ANTARCTIC CRUISE, Part 1: Ushuaia to the Falklands, Guest Post by Owen Floody

Beagle Channel

In January 2015, our friend Owen Floody went on a cruise to Antarctica, which also included stops at the Falklands and South Georgia Island.  Owen recently retired from a career of teaching and research at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. He has always been an avid photographer and in his retirement has taken several trips that allow him to pursue his passion. Here is part 1 of a short reflection on his Antarctic trip and a few of his excellent photographs.

Black-browed albatross

In December of 2005 I went on an 11 day Antarctic cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina, to  the Antarctic Peninsula, returning to Ushuaia by way of the South Shetland Islands.  This trip was blessed by calm seas, beautiful scenery and great wildlife, including a multitude of penguins, many with small chicks. I enjoyed this trip so much that I resolved to return to Antarctica, but this time following the longer route (approximately 18 days) that visits the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island on its way to the Antarctic Peninsula.  It is this trip that occupied me for the second half of January, 2015. 

Mixed colony of seabirds--Black-browed albatrosses and Rockhopper penguins

On any trip of this type, you ultimately are at the mercy of the weather and bad weather can affect you in a variety of ways.  First, it can slow the ship, thereby limiting the time that you can spend at some destinations.  Second, it can increase the difficulty of leaving or returning to the ship, sometimes preventing these altogether.  Together, these can limit the land-oriented activities (landings and zodiac cruises) that are the primary goals on such cruises.  Third, heavy seas and high winds can "shrink" the ship (by making the outside decks impassable) and make it more difficult to move about the parts of the ship that remain open.

Rockhopper Penguin

As you may have guessed, the conditions of my recent trip were generally bad.  This became apparent immediately, as high winds pinned our ship to its pier for 12 hours beyond the scheduled time of departure which delayed our arrival in the Falkland Islands to the extent of excluding one of the two planned wildlife-oriented landings there. 

Blue-eyed Shags

The one completed landing, on Saunders Island, was great, bringing us to a mixed colony of seabirds, most notably including Rockhopper penguins, Black-browed albatrosses and Blue-eyed shags.  Of course, we're all greedy on trips of this sort so that this success did not completely suppress thoughts of what we might have seen on the intended second such landing.

Details: The ship was the m/v Plancius (capacity = 112), which is owned and operated by Oceanwide Expeditions (http://www.oceanwide-expeditions.com/).  This is a Dutch outfit with an office in Houston.  We booked our cabins directly, though it is possible to book through other travel agencies or tour operators, as is standard for such cruises.

We flew on Aerolineas Argentinas between JFK and Ushuaia, with stops of 3 (on the way down) or 1 (return) day(s) in Buenos Aires.

Next week, Part 2: Falklands to South Georgia