Fly to Ushuaia and board Viking Octantis
Fortunately we weren't the first of 3 charter flights that Viking had organised to take us to Ushuaia to meet the Viking Octantis. We were second in line which allowed us another 30 minutes sleep.
We had to be checked out, devour a light takeaway breakfast and be ready to board a bus to the airport at 6.20am. All of which we and our fellow group members achieved easily.
On arriving at the airport we experienced the usual delays of getting through security (Viking had completed the check in procedure for us). It soon became clear that the flight may be delayed, even though it was a Charter. Boarding was completed an hour before we left, the reason for the takeoff delay was unclear.
It is a 3 hour and 10 minute flight to Ushuaia, so we now expect to arrive at around 12.30 pm, which is actually what happened. So we were a bit over 30 mins behind scheduled time.
Descending into Ushuaia is spectacular, you break through the clouds and all of a sudden the snow capped Andes mountains are right beside you. Landing was faultless and after a bit of a delay to get baggage, we were on our way to the Port of Ushuaia to board our ship. The City of Ushuaia is the Southern most City in the World and is affectionately known as "fil del mundo", End of the World.
Ushuaia has a spectacular backdrop of the snow capped Andes Mountain Range. The Antarctic Peninsula was once part of this mountain chain before Antartica separated from the mainland.
Looking towards the city from the ship
Once everything at the airport is cleared, we have seamless transport to the port, and board Viking Octantis. The boarding process is very straight forward as much of it was done on line before travelling.
The port is very busy with cruise vessels of various sizes.
The orientation process on board was well oiled. Firstly they singled out passengers who may be interested in undertaking on of their submarine dives. We, and many others went through this screening.
Whether it becomes a reality or not will depend on the local conditions at the site and how well balanced the sub is weight-wise. Everyone was weighed in the preliminary assessment and they now need to combine six people weight etc to balance the sub and make in controllable. The only fitness test required was a squat to see that you were flexible enough to get in and out of the sub.
We are now free to go to our cabins and our luggage will arrive in due course. It is time to explore the ship and get some lunch.
The ship is amazing, very new, beautifully laid out and the decor is classic Viking, understated Scandinavian style with many similarities to the ocean cruise vessels. As an expedition vessel, it is a lot smaller, with less passengers, but space is very well utilised.
A few photos below of the World Cafe, the buffet restaurant.
A briefing was organised for 5pm to introduce the staff and expedition team and it was followed by a briefing on the submarine operations for those planning to go on a dive. It seems that includes most of the passengers on board. Details of safety procedures, boarding and a Q & A session were included. The weather determines where and how many dives will take place each day. The duration is 45 minutes and the submarines carry 6 passengers at a time.
Now we are free of briefings and can wander around, have a rest and go to dinner.
The ship departed port at 5 pm, and we have a pilot on board who will stay with us for the first 4 hours whilst we cross the Beagle Channel. We expect to enter the Drake Passage, a notoriously rough piece of water, in 6 hours. Fortunately for us, the weather Gods have looked upon us favourably and conditions for crossing the Drake Passage look close to perfect.
We went to the main restaurant for dinner and the food was of the expected high standard. We were pretty tired after such an early start, so had an early night.
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