At last, the cruise was in sight. From Buenos Aires we flew by Charter flight to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina.
The ship would sail from here, via the Falklands and South Georgia, to the Antarctic Peninsula. At least that was what we had been told when booking the cruise.. We had no idea that, due to weather issues, the route would change once we were on board the Viking Octantis Expedition Ship.
We were fortunate to be in the last group to leave the hotel which meant that we could have a leisurely breakfast before taking the bus back to the airport. Once again, the efficient staff of Viking were ready and waiting for us each step of the way. They even took care of our checked-in luggage at Buenos Aires airport and we didn’t see it again until it was delivered to our cabin, or state room as it is now called.
On arrival in Ushuaia, we were once again directed to a bus on which we were taken to the ship, passing through the outskirts of Ushuaia. Our room was ready and our luggage was delivered within an hour of our arrival. Viking Cruise Lines give excellent service every step of the way.
As we had visited Ushuaia in 2020, we decided to stay on board and look around the ship. I shall describe it in more detail in my next post, but briefly, we discovered that it was not too large, with just over 300 passengers, or guests as we were called, would be on board. There were 4 decks with state-rooms, an open top deck where barbecues were sometimes held, a large buffet restaurant which served all meals plus another small coffee shop type of place to eat and 2 a la Carte restaurants.
Once we had explored and unpacked for the 18 days we would be on board, we had a wonderful buffet supper in the main restaurant.
The ship sailed out of Ushuaia at 11pm and, as we learnt the following morning, the original itinerary from Ushuaia was to start with going to The Falklands first, was turned around to go first to the Antarctic Peninsula. This was due to very bad weather in The Falklands and South Georgia. It was an excellent decision by the Captain and his Senior Officers as we enjoyed good to excellent weather for the entire cruise except for 2 days when the seas were rough.
The first day on board was what is known as a Sea Day, that means being at sea all day but this was a science expedition ship and cruise so there was no lying on deck reading a book. Anyway, it was much too cold to spend time out on deck. We had lectures, documentaries and hands on demonstrations by the scientists on board. Each had their own speciality and so there was a wide variety of all these teaching and learning opportunities. We learnt so much that really surprised us. For example, the Krill and Plankton found on the seabed is the basis of the whole food chain of the world. Whales, Penguins, Seals and other animals and birds eat these, they are eaten by larger animals and finally by humans. If this lowest form of life at the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean is destroyed the world will die. For this reason, as will be explained in later posts, keeping the Ice Continent pristine is the main aim of all the explorers and scientists who come here.
Our lecture in the Auditorium, called the Aula, on this first morning was given by the Expedition Leader. We were told of the general safety rules, how to behave on shore and protecting all forms of life and how the weather is considered on a daily or even hourly basis. It was at this point that she suddenly dropped in the information that our itinerary had been completely turned around.