#216 Nomad Diary. 7-13 December 2024. Days 25-31 of 35 Day Antarctic Cruise on Sapphire Princess. Ushuaia, Argentina: The City at the End of the World. Beagle River Catamaran Wildlife Tour. Penguins! 4 Days Antarctic Cruising.

Early Morning Sighting of Glacier with Huge Waterfall

Walking Around Ushuaia, Argentina.
Our Ship Docked at Ushuaia.
Calm Waters on Our Excursion from Ushuaia to See Penguins
A Lot of Penguins
Our Excursion from Ushuaia with Beautiful Scenery and Calm Waters
Sunny Weather and Calm Waters During Our Ushuaia Excursion

Saturday. 7. Port in Ushuaia, Argentina. A town situated with stunning snowy mountains all around. This is our final stop before heading to Antarctica. We went on a 6 hour catamaran tour to see penguins. Before we left on our tour we walked around town and shopped for a couple of things. 

Sunday. 8. Crossing the Drake Passage. An amazing easy and smooth sailing through this more often stormy and choppy waterway. Our ship captain has sailed this itinerary for more than 20 years and commented on how amazing the sea is for our passage.



An Amazing Reflective Effect Seen During Our 4 Days of Anarctic Cruising. Wearing Sweater Poncho I Bought in Montevideo, Uruguay
Antarctic Cruising Scenery From Our Cruise Ship Cabin
Antarctic Cruising is Exhilarating with Clean Cold Air and Massive Rarely Scene Views
Penguins on a Huge Ice Berg, Anarctica Cruising Day
Antarctic Cruising had Loads of Massive Ice Bergs
Screenshot of Our Location in Antarctica During Our 4 Days of Scenic Cruising
Our Ship Captain Got Up Close to A Glacier and We Were Amazed By the Cloud Bank Flowing Over The Mountains
Our Final Day of Antarctic Cruising Was Overcast. I Saw This Faint Rainbow in Front of Elephant Island

Monday. 9.- Thursday. 12. Our 4 days of Antarctic cruising. Each day we wake up early which is normal for Darrell and me. The sun is up and the nighttime is brief this close to the pole of the earth. Every day we have and early sunrise and a late sunset. The views vary between seas with massive ice bergs and snowy mountains either close or far. We often see whales swimming near our ship. We can see penguins swimming near the ship sometimes and sometimes far away on a mountain-backed beach. Many cruisers have brought cameras with big lenses or binoculars to scan for wildlife. 

I wasn’t feeling well on Tuesday and Wednesday. Even though I didn’t feel well, I could still enjoy the scenery from our stateroom. By Thursday and Friday I was recovering. There were announcements on the ship about some gastro illness going around. When this happens the ship ups their sanitary standards to stop the spread if possible. I basically stayed in my room unless I had to go out or felt like going out. I felt like I had seasickness so I took a remedy but it didn’t effect me. Thankfully my illness only last 2-3 days. We had beautiful views of the Antarctic peninsula for these 3 days. We had several lectures onboard to do with this continent, the animals, the history of exploration and the current trend for research and tourists. We had commentary from our ship captain and from a naturalist. We saw penguins and whales. We had beautiful sunny weather for 3 days and our 4th day was foggy as we sailed by Elephant Island with limited views. Crossing the Drake Passage and sailing for Stanley, Falkland Islands. Again our sail across the Drake Passage was smooth. This is really an unusual event for this waterway. We were a rare cruise ship that got in and out of Antarctica with smooth passage both ways! 

Friday. 13. Sailing for Stanley, Falkland Islands. We enjoyed our morning Bible class with people we have been on this ship with since Ft. Lauderdale or Buenos Aires. Our sea day is relaxed with our slower routine and visiting with friends on the ship. 

Nomad Notes:

This 35 day cruise is the longest number of days we have ever been on a ship. We have enjoyed this particular itinerary because every port in South America is new to us. Looking forward to seeing Antarctica is part of our adventure too. I never thought that I would want to come to Antarctica, but I was pretty excited to decide on this trip about a year ago. I’m very glad that our going and coming across the Drake Passage was smooth and easy. Our scenic cruising in Antarctica was amazing and incredible. Taking in so much new scenery and experiences is almost an overload on my senses. Seeing penguins made everyone smile. This was fun to see and to feel the happiness in myself in these moments of being with penguins! It was a true highlight of this trip.



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