Today was the only sea day of this cruise. It was a bit windy, and the sea was slightly rough, but I hardly felt anything on the ship. This has been the smoothest cruise I have ever been on. Hardly any movement. Didn’t feel like we were on a ship at all.

I attended a couple of presentations today. One was about the behind the scenes onboard Holland America ships, engine room, galley, bridge, etc. The other presentation was about the history of Holland America.

Rainy morning in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. We went on an excursion to Anne of Green Gables house. Stopped at a small fishing town, and lobster lunch on the way back.

As we sailed into Sydney this morning, we were allowed to go out on the bow.

From Sydney, we took an excursion to the Fortress of Louisbourg.

Today’s port was Halifax. We took an excursion to Peggy’s Cove in the morning, then walked around Halifax on our own in the afternoon.

Peggy’s Cove:

Halifax:

Halifax Citadel:

Sunset:

Today’s port was Bar Harbor, Maine. We did a small group excursion to Arcadia National Park. There were 12 people in the group, and we took a mini bus. It was so much better than a giant tour bus!

After the tour, we just walked around Bar Harbor and had a lobster roll ❤️

We arrived in Boston yesterday day and boarded Holland America Zuiderdam today.

This is our first time on Zuiderdam, but it’s pretty much identical to Westerdam, so we settled in right away.

Out next cruise is less than a week away!

7-Day Canada & New England Discovery abord Holland America Zuiderdam
8/26 – 9/2/2023

It’s a bit early for fall colors, and according to the weather report, it’s going to rain most of the time, but we’ll still have fun!

While sailing through Beagle Channel this morning, they offered the tour of the engine control room.

We arrived at Ushuaia around noon today. They said they’d have the tenders out to take us ashore, but that didn’t happen until around 5 pm. There was an event going on at 6:30 pm, so we didn’t bother with the tenders.

While eating our dinner, the ship actually docked, so after dinner, we went out for a stroll. Not much to see here, and most shops were closed since it’s Sunday, so no souvenir shopping. Just snapped a few pictures and went back to the ship.

We’re disembarking tomorrow morning, so we had to pack and put our luggage out on the hallway by 11 pm tonight…

Today was the Drake Passage crossing. It was pretty rough, but it was mostly pitching, so I don’t think the stabilizers would’ve made much difference.

This afternoon, they opened the bridge for tour.

It’s now the evening of Jan. 14. We are out of the Drake Passage now and expected to arrive Ushuaia tomorrow. They said they’d have tenders out to take us to Ushuaia to look around.

Today, we made our last stop in Antarctica at Elephant Island. Due to the weather, the planned Zodiac tour was canceled, but we saw Cape Valentine and Point Wild from the ship.

After that, we left Antarctica and started our way back to Ushuaia.

Today’s landing site was Telefon Bay in Deception Island. Deception Island is a round, horse shoe shaped island and is the caldera of an active volcano. We navigated through a narrow opening into the caldera. It was a very geologically interesting place.

It also had abandoned science station and whaling station, which we saw from the ship on the way in/out.

Then we went around the outside of the island to Bailey Head, where there’s the largest chinstrap penguin colony.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Antarctica before we head back to Ushuaia.

Zodiac ride through snow and thin ice this morning in Börgen Bay. It was fascinating.

After that we watched some crazy people do the polar plunge. No thanks!

We had another landing in the late afternoon to Damoy Point. It was another little island with old huts and penguins, except that we could actually go inside one of the huts this time.

Earlier this afternoon, they said we’d have to leave Antarctica one day early to avoid the bad weather. Then later in the evening, they said the weather report changed and we’ll stay two more days here as scheduled. Yay! (Of course, the weather can change again.)

In the morning, we were supposed to do a Zodiac tour in Hidden Bay, but it got canceled due to high wind. We then went through foggy and snowy Lemaire Channel to Petermann Island. We were able to do a landing at Petermann Island. It was similar to D’Hainaut Island, but bigger. Penguins were more spread out, so the snow was more white, unlike the brown, penguin guano snow in D’Hainaut Island.

Then in the evening there was a surprise Zodiac tour in Pleneau Bay through giant icebergs. It was most interesting.

And it wasn’t over yet. At around 10:30 pm, we went through Lemaire Channel again. The captain said the condition would be better this time, so we went out to the bow of the ship for better view. It was better with no snow or wind, but it was still foggy.

We had our second landing this afternoon. We went to D’Hainaut Island, which is a tiny island lying in Mikkelsen Harbor, Trinity Island. It has some artifacts like the refuge hut and whale bones, but the main attraction of this island was the penguin colonies. We saw hundreds of gentoo penguins! And walked through penguin guano! LOL

This morning’s landing was canceled, due to high wind.

We were first group to go out this morning, so we got up early, got ready, and went down to the mud room in full expedition gear. We were actually first in line to board the Zodiac, just a few feet from the exit. But they made us wait, wait, wait… then finally canceled it.

Disappointing, but we were able to relax in our room and enjoy beautiful scenery from the balcony for the rest of the morning. We cruised south along the west side of James Ross Island, where not too many cruise ships visit. According to the expedition staff, this area was completely blocked off by the ice until 1990’s.

We went as far south as Lockyer Island, then got blocked by ice bergs and had to turn around and go back the way we came instead of going around James Ross Island.

Before the ship turned around, we cruised through the ice bergs for a while and the scenery there was spectacular. And there were a lot of penguins resting on the ice bergs. One group of penguins thought the ship got too close for their comfort. They ran away from the ship, jumped into the water, then jumped right back up once the ship passed. They were so cute.

So even though we couldn’t do any landings today, we had a very nice sea day.

Tomorrow, we’ll be going around to the other side of the Antarctic Peninsula, to D’Hainaut Island in Mikkelsen Harbor.

We did our first landing today! In the morning we took the Zodiacs to The Naze on James Ross Island. We saw some penguins and seals there.

In the afternoon, we were supposed to do another landing at False Island Point on Vega Island, but the condition wasn’t right, so we just did a Zodiac tour through icebergs. This time I only took my GoPro with me, and the GoPro didn’t start up, so no photos on this tour…

Then in the evening, we saw a couple pods of orcas. They swam along with us for a while.

Tonight, the ship will go west, then south along James Ross Island to Rum Cove, where we’ll have another landing tomorrow morning, weather permitting.

When I woke up this morning, we were out of the Drake Passage and in the Antarctic waters. The ocean was much calmer and no more significant rocking.

The ship went through between the tip of Antarctic Peninsula and Joinville Island and into Weddell Sea. We saw a lot of ice burgs and glaciers. I couldn’t take any pictures, but we saw lots of penguins jumping out of the water too.

We made a brief stop near Devil Island, where the captain made an announcement that we were going to have a surprise zodiac tour this afternoon. We were on the second group to go and had some time, so we went to their submarine garage tour.

When we came back from the garage tour, the first group was still in the lounge in their full expedition gear. Then shortly after, there was an announcement that the zodiac tour was canceled, due to the wind getting stronger. Good thing we were on the second group! LOL

Tomorrow is when we actually start having zodiac tours and/or landings, subject to change depending on the weather condition, of course.

We’re crossing the Drake Passage today. The sea is fairly mild, but our ship’s stabilizers are broken, so it’s rocking quite a bit. I didn’t get sick, but I pretty much slept all day. I just couldn’t stay awake. It might have been the seasickness medicine that I took.

Tomorrow is another sea day. We’re heading toward Weddle Sea and should be out of the Drake Passage by then, so it should be less rocky.

Today, we flew from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. The flight was included with the cruise, but it sure wasn’t a luxury experience I expected from Seaboun, on a rickety old plane with some broken seats and crappy lunch! And they put us in the very back of the plane. It was a window seat, but no window… But we made it to Ushuaia in one piece.

From the Ushuaia airport, we took the provided transport to the port, and since the bus pulled up right next to the ship, I couldn’t get any pictures of the ship, but here are some interior photos and some views from the ship.

We’re now underway and cruising through Beagle Channel. The sea is calm with gentle rocking. Of course, it won’t be like this once we leave the channel.

Tomorrow will be the Drake Passage! Hope it won’t be too bad!

In Buenos Aires now. We’re staying overnight here, then flying to Ushuaia tomorrow to board the ship.

Oh boy, just received an email from Seabourn telling us that our ship’s stabilizers are broken. Yikes! Going through the Drake Passage without the stabilizers would not be fun…

They say they’ll time the Drake Passage crossing to “take advantage of the most optimal weather windows,” which means we may end up sitting near Ushuaia for a few days waiting for the sea to calm and/or leaving Antarctica early to avoid the storm.

I’m lowering my expectations quite a bit. As long as I can make at least one landing somewhere in Antarctica and see the penguins, I’ll consider it a success!

I’m back! And I’m still cruising!

After the COVID pause, we did do another cruise last summer. But it was another Alaska cruise, similar to the last cruise we did in 2019, except that we went to Hubbard Glacier instead of Glacier Bay. And the ship was Westerdam again. So I didn’t bother blogging.

Our next cruise will be totally different, and it’s an once-in-a-life-time type cruise, so I think I’ll try to blog it this time. However, due to the location, the Internet connection is expected to be spotty, so I may not be able to post every day.

Anyway, our next cruise is in January, 2023, and we’re going to…

ANTARCTICA!!

We’ll be aboard Searbourn’s brand new expedition ship, Venture! Woo!

12-day Antarctica Exploration aboard Seabourn Venture
1/3 – 1/16/2023