MV Fram 12-day Antarctic Discovery Trip Report

[dileep]

dileep - are you getting ready to go on another Antarctic trip?

 

No, but I would love to! There are other places that I have to go to first.

[2552phxcrzr]

h2so4 -- I started to write "I'll check out your blog later, thanks" and thenn decided to do that before replying. 2 hrs later and I'm back with my jaw on the floor. WOW. What an amazing blog and fabulous pictures! It was so thorough I feel like I don't even need to go there now :p

 

Your blog did further inspire me to visit the Arctic. It looks like a different but equally beautiful area and I think going into it not expecting Antarctica North is the key. Now, doing it in the lap of luxury like you did is a whole 'nother story. Maybe after I hit the lottery....

Thanks so much for sharing and kudos to you for putting together such an incredible blog!

 

My pleasure to share the blog ... and if it helps to inspire others to travel ... well, so much the better :-)

[PerfectlyPerth]

PerfectlyPerth -- if you go back would you do it the same way? did you love the ship you were on?

 

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with pillow issues ;)

 

I'm soooo glad I didn't take that many pictures! The thought of sorting through 10,000 would put me into a state of paralysis.

 

I'd consider buying muck boots too - especially if they come in purple! - if we got a significant amount of bad weather here but it's pretty sunny & mild for the most part in Delaware.

 

I was on the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov again. I was on it for a month in Nov-Dec 2010 in West Antartica/Weddell Sea/Riser Laarsen Ice Shelf/Sth Sandwich Is and Sth Georgia Is, then rejoined it for Dec2011-Jan2012 for a month exploring the extremely rarely visited East Antarctica.

 

It was the KKs final voyage. It has now returned to Russia to be a private icebreaker after 20 years of Antarctic tourism.

 

Its hard to explain why it would be difficult for me to go again. Being on the icebreaker meant that we ventured to regions none of the other tourist ships can get to, and having 2 helicopters at our disposal meant we got to even more unaccessible regions.

 

There are now no icebreakers involved in tourism in Antarctica and none of the ice strengthened ships have helicopters.

 

So I guess I feel like I have already exceeded my expectations and spoiled myself for future travel. I think that if I was on a normal ice strengthened ship I would be looking longingly at the heavy pack ice thinking "pleeeease can we go through that". And I would desperately be wanting to fly over it all in the choppers and land on huge icebergs - as I did on christmas morning.

 

Have a look at the muck boots site - (muckboots.com) at the arctic sport high cut and mid cut (the calf height ones I got). At the moment they don't have coloured ones but every now and then they do a release of about 6 different colours in support of charities.

 

Back to photo sorting ................

[Sparky333]

Yes, I can see your point - you'd be terribly disappointed if you went again it sounds like.

 

Have you done any Arctic trips?

 

Thanks for the boot info!

 

And good luck with your gajillion photos. A chore but a pleasant one.

[PerfectlyPerth]

Yes, I can see your point - you'd be terribly disappointed if you went again it sounds like.

 

Have you done any Arctic trips?

 

Thanks for the boot info!

 

And good luck with your gajillion photos. A chore but a pleasant one.

 

The Arctic doesn't really interest me. The historical significance of the Antarctic is what drags me there and other than Franklin there are no real explorers that excite me re the Arctic. Polar bears do nothing for me at all.

 

I imagine I will still go again tho as it is a definite addiction and when you are sailing with people on their 20th voyages you realise its not a rare addiction. There are many more islands and coast lines down there awaiting to be seen by me.

 

But geez I will miss that big ugly ole icebreaker with its heart of gold.

[Sparky333]

I see. I am more drawn also to the Antarctic than Arctic. But I'm also interested in seeing as much of the globe as I can so I have to make tough choices on allocating travel time & funds!

[BORDER REIVER]

I see. I am more drawn also to the Antarctic than Arctic. But I'm also interested in seeing as much of the globe as I can so I have to make tough choices on allocating travel time & funds!

Greenland is beautiful and Hurtigruten's expedition from Spitzbergen to Eastern Greenland and then to Iceland (which is also beautiful), must rank nearly as high as some Antarctic trips. It's certainly a trip I'd love to do sometime.

[digitl]

I see. I am more drawn also to the Antarctic than Arctic. But I'm also interested in seeing as much of the globe as I can so I have to make tough choices on allocating travel time & funds!

You wrote in another post about the expense of getting to Longyearbyen. I have done absolutely no research on this, but would a flight to Bergen, then a trip on a north-bound Hurtigruten ship (we've done the trip and it's seriously interesting!), get you to a reasonable 'staging point' for the hop to Longyearbyen? Perhaps it's something Hurtigruten arrange on a regular basis?

 

As I say, just a thought!

[Sparky333]

I'm with you on that Border Reiver. I see the one currently listed on Hurtigruten's site as "National Park Expedition" which is 14 days covering Spitsbergen, Greenland, and Iceland only shows dates through Sept 2012. I'll be interested in seeing what they do with that for 2013. The pp price now starts at $9167 so that's beyond what I'd want to pay but as I keep saying I'm planning on hitting the lottery any day now.

 

The "Glaciers and Ice" itinerary also looks interesting and more manageable for my budget. 12 days; doesn't include Spitsbergen, just Greenland and Iceland. A bonus might be flying into Copenhagen and out of Reykjavik might be cheaper than going in and out of Longyearbyen, Norway.

 

Digitl - thanks for the idea - certainly worth looking into when/if I get serious about an Arctic trip.