Antarctica cancellation mark? Is there such a thing as Antarctica postage stamps or does mail from the station you visited use standard British postage? I couldn’t do a trip like that without getting both. **
I got a tee shirt (the ungrammatical “I went to the Antarctica” legend sold me) and mug with a leucistic gentoo penguin (which penguin I saw in person as well) at Videla base, and a couple of dish towels with gentoos when the ladies of Port Lockroy were aboard. There were a few other options, but this was what I liked. I had bought postcards in Punta Arenas, and I mailed them using British Antarctic Territorial stamps. They should be franked at Port Lockroy with an Antarctica cancellation. I sent one to my wife, but not to myself. It will wind up in my journal, though. The ship had a little shop where I bought a thermos with a penguin on it for friends, and a photography handbook for myself.
Our passports were stamped unofficially at 3 bases and Cape Horn, unless one opted out.
Do you know how often these ships land? I have the impression that most workers at Antarctic research stations are pretty isolated and don’t see visitors. However, from post #11 I get the feeling that ships arrive with some regularity. I wonder if the workers get tired of seeing tourists or if they’re a nice break in the routine.
I don’t, but there are about 40,000 tourists a year, most, I assume, to the peninsula. Those bases, which seem mostly to be summer-only bases, appear to exist to stake the country’s claim as much as anything else. The main continental bases are pretty busy in summer and do get some visitors, but are depopulated and inaccessible in winter.
**She wants to get all of the big adventure trips out of the way while she’s still young, and then she’ll do the boring places like Europe once she gets old. **
That’s my strategy at, the moment. I normally volunteer in Cambodia, but I’m still too close to my surgery and the risk of developing lymphedema to put myself in hot, insect-rich environments with poor medical facilities.
Next year North Sentinel Island?
Beautiful Indian Ocean island with naked natives dancing with joy over your arrival.
Not my idea of a good time. As a tourist, I want to go where I’m wanted.
has all of your other travel been bird-related? If so, is this job-related? Or do you travel on some other business? Or do you just have restless feet? And, did you get tired of being cold in Antarctica?
I try to get at least one bird tour in when I travel. This is often a half-day with a local guide. I like to see the birds, but also like to see where the birds are, which typically includes environments that aren’t on a normal tourist itinerary, like dumps, waste treatment plants, and the edges of military facilities. Bird guides are usually very willing to discuss issues like pollution, threats to the environment, government policies, access to education, and social inequalities, unlike the blander commentary provided by more official guides.
Did you listen to this when you were down there?**
This would be more to the point: How to Make a Penguin Rice Krispies Treat - YouTube
I listened to Maria Semple’s *Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness again, and Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s The Worst Journey in the World, as well as reading David Brin’s Existence. * I started listening to Lois McMaster Bujold’s Mirror Dance (Vorkosigan Saga #8) on the way home. I sat on a rock overlooking penguins and an icy bay and listened to Brian Eno’s *Music for Airports *for personal symbolic reasons.
Or do you just have restless feet? And, did you get tired of being cold in Antarctica?
I do get restless feet, and my delightful spouse supports periodic solo travel, as long as I also show her a good time with destinations that she finds more appealing.
Antarctica wasn’t really colder than Cascadia, and I had good gear.
Have you ever read Kim Robinson’s Antarctica?
You said upthread there’s no running water. What are living conditions like otherwise? Do Antarcticans live in igloo-like structures?
They even give visitors hand made, locally crafted spears and arrows as souvenirs.
Have you ever read Kim Robinson’s Antarctica?
I haven’t, but I like KSR. Should I?
You said upthread there’s no running water. What are living conditions like otherwise? Do Antarcticans live in igloo-like structures?
Port Lockroy doesn’t have running water, and I’d think that was also true of some of the other small summer bases. Some do have water. The structures are buildings, some more attracticve than others.
The year-round bases are more developed. Here’s McMurdo.
If you like his writing then absolutely, especially given that you were just there. It’s a good book, and he heavily researched it by going there and interacting with the people that live there and the environment. The words he used to describe ice formations, for instance, was exhaustive. There’s no way he learned that stuff without having been there and talking to people about the different kinds of ice and snow (amongst other things).
Thank you. That sounds like a good one to add to my reading list.
No sweat. His most recent book, New York, 2140 is also very, very good. A lot of people accuse him of being somewhat preachy with his environmental views, but I like those elements in his novels…because we are facing massive climate change in real life.
My copy of KSR’s Antarctica arrived today, though it will need to wait its turn.
Though nobody has asked yet, here’s my wildlife list. I’ve checked it against the ship’s official list and they accord quite well:
Diomedea exulans (wandering albatross)
Diomedea (or Thalassarche) melanophrys (black-browed albatross)
Phoebetria fusca (sooty albatross)
Phoebetria palpebrata (light-mantled sooty albatross)
Macronectes giganteus (giant petrel)
Fulmarus glacialoides (southern fulmar)
Daption capense (cape [pintado] petrel)
?Halobaena caerulea (blue petrel)
? Pachyptila desolata (Antarctic prion)
Puffinus griseus (sooty shearwater)
Pagodroma nivea (snow petrel)
Oceanites oceanicus (Wilson’s storm-petrel)
Pygoscelis papua (gentoo penguin)
Pygoscelis antarctica (chinstrap penguin)
Pygoscelis adeliae (adelie penguin)
Spheniscus magellanicus (magellanic penguin)
Phalacrocorax brasilianus (neotropic cormorant)
Phalacrocorax magellanicus (rock cormorant)
Phalacrocorax atriceps (blue-eyed [imperial] cormorant)
Phalacrocorax bransfieldensis (Antarctic shag)
Chloephaga picta (upland goose)
Chloephaga hybrid (kelp goose)
Vultur gryphus (Andean condor)
Phalcoboenus australis (striated caracara)
Vanellus chilensis (southern lapwing)
Chionis alba (snowy [pale-faced] sheathbill)
Catharacta skua antarcticus (brown skua)
Catharacta skua chilensis (Chilean skua)
Larus dominicanus (kelp gull)
Sterna hirundinacea (South American tern)
Sterna vittata (Antarctic tern)
Cinclodes fuscus (bar-winged cinclodes)
Hymenops perspicillata (spectacled tyrant)
Sicalis luteola (grassland finch)
Zonotrichia capensis (rufous-collared sparrow)
Lagenorhynchus obscurus (dusky dolphin)
Otaria flavescdns (South American sea lion)
Mirounga leonine (southern elephant seal)
Arctocephalus gazelle (Antarctic fur seal)
Leptonychotes weddellii (Weddell seal)
Balaenoptera physalus (fin whale)
Megaptera novaeanhliae (humpback whale)
Eubalaena australis (southern right whale)
When can I expect to receive my souvenir tee shirt?
“I Survived Antarctica And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt”?
**When can I expect to receive my souvenir tee shirt? **
Sorry, Ranger Jeff. My luggage weight was restricted by the LATAM flights between Punta Arenas and Santiago. When I post photos, I’ll make sure you have a link to a photo of me wearing a tee shirt that says “Hurtigruten–ice cold swimming in Antarctica.”
Jesus Christ. Well…we’re right on our way to taking care of that, aren’t we?
Also, if I might politely add, watch Netflix’s “The Hunt” narrated by David Attenborough. You’ll love it, trust me.
The filming looks good. Thanks for the recommendation. Fortunately, I did not see cute little penguins being swung around by leopard seals until they were inverted, though I wouldn’t have minded seeing a leopard seal in and of itself.
It’s easy to make a good dent in the Antarctic species viewing list, though the prions are infernally difficult to differentiate. As soon as you hit South America, though, it’s profuse.
Let’s see if this works well enough:
Adelie penguin and elephant seals https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_EYTUaZRpto/WkfiDEQtDAI/AAAAAAAABpE/6IxJQsw58bAJ6Ib1RcVCCvwK3Ab2i9mcACLcBGAs/s1600/Adelie.jpg
Cape Horn memorial https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HPM6-TjC_nQ/WkfiCy9FIqI/AAAAAAAABo8/AU1fhg0NPawqv27830XmvLMI0YGhmq6_wCLcBGAs/s1600/Albatross%2Bmemorial.jpg
Antarctic shag https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t44QGvV-m4I/WkfiCx_7OEI/AAAAAAAABpA/Wxay2PkAVkQE2e50f7IFgjFi_WFAh2VqQCLcBGAs/s1600/Antarctic%2Bshag%2B2.jpg
Cape petrel (“pintado”) https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0byFEQ39peo/WkfiEONU9RI/AAAAAAAABpU/OPXfNwMsFFMDDkrZqSfXR3TWQsiRYGjMQCLcBGAs/s1600/Cape%2Bpetrel%2B%2528%2527pintado%2527%2529.jpg
Striated Caracara https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQJFghVFFWU/WkfiEMuHtSI/AAAAAAAABpQ/-4sdRAvc0jACaNzfe5wf5JwkJGqVOTD1ACLcBGAs/s1600/Caracara.jpg
Chinstrap penguin https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mb1w94LRTe8/WkfiEeo60UI/AAAAAAAABpY/Oo8Qh_KjBd8K2SdHr649h_1OO2Jr4MbaQCLcBGAs/s1600/Chinstrap%2B2.jpg
Chinstraps with ship https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CMiyAMPo--8/WkfiFBBMjEI/AAAAAAAABpc/XlvnzFMv3yEdFBh18Oje2uwoLtUSw-4XQCLcBGAs/s1600/Chinstraps%2Bwith%2Bship.jpg
Gentoo penguin with pebble https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h4Ux_60EWnI/WkfiFyCNA3I/AAAAAAAABpk/cbOga6c1A5IVm_o7X6P6hbMJh3Q_gre0ACLcBGAs/s1600/Gentoo%2Bwith%2Bpebble.jpg
Humpbacks with Zodiac https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vKr2N2b81XQ/WkfiJk9aTdI/AAAAAAAABqM/zHINZYykU6gkakHQ7YDkQtEGFn-pvOgpgCLcBGAs/s1600/Humpbacks%2Bwith%2BZodiac.jpg
Leucistic Gentoo penguin https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKTw-_Bfl80/WkfiMeftzsI/AAAAAAAABqg/2WC7KNyHNHwGPtW7akxtQpnJKs5-VgT_gCLcBGAs/s1600/Leucistic%2Bgentoo.jpg
Penguin porpoising https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TH9LhFv1LCk/WkfiOpkLWcI/AAAAAAAABq4/tfVYohf9i_kUtbbjN1rw4zqU8xx7FjD1ACLcBGAs/s1600/Penguin%2Bporpoising.jpg
Antarctic polar plunge https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sYKOyvH68KE/WkfiO7UyMHI/AAAAAAAABq8/DdCv0GdyrfAL8oVIZob-LgK7MhCu5_ttwCLcBGAs/s1600/Polar%2Bplunge%2B2.jpg
Snowy (pale-faced) sheathbill https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZvpDCtPpMuI/WkfiRzKUsXI/AAAAAAAABrc/QwEbIfOBr10-FDwIknT0ZNEEt-j3eBP7ACLcBGAs/s1600/Snowy%2Bsheathbill%2B2.jpg
South American sea lions and striated caracara https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dl_XNPM2yHw/WkfiTME3nRI/AAAAAAAABro/eabREWXzZLUyQ0uDpCQyQlPnCCTsVhOrwCLcBGAs/s1600/South%2BAmerican%2Bsea%2Blions%2B%2Band%2Bcaracara.jpg
Three humpbacks https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-00ULihFeroM/WkfiT1ebp6I/AAAAAAAABrw/hZXaOZQlYLMWGVtlLpaRXkD6uXicx5rIQCLcBGAs/s1600/Three%2Bhumpbacks.jpg
Wandering albatross https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hlqPyysMBuM/WkfiULnEPUI/AAAAAAAABr0/syzTA36ZTYgGp0Gg3_1uGpnfgjezvmU4wCLcBGAs/s1600/Wandering%2Balbatross.jpg
