antarctica15

Diary Entry 26: Thursday, 26 December 2024

We made it onshore, and luckily didn't need to wait too long for the buses to come back and pick us up. The trip down on the bus had been an earthquake, but today, it wasn't half bad. I think our first driver on 21 December, obligingly aimed for every pothole, while our return driver was much nicer to us all. Originally, we were supposed to have a stay at the "airport" but the schedule wouldn't permit any stops. We headed straight to the parking area where our plane awaited! We got out quickly, grabbed our carry-on, which for me was my regular carry-on bag and cane, but more importantly, inside my bag was the empty Quark bag that I was hoping to quickly fill with my muck boots, that I would gladly discard. Even then, we still had to carry them all the way back to the Dreams Hotel before we could turn them in. But at least they would finally and completely be off my feet.

On the way south, you might recall, I was the last person on the plane and got stuck in aisle seat 6C with no view at all. This time I was actually the very first person on the plane, and quickly took Seat 1A with a perfect window. Immediately after everyone was aboard, we wasted no time. The pilot knew there was a short window to get out safely, so he hit the gas and we left the apron for the runway. Interestingly, we had to taxi down a hill to get to the end of the runway. We turned onto the runway, and after a pause of only about five seconds, we had four turning and burning, pushing us up that hill, and over the crest, then we were airborne! I shot the whole take off and departure sequence on video out the port side front row window from King George Island. It was a wonderful view with the island, the water, lots of rocks, and a bit of ice. Then we were up in the clouds and the view was quickly lost. However, a few minutes later, after we were out over the Drake, the clouds parted so I could finally, and officially, thumb my nose at the Drake Passage! I'd been waiting all trip to do that. Grabbed a photo, then the clouds closed up for the rest of the 800 or so miles until we reached Tierra del Fuego.

YouTube Video Links:

Part 37

Part 38

Part 39

Part 40

Part 41

Part 42

	— Day 9: King George Island – Thursday, 26 December 2024 —

	Diary Entry 25: Thursday, 26 December 2024 Had another difficult night traversing open water between Yankee Harbour and King George Island, but nothing like the terrible night of Christmas Eve. Of course, added on to all that was the trepidation concerning the flight later this morning. All indications were that there would be an extremely short window when it might be possible to fly in, pick us up, and get back out again. They had originally talked about us starting the disembarkation process at around 8:00 am, but that didn't happen. However, it wasn't long afterward when they started to announce that disembarkation would indeed begin shortly. Outside, there were actually spots of blue sky, but they were sporadic. On top of that we were getting winds of about 45 knots, which equates to about 52 mph. The sea was very choppy from the high winds, and the captain had a very hard time getting a sustainable anchorage point. Finally our speed was at 0, and they actually started to bring us down to head to shore. I was on the second flight, Quark 2, which was designated by a purple ribbon on our luggage. For that flight, I was on the third group to get called down to the Mud Room for one last bout with those damn muck boots that had done so much damage to my foot. I was first on my zodiac, with four people helping me get aboard the boat safely in the tossing waves. It was going to be a very wet, high-speed ride to shore. Once loaded, we ducked our heads and hoped to avoid some of the cold spray. I did glance up a moment as I heard the engine sounds from our Antarctic Airways BAe-146 fly overhead. That was a very gorgeous sight to see, since once landed, they can't stay, they had to get back out to their safe harbor in Punta Arenas — with us all on board. Final exploration excursion totals: 8 zodiac cruises and 6 landings.

Layout of the Teniente Rudolpho Marsh Martin Airport and Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva on King George Island.

The World Explorer found safe anchorage in Fildes Bay to the east of the landing zone. We then traversed the winding road by bus, leading from there to the Basecamp, then on to the airline parking area marked as "Platform" on this image. Once loaded onto the Antarctic Airways BAe-146, we turned right to taxi down the runway, made a 180 degree turn at the east end of the runway, then started our takeoff toward the west, before heading out over the Drake Passage, and on to Punta Arenas, Chile.

	Entering Fildes Bay to find anchorage and disembark.		An unnamed ship, flying a Chilean flag, enters the bay with us.

	Panoramic view of Base Frei.

	The rocky shoreline of Fildes Bay.

	I was on the blue bus. You can see Quark Flight 1 beyond the buses.		The second bus unloads as the rest of our group comes aboard for Quark Flight 2.

	Views of the hills as we await takeoff.		The port side engines of our high-wing BAe-146-200 from seat 1A.

	The view as we started our takeoff roll. Support buildings and terrain slide past. Note the heavily overcast sky, but it gave just enough visibility to make for a safe flight.

	An ice lake next to us, and the spire of the church can be seen at center right.		Airport support buildings race by as we gain speed.

	The Teniente Rudolpho Marsh Martin Airport control tower.		Off the ground and heading north.

	The beautiful view of King George Island as we climb into the clouds.

	The only way to properly experience the Drake Passage is from the air! Almost looks benign from up here, but I know better from dearly-paid experience.

	— Day 9: Punta Arenas – Thursday, 26 December 2024 —

	Diary Entry 27: Thursday, 26 December 2024 The next sight I saw, besides clouds, a couple of hours later, was of land and water. I could tell we were flying over the Strait of Magellan. As we neared Punta Arenas, it was bright and sunny. I could easily see the city off to my left, and could see the runway as well as we turned on final. Smooth landing this time, with no gusting winds. Pulled into Gate 1 (of 3), grabbed my stuff, and was ready to deplane, but then was told we had to fill out our customs form. We all had to sit back down and scramble for pens and a place to write legibly. Should have done that during the flight, so that really slowed our disembarkation. With that done, I was finally off the aircraft, and on to passport control and customs. It was 61F, so nice and warm compared to the freezing temps of the last week in Antarctica. We boarded the bus to head south to town, where they took us for a small tour of the city in order to get the bus lined up in front of the hotel. The only place they could park was in the street out front, which angered some guy who wouldn't let up off his horn. What the heck did he think we could do? And he did have a second lane to pull into, but then he couldn't have stayed angry. Bruce and Elizabeth from Melbourne invited me along for an "early" dinner at 6:00 pm. We had a total group of six, including Richard and a couple of other ladies. Originally got excited when pizza was mentioned, but then we settled on a place about three blocks away called La Luna. Cool moon motif stuff everywhere, plus tons of other stuff as well. An eclectic place. Had garlic steak with rice. It was huge. I hadn't eaten since yesterday at lunch so I figured I should try to get through it. Finished the steak, but only half the rice. We had gone in when it was very sunny, but when we came out it was starting to rain. By the time we walked back, we were all a bit wet. After the zodiac excursions though, it was just old hat. Now off to re-pack everything for the final two flights home, starting tomorrow afternoon.

	Flying over Tierra del Fuego.		Glaciers empty into a river, providing a colorful and surreal landscape below.

	Hard to tell the snow capped peaks from the puffy clouds.

	A peninsula, south of Punta Arenas, in the Paso Boqueron channel, of the Strait of Magellan.

	Close-up of the peninsula. There is an airport at the extreme edge in this image.		Flying parallel to the coast with Punta Arenas in the distance.

	Passing the fleet of Antarctic Airways BAe-146-200s soon after touchdown.

	Pulling up to Gate 1 at the Punta Arenas Airport.		The outside of the terminal as we waited in the bus to leave for the city.

	One of numerous markers pointing to a shipwreck in the Strait of Magellan.		La Luna restaurant for our celebratory dinner after arriving back from Antarctica.

	Bruce and Elizabeth at our table with the thousands of cards from past guest.		Another view inside the La Luna restaurant.

	A cruise ship docked at the port next to the Dreams Hotel.		View from my hotel window of the monuments along the beachfront north of the hotel.

	Close-up of the "Piloto Pardo" monument for the rescue of Shackleton.		The Circumnavigation monument.

	An abandoned pier and its pilings are now home for thousands of sea birds.

	— Days 10 & 11: Punta Arenas to Los Angeles – Friday & Saturday, 27 & 28 December 2024 —

	View of the harbor. Note that there is still light in the sky, even at 12:35 am.		A crescent Moon rises above the eastern horizon. It is 3:53 am.

	The Sun is not far behind the Moon.		5:36 am, and the short night is over. The abandoned pier is at the bottom of the image.

Mountains, lakes, and clouds along the Chilean Andes, as we flew north from Punta Arenas to Santiago.

I was on the same aircraft that I had flown south from Santiago, and my window at seat 1A was fogged up completely through both flights.

I had to reach over my shoulder and take my photos through the window behind my seat. Definitely worth the acrobatics for this amazing view.

	There were fantastic glaciers all along our route north, that flowed into tourquoise rivers.

LATAM Airlines lounge at the Santiago Airport. I spent six hours here, relaxing, and catching up with the outside world, as I awaited my flight home to California.

One of the more luxurious lounges I have had the pleasure to experience. Beautiful atmosphere, with lots of food (although I only had some soup and a small

dessert myself). Best of all were the wonderful LATAM people to help with any problems that cropped up.

Diary Entry 29: Saturday, 28 December 2024

After takeoff from Santiago I started 2001 A Space Odyssey on the seat back monitor, but then had a wonderful conversation with my seat mate Debbie Murphy from Bend, Oregon, before we finally decided to call it quits around 3:00 am to get some sleep. Never did watch the movie, but saw the scenes as we talked. Since I know it all by heart, I'll still take it as a watch. Arrived on time at 6:25 am at LAX after an 11.5 hour flight from Santiago. Once down in Los Angeles, we pulled up to the gate, then sat for nearly half an hour before we finally got connected to the jetway and the door open so we could leave. Not sure what that was all about.

Getting off the plane was okay, but waiting for Customs was a pain as they only had one agent working. Finally got a second agent, and things started to move. Took a bit to hook up with Debbi, then get back to her car to head down the I-405. Can't thank her enough for all she did for me this trip. No traffic at all on this early Saturday morning.

As soon as I got home I could tell Cherie was still asleep. I motioned for Debbi to be quiet, we got the luggage inside, she gave me a quick hug, and was off. I tiptoed upstairs, and went over to the bed, lightly touching Cherie's hair, so as not to startle her. She immediately woke and gave me an excited "You're home!" It was a wonderful reunion after a vigorous, exhausting, exciting, and wonderful second trip to Antarctica.


			Epilogue Getting to a place like Antarctica is definitely an arduous journey, but certainly worth it in the end. Can't imagine what people had to go through to get there decades in the past. As hard as it is nowadays is nothing compared to what someone like Shackleton and his men had to go through. I often thought of them during both of my trips, as well as so many others who explored during what is often known as The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration during the first years of the 20th century. There I was on a very comfortable ship, with good food, lots of friendly people, not to mention internet! What a difference a century can make. I guarantee that anyone who takes a journey to Antarctica will return home a changed person. Thank you for following along with me. Hope that you enjoyed the experience as much as I enjoyed telling the story.