We left the States early Christmas morning to head to Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a short visit there, we left on a charter flight with NatGeo/Lindblad Expeditions to Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city, to board the National Geographic Orion and start our adventure in Antarctica!
Day 1: Departure from Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel
December 28th, 2014
“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete
darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”
– Sir Ernest Shackleton
darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.”
– Sir Ernest Shackleton
As of 4:30 in the afternoon, we had departed from the port in Ushuaia and headed into the Beagle Channel. Before the end of dinner, we all had been paged – our first wildlife sighting! There were between 5 & 8 Sei whales swimming through the area where we were cruising – the edge of the protected channel and the infamous Drake Passage. At a briefing later that evening, we were informed that we would be reversing the itinerary and heading for Antarctica first! This news was particularly exciting as it meant (1) we would be in Antarctica for New Year’s and (2) we would be following Shackleton’s journey from Antarctica to Elephant Island and then back across the “Furious Fifties” to South Georgia in the journey's centennial anniversary. As we headed to bed, we were nervous about the next two days (and understandably so) - we would be entering the Drake Passage soon, an area of the Southern Ocean known for its 30+ foot waves and seasick travelers. If you’re brave enough, watch a video or two on YouTube; you’ll understand our nervousness. Well, those videos combined with our “informative warning” that if they were necessary, there are bed straps attached to the beds in all the cabins to keep us in bed if the ocean gets too rough.