Jan 3-5: Homeward Bound

 We left the Ocean Endeavour mid-morning on the 3rd. Steve, Kelli and Todd all went straight to the airport. Gail hung with us in Ushuaia until after lunch then also made her way north. 

Team Antarctica was officially disbanded and while I enjoyed every minute just Mark and I, I also felt some form of lonely as the group split and by midnight, was thousands of miles apart again. Even later, as I write this there is an emotional twang that is hard to explain. We had shared something so magnificent. Getting there, being there, witnessing each others giddiness - it was all better together. 

I have experienced tears of gratitude (and will likely continue to do so) for these 5 who willingly and enthusiastically joined me in the most arduous journey, the most expensive vacation, the longest countdown... to Antarctica. A voyage to the coldest, driest, windiest, most exquisite and protected place on earth would NEVER have been the same without them and I will never forget that. 

So... Ushuaia. A little different than how I remember it in 2009 but still quaint, not really gentrified, colorful and interesting. Artistic and outdoorsy. A gateway to wildlife viewing, national park exploring and of course, Antarctica cruising. 

We spent the day shopping for gifts. During the darkest days of pet-sitter stress, many of our friends had stepped up and gone above and beyond. There was never going to be a gift that measured up or represented our gratitude aptly, but we also wanted them to know we appreciated them. 

Later that night we took Gail's recommendation and ate at Maria Lola. Great view, fabulous food, cozy and elegant atmosphere. How lovely!

Back at the hotel, an early night was in order. I could still feel the boat rocking gently beneath me. Waking in the night I found it hard to recall where I was and why. My brain was starting to transition back to the "real world" with internet and responsibilities and having to organize our own days again!

On the 4th, it was all about getting some walking in, making the most of our last hours and relaxing because tonight, we were sleeping upright in economy class or transitioning across Buenos Aires by car during the wee hours. It was not going to be pretty!

This was our boutique hotel on the hill. Worth the walk!

We found interesting places to eat. Not the least of which was this Triumph Cafe. I could almost imagine starting an epic motorbike trip from Tierra del Fuego and taking it all the way to North America. In another life, perhaps. My thoughts went to my British motorcycle guru/friend, Roger, who would have been in heaven here.

This dog knows where the good stuff is. Argentinian beef, cooked to perfection over the coals. The way he waited patiently outside lead me to believe it had and would pay off.

A little bit of silly is good for the soul!

And just like that, our time here in Ushuaia was over. 

We departed Tierra del Fuego around 8:30pm, a three and a half hour flight to BA. It took most of the 5 hours on the ground there to gather bags, transfer across town, recheck bags and clear security again. The flight to Panama City was about 8 hours I think. I was thrilled to have clear weather most of the flight and spent way too much time staring out the window at the Amazon jungle over Brazil and Colombia. It's beautiful! Vast and thick and alive, with tributaries feeding smaller rivers, feeding larger rivers. 

When the river changes direction, the jungle quickly fills the gap again... takes back the real estate! It feels like the natural order of things. 

Somewhere near or in the Gulf of Panama came this view of paradise and shortly thereafter, we landed at Panama's Tocumen Airport.

Sleep was always going to be a bit of a moving target today. We only had 90 minutes in Panama before the third and final flight, direct to Denver - barely enough for a bathroom break!

Then... Welcome home to us! Denver turned on it's famous blue sky. Kathy and Mike picked us up at the airport with smiles. 

And our fur-babies were waiting when we arrived!

Perfection!

Packing for Antarctica

 Raise your hand if you have watched a dozen packing videos like me. 

Ok, so I know you haven't. I'm well aware of my obsessive-compulsive tendencies. It's normal for ME to pack months in advance even if it's odd for other people. We are still 3 months from departure and I've fielded packing questions already, which tells me that even though I deal with the jokes about my pre-packing, it must add some value too. 

Organizing aside, there are several great reasons for checking it once and twice, making lists and recording all that goes in a bag in preparation for a long journey to a place that would be tough to find gear if you lost, damaged or forgot anything. 

My system is as follows: 

1 Checked bag

1 Carry-on backpack for the overhead luggage bin

1 Personal item for under the seat in front of me

CHECKED BAG - Weighing in at around 30lb when stuffed. 

In this bag goes most of my gear. At least the gear that I plan on wearing. 

I have 3 packing cubes. 

The largest holds 4 long sleeved, 1 t-shirt and 2 singlet tops - all merino wool. I'll be actually wearing stuff from this bag on travel day too, FYI. For good measure and just in case Christmas or New Years Eve warranted something clean and mildly fancier, I have a silvery top in there too. There's yoga tights (who knows... maybe I'll work out at the gym onboard!), wool straight leg and wool tights and a pair of base layer bottoms.  Add to that a possum fur hat, electric gloves and socks and sheepskin liners for my sneakers - Don't knock it 'til you try it! Aside from the boots they give you onboard, I only plan on taking sneakers for the whole trip. Am I crazy? (If so, I have plenty of time to change my mind before we leave.) Yep, there are ski googles and polarized sunglasses in this cube too.  I've heard that ski goggles might be the ideal scenario on cold and windy days when the Zodiak is flying across the water, dodging icebergs in search of penguins, seals and whales. 

In the medium sized cube I have a basic full set of what one might need. Two long sleeved, one short sleeved and a singlet top in merino wool. A pair of blue wool base layer pants, black "wear for all occasions" tights and a pair of Goretex shell pants. A neck gaiter and hat, wool glove liners and minimal underwear and socks.

This cube will be swapped with one of equal size of Mark's. This ensures if one of our checked bags doesn't make it, we have a little of each others clothes in our bags to make do with. 

The smallest cube contains underwear, bikini and socks. Also another wool neck gaiter, balaclava and glove liners.

Taking up space elsewhere in my pack I have a toiletry kit - with hair ties, sunscreen, a tiny sewing kit and all the typical things a bathroom kit might contain. 

I have a first aid kit - minimal but should cover cuts and scratches, head colds, digestive issues and emergency antibiotics, along with pain meds, sleep meds and allergy meds.

One inner pack pocket sports some disposable handwarmers and a head lamp. 

The bottom compartment is where I keep the bulky ski pants, fleece, wool zip-up cardigan and warm jacket. Oh... and there might be a pair of down pants in there with the overnight camp-out in mind - but I am considering swapping it for an ultralight down quilt/bag to stuff in the sleeping bag or put in the carryon for use aboard flights.

We are given a puffy jacket and a waterproof shell as well as waterproof boots, when we get aboard the Ocean Endeavour.

I know what you are thinking! What about techy gear?! Camera, computer and the like?

I consider this to be much harder to replace - especially given how long it takes to "get to know your gear" and set it up how you prefer it. ALL of my camera and picture-related gear is to be kept in the waterproof carry-on bag and will never leave my side. 

CARRY-ON BAG - Probably 12-15lb

I'm taking two camera bodies and lenses.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II and its predecessor, Canon EOS 50D as a backup.  Both lenses are telephoto and since I don't want to switch lenses in Antarctic conditions, I'm hoping the range each lens offers will be good enough to capture almost anything.

Memory cards, card reader, hard drive, computer, battery chargers and all the lens cleaning bits and bobs will be in the bag too. I'm taking a basic, way light and very short tripod. And a remote shutter cable. Not sure if I'll be using these things but I feel there is room and why not?!

Also not worth losing is my giant kit of anti-nausea solutions. If you've heard of it, I probably have it. There is an extended version of what this includes, in the last post: Antarctica in T-100  Scopalamine patches are the only things I'd consider off-limits for myself. A wee bit of blindness is a wee bit too much when it comes to my photographic asperations.

I'm planning on putting spare sunglasses in here too. Good for Panama City and a good backup plan for the inevitable loss or breakage that my other sunglasses are statistically likely to succumb to.

Last but not least, a handful of clothes that I'll wear to-ing and fro-ing from Ushuaia. This includes 48 warm hours in Panama City and a jacket/warm layer for Denver and Ushuaia weather as well as overly air conditioned airplane temperatures. (I'll take one of the ones mentioned above, from the back pack.)

PERSONAL ITEM/TINY BACKPACK 

Final bag - the tiny daypack that attaches to the big back pack when required. This will serve as a personal item under the seat in front of me or a day pack for Panama City outings. While traveling it will contain the passport/vax cert/wallet essentials as well as printed flight, hotel and cruise info, lip balm, headset, eye mask,  journal and pen, phone and charger.  For sure Mark and I will sneak a pack of cards into this or his personal carry on bag. My trusty neck pillow will be bobbing around on the outside. What?! It's a long journey and sleep is important!

Between now and departure I'm betting a few things will change, but not anticipating too much to be honest. 

NOTE: If you are looking for discounted/end of season merino wool, fleece, shells, hats and gloves, I have a list of sites that I recommend:

MountainSteals.com

SteepAndCheap.com

Sierra.com

BackCountry.com

Amazon.com - Every now and then random colors and sizes have really good deals. They don't last long and won't come back!

My preferences for brands that I trust are: Icebreaker, Smartwool, Odlo, Ortovox, North Face and Mountain Hardware. I try to support brands that have high standards when it comes to animal welfare and sourcing of materials. Im not packing DOWN to go to Antartica because unlike wool, it won't keep you warm if it gets wet.

Antarctica in T-100

 CLASS A. BUCKET. LIST. ITEM.

Forever, this has been on my list. Antarctica. 

A land owned by no-one and in theory honored by everyone, home to the penguins and ridiculously large icebergs. A place where whales hang out and people really don't.

So here's the plan: 

We depart Denver on December 17th for Panama. Chilling for a couple of days, taking in the rainforest, some monkeys and warm weather before heading south... way south. Ushuaia via Buenos Aires. 

Ushuaia is the southern tip of Argentina, located on the isle of Tiera del Fuego. A jumping off point for the Beagle Channel, then Drakes Passage and on to the Antarctic Peninsula and the continent itself. We'll be taking the Ocean Endeavour. 

"We" being Team Antarctica! Mark and I, Kelli and Todd, Gail and Teresa. A fab group of travel friends with a lust for adventure and courage to jump with both feet, completely out of our comfort zones. Driven to go places that few dare to dream of and make memories that last a lifetime.

This expedition cruise will last 14 days and dip down south of the Arctic Circle. We'll celebrate Christmas and New Years Eve while onboard too.  2022 has been challenging and we plan to offset all the weird and unsatisfactory bits with a kick-ass vacation and ring in a new year with joy, hope, adventure, laughter and thousands of pictures!

Speaking of pictures, this voyage has "add-ons" and one of them is the option to join a photography group while aboard. I did! And while I'm likely to be the least experienced and talented, most clumsy and awkward photographer in the group, I'm 100% looking forward to the classes, tips and tricks that will be showered on us in an effort to elevate opportunity and skill. And maybe bring about some half way decent penguin shots!

What other options do they offer?

Gail is enrolled in sea kayaking! It comes as no surprise that the option that would scare me the most is the one that literally floats Gail's boat!!! But I REALLY hope my photography group motors past her flotilla and I get pics of this amazing human paddling her way around icebergs.

Mark and I joined a waitlist for the "overnight camp" option and found out recently that we made it to the top of the list. Woohoo! We'll be spending a night on the continent itself, tucked up in bivvy bags on the ice. Sleeping? Maybe... but probably not. I'm already too excited to sleep and this is still three and a half months away!

The Ocean Endeavor is a thick-hulled ship designed to take less than 200 passengers at a time, into the polar regions. As sturdy and rugged as she is, she is also beautiful and well appointed. 

For those of you not aware, Drake's Passage is the roughest water in the world. A six foot swell is plenty enough to make me upchuck all day long and that is considered calm here. They call that the Drake Lake. The other end of the spectrum is Drake Shake - 20-30' swells that toss the boat around for 48 hours or more as it navigates from the Beagle Channel to the Antartic Peninsula. It's a means to an end and besides, I'm coming prepared. 

There is a baggie of doctor-approved meds in my packed carry-on. (Yes, I'm packed already. Get over it!)

Inside said baggie there are pills, patches, wristbands and even suppositories. I'll do everything I can to keep down all that high-end food eaten in a classy dining room while watching the horizon fly up and down in the window.  The goal is to stay clear-headed and clear-eyed... but if push comes to shove, I'll take the "may cause drowsiness" stuff too and ride it out in my bunk. And when the ride is over and calmer waters and stomachs prevail, I'll be recovering in the hot tub on top deck, perhaps indulging in a massage or spa treatment, sipping something sweet, viewing wildlife and icebergs, replenishing calories and loving every minute of travel with my friends. 

Anyway, that is the plan... a plan that we are counting down to. 100 days to go!

* Life and it's unexpectedness has recently come between Teresa and her place with us voyaging to Antarctica. I know the right thing for her is to delay adventuring until 2023 and I fully support her too but I'm still devastated by her "missing-ness" and therefore will be taking her along in spirit the whole way. So when you hear me referring to Team Antarctica, Teresa is included, we are a team of 6 still. If you see me photo-editing her into some pics... just let me be. It's how I'm dealing with my grief.