Packing for an expedition is never fun. And this has been quite the ordeal as far as I am concerned. Having the correct clothes for a vacation has always been a big deal for me, and over the years I like to think I have perfected the art of...
We took off from Portland on an early morning flight. There was a thin layer of fog over the Columbia River and the airport, but we quickly rose above it. Suddenly there were Mt St Helens and Mt Adams outside the window. Dawn was breaking and...
The flight from Dallas to Santiago was long, but uneventful, apart from not being able to have any of my chosen entrées for dinner. Note to self – order your meals in advance for your next flight. Customs and immigration were very efficient....
I stopped by the Silversea desk to see if the welcome letters were available yet, and I was asked to come back in an hour. We decided not to wait, and walked to the Hop On Hop Off Bus stop at the mall, and bought our tickets for the bus and the...
After breakfast we found the perfect spot by the pool and spent a leisurely morning soaking up the sun. At noon we had to check out of our room, and we had been planning to sit in the lounge area until our bus (number 7 of 8) was ready to leave....
We seem to be in a better spot for wifi, and Brian has shown me how to reduce the size of my photos, so I am giving it a go at reposting with a few photos. Well there was certainly some motion during the night, but really not much more than you...
If we are near to the driest place on earth, why is it snowing? There is a valley in the south of Antarctica that hasn’t had precipitation in over a million years. So I am wondering where all of this snow comes from. So far the Drake Passage has...
It is not every day that you wake up to an iceberg outside your window. I knew that this was going to be a very special day. There are 221 passengers on board the Silver Cloud, and we have been divided into 8 groups for the purpose of planning...
It was our group’s turn to be first off the ship today, and we were due to proceed to the zodiac’s at 7:00. I am not an early riser, but if I can be up at 5:00 AM when I am on safari, I can certainly be ready to see penguins by 7:00. We were...
Yet again, there are icebergs outside my window. Both big and small. Life is good. Yay! Our first zodiac cruise is about to happen. We could not get near to our proposed landing site due to the ice field, so we are going to do a zodiac...
We were with the first group who were scheduled to disembark at 7:00 AM for the wet landing on Danco Island. The plan for this excursion was a long hike through the snow and ice to a viewpoint at the top of the hill, involving switchbacks and...
No icebergs outside my window today, but the cliffs on either side of the ship as we glided into Whaler’s Bay were quite impressive. The entrance to Whaler’s Bay is a narrow passage named Neptune’s Bellows, and there is a large rock in the...
No icebergs. No announcement from Billy calling us down to the zodiacs. Not a whale in sight. All I could see out of the window was the endless grey sea, dappled with white caps. Alas, we are not in Antarctica anymore, but are speeding across...
Well as it turned out, although not quite a millpond, there was really not much motion at all overnight. A huge disappointment. We were due to arrive at Puerto Williams at 1:00 PM so there wasn’t much more time to savor the waves. It was our...
