Antarctica, v.3.0., on the Venture

[shark b8]

 

Aloha & ahoy there, CC’ers!   Long time, no yack - I think we’ve now pretty much recovered from the 5-month World Cruise.  😳

 

We’re about to board the Venture in Ushuaia, and will do what for us is “Antarctica v3.0”.  Third visit, my favorite place on the planet.  

 

So, here’s the thing.  It wasn’t all that many years ago that Antarctica had yet to arrive as a major travel destination, at least by today’s standards.  And it wasn’t all that many years ago that Seabourn’s new expedition ships were eagerly anticipated but had not yet fully splashed onto the scene.  

 

Neither of those things are true any more, obviously.  I’m sure that a wonderfully high percentage of CC readers have been to Antarctica, or sailed the Venture, or both.

 

So, point being……I’m pretty sure I will be not able to break any new ground with a travelogue-style thread here - probably very few real stop-the-presses journalistic “scoops” to report about the destination or the ship.

 

But….oh well, what the hell!  I’m one of those cruisers who likes the travelogue thing, both reading and writing, and I thoroughly enjoy (a fair amount of) the banter on this site.  Let’s sail to Antarctica for the holidays, shall we?!

 

(hoping to take lots more pix like these, from 2016)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

(I wrote that draft on the plane(s) from home to Buenos Aires, and I am obviously now seeing that a great deal of wonderful first-person commentary has been recently posted, about both the ship and Antarctica.  I confess that in between cruises I often get busy with other stuff and unfortunately tend to shirk my CC-reading duties.  🤦‍♂️. Anywho.  Will try to avoid being too duplicative with all that has come before)

[markandjie]

Can't wait to follow along on your voyage! Every trip is different, and given it's all in the eye of the beholder every traveler experiences each trip differently.

 

I'm jealous it's your third time...ours was just our second. Did you also cruise Seabourn the first two times?

 

Edit: just looked at your signature and see that you were also on the Quest in 2015 for the holiday cruise! What a fantastic experience that was!

Edited December 20, 2023 by markandjie

[Literacy Lady]

Looking forward to your musing. We will be onboard starting Jan. 21. 

[highplanesdrifters]

YAY! Bring it on @shark b8

[shark b8]

Yes, markandjie, previous two sailings were with Seabourn.  And yes, the holiday Antarctica voyage in 2015-16 was phenomenal with one glaring exception - the one day we were to do landings in South Georgia, the surge was so strong that they were only able to scoot the zodiacs up and down the coast, 30-40 yards from shore, no landings.  Seeing all those gazillions of penguins and seals, and not being able to wander around with them, was a disappointment.  It’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this one again - this time we’ll have 3 days in South Georgia, so fingers and toes crossed for better landing luck.  We are, of course, reading about the Avian flu closing some of the landing zones, but we’ll hope for the best.

[shark b8]

The Captain has decided to delay tonight’s sailaway until 10:00p, a timing thing, in order to take advantage of a small window of better conditions in the Drake tomorrow.  We had to be up at 3:45a this morning to get to the Buenos Aires airport for the Ushuaia flight…..been a very long day.

[sfvoyage]

2 hours ago, shark b8 said:

We are, of course, reading about the Avian flu closing some of the landing zones, but we’ll hope for the best.

I read that very few landing places are still open in South Georgia, and the Avian flu is spreading in Antarctica.

 

Good luck, and please report back regarding which landing spots will be available to you.

[shark b8]

So, as I said, the Captain delayed sailaway until 10:00p.  The whole sail-away thing is one of my favorite things about cruising, but (again as I said) we were up before 4:00a this morning to fly to Ushuaia.  Just looked out the window at 10:41p, and we haven’t moved yet.  Starting to think I might not be able to stay up for thisonezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[frantic36]

1 hour ago, shark b8 said:

Just looked out the window at 10:41p, and we haven’t moved yet.  Starting to think I might not be able to stay up for thisonezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

And this is one reason I am looking forward to your comments.

[markandjie]

9 hours ago, shark b8 said:

And yes, the holiday Antarctica voyage in 2015-16 was phenomenal with one glaring exception - the one day we were to do landings in South Georgia, the surge was so strong that they were only able to scoot the zodiacs up and down the coast, 30-40 yards from shore, no landings.  

 

Yes, I remember that day at Salisbury Plain. Amazing scenery but no landing!

[trips_ahoy]

I remember that day at Salisbury Plain as well. Learned a thing or two about using a long lens in a zodiac. 
 

We had booked last year on the Venture but cancelled when they dropped South Georgia from the trip. We ended up taking Viking in Nov 2023 and we again missed Salisbury. We did land at Grytviken and had a stellar day at Fortuna Bay.

 

They’re a lot more cruises going to Antarctica. Ships have to book their landings and it would seem there is not the same flexibility to adjust to weather as there was in the past.

 

We have enjoyed your posts in the past, and look forward to the ones from this trip.

Fingers crossed for your Salisbury landing.

 

 

[BasandSyb]

🤗 looking forward to your updates Shark b8. Was starting to get withdrawal symptoms when Markandjie disembarked. We are doing the same run in February on Pursuit.

Have done the Drake a few times and experienced “the lake”. I fear the odds may be against us next time. 

 

We are keen to hear how the Sth G restrictions play out.

 

Safe and awesome travels. Hope you caught the sail away.

Edited December 21, 2023 by BasandSyb

[sfvoyage]

5 minutes ago, BasandSyb said:

Have done the Drake a few times and experienced “the lake”. I fear the odds may be against us next time. 

Experienced the Drake Lake a few years back, and the Captain remarked that on average only 1 in 7 crossings is rough.  Not sure if that's PR speak, but hopefully the odds will be with you.

[15Day+]

On 12/20/2023 at 5:30 PM, shark b8 said:

Yes, markandjie, previous two sailings were with Seabourn.  And yes, the holiday Antarctica voyage in 2015-16 was phenomenal with one glaring exception - the one day we were to do landings in South Georgia, the surge was so strong that they were only able to scoot the zodiacs up and down the coast, 30-40 yards from shore, no landings.  Seeing all those gazillions of penguins and seals, and not being able to wander around with them, was a disappointment.  It’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this one again - this time we’ll have 3 days in South Georgia, so fingers and toes crossed for better landing luck.  We are, of course, reading about the Avian flu closing some of the landing zones, but we’ll hope for the best.

My wife & I really enjoyed that 2015-16 Antarctic/South Georgia cruise on Quest and think it will be hard to beat. We're booked on our 2nd Venture cruise in 2 months with stops in the Falklands & South Georgia and we too hope to go ashore on Salisbury Plain to see all those King Penguins up close.

 

Looking forward to reading about your experience.

[shark b8]

So we bounced around a bit last night, just enough to make the nightly toilette interesting, but this morning Poseidon has calmed everything down.  Sitting in the Square right now with tea and a slice of grandma’s cake, and the ocean surely looks a lot more Lakey than Drakey.

 

[shark b8]

Most Seabourners have probably seen pix of the Venture/Pursuit, but if not, maybe I’ll sprinkle a few in here and there, as we go along.

 

The Discovery Center, and the adjacent Expedition Lounge.

 

[shark b8]

Well, we made it!  And there’s a wonderful light dusting of snow coming down.  Merry Christmas…almost.

 

 

[Woodrowst]

Thank you for your postings.  My wife and I are on the following Venture trip and you are certainly whetting our appetite.   
 

Out of curiosity, does the ship change time zones when transversing from Ushuaia to Antarctica?

[shark b8]

6 hours ago, Woodrowst said:

does the ship change time zones when transversing from Ushuaia to Antarctica?

 

No, same time zone as Ushuaia - but an excellent question, I hadn’t even considered that.  I prowled around a little and found this (we of course will always be in that light blue peninsula area center-left):

 

[shark b8]

Gotta love the icebergs!

 

[shark b8]

Pretty magnificent.

 

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

Pretty Magnificant is right.  Thanks for sharing.

[shark b8]

 

 

[shark b8]

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by shark b8