Epic Antarctic Expedition

We left San Francisco and flew to Argentina on December 27 to begin a a month-long Epic Antarctic Expedition. The bulk of the trip was in January 2024, so our overview is on the January 2024 page.

December 28/29 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

We arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 29th and stayed in the trendy Puerto Maduro neighborhood. It was nice leaving cold mid-winter California for sunny mid-summer Argentina. We had a day to relax and recover from our flight before connecting with the National Geographic expedition staff and our fellow Antarctic travelers. The area is very trendy, mixed-use, and pedestrian-friendly with lots of nice shops, lofts, hotels, and restaurants as well as a suspension bridge, the Woman's Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava. The old cranes from the port have been preserved and many of the buildings undergone adaptive reuse. The night we arrived we went to Argentine steakhouse Cabaña Los Lilas for dinner where we had a Tomahawk steak prepared tableside. We did a walking tour of Puerto Maduro and a bus tour of Buenos AIres with a stop at the El Zanjon de Granados archeological site and Recoleta Cemetery. In the evening we had a reception at our hotel where we met some of the expedition staff and our fellow travellers. Here is Care's Rizbee on the Road blog for Buenos Aires.

Day 1 - December 30 - Ushuia, Argentina

We had a very early morning wake-up call for our charter flight to Ushuaia, at the very southern tip of South America. Upon arrival in Ushuaia, we boarded a bus for a quick tour of the Tierra Del Fuego National Park and a lunch cruise in the Beagle Channel before boarding the National Geographic Endurance, our home for the next month. The harbor was full of cruise ships since Ushuia is the jumping off point for all Antarctic cruises. We departed later afternoon toward the Drake Passage en route to Antarctica. After settling into our cabin, we had a safety briefing and the manditory lifeboat drill. We had about 100 passengers. Russ, our expedition leader (same one we had for Iceland/Greenland) said we'd probably make a beeline for the Ross Sea and skip the peninnsula since there is a lot of ice down in the Ross Sea and we might need extra time. Now worries, since we have already explored the penninsula on our previous trip. Here is Care's Rizbee on the Road blog for Ushuia.

Day 2 - December 31 - Drake Passage

We made good progress across the Drake Passage with some rocking and rolling. It was New Years Eve so the crew band, the Shackletunes, played but we had trouble staying up til midnight. Here is the Daily Expedition Report and Care's Rizbee on the Road blog for Drakes Passage.