Day 9.......Saturday.....January 16, 2016
Ushuaia, Argentina to the Drake Passage“A journey is a person itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”
- John Steinbeck
Today has finally arrived! We are about to embark on a trip of a life-time...to sail from Ushuaia, Argentina and head south to cross the Antarctic Circle and set foot on Antarctica!
We're all packed up and ready to go. We said good-bye to Ushuaia and boarded the Quark Expedition's Ocean Diamond ship. As the brochure said, the "Ocean Diamond is Quark's largest, fastest, "Super Yacht" which features unparalleled comfort and stability". The brochure was right. She's a beauty!
Our voyage to Antarctica was Quark Expedition's "14 day, Crossing the Circle, Southern Expedition trip". We wanted to cross the Antarctic Circle and go as far south in Antarctica as possible. We researched expeditions and found that few companies venture this far south. We found that Quark offered an expedition that was to "include the most in-depth exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula. It also offers the opportunity to venture further south across the Antarctic Circle. As you head towards a milestone few travelers reach, you'll feel you are in a world without borders, sailing through an endless stretch of sea, snow and ice." Sounded like our kind of adventure.
Another main reason we decided on Quark was that it had a smaller passenger to crew/staff ratio which on our voyage had 180 passengers with 106 staff and crew. The Ocean Diamond had extraordinary experts in residence: renown naturalists, geologists, ornithologists and historians who were all passionate and enthusiastic about Antarctica. The voyage is carbon neutral and it had all the amenities one could ask for. This Quark Expedition adventure was the one for us.
As we embarked, the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in.
Huge gusts of wind were challenging at times for the pilot and the captain but their experience prevailed and the Ocean Diamond "shoved off" from the dock.
We were on our way!
As we were heading out in the Beagle Channel
the windy weather continued to roll in.
Inside, we felt right at home, except we don't tie our piano legs to the floor boards.
Our cabin was very spacious and was located in the middle of the ship which limited the amount of swaying and rocking as the ship headed out the Beagle Channel into the turbulent waters of the Drake Passage.
The "Welcome Briefing" in the main lounge was followed by the mandatory life jacket/life boat drill. In addition, each room had survival suits. We had a great dinner and there were so many delightful folks on the ship with us. As we were soon to discover, everyone whom we chatted with throughout the next 12 days had an adventurous spirit and had traveled extensively. For me, this would be my 6th continent. For so many of the others, this was to be their 7th continent.
As we headed for bed, I thought about John Steinbeck's words: “A journey is a person itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” We slept soundly thru the night and couldn't wait to see what adventures tomorrow would bring.