Day 13: The Antarctic Book of Exodus Part 3 and Beyond

Last night after I posted Day 12 blog, I went back to the main lounge room to see the entertainment provided by the expedition team. In a way, we were all being trapped together for 2 extra days, totally unanticipated at least for the passengers. I have to say that both the expedition team as well as the passengers all tried their best to remain calm, flexible and be at peace with whatever may come as much as we can. No one really complained even though this unintended delay has caused so much disruption on people's travel plans, some had to scramble to find alternative flights, others like myself lost one or two nights of other pre-booked accommodation in other places. In the end, we all were content that we had been in Antarctica and there were a whole lot more to be thankful for than feeling bitter about the delay. Besides, the fog had already cleared up outside the window, everyone rushed out to see the Antarctica sunset, my first time actually. It was beautiful. Looked like our new departure was promising.

We had our final breakfast in the morning, followed by a 12 mins photo slideshow from the official photographer who had been tirelessly snapping pictures during the entire trip. The expedition leader and the captain delivered some closing remarks in the last and farewell briefing. As the expedition leader said, it was indeed time to reflect, the things we have seen and experienced in the past 8 days, seemed to have flown by like a blink of an eye. But in a week, a month, a year after we go home and remember what we have seen and learned in this trip, we might suddenly realize how significant and how incredible this experience is, and maybe from this experience, we would be motivated to bring some changes within our own circle, to care about climate change, to care about the environment. Per the expedition leader's request, we ended this wonderful trip with everyone dancing to Pharrell William's Happy on the bow.

After the dance, we were mostly just waiting for the day to pass. We remained at Latitude 62° 12.154′ South and Longitude 58° 55.750′ West for almost 60 hours in total, I would remember this specific location. In the next blue moon, maybe under influence, this location might end up tattooed on my arm for no reason.

After lunch, we were watching the movie Chasing Ice, before it even finished, it was announced that the folks on flight 1 should begin to board the zodiac boat to get ashore to prepare for the departure, me included. We got on the plane around 4pm, and we landed in Punta Arenas just before 6pm. I pre-booked a 8:08pm bus ticket by Buses Fernandez to Puerto Natales. From their website, there was an earlier bus at 6:38pm, I was hoping to hop on it, but that bus never showed up, maybe because they were not expecting to pick up anyone at the airport stop, so they skipped it altogether. There was absolutely no sign where the bus would stop. But I have at least asked 3 people to ensure I was standing at the right spot. I waited close to 2 and a half hours in an empty airport for my bus, it was kind of eerie in a way. Meanwhile, I met a couple from Bermuda who had some mix up with their bus, the bus left without them. They were heading in the same direction as me, so I suggested they talk to my bus driver and maybe he would let them hop on as well. They did.

We arrived at Puerto Natales well past 11pm, I had not even eaten yet, just some nuts and half a tasteless brownie from the flight, that was my dinner of the night. I took a cab to the DT Loft where I would stay 4 nights. The room was so cozy, I think I would enjoy this place.

Day 12: The Antarctic Book of Exodus Part 2

We anchored at Latitude 62° 12.154′ South and Longitude 58° 55.750′ West. It has been over 30 hours since we settled at this location, just off the shore of King George Island. Today, it has been foggy all morning and the weather is expected to improve over time in the next 10 plus or so hours. The expedition team was still attempting to keep the cheers going on board, we had a nice presentation about Antarctica wildlife earlier, followed by a lunch featuring suckling pig and other barbecue goodies. The restaurant wait staff were mostly Filipinos, some of them knew my first name since I had ordered sunny side up every day, and others knew that I drank only iced tea and coffee, they would just bring me a glass as we entered. Mostly very friendly. In fact, Most of the people I have encountered (staff and passengers) are all very nice, except one particular quark team member, he does not like me for some reasons. He is kind of acting like a jerk when I had questions for him, it was just like our channel just not connecting. There are always these kinds of people out in the world, no matter where you are. I am just trying to ignore them and not let them get on my nerves. It's totally not worth it.

We had a dismemberment presentation after lunch, it looked like our flight was back on track, we will fly back to Punta Arenas around 4:30-5pm tomorrow, if the weather pattern stays on the good side as expected. Evidently, it seemed ok on the King George Island side, but the airline has a tiny little reservation for the Punta Arenas end. So, we were advised to remain flexible. Now onto my onward travel, which has been significantly impacted actually. I have two options: (1) stay in Punta Arenas for the night, the cruise line company already paid for the hotel, (2) go straight to Puerto Natales as soon as I arrive in Punta Arenas, it is a 3 hours bus journey. I have contacted my B&B, they would work around my arrival even though it is expected to be after their last check-in time.

On another day, I would probably go with option 1, so I am not so rushed. But it is Christmas, apparently, there will not be any tour running on Dec 25. Chile is a very Catholic country. I hope I will manage to find food. If I do not go to Puerto Natales until Dec 24 morning, that means I will only have one day left (Dec 26) for the tour since I am leaving on Dec 27 to fly back to the US. That may seem like a waste of a trip. So, after talking to my B&B, and cruise line folks, I will try to get on the first flight out of King George Island, and catch an 8pm bus from Punta Arenas airport to Puerto Natales. I will arrive at Puerto Natales well past 11pm, and I will have a tour on Dec 24. But I have Dec 25 completely free from any activities and just relax. At least that is the plan right now. Stars will have all aligned in order to make this happen, the weather has to cooperate so the flight can take off, and I need to make my bus. We shall see.

Today is just activities on board kind of a day, there is a charity auction for Penguins Watch which was quite interesting and funny. For one of the items - a bottle of Antarctic Glacier Water, the guy who opened the box attempting to show it to the bidders dropped the bottle by accident. In the end, he himself bought that bottle. That incident was kind of funny. It is all for a good cause, they raised 4000 something from 10 items being auctioned for the charity.

After the last supper, there was one last fun entertainment before we called off the last night on the cruise. Good memories.

Day 11: The Antarctic Book of Exodus Part 1

Today is supposed to be the day we return to Punta Arenas to spend one last night in the hotel to shake off the cruise motion feeling before we continue our journey whether to the next destination or go home. Personally, I plan to take a bus to Puerto Natales to visit Torres del Paine National Park for 5 days before heading back to the US.

After grabbing our breakfast, we were gathered in the lounge room and the expedition leader delivered us with the bad news, due to the low visibility, the airline has yet to decide whether we can or cannot fly today. From the radar image, it is extremely unlikely. Not only today, the condition tomorrow is even worse. That being said, the expedition team predicted that the earliest we may be able to leave is Friday December 23 later afternoon. That was a bummer indeed. They advised people to start looking for switching flights and do any adjustment to the trip as needed if we do not hear anything change from the airline by 1pm or 2pm.

These Antarctica trips are pretty much running every week. That being said, there is another group of passengers waiting in Punta Arenas to fly here, get on our cruise while we would take the same two flights back to Punta Arenas and go our own ways. The logistics of it all is quite complicated, since each run would need two planes to carry over 100 people. The runway is a short gravel road, the pilot needs to see the entire runway before they can land. In any case, so now what?

I felt a little trapped and a little ancy, but have been trying to keep my cool. It is beyond what I can control anyway. So, at this point, I can only deal with the options laid in front of me. From the look of it, I will lose two days in Puerto Natales if I get to Punta Arenas really late on Dec 23. There are evening buses from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, one at 7pm, one at 9pm. It is a 3 hours journey. I really do not want to get in a new town at midnight to try to find my accommodation, which only accepts check in up to 10pm anyway. I can try to check if the B&B can accommodate a late check in. But still, if I can help it, I will try to get on the 7pm bus, despite it being really very tight. I have communicated with the B&B in Puerto Natales, the booking is not refundable, but I have bought travel insurance this time, so I should be able to claim the loss with the right documents.

Originally I was going to do 3 tours in Puerto Natales: (1) to visit Torres del Paine for sure, (2) to visit Grey Lake Glaciers, and (3) to cross the border to Argentina to see Perito Moreno Glacier. I probably will have to give up the idea of going across the Argentina border, that is a long tour (possibly 13-15 hours). Ideally, if I manage to get to Puerto Natales on the Dec 23 evening, I would still have 3 whole days to do tours, and I am only losing one night of accommodation. If I don't get to Puerto Natales until Dec 24 afternoon, then I would have lost 2 nights of accommodation and only left two days (Christmas and Boxing Days) for sightseeing, I am not even sure if the tours are running on those days, Chile is a Catholic country. We'll see.

The Quark expedition team tried to keep the moods up, we have activities on board. Various talks, yoga class, and a Antarctica trivia game night. Tomorrow, we are supposed to have a charity auction, a movie and more talks, if the weather permits, we might do an extra zodiac excursion nearby. They are doing the best they can, which I appreciated. But please please please take me back onshore soon.

The animals we have seen in this trip:

The expedition team:

Day 10: Last Day in Antarctica, or Is it?

Today is the last full day in Antarctica. There is a huge Bransfield Strait to cross before getting back to the South Shetland Islands. The airport is on King George Island, our flight is scheduled for tomorrow morning, as the next Antarctica tour guide arrives.

In the morning, after breakfast, we did one last zodiac expedition to Palaver Point, the two zodiac groups (Penguin, Seal) got to land first to see a Chinstrap penguin colony, by the way, we are named after the animals in Antarctica. I belong to the Petrel zodiac group. Our group along with the Whale group would just do a zodiac expedition along the coastline before landing. The sea was pretty rough and it was snowing slightly. We saw some ice walls and cravasses.

We finally landed after about 45 mins in the water and we had about 1 hour 15 mins to spend on land. The penguin colonies may look good on picture, but they stink! We hiked up the hill and had a panoramic view of the area, and this Chinstrap penguin has a distinct black line under its chin. I took a video of them zipping up and down the penguin highways, often tripping themselves. They are indeed very cute to look at.

Said goodbye to the penguin one last time, we were back on the cruise, and we started the long journey back to the South Shetland Islands area, the Bransfield Strait is really choppy.The boat is rocking left and right. I am trying to hold it all in. We don't have another expedition today, so just snacking away and watching things flying around because of the rocking ship. And we also have to settle the bills, ok there was a mix up with the internet connection. One place said prepaid, but I got the bill including a US$75 internet charge. Also the tips for the hotel crew and the expedition team. I am a big spender today for sure.

We have had a quick briefing, and it seems the weather for flying is not promising in the morning tomorrow, so it looks like we may be flying back to Chile later in the afternoon when the weather may give a break. I hope we make it before tomorrow evening even though it may be late. I have to take a bus to Puerto Natales, my final destination, on Thursday the 22th. I will have a few more days in Patagonia to see Torres del Paine before heading back to the states. I met 4 Singaporean women who have the exact same plan to go to Torres del Paine after Antarctica, who knows, our paths may cross each other again.

After dinner, the captain of our cruise decided to sway by Deception Island which is an active volcano. With the rains, it looked extra spooky and there were streams coming off the ground. It looked like a haunted island, some Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones might pop out any second. Since it was the last night, Dimas and I returned back to the lounge area to hang out with other passengers, a total of 12 of us started playing the game called Taboo at a corner. That was so much fun, it was my first time playing that game and I was not good at it with my limited vocabulary. But still I thoroughly enjoyed this evening.

Day 10 Photos: Here