By Carmel Stewart
Booked through Adventure Life; travelled with Antarctica 21; sailed on the Magellan Explorer.
Our adventure to our seventh Continent began in our home countries of Australia and the UK and both involved an early start, a circuitous route and many hours travelling before we arrived in the 36 degree Centigrade heat of Buenos Aires (that’s 96.8 to those of us who operate in Fahrenheit and flippin’ hot to those who work with none) and a hotel where the air conditioning was flaky to say the least.
Kathy arrived the day before me and found herself on the eighth floor of Bens Recoleta Park where the lift had ceased to function. In the absence of a porter, she required the reluctant receptionist to help carry her bags to her room. This was not a good start.
The next day, when I arrived, we had been moved to the second floor where the air con blinked intermittently, but we still had to negotiate a staircase where bicycles and mattresses were being stored – clearly, health and safety inspections were few and far between. That said, the room was clean and comfortable and included a small kitchenette, the shower worked and the breakfast was fine. The television programmes were awful but can’t blame the hotel for that.
Bens Recoleta Park
Bens Recoleta Park
On day one we braved the heat and took ourselves off to the bus stop to pick up the Yellow Bus Tour.
Here we came across our first little problem. The website gave a price and said we could buy tickets on board – wrong on both counts. Tickets have to be bought at the booth and the cost increases according to the inflation of the day. In fact, every cost increased daily as prices rose and budgeting became impossible. At that stage inflation was running at about 120 per cent. Today it is more than 200 per cent. This makes life very difficult for the traveller as well as the residents of Argentina. It certainly curtailed our activities and made changing US dollars into Argentinian pesos problematical. Only 100 dollar and 50 dollar bills were acceptable and everyone wanted to be paid in cash so we found ourselves having to carry far more currency than we felt comfortable with. In Ushuaia, when we finally arrived there, we found ourselves having to count out 72,000 pesos in a lobby were the doors kept opening and blowing our money all over the place.
Back in Buenos Aires our city bus tour was fine but not overly exciting. It gave us a flavour of the place but no where jumped out as somewhere we wished to return to but that could have been down to the debilitating nature of the heat.
Two of the many monuments depicting the challenge of Argentina’s colonial past.
The mothers of missing children began meeting in the Plaza de Mayor in 1977 to demand information about their children who disappeared during Argentina’s military dictatorship. They still meet there every Thursday afternoon.
The stones represent the children they have lost.
A bright little corner in Buenos Aires, a city where footballers achieve more than star status.
Statues of racing driver Oscar Galvez outside La Biela café, Recoleta. No Fangio. He is tucked away in the shade a few miles away.
Back at the hotel the power was off again so no lights, lift or air con. Too hot to move. Had a takeaway for tea and made good use of our head torches.
The next day we travelled to the other airport to fly to Ushuaia. Beware – if you decide not to stop in Buenos Aires but to fly direct to Ushuaia, you have to cross town as the flights depart from different airports Beware too regarding the shenanigans of the airlines. I booked my flights with Air France – Manchester to Paris, Paris to Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. Unbeknown to me, the final leg of my journey was cancelled with no warning and no notification. I only found out when Kathy tried to book the same flight. Was eventually forced to book this leg separately. Despite many, many emails to Air France and having insurance with Allianz no explanation or compensation was ever forthcoming.
Our flight to Ushuaia was uneventful, the problems only flared up on landing. First up, our taxi driver charged twice the going rate for our trip to the hotel, then the receptionist denied we had a booking there despite the written confirmation and, once a room had been found, insisted on payment in cash – hence the 72,000 pesos floating round the lobby.
Our rooms in Ushuaia
Our rooms in Ushuaia
For me, Ushuaia was a disappointment. I would like to have visited the End of the World museum -closed – and to have taken the End of the World train. This proved to be far out of town and required payment for a taxi, the train and entrance to the National Park where it was located so that wasn’t happening. The redeeming features of the area were the excellent tourist information desk, the City Tour bus journey and the Tante Sara coffee and cake shop, opposite the Thematic Gallery shop and museum.
A small sample of the Tante Sara delights.
Ushuaia was once the location of a penal colony. The view from our hotel window included a mocked-up escape of a prisoner over a roof top of the Galeria Thematica and the tour bus had a couple of convicts on board.
The great escape.
The tourist bus – great fun but very popular
We had spotted our vessel in the port the day before and arrived in good time for the official start of our trip. Even the rain did not dampen our spirits. Checking in process speedy, cabin brilliant and the 70 other travellers a mix of old, young, quiet, not so quiet, friendly and downright odd. So just the usual.
The Magellan Explorer (to the right) was dwarfed by the other ships waiting in the port of Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra Del Fuego
Our cabin on board the Magellan Explorer
Our bathroom
Our balcony
Our goodies
Our first briefing from team leader Hadleigh Measham
We sailed out of the port, through the Beagle Channel, reaching Drake’s Passage on day three. That took a couple of days to navigate, by day five we had reached the Antarctic Peninsula and the real heart of this truly wonderful experience.
Penguins at home
And now we come to the reason for booking on a relatively small boat with a not overwhelming number of passengers. Those few days sailing out had given everyone time to get their sea legs. It wasn’t overly rough but it wasn’t smooth sailing either. Then, for the five days we were in the Antarctic proper, we went ashore ten times – yes, TEN times. Morning and afternoon every day to a different location without fail.
Over the sailing days building up to our shore excursions we met in the bar every evening before supper and were treated to a variety of talks by the very knowledgeable crew. In addition, we had all been drilled in the going ashore etiquette. Rule number one was leave nothing there, take nothing away. Rule number two was don’t touch the wildlife. Boots, life jackets and walking poles were provided. We all went through a cleaning process before we jumped on to the zodiacs to go ashore and again when we returned.
All our kit – jackets, hats, gloves were cleaned by the team before we were allowed ashore.
Shoe docking station – housed our compulsory boots and life jackets.
Boot washing process.
Us on the zodiac at Fournier Bay (orange and light blue beanies) Pic by the Magellan photographer Veronica Ibanez
Our return from Harry Island – pic courtesy of Veronica Ibanez
Our guides were unfailingly kind, helpful and encouraging. Some disembarkations were awkward, some hikes were challenging but they got us safely ashore and hoisted us back when the time came. Nothing was regimented. If after an hour or so ashore someone had had enough, a zodiac appeared and they were ferried back or taken for a spin round the waters of the Antarctic if that was the preferred option. It was all wonderfully relaxed and stress-free bar sticking to rule number two. Some of the penguins – of which there were hundreds – found our welly boots very attractive and followed them around in a bid to get closer.
Hmmm. Two boots are better than one.
Looking for a hug.
The Magellan, zodiacs and penguins surrounded by Antarctic ice caps.
Everyone’s keen to get ashore.
Kayaking was an optional extra but well worth it for some – pic courtesy of Veronica Ibanez.
pic courtesy of Veronica Ibanez.
For me the highlight was a visit to the Penguin Post Office – the southernmost Royal Mail post office in the world. Needless to say, it was shut but we all posted our cards just the same and they arrived safely several months later.
Port Lockroy post office and old research station on Goudier Island.
The British research station no longer in use.
Damoy Point.
Me outside the Penguin Post Office and Heritage Museum.
Me inside – happier than I look.
Supplies left behind now at Damoy Point Heritage Museum.
The kitchen
Research station bunks now in the Heritage Museum.
View from the kitchen window.
Damoy Point post office back office/Heritage Museum.
Intrepid hikers on Danco Island (not me but Kathy maybe in there somewhere).
Blue ice sculptures.
At one of our stops guests were invited to take the polar plunge and many did so with gusto…including Kathy who jumped so deep into the icy waters that it took her a while to resurface.
Whalers’ Bay was our final port of call. This is an unusual place lacking the charm and delight of everywhere else we had visited. The abandoned ugly buildings which date from 1906 to 1931 include the remains of the Norwegian Aktieselskabet Hektor whaling station and a British Antarctic Survey base which was evacuated in 1967 during a volcanic eruption.
At the southern end of the beach are large, rusted oil tanks. The buildings were used to land and process whale carcasses.
The original cemetery was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Just two remain to mark the original site.
Wildlife at Whalers’ Bay
Our return through Drake’s Passage was far rougher with beds literally sliding across floors and chairs and tables suffering from the unexpected weight of unsteady passengers – at one stage the bar looked like the scene of a serious brawl. But we made it safely back to port and were very sad to leave. We would willingly have stayed on board and done it all again.
A few notes on the things that people worry about – the food was excellent and included in the price. Drinks at the bar during our evening meetings were free. We tipped our cabin steward but have no idea what anyone else did. The wifi was a little flaky in the cabins but more reliable in the communal rooms. Every evening the electronic notice boards showed where we would be next day.
Fun with food on board the Magellan Explorer.
On our return to Ushuaia we had hoped to take the train etc but still no luck. If you decide to take this trip, I’d suggest you book things in advance from your home country. That way you can judge the price and budget accordingly.
Our journey back to Buenos Aires was uneventful. We returned to Bens in Recoleta Park mainly because they had given us a massive discount for all the inconvenience caused by the lack of electricity but things weren’t much better so we transferred to their hotel in Palermo where the power was on 24 hours a day and where there was a lovely garden in which to relax.
Our room at Ben’s in Palermo
A lovely place to relax
The little pool – well more of a pond really.
Relaxing in style
Lovely Italian restaurant opposite our Palermo Hotel.
At this stage we had hoped to experience a tango evening and possibly a trip to the Iguassu Falls but inflation put both these way beyond our reach – so again the advice would be book in advance from your home country and make sure you have a copy of the paperwork.
Our journey back to the UK was not without delays. Courtesy of Swiss Air, we were diverted to somewhere in Brazil due to the bad weather, disembarked plus all our luggage, put through another security check and left to our own devices with no information for several hours. We were then (chaotically) reboarded and arrived very late at Zurich where we all had to be given fresh tickets for our onward journeys as all connections had been missed. We arrived back in the UK more than six hours later than expected. The claim made to Swiss Air proved as effective as the claim to Air France – zilch.
So, the moral of this story is be determined. If you want to go somewhere then go but do not expect any of it to be easy (or cheap). Travellers have to be tough nowadays but, every so often, you will have the delight of a trip like that on the Magellan Explorer which makes all the hassle well worthwhile.
Our fellow travellers
ENDS
Words by Carmel. Photos mainly by Kathy.
FIN