A trip this like requires forethought in more than just packing. It's what you leave behind. Calli was in for a long absence, and needed special care. Being a dog that takes only to food that is not intended for canine consumption, we got a store of treats.
Following by over a weeks' inventory of prepped food, anchored by pork chop.
With Calli looked after, off to the airport. Always so much energy at the outset.
Already two days later at vineyard in the Maipa Valley.
Finish with a particularly picturesque vineyard.
Nature shots from Eva.
Finally, ready to go from Punta Arenas to Antarctica. Such a busy flight schedule, who knew?
Stretch it out little bit.
Already seeing glaciers de plus even before leaving South America.
On the boat, windy times.
Icebergs de plus. This is what passed for something exciting on day one.
That and games of chess on the observation deck on 7.
Watching whale watching.
Our first full day itinerary.
One person went on a paddle board expedition.
The rest decided to breach continental Antarctica.
Cole is in Antarctica.
And the icebergs got much more impressive.
Especially when they had seals laying on them.
#zodiaclife
The first full day brought the full Antarctica experience.
And the snowflake making wasn't even on the itinerary.
Lots of this. Something out of Game of Thrones. This glacier was was apparently many miles away, too far to cruise.
The arch iceberg. Little did we know that arches down here, despite our guides' exuberance, were not uncommon. Lo and behold.
So many different drinks enjoyed in the evenings up on 7.
And a religious experience watching about 30 humpback whales pass the ship, with one tail-slap-happy whale calling all his friends over.
The second full day brought perhaps the quintessential Antarctica experience.
Good bergs.
Penguin colony.
WWCD?
Whale bones. That's cool.
Ads for the company.
The glaciers featured mountains.
So many penguins.
Then maybe the best part of the cruise, a zodiac trip through the snow and ice.
A seal, penguin and gull walk into a bar...
Snowball in Antarctica.
Another Quark ad.
Cruising out of this area felt other-worldly. And I actually got bored with seeing whales. I mean, after seeing one breach the first morning what else is there?
How many of you can say you've gotten your nails done in Antarctica? I figure this makes her about 1 in 100 in the entire world. Like she needed another way to gain that distinction.
Day four sounded a bit ominous. Sailing into a volcano?
Some levity in the middle of the day while they judged the doors for holiday decorations. Can you believe there was a tie for first and this didn't make it?
Bally Point, where I almost finally got seasick. We couldn't land on the beach so they gave us a full 90 minutes of rough sea zodiac.
Still, some good pictures. These are not black and white filtered by the way, this is how it looked.
Eva snapped an action shot of her brethren, the penguins, porpoising in the water.
Christmas Day on a boat in the Southern Ocean was a strange thing. But we still got the annual Christmas tree picture.
Day five. Get out.
The flying penguin that took us over the Drake Passage.
Turning around the corner for the elevators in Santiago, I had a moment where I thought they hung artwork over the atrium. Then I realized this was the sky.
Farewell Southern climes. We'll be back.
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