22 Feb

Day 3 – To the Ship!

 

We had a ridiculously early morning charter flight to Ushuaia, so we met the group downstairs in the lobby at 4:30 am.

We took the bus to the airport and went through security as a group. We all had liquids over the allotted amount, but it was no problem.

While in security, Gautam informed us that if our plane went down in the mountains of Argentina, he would not hesitate to eat any of us.

Good. To. Know.

We had a short wait, so I purchased survival food.

Mukta informed me that all this wording was saying it was “Excessive calories”, “Excessive sugar”, etc etc.

Perfect.

Also, they were delicious!

We caught a bus to our plane and boarded.

There’s Audrey boarding!

This was NOT a luxury aircraft, and we had some problems finding bag space, but all was well. We made it! A bit more packed in than our Galapagos charter flight, but we still made it! And Mukta and I had the front row with no one in between us! Score.

We learned on this flight that “charter” flight did not mean the same thing to Atlas as it did to me. Atlas chartered a flight for all of us, but then apparently sold the remaining seats as well to other people. Ha!

The flight was 3 1/2 hours. They gave us food! Woohoo!

Food with Exceso calories and more. Even better!

Ushuaia has a surprisingly nice airport! I was expecting a much smaller one.

We got our bags and headed towards the tour buses. Jenn has been told in Buenos Aires that she could get cold weather gear in Ushuaia. What they didn’t tell her was that she was on her own. She would have to skip the tour and take a taxi into town and then get to the ship on her own. So not ideal.

We decided to risk the ship having some things and, if not, having time to get off and race into town before we left.

It was super cloudy and a little rainy, so while the tour was interesting, I didn’t take as many pictures, but I did finally get out my camera for the first time!

We stopped a few times for pictures, first at the visitor’s center.

Jenn found some clothes in the shop! Yay! She only needed waterproof pants now!

Then we stopped at a lake.

We stopped at the highway that goes from Argentina to Alaska! Crazy!

Here are Jenn and I walking:

It was beautiful scenery, for sure!

It was clearing up a little.

They gave us some food on the bus:

Here we are!

Finally, we headed to the ship! Woohoo! There she is! The World Traveller!

First impressions – it’s gorgeous. We boarded, and they escorted us to the lounge to eat and get checked in.

I thought this was Cloudem for a brief moment, but no luck!

Then our butler, Dehnee (yes, we were in a very bougie room with a butler), took us to our room to tell us all about it! It was absolutely amazing. Love this room!

Welcome champagne!

The toiletries were all L’Occitane, and there were tons of extras, like loofas, nail files, bath bomb, etc.. Love that!

The shower also had wall jets, which were great!

Then Mukta stepped out, and I filmed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NQq1OU7AJM

After filming, Audrey and Jenn came over. We talked for a little while and then left to muster. Muster! With life jackets!

Here’s our fridge, by the way.  Mukta told Dehnee we would really only need Coke Zero – me, and room temperature water – her obviously. Later, that’s exactly what we had!

After we dropped off our life jackets, we walked around a little.

We got distracted by pizza.

The captain came on while we ate and told us the Drake wasn’t going to be too bad! He said we were looking at 2-5 meter swells. It’s not a true lake, but it could be worse! A bigger ship would barely have felt that.

Here’s the fitness room!

The store was nearby, and it was filled with very bougie cold weather brands like Marmot, Holly Hanson, etc. 

Here’s the main dining room.

We also stopped by the library to see what they had. Next, we went by Jenn and Audrey’s room. It was smaller than ours, but still very nice. 

Then we walked up to the Dome! It’s a great space! Pictures later! But here’s my Coke Zero. They had bottles everywhere. I loved that!

Then, it was time for a meeting in the theater.

Check these cool little trays out!

They told us there were 146 passengers onboard. The ship holds 196, so we were at about 75 percent occupancy. There were also around 136 crew members onboard.

We saw pictures of wildlife and were given instructions for landings. We also met all of the lecturers and Zodiac drivers. It was an impressive bunch!

After the meeting, we went to dinner.  There’s one dinner time, and everyone seats themselves. We sat at a big table of 10 and had a few people join us. We laughed and talked and had a great time!

Here’s my dinner:

That bowl looks like a takeout bowl, but it was actually iron and very heavy!

We sailed away during dinner, but it was super calm as we were in an inside passage of sorts for most of it.

My dessert:

It was so light outside, and we talked for so long that we didn’t even realize it was almost 10 o’clock! I love cruises where it’s light so much of the day. I feel more energized, and it’s easier to take pictures!

After dinner, we stepped outside to look around and then went up to the dome for the scenery. It was windy out…

We met some more people upstairs and chatted for a while. Small ships are great to get to know people. Everyone is so friendly!  Mukta’s favorite thing is talking to strangers, so she is living her best life.

We had a slow rocking happening after we left the passage. We were in the Drake Passage!

Mukta and I went back to the room to unpack and go to bed! Tomorrow’s schedule:

We went to bed around midnight. The ship was rocking, and I knew I would sleep well!

Antarctica At Last – January 13-24, 2024
Day 1 – On My Way 
Day 2 – Beautiful Buenos Ares 
Day 3 – To the Ship
Day 4 – Drake Lake 
Day 5 – First Penguins 
Day 6 – Two Landings! 
Day 7 – Penguins Again 
Day 8 – An Unintentional Polar Plunge and Camping on the Continent! 
Day 9 – To Plunge or Not to Plunge 
Day 10 – The Day I Did Nothing
Day 11 – Calm Waters Again
Day 12 – Ushuaia For the Day