The plans for our second day around the peninsula were set, but ice conditions forced our expedition leader and the captain to constantly replan. Originally the plan was to head for the Lemaire Channel; however as the entrance was blocked by icebergs, there was no way to go ahead. So we headed back North, Paradise Harbour (at 64° 51′ S, 62° 54′ W) being a new destinatin. Our first attempt to enter the bay through its Southern entrance was once more thwarted by ice conditions. So the captain changed course to enter North of Bryde Island. We – the passengers – obviously had the option for great iceberg viewings and still had a good time.
BBQ in Paradise?
I made it back to the ship on one of the last zodiacs heading back. On the ship we were welcomed by a proper BBQ – set up on ship’s bow with all sorts of grilled meats, fresh salads, mulled wine / Glühwein and hot cocoa with or without rum – and all that with glaciers and icebergs in the background. Definitely one of the most memorable BBQ for me ever … and very likely hard to beat.
In Penguin Country
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For this landing I was just a normal passenger, no mountaineering here. We left the ship on zodiacs to land close to a colony of gentoo penguins. We were lucky this time – the sun was shining and the birds … Continue reading
Navigating to Neko Harbour
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The ship changed position, while we had lunch and warmed up again. Our next landing was at Neko Harbour (at 64° 50′ S, 62° 32′ W), just about 20kms South of Spigot Peak. However due to ice conditions we had … Continue reading
Climbing Spigot Peak
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After two days in the Drake (and one in waiting position) we finally made it into Antarctic waters. We passed through between Anvers and Brabant island and finally stopped around Orne Harbour. We woke up early the next morning, gangway … Continue reading
Drake Passage – Lectures, Albatrosses & Force 11 Winds
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How to get from Fireland to Antarctica? – hmm … easy … just cross the Drake Passage … Here we were now … the infamous Drake Passage, probably the wildest water on the planet. And we hit it while a … Continue reading
Boarding “Akademik Ioffe”
Four o’clock in the afternoon – – finally … we were picked up by bus from a parking lot next to the harbour to make the remaining 300 meters (sounds odd, but helped to bypass the security screening, so saved loads of time.). Once on board (and after checking into the cabins) we went through all those introductory briefings (team introduction, safety briefing etc.) and finally had dinner around 20:00.
The ship was originally scheduled to leave at around 18:00, however due to some problems (from customs to wind blowing into the wrong direction) we could not leave until around midnight.
Tierra de Fuego National Park
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The Ioffe was scheduled to leave at 18:00, the boarding meeting was scheduled at 16:00, consequently I had a near-full free day. I decided to go for a half day trip to Tierra de Fuego National Park to also see … Continue reading
Back to Ushuaia
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This vacation started were my last year Patagonia trip finished – in the southernmost city of the world, Ushuaia … with the difference that this time I got what I did not get a year before. I was finally getting … Continue reading
Amman
The last day of this short trip – covering Amman, Jordan’s capital, home to around 2.5 million people.
We took a taxi to make the 16km from our hotel to the citadel on a hill in the old part of town. After the ruins of Jerash the day before, the ruins here did not really have an effect on us, though there were some good views of Amman. From the citadel we walked downhill to see the Roman theater and Al-Husseiny Mosque, followed by a walk through the market district.
