Up at 7:30am for yet another bacon and egg breakfast (loving it – though there is a vast array to choose from on the breakfast buffet) before heading out to an Argentine Antarctic Base – Esperanza Station. Another amazing overcast day with no wind, and the approach to the base before breakfast was awesome…
The One Ocean crew were super-excited that the weather was calm, as it looked like we would be able to get to Spert Island – one of their favourite places on the trip. This is a volcanic island that is quite exposed and therefore difficult to access in zodiacs. Quite often, and although they have this on…
Cierva Cove Super-early wake-up call today for an early-morning zodiac around Cierva Cove. This Cove houses a colony of Chinstrap Penguins, which, to date, we’d only seen swimming in the Drake passage. These penguins are named (obviously) for their white chinstrap, and for me at least, are the most attractive of the penguins we’ve seen…
The morning of Day 4 saw us exploring the Gentoo Penguin colony at Cuverville Island and, over lunch, the Vavilov re-positioned to Wilhelmina Bay for our second excursion of the day (yes, they planned to keep us busy)! This time it was a zodiac cruise to look for Antarctic mammals – particularly pertinent after Derek’s…
We’ve arrived at Antarctica! Not surprisingly – it is absolutely beautiful, even with heavily overcast skies! The great thing though – no wind and little swell! Two excursions today and the first time actually stepping onto the Antarctic Peninsula! For the first excursion, they recommended that we put on lots of layers so we could…
Suddenly having 6 extra weeks in South America, I was considering what to do. Then one of my friends (thanks Alain!) suggested that if I had the money – Antarctica was the best trip he’d ever done. Ohhhhhh – now that was a good idea! And surprisingly, not one that I’d thought of at all….
Given my very limited time in Ushuaia before I headed off to Antarctica, I really wanted to get out for 1 day to the Tierra del Fuego National Park to do some hiking. There are quite a few trails but after reading some descriptions I decided to do the Cerro Guanaco trail, that promised an “outstanding…
One of the things I wanted to do this time around on Easter Island was head out to Tongariki for the sunrise. There are excursions offering this for US$60 per person for a 3 hour trip (ouch!), so I decided to rent a scooter instead (even cheaper) to ensure I got out there to see…
Final day on the e-Bike was a bit of an easier one as I was just exploring the Rano Kau volcano and Orongo, both of which are right near Hanga Roa. Started out early and was at 90% assistance getting up the volcano. Everybody who comes to Easter Island visits Orongo at the top of the…
Back on the e-Bike today but not as much riding 🙂 First stop – Puna Pau – where they quarried the red basalt for the topknots (pukaos). It is thought that these represented hair rather than hats, and seem to be very late additions to the Moais (only a fraction of the Moais actually…