A guest post by Paul Simpson

Antarctic cruises are not cheap, but if you are able to fit it into your budget, I highly recommend it!! You can get cheap deals last minute either through emailing a travel agent in Ushuaia (just google it, there are plenty around – I booked mine 3 weeks in advance) or by checking in person once in Ushuaia. I recommend booking it through an agent in advance if you can, I used Daniela at Ushuaia Turismo who was great. Last minute deals can save you >50% so it is worth doing and are generally US$4000-5000 depending on the cruise. Make sure you get a ship that does landings on the Antarctic as it would not be cool to go all the way there and not land on Antarctica as that is where all the fun is.

Rather than talk you through the whole cruise, I am just going to pick out a few highlights otherwise this will go on for pages and pages!

Arrival into Ushuaia and cruise departure

I arrived into Ushuaia early morning on the 14th January 2014 and the cold weather was noticeable straight away (considering I had just spent the last 6 weeks in Brazil and Buenos Aires with >30 degree temperatures!). Spent the day exploring the southern most town in the world ready for departure the next day. My ship (Sea Spirit) departed in the afternoon, it holds a little over 110 passengers and 69 crew for the 11 day adventure. After a quick debrief from the very friendly staff we were ready for departure and took off late afternoon and were expected to reach the dreaded Drakes Passage (one of the worlds roughest waters) around 11pm, however we were told that the waters were remarkably calm with swell of only 4m – that still seems like a lot to me!! The Drakes Passage normally takes days to cross to reach the Antarctic, but we did it in one and a half days meaning we got an extra landing in Antarctica.

Backpackers on a luxury cruise ship

The 5 young backpackers (Susan from Australia, Ellen from London, Andrew from the US, Marcella from the Netherlands and myself from Australia) who managed to fit a last minute Antarctic into their budget naturally gravitated towards each other on the trip and we all indulged in the luxuriousness of the ship. By indulge I mean eating huge amounts of the amazing multi-course breakfasts, lunches and dinners – we even ordered an extra main or 2 for our table to go with our 4 course meal every night. Certainly beats the backpacker diet of pasta and sauce. Even the little luxuries of comfortable beds, hot showers and not having to pack up my stuff for eleven days were a welcome relief. I might really struggle to go back to the backpacker way of life, haha!

Reaching the Antarctic

I lost the contest to see the first iceberg bigger than a 3 bedroom two story house around 11am. Our first landing in the Antarctic was at Half Moon Island…first thing I have learned is that words will not do Antarctica justice, absolutely amazing scenery and wildlife!!! Saw thousands of penguins at less than a few meters away, actually very funny animals when you watch them closely and see their behaviors. Literally felt like I was is in a David Attenborough documentary. Also saw a massive elephant seal and a Waddell seal on the icy beach. Blue skies meant there was a wonderful sunset as well as an amazing moon rising in pink skies which was beautiful.

Hannah Point

So much wildlife in such a small area. Again, lots of penguin (Gentoo and Chinstraps) with their chicks – really funny how the Gentoo chicks run after their mum which is trying to get away. Earlier, there was apparently a skua bird who picked up a very small penguin chick and carried it away to eat but other adult penguins managed to fight off the skua.

Zodiac cruises

The zodiac boats are used every day to transport us from the ship to the land (see photo). We had 2 stunning zodiac cruises in our trip – our first one was after the Argentinian authorities wouldn’t allow us to land at our designated spot (much to the disgust of Cheli who was the expedition leader in charge of the ships landing sites and activities). Instead we split into groups of 10 and went on a zodiac cruise around paradise bay which was really amazing. The second was at Spurt on our last afternoon in the antarctic and was absolutely stunning – even the staff were so excited to visit here as it doesn’t happen very often as conditions need to be perfect and this was the first time for the season. Scenery was unbelievable and left us all in awe of the ice, snow and mountains – again pictures and words really can’t do it justice. We even collected some special clear ice from the sea which we used for our gin and tonics that night!

Whales

We had three brilliant, close up encounters with these amazing and massive creatures. The first was with three huge humpback whales who put on a show right next to our ship. The second was with a Minke Whale who circled our zodiac numerous times and as we dodged the icebergs all around us. The last and possibly the best whale experience was with a pod of 5 orcas (killer whales) feeding on what we believe was a whale carcus beneath the surface. We stayed and watched for over an hour and they were still going when we left – brought in a lot of bird wildlife who were feeding on the whale blubber that was brought to the surface of the water. We were very lucky to experience it and everyone on the ship was in awe of the animals.

Camping on an Antarctic Island

Our ship had the optional extra of camping on an Antarctic. Andrew and I were the only two of us backpackers that were brave enough to do this (about 35 people in total from the ship did the camping). I still don´t know if this was a brave or stupid decision to leave the luxury of the ship for the -10 degree weather outside but was a truly unique experience that I am glad that I did. We even had a little contest to see who could make the best ´Casa´ in the snow.

Polar plunge

Again, I don´t know whether this was a brave or stupid decision but we all did this plunge into the freezing antarctic water from a zodiac – the water was at 2 degrees for the jump. Again, a truly unique experience which was amazing – although I think we all jumped out of the water quicker than we jumped in…the hot tub straight after was a very welcome, warm relief!!

I have now completed all 7 continents and Antarctica will be a trip that I will never forget!!! My one piece of advice is to save your money and do this trip at least once in your lifetime – a truly amazing experience that is worth every cent!!

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