This was our last day in Antarctica. By early afternoon, we were headed back toward the Drake Passage. This morning, the Zodiac landings started very early—5 a.m. for the first group. The captain had made arrangements with another ship in the area to share the landing site with us going early and the other ship stopping there after we left. Yesterday, Iggy said that even though the ships are competitors when it comes to booking passengers, they work well to...

Today started with an announcement from the "disembodied voice on the bridge" saying that we had made it to our stopping point for today much earlier than anticipated. It was 7:30 a.m. Yesterday, the captain said that we should arrive in Hope Bay on the Antarctic Sound about 10 and would start Zodiac tours of the bay at approximately 11. Since our group was the first group to go out today, we were happy to have the late start. When the captain, then later the exp...

We have arrived! After days at sea passing through some rough and raging areas as well as, thankfully, mostly calm and friendly waters, we have made it to the continent. I could say that we have stepped onto our seventh continent of Antarctica, but that would be way too simplistic for the process involved. We took a Zodiac over to the Gonzalez Videla Base, a Chilean research station and inactive naval base now manned by Air Force personnel, on the Antarctic mainl...

We tried to sleep late again but were awakened when Iggy came on the public address system to talk about the day's activities. We went to sleep planning to have a scenic cruise in the Zodiac near Torgensen Island. Iggy says the weather there is not good so we have stopped in the Neumayer Channel and will have zodiac landings today on Wiencke Island at Damoy Point near several Gentoo penguin rookeries and a British research station hut. It snowed all morning, but ...

This morning we woke up to the captain's voice over the intercom saying that we were not able to go to Cuverville Island after all because of bad weather there. We were in Paradise Harbour, but were not sure at that time if anyone would be able to get off the ship. As it turned out, they allowed the Zodiacs to take passengers out for a cruise, but would not make any landings. With snow falling and the sky overcast, Philip and I decided to forego the Zodiac tour a...