Antarctica Cruise

 Up at 4.30 am, we were ready to go at 5am, and despite the strong recommendations to take a hotel are for the modest sum of USD 85, we summoned a taxi. We were still ripped off at USD 50, but we had little bargaining power and just wanted to get to the airport, which we did in about 30 mins. As explained in earlier posts, scheduled departure times are indicative only, and once again we experienced a delay of a bit over an hour. We arrived in Santiago, Chile with about an hour and 40 mins before our Qantas flight, so thought there should be enough time to transfer our luggage, plus, we new we could count on a delay. The Qantas departure was only delayed 40 mins, but the Captain was confident he could catch up the time, which he did. getting us in early. Our flight experience was not quite the one we had flying over. Premium Economy had comfortable seats and good legroom, but the food was inedible. our first meal was a chicken, rice and vegetable dish with the driest most bland chic...

 Today we disembark from what has been a wonderful cruise. Our flight to Buenos Aires is not until 12.30 pm, so we signed up for an optional tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park this morning to fill in time. Unfortunately, this meant we were first to disembark at 7 am, as the tour goes for about 3.5 hours. We had a short wait for our bus to arrive before we were on our way through the streets of Ushuaia heading for the National Park. Ushuaia's main claim to fame is that is the Southern most city in the World, so everything our guide pointed out to us was the Southern most something. This included the World's Southern most golf course, a nine hole course that apparently attracts enthusiasts from around the World. It was then the World's Southern most Rugby Club. Even though they were playing soccer on the Rugby ground, we are told that Rugby is a strongly supported sport in Ushaia As we approached the National Park, our guide gave us a bit of a history lesson on the develo...

The seas in the Drake Passage settled last night and our final sail to Ushuaia was relatively comfortable, with flatter seas, but strong winds. It was easy going on Viking Octantis, but if you went out onto the deck, you felt the full force of the wind. We also experienced light rain for all of the morning and early afternoon, so going outside for a bit of exercise was not an attractive option. To fill in the day, tours of the hangar and laboratory  have been organised for early afternoon. They were both widely supported, so there was a bit of a line up, particularly for the lab that could only accommodate about 25 visitors at a time. The tour of the hangar was a lot easier as it is a very larger area and a number of the expedition crew we on hand to answer questions as we were free to roam around. At the entry to the hangar, one of the Science team was there to explain to us the role of one of their pieces of equipment that is located in the hangar. It is called a Ferry Box but is...

Early progress out of the Antarctic Circle was relatively calm. I could see from Marine Traffic that we passed our sister ship, Viking Polaris, in the early hours of the morning as she was heading down to Antarctica. The next few days will be easy going onboard with hopefully friendly seas. We went to a lecture at 11 am by the Chief Staff Officer which provided us with some very interesting information about the construction of Viking Octantis, and showed us a time lapsed video of the process. Some considerable detail was also given about some of the features of the ship and the advanced technology used on board. The stabilising systems were of particular interest. Vikings two expedition ships were built specifically to cruise the Arctic, Antarctic and the US Great Lakes. The beam of the vessels was designed to allow it to pass through the lock systems there, with minimum clearance. The photo he showed highlights this Entering the Great Lakes  The chefs put in a big effort today fo...