Sunday, the day we were leaving for Antarctica, we took an early morning stroll to the waterfront and spotted our industrial looking little red “expedition” ship. It was docked on our side of a long pier that ran parallel to our position on shore. There was also an enormous cruise ship tied up on the other side of the same pier. We had no problem seeing most of the sparkling white cruise ship as our little red dwarf was only big enough to obscure the bottom quarter of the cruise ship’s prow.
In the afternoon when we were taken by bus to board our red dwarf, we rode onto the pier and gawked up at the Cinderella boat and down at our ugly duckling. We wondered whether or not we had made a bad decision or not as we the inspected the bay windows of the princess and the portholes of the ugly stepsister. Oh well, too late now!! At least, our 78 passengers were able to get aboard in about 15 minutes while the 3,000 cruise ship passengers had to be brought aboard in organized tsunamis.
We departed Ushuaia on our 1,000 kilometer journey to Antarctica on February 17th, at 6:00 PM. The ship’s activities planner warned us that once we exited Ushuaia Bay, we would be in the open seas and that they could be quite rough. He said we would almost immediately enter the stretch of water known as The Drake Passage. This Passage is famous for its turbulent seas and our ship was going to take 2 days to cross it. He recommended that everyone take a Dramamine pill now and another in the morning. I had heard about the Drake Passage before and thought I would wait and see how bad it was and how well I withstood it. However, the activities planner was pretty convincing; we got our two pills each and followed the advice given.The ugly duckling took about two hours to waddle out of Ushuaia Bay on its way to the Passage. As soon as we hit the open seas, the Drake Passage began to live up to its reputation.
Initially, we had some rolling swells that came at us from the west of our southbound ship. The ship began rocking and rolling from side to side. We would tilt to port as the wave pushed in from the west and then we would roll to starboard as the wave passed underneath. The pills worked. After a couple of hours, neither Janice nor I had experienced any queasiness. We turned in and fortunately our bed was positioned abeam (I think that’s the correct term.) so that our feet faced starboard and our heads were to port. As the waves rolled in throughout the night, our feet would lift and our heads would sink. Then, a couple of seconds later, we would get the reverse effect.
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
1 day ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.