After a delightful week visiting our friends in Buenos Aires, we were off to our next adventure -- the start of our cruise and a visit to Antarctica! We had an uneventful flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia -- we lucked out w/bulkhead seats on a chartered 747 aircraft -- 350+ passengers. No luggage limits; we just put our luggage outside the hotel room door at the appointed hour. After arriving in Ushuaia, we were bussed to the ship and our luggage arrived in our room an hour or two afterward. A lot easier than we expected it would be -- and cheaper -- no excess baggage charges for Scott's tuxedo and accoutrements or Kathy's "sparkly dresses" and book collection.

The Ship, Our Fellow Passengers (and Crew)

Our ship, the MV Discovery, is a cruise "line" of one ship, and "MV Discovery" is the 4th or 5th incarnation of this ship (it used to be the Island Princess, star of "Love Boat"). It was recently refurbished but seems a bit "dated". She is small for a cruise ship (~560' long) with a potential passenger complement of about 650. Most of the passengers are older folks, some in their 80s. We are likely the youngest passengers on board. It's not unpleasant: sort of like having several hundred grandparents -- both to care for, and sometimes be doted-upon from.

It's an especially interesting set of people onboard -- not just everyone signs up for a trip to the Antarctic. Most are very well-traveled. They tend to be quite fit, even those into their 80s. They are interesting and unusually well-educated. Though older, they are still living life to the fullest they can. We should do as well.

We found a surprising and impressive amount of scientific expertise on board. The "Antarctic Staff" on board totals 16, about half with Masters or PhD degrees in Biology, Glaciology, Zoology, Physiology and related sciences. Here's one of the shorter biographies:

"Joy is a specialist in the "wee beasties" of Antarctica's terrestrial ecosystems, having spent two seasons... studying the rotifers, insects, tardigrades and other microbial animals..."

We're not sure what "rotifiers" and "tardigrades" are, but we're definitely impressed.

A number of the guys who operate the zodiac boats hail from our neck of the woods, Cape Cod.

As for the crew, they are largely Filipino, with the occasional Eastern-European. We love Filipinos, they share the gentle manner of Latinos, and the work-ethic of Asians. And by-and-large they speak excellent English.

The Crossing

As night fell, we set out on our crossing of the Drake Passage on our way to Antarctica's The Drake Passage is the stormiest and roughest bit of ocean in the world - fortunately for us, it wasn't too rough, though we did take precautions with our supplies. We took the opportunity to get our overabundant supplies organized in our small cabin -- a tribute to Kathy's "everything in its place" skills. Recall (in addition to the variety of clothing we need for the trip, and range of technology we brought with us)

The cruise covered the northernmost part of the Antarctic Peninsula. Picture an upside-down map of North America, the area we visited would be like South Florida. (Antarctica's is about 1 1/2x the size of North America)

The crossing took a day, and the scientific staff kept us busy with he various seminars on the Antarctic -- landscape (glaciers, icebergs...), flora (not much), fauna (sea birds, penguins, seals, whales), with a bit of history here and there. They were competently presented and generally very interesting. To supplement this information, the TV offers "round the clock" films and talks on the region. If you were bored during the passage, it was your own fault.

We ended our day with the Captain's Party (open bar) and a formal dinner. Then, like kids at Christmas, we went to bed looking forward to seeing Antarctica in the morning.