Antarctic 2026

We had the good fortune to visit St Andrew's Bay this morning - home to 150,000 breeding pairs of King Penguins. It also has thousands of seals and elephant seals. It is one of the largest and most diverse places of life on South Georgia and maybe in the world. The scale is so large you have trouble grasping it. It was a lovely day - in the 50s - with some clouds which helped with photography and keeping the penguins cool. They are molting right now and that can actually make them overheat so they will go and stand in pools of water or the streams coming down from the glaciers in the mountains above. They have blood vessels in their feet so if they stand in cooler water it will cool down their bodies. As we walked toward the penguin rookery we encountered a bunch of young seals who enjoyed charging us. They won't hurt you but they can be aggressive in order to protect any piece of ground they have claimed. You see the same behavior in the elephant seals Burt those ...

Our first day in South Georgia was outstanding! The weather was wonderful - broken clouds with sun - and the temperature reached into the 50s. The crew were laughing that they never see weather this good. We landed at Jason Harbor which was named after a boat that visited this place in the 1800s. It was a bay surrounded by snow covered peaks and it was teeming with life. Penguins and seals and elephants seals and birds in great numbers. This was a cruising day which allowed us to see as much as possible as quickly as possible. We had Paul as our zodiac driver and he was a wealth of knowledge. We started with a run close to a building which was used as a post office in centuries past. The whaling stations which were north of this bay would bring their mail down to this building and it would then get picked up and taken to Grytviken for forwarding. In bad storms it could also be used for shelter. On the beach in front of the building was a ton of king penguins and sea...

We had two days of sea travel as we headed for the South Georgia Islands. These are part of the Falklands from a control standpoint. They are also one of the main reasons we picked this cruise. As we travelled to so many places these last 6 years we kept asking people about their 'must see' locations. Again and again South Georgia was identified as one of their top choices by world travelers. That is one of the seasons we are on this wonderful adventure. We actually stayed busy during our two days at sea. We had briefings morning and afternoon on bio security and penguins and birds and geology and history of the region. The South Georgia Islands battled a huge rat problem for several centuries - the creatures came on whaling ships and destroyed the ecosystem of small birds and penguins which lay eggs. They also spread disease across a broad range of animals. In 2014 a large project was started to eradicate the rodent population. The largest island is split into more t...

We stopped in Stanley which is the capital of the Falklands. The city is only a few thousand British subjects but it is a very nest and tidy place. We took a short zodiac ride to the public jetty and didn't need to get into our heavy muck boots but instead wore tennis shoes. Dianne and Jack decided to forgo the bus trip to the Cove and instead spent the few hours enjoying the town. We started at the local grocery store which also had WiFi available for 5 pounds for one hour. Dianne needed to pay a bill so wanted to get good internet. The bill pay took just a few minutes on a good network and then she surged for awhile just to catch up with the news. Next we went across the street to a local gift shop. There was plenty of nice things but nothing we had to buy. We stopped at the Cathedral which was not large but very nice. There were many plaques on the wall with names and recognitions. The pews were all wooden and the stained glass windows were very pretty. Next door ...

Today we had our first zodiac landing off the Ultramarine. We landed on the Carcass Island in the Falklands and it was a nice way to start our exploration adventure. The landing was on a beach with no waves or wind so that made things easy. There were two types of penguins on the island - Gentoo and Rock Hopper. Both are medium so.w and a lot of fun to watch. There were also geese and ducks and other birds all around us. We hiked up a short way to get a better view of the rock hoppers who burrow into the ground to make their nests. The Gentoo penguins live in groups where they form nests close to each other for protection. Both are very pretty but their chicks are pretty ugly since they only have down on their skin. The chicks have at least another month of growth before they will start heading out into the ocean. Once they leave their island they will be gone for about two years living in the ocean and not returning to land. They usually come back to where they were born...

Today we headed toward the Falkland Islands. The seas were pretty smooth but we still had to get used to the rolling of the boat. There were several briefings in the morning and the afternoon to get us ready for our first zodiac excursions. We had safety briefings as well as education briefings on some of the things we expected to see. Our Expedition Leader is named Sarah. She has been on other Quark trips with us but not as the Leader. She has a wonderful personality and does a good job explaining the complexities of excursion travel. There is always a Plan A but often you have to adjust to Plan B and then Plan C. The weather and the wind are critical variables that you have to be careful with. Safety is always a critical factor in everything we do. We had to bring down all the gear we will be taking ashore with us when we visit the Antarctic peninsula. They went over everything with the goal of making sure that we did not accidentally carry a twig or a seed or a piece o...

We had a 2:30 wake up this morning and left the hotel at 4:30. The streets of Buenos Aires were empty which is unusual. The AEP airport is pretty new and very pretty. We got thru check and security and had some time to eat a muffin and get a cappuccino. The flight was 3 hours long and it went smoothly. When we landed it was 46 degrees with a breeze and some light mist. It was just a 20 minute bus ride to downtown Ushuaia which is the southern most city in the world. The sun was out as we unloaded from the bus. The city has 90,000 people so it's a big city. We headed for a local restaurant the Casa Olmo Bodega for lunch. It was a very cool old restaurant with a ton of wood and a lot of neat murals. We ordered the lamb stew and a beef empanadas as well as two glasses of white wine. A great way to start our short stay in Ushuaia. The food was wonderful and the proprietor a friendly guy. We started with pita chips and hummus and both had wonderful flavor. We r...

We finished our Iguazu falls trip and headed back to the airport to fly back to Buenos Aires.    The MERCURE hotel was beautiful and very unique - situated in a forest with trees and bushes throughout.    The flight went smoothly and we got to our hotel by 1:30. We were able to get into our room and then we quickly headed out to find some lunch.    We found a nice Argentine restaurant with a waiter that    spoke perfect English.    We had a Burrata salad with greens and tomatoes along with sweet potatoes.    It was a perfect lunch for two hungry people.    Then we kept walking to a Sunday crafts fair in a nearby park.    There were hundreds of stalls and Dianne found a flute for JC and a bracelet for herself. Both were hand made and very special.  Then back to the hotel to get Dianne off her feet for awhile. Jack headed out to a local coffee shop just to get a feel for the area.    After a cap...

  Today was a full day of visiting the Falls. We were picked up at 7:30 and it was only a 20 minute drive to the Argentine side of the Falls.     We were able to quickly check in and board the narrow gauge train that took us out to the Devil’s Tower which is same half circle of falls we saw yesterday.     But now we’re are above the falls looking down into the maelstrom!!     The mist would billow up and cover us as we stared down into the mass of water hurtling over the edges all around us.   Today the volume was 2 million cubic feet of water a second.    During the last big flood in 2023 there was 20 million cubic feet flowing over the falls and all of the bridges and trails and train tracks and everything else was wiped clean from the earth.    It took nine months total to recover and get things running again.    As you can guess the Falls is a big tourist attraction so they got things running as quickly as they co...