Quest for the Antarctic Circle.

Antarctica had always held a distant fascination; a place I wanted to go conceptually—even looking into ways of catching a cruise in the past—but without a concrete plan. Until I met a woman in Chile while on a tour of the wine region.

She was in Chile for a few days before heading south to Ushuaia and then on to Antarctica. Suddenly, the vague idea of Antarctica became a solid desire. I started researching ships and cruises and the intensity of the Drake Passage that night. Within a week I had put down a deposit. And then began a year-long wait until my departure.

Antarctica was like nothing I could have expected. The light was ever-changing, the landscape, too as our ship passed and as icebergs floated by. I splurged for a cabin with a balcony, which paid off as I would see humpack whales dive and beautiful tabular icebergs from right outside my room.

The guides and staff were also a joy. Hard working, friendly, and founts of knowledge as excited as we were (if not more so) when we encountered orca chasing fur seals or saw a snow petrel flying around an iceberg, some of the rarest sightings to be had.

Our fellow passengers also enhanced the experience in many ways, and I am happy to consider many of the people I met now friends.

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February 18, 2024 - February 29, 2024.