ANTARCTICA… the Amazing Frozen Continent!

Lisa and I have returned from the ends of the Earth! We had an amazing trip full of beautiful scenery, incredible wildlife, fun people and wonderful surprises! The photographic opportunities were boundless and the birding offered so much more than penguins alone. We were never without something to enjoy.

The trip did get off to a rocky start, however, with storms in Atlanta causing our initial Delta flight from Philadelphia to be delayed. A comedy of DELTA AIRLINES errors, incredibly poor service, plus repeated miscommunications and out right lies by their ‘service’ staff caused us to arrive in Ushuaia, Argentina (where our ship awaited) 24 hours later than we had originally planned and desired… without our checked luggage! Also note that PRICELINE, through whom we purchased the flights, including their ticket insurance, were of even less help even telling us that their insurance did not cover flight delays! So, um, what is the insurance for? This is great fodder for a future post… so far we still have yet to receive all of our bags… I will let you know the outcome! The good news is that we did purchase CSA Travel Insurance (the company Wildside recommends on our web site), and they have been fantastic in helping us recover a portion of our expenses to the maximum of the coverage we purchased through them.

Fortunately we had padded the beginning of our trip with an extra day to go birding in Tierra del Fuego National Park. Unfortunately, since we arrived 24 hours late and without our checked luggage, we had no time to go birding. Instead we spent the evening of our arrival and the following morning (before boarding our ship) shopping for replacement cold weather gear and ship-board clothing! Lisa had minor issues finding the right stuff, however, South America has few people my size and I had very limited options… but we made do with what we could find that fit! (Thank you Delta… next time I am flying American or anyone else!)

Before heading off to Argentina I had contacted a couple of local guides who were to take us to see the birds around Ushuaia. I was able to email them during our airport ‘adventure’ and they were wonderful once we arrived. Veronica of UshuaiaBirdwatching.com stopped by with equipment for us to use and took us into town to do some shopping. Local guide, Esteban Daniels, met us the following day, picking us up at our hotel and taking us to lunch, then to our ship to begin our voyage. Each great people I will look forward to working with in the future!

In the days to come I will post many images and stories of our Antarctic journey!