Ushuaia then ANTARCTICA - Yehaa!!!!

Ushuaia then the Antarctic

Left Buenos Aires after spending such a lovely time with a dear friend, Lyn who I met in Turkey - now travelling with a group of like minded adventurers from Australia and Sweden to Antarctica so flew by Lan Airlines to Ushuaia – the city given the name of being at the End of the World – it’s a quaint, picturesque place nestled at the foot of snow-capped mountains within walking distance (5kms) of a glacier.
It's like a skiing town, so pretty and so much to do there … we caught a taxi to the chairlift then walked up the path to the Glaciar Martial - rather than take the chairlift – beautiful crisp mountain air and solid exercise – great feeling after the busyness of Buenos Aires.  

This is great but Antarctica is the Big destination and the next day we headed off on the Akademik Sergey Vavilov with quark Expeditions  – 2 days of relatively???!!! calm seas although most passengers were either on sea sickness tablets or sea sick!!! 99 passengers on board and 50 lovely friendly staff...

Antartica is my 7^th Continent and I was so looking forward to it and it didn’t disappoint – it is amazing, magnificent, awe inspiring, pristine and almost surreal and like everything – far better in real life than on any show I’ve seen about it.  It is incredible how amazing it is – the icebergs in all shades of blue and green and white, penguins of various types,  seals and, of course, the pristine, crisp wilderness is incredible.

I went kayaking and cross-country skiing – both stunning in their own way – groups limited to 15 for kayaking and 20 for the skiing.  We visited the British outpost at Port Lockroy and saw the Argentinian Station as well.  This is a map of our journey....

A picture tells a 1000 words and I don’t have the words to describe how awe inspiring the scenery is so I’ll bore you with photos which cannot really capture the unreal feelings or incredible scenery.  I am coming back and doing South Georgia and the Falklands and also the Arctic - definitely - hopefully with my children !!!

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I took this footage after these Orcas had taken a baby seal and they were around our zodiac and diving under it .....spectacular....

AND on the last day in Antarctica after a walk around the deserted whaling station at Deception Island, I did the Antarctic Plunge - a swim in the icy waters of the Antarctic Sea......BBrrrrrrrr - the coldest waters I have ever felt but I'm so proud of myself for doing it along with a friend from Perth, Penelope and a lot of younger and not so younger people....
So much to say but don't want to be too long winded.....so far this has been my highlight.....off to Patagonia now for 23 days trekking, bussing and boating, so that will be my next adventure...I will have Christmas there so MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all........
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