ANTARCTIC CRUISE, Part 3: South Georgia to the Weddell Sea, Guest Post by Owen Floody

Antarctic Peninsula, Elephant Island (on right)

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 3 of a short reflection on his Antarctic trip and a few of his excellent photographs. 

The long cruise from South Georgia Island to the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula was broken up by a brief stop at Wilde Point on Elephant Island (the right-hand rock formation), the sanctuary for most of the Ernest Shackleton crew during the several months that they awaited an uncertain rescue.  Thereafter, we all were geared up for our early morning approach to the Weddell Sea, at the eastern end of the Antarctic Sound.  Indeed, the light and scenery that we enjoyed on this morning were probably the best of the trip.  But our hopes to enter and experience landings or zodiac cruises in the Weddell Sea were thwarted by the heavy ice pack and seas.  Fortunately, this did not prevent us from thoroughly enjoying the wonderful procession of large icebergs that lined our route out of the Antarctic Sound and south along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Antarctic Peninsula to Deception Island and Ushuaia

Having already paid a more extensive visit to the Antarctic Peninsula under better conditions (clearer and calmer weather; also earlier in the season, with more young penguin chicks), I fear that the remainder of this trip was a little anticlimactic for me.  But how bad can life in such a magical place really be?  Even here, I enjoyed the atmospheric conditions and icebergs that we encountered on our remaining few landings and zodiac cruises.  In addition, it was here that we had our closest encounters with Humpback whales, including a pair that we managed to follow for quite a while in our zodiacs. 

Humpback whale tail

All in all, this was a good trip that presented some marvelous scenery and wildlife, but also with nearly constant reminders that the show was really being run by Mother Nature, not us, our crew or our tour operator.  I've come away from it with both an appreciation of how rough seas can be, but also of my ability to deal with all that was thrown my way.  Could a return trip to South Georgia, including yet another to Antarctica, be in my future?

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.