Our expectations for Antarctica included: 1) rocky voyage through Drake Passage; 2) a rockier, windier voyage through Southern Ocean; 3) getting within a quarter-mile of land or ice on rock 'n rollin' ship; 4) seeing beautiful glaciers from afar but not close or fortunate enough to see or photograph animals.
Our expectations were 1) exceeded; 2) exceeded; 3) exceeded; 4) uber exceeded.
Today we are cruising back through the Southern Ocean and the Drake Passage headed to The Falklands on Tuesday. The sea is slightly rolling, the temperature outside our cabin is in the 30s and we can't feel any wind. How fortunate.
The previous two days unexpectedly were among our most memorable during our two years of adventures ranking with the African safari, the Taj Mahal, baseball in South Korea, the Underground River of Puerto Princesa and Lisbon-Amsterdam-Tangier-Cape Town.
Here's why:
We cruised through glacier-covered small and large land masses on the Antarctic peninsula. Mostly we were in slender but deep channels gliding past tiny and small icebergs that split off glaciers or larger icebergs. At 5 knots an hour, we could take it all in. Disney never made a ride like this. The water, the ice, the sun and its rays in gleaming mode as they bounced from white to white to white making the rugged landscapes more beautiful than imaginable while evoking serenity and wonder that is unphotographable.
What could make it more enchanting? Hundreds of whales, mostly humpbacks, spouting frequently but rarely showing more than a little skin or tail. Hundreds of thousands of penguins standing tall on the land scouting us as we pass or swimming in schools around the ship and best when spotted floating by on a chunk of iceberg. We saw seals sunning themselves on an iceberg. We couldn't see the krill, sardines and millions of edible creatures who draw the whales, seals and penguins here in the southern summer.
We even have humans to thank for this experience. Azamara Journey captain Antonio set the course to find the viewing areas. His personality is as big as the continent and a lot warmer. He arranged to have two groups of scientists working in Antarctica board the ship for a Q&A with the passengers. One night he had six Argentinians working on sound-in-the-water and microplastics research missions. The next day was a Chilean crew studying the animal life and water temperatures in an isolated section of the peninsula. Azamara also brought three experts aboard in oceanography/geology, biology/botany and history to put much of what we saw in context.
The historian provided the moral of the story. The world started paying attention to Antarctica 125 years ago, he lectured. Seven nations made territorial claims in the early 1900s. In 1951 an Antarctic Treaty was signed by 12 countries (now more than 50) on governing the continent so that Antarctica is no county's property, that scientific research is the only mission for every member and all nations must adhere to keeping the land and water pristine at all times. So while the entire political world north of us is in upheaval, we've just left a place where mankind is working as one. Hard to fathom. (Sorry for the closing pun, but I gotta be me.)