Sailing the Southern Ocean

The tour that we are going on is going to be amazing. It obviously starts in Ushuaia, then goes to the Falkland Islands, the South Georgian Islands, and finally Antarctica. It is mainly about the wildlife, with a lot of educational lectures, etc. about all the places that we’ll be going and amazing sites that we will be seeing.

So you may be asking…why the heck would anyone want to go to Antarctica? Well…first of all…penguins. Second of all, Lisa and I want to check off our 7th and final continent! Of course, the views of glaciers and ice are supposed to be simply amazing as well.

Fast forward…


We have spent 3 days on Le Boreal (our boat until Jan 4th). It was pretty amazing that within the first hour of leaving the dock we encountered 2 penguins, a Mr. and Mrs. Penguin. They were the largest penguins ever spotted!!!


We spent the first day on the boat relaxing- massages, working out, naps and delicious meals. One of the funnier things though is that it’s pretty entertaining to run on the treadmill while on a swaying ship. Scott has been given a challenge to run for 2 hours on the treadmill as we pass through Drakes Passage (known for its large swells, sometimes up to 30 or 40 ft.)... Start taking bets on if he can do it without falling off. :)

Yesterday we docked on the Falkland Islands and spent our day hanging out on the beach with the penguins. Needless to say, we love them. The Falkland Islands are a pretty cool place, they completely remind me of New Zealand…both the people, the farming (mostly sheep), and the terrain.

Evidently there are really no major roads on the islands, and the ratio of people to 4x4s is more than one per person! We had a local guy, Peter, pick us up in his Land Rover to take us from the main gravel road down to the shore, where the penguins hang out. Talk about an off-road adventure just to get down there! You basically just go off into the countryside, which is a rocky, muddy, river-crossing adventure. It was awesome!


So we finally get down to the beach and all of a sudden this huge hailstorm hit. It was crazy. One minute it was sunny and the next minute there was hail the size of golf balls coming down for 20 minutes. There was a passing hailstorm and loud thunder, which scared them all so much that it caused a mass exodus into the ocean. They are the most awkward runners, tripping and falling all over each other.


BTW, THE PENGUINS ARE AWESOME. There were three major colonies of penguins – mostly Gentoo penguins, with some Magellenic penguins, but my favorite were the King penguins. It was so cool, there were hundreds of Gentoo penguins with little babies that were only 4 weeks old.




We will try to post more pictures if we have a stronger connection throughout the rest of the trip... in the meantime though, the boat is posting some as well. You can follow our Antarctic adventure on their website: www.abercrombiekent.com/travel_logs

We'll be spending another day on the boat and then we are heading to South Georgia Islands for 3 days (including Christmas). I think it’s a safe bet we will be having a white Christmas this year :)


Lots of Love,

Lisa and Scott aka Mr. and Mrs. Penguin