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 5: Ahoy, Antarctica by way of King George Island

Today is the day! Quark Expedition Tour contacted us that our flight to Antarctica is being moved up due to weather conditions expected to be bad for flying the next few days. Luckily, I am scheduled to get to Punta Arenas early enough that the early departure does not really impact me much.

One of my hosts Domingo agreed to pick me up to go to the airport at 5:40am for my 7:30 flight. Not for free obviously, but still I would rather have him than trying to find an uber or taxi at that early hours. Domingo knocked on my door right at 5:40am. I opened the door, buenos dias, from his smile, I already knew he is a very kind and friendly guy. Oh we talked so much on the way to the airport, he is born as Chilean but was living in London for so many years, and a few years ago, they decided to move back to Chile with his wife Monika and his daughter. We talked about living aboard, about travel, just one of those moments you find some instant connection and you get to know someone very briefly. Just like that one of Humans oF NY IG feeds that you learned about some people via a photo and a brief description, except that it is a live person and you get to ask the question.

The airport ride was smooth, and the weather was nice today. My flight took off on time and even got to Punta Arenas early. I walked out the arrival hall after picking up my bag, I was not sure if Quark would have someone to pick me up. In the email, it sounds like they would. I did see the sign of my name. It seems I was the only one arriving at that time. My driver is a Venezuelan, again he is a friendly and interesting fellow to talk to. Maybe he was only working for his tips, but I am not scouting for a boyfriend. It is just another quick connection. I asked him if his family is still in Venezuela, he said Yes. I asked why he came to Punta Arenas, so far south and so cold in winters. It is the tourist money. On the other hand, I talked about life in the US and Hong Kong. He was totally preaching to the wrong crowd that he keeps praising China and how great it is. I half closed my ears on that one. Nonetheless, he stopped by a pond to show me a flamingo he spotted, and he drove me around downtown areas and told me where to visit. Quark paid for the ride, so I think he was only working for the tips, which I did give him.

Punta Arenas, to my surprise, actually was quite a nice town, with a lot of old colonial buildings from the 1800s. Everywhere looked pretty clean. Anyway, he delivered me to the Dreams Casino Hotel for my expedition check-in. I picked up my parka jacket which we can keep and the mud boot which we need to return after the tour. Did my health declaration and biosecurity for which I originally thought it was related to COVID, they were actually vacuuming our daily bags, hats, gloves and outerwears to make sure there are no weeds no strange biomaterial we are bringing to Antarctica and killing all the wildlife there. Reading the essential list though, I realized I did not bring a waterproof pants which are required for getting on and off the zodiac boats, and a hat is strongly recommended. I don't wear hats and gloves in Boston or Chicago, those are the last things I would think about when I am packing. I ended up walking down the street to a local active wear store and got a pair of pants and a hat. That came out to like 61000 pesos (like, not Walmart price, even though the pants were definitely made in China. They are more expensive than my 2 tours from the last 2 days combined. I don't think I have a choice at this point, I am the sheep that was ready to be slaughtered.

I found my bus stop for when I return, I will take a bus to Puerto Natales for the next destination. I found some place for quick sandwiches and coffee. Then I walked back to the hotel to meet Dimas, for my roommate for the next 7 nights. We did not know each other, except that we have some connection on facebook, that we were both friends of so and so. And we happened to ask the same person about Antarctica, and he connected us, and we decided to go together just because it would save us both quite a lot of money. Since we agreed to do the tour together about 2 years ago, we met once in Boston just to make sure we are not killers.

Got the orientation briefing, and we were scheduled to leave for the airport at 5pm-ish. Be honest, the feeling was still not quite kicked in yet. We were going to fly to King George Island in between Bransfield Strait and Drake Passage, where we would change to take a zodiac boat to continue to the cruise. All the demo and life saving instructions were coming in so fast but not quite sure how much I retained them. As we were being transported to the airport, Dimas and I were on the subject of paying tips for the cruise staff, do we need to do that? I did not think of that. How would I know? I don't usually travel like this. So, he said that his trip to Galapagos for 15 days, he paid like 500 bucks for tips. $500!!! That is a lot! Are you crazy? So, that triggered me to google around and see how much people are supposed to pay for tips for an Antarctica trip. On Tripadvisor, some people say 10-15 per passenger per day. Not quite sure where that reference was from, probably pre-COVID. And then, I looked up Quark FAQ, which says to budget "up to 20 bucks" per passenger per day. So, our tour is technically 7-8 days, so it would be $140-160. That is still a lot but at least it sounds more reasonable than $500. I plan to do $150 on the tips at the moment, we'll see how it goes.

As a very positive note, we got to the airport, successfully boarded and took off to King George Island at 7:15pm. The journey took 2 hours, it was still broad daylight out, at this time of the year, there are only 2-3 hours of darkness. We arrived at the Chilean military base which was sandwiched between the Russian and the Korean, South Korean. We were already wearing waterproof pants but before we got off the plane, we had to change to the mud boot. As we landed, the feelings started to sink in, it is a pure uninhibited land with nothing but wilderness and ice and wind. We were transported to the beach where we put on a life jacket and then we were guided to hop on the zodiac. It looked pretty solid as we first got on and sat down, after we were given a quick safety instruction, we were off to cruise, since it was getting quite late, and we had not even eaten dinner yet. The zodiac boat was a bit scary actually, maybe because it was quite windy and we were driving a bit faster than normal. It was just all a bit surreal, at the location we were at and doing what we are doing. There were a few penguins sending us off the zodiac which was super cute.

After a late dinner and we finally reunited with our bags in the cabin we were gonna spend 6 or 7 nights, 2 single beds. By 11pm, the cruise started moving, and I could start feeling the waves, the last time I cruised it was 15 years ago and on a much bigger cruise. I was worrying I would get seasick. But I tried to go to bed anyway, since we have an 8am wake up. Overwhelmed with emotions and feelings of excitement, nervous about getting seasick, the remoteness of where we are, the crazy adventure I am on and the scary feeling I get earlier on the zodiac boat, all melted into I don't know what. But I am going to sleep on it for now.

Day 5 Photos: Here