Pursuing pingu the penguin

[craven morehead]

Outstanding trip report and accompanying photos. Many thanks

 

[love_the_life]

If you want to see how popular the area has become have a look at this site. You can just drag to the relevant geographical area. To really blow your mind look at the Mediterranean. I think if you are wanting to visit Antarctica it might be better to do it sooner rather than later.
Cruise Ship Tracker, Itineraries, Schedules, Deck Plans - CruiseMapper

 

[drron]

Though none in the Australian section of the continent.But that is going to change as there are a couple of ships going to switch to Antarctic cruises out of NZ or Hobart in the next couple of years.One is the Silver Explorer which in 2020 will be doing expeditions to the NZ sub Antarctic islands including Macquarie Island.According to a Linblad captain who was on our Antarctic cruise to Mawason's hut Macquarie Island is the South Georgia of the eastern Antarctic.
One cruise will be Dunedin-Dunedin with 5 days in the Ross Sea.Also 2 days at Macquarie Island.

Good TR LTL.Great memories but I think I am glad we did South Georgia on the Explorer.

 

[Cossie]

Re the hotel in Sydney, wouldn't travel insurance cover that extra cost, or is't it worth pursuing?

As an aside, some friends flew into Sydney fairly late on the NRL grand final night last year and were expecting to hire a car to drive to Canberra. No cars available, no hotel rooms and as it was quite late by this time so they took a taxi. Cost them $300, which was quite a good price I thought.

P.S., really enjoyed this tr, thanks.

 

[love_the_life]

Re the hotel in Sydney, wouldn't travel insurance cover that extra cost, or is't it worth pursuing?

As an aside, some friends flew into Sydney fairly late on the NRL grand final night last year and were expecting to hire a car to drive to Canberra. No cars available, no hotel rooms and as it was quite late by this time thay took a taxi. Cost them $300, which was quite a good price I thought.

P.S., really enjoyed this tr, thanks.

Have put in insurance claim so will wait to see. We thought about hiring a car but were just too tired to drive. Taxi is a thought though.

 

[love_the_life]

Though none in the Australian section of the continent.But that is going to change as there are a couple of ships going to switch to Antarctic cruises out of NZ or Hobart in the next couple of years.One is the Silver Explorer which in 2020 will be doing expeditions to the NZ sub Antarctic islands including Macquarie Island.According to a Linblad captain who was on our Antarctic cruise to Mawason's hut Macquarie Island is the South Georgia of the eastern Antarctic.
One cruise will be Dunedin-Dunedin with 5 days in the Ross Sea.Also 2 days at Macquarie Island.

Good TR LTL.Great memories but I think I am glad we did South Georgia on the Explorer.

Yes, I saw the sub-Antarctic cruises on the website. We are thinking about one but have a few things that are sucking the pennies at the moment.

 

[drron]

Yes the one thing wrong with the Explorer now is it takes far too many pennies.We are resigned to the fact that we have been on our last Explorer cruise.

 

[love_the_life]

Yes the one thing wrong with the Explorer now is it takes far too many pennies.We are resigned to the fact that we have been on our last Explorer cruise.

Champagne taste and beer budget

 

[Flying mermaid]

Champagne taste and beer budget

Yes well when I look at travel spending for 2019 on top of the recent African trip, I don’t even think we can afford beer - 2020 is going to be strictly bread and water

 

[love_the_life]

Yes well when I look at travel spending for 2019 on top of the recent African trip, I don’t even think we can afford beer - 2020 is going to be strictly bread and water

Have you told MrFM he can't have any more toys? LOL.
One thing I thought of, there was a photography group on the expedition with us. How they managed to wrangle tripods, camera gear etc on the zodiacs and walking around in some places is beyond me. I know MrFM likes to have 'all the gear' but he might look at culling some of it for this trip. Super zooms lenses are not really useful on land and if you have Y flights included, it will weigh really heavy.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Have you told MrFM he can't have any more toys? LOL.
One thing I thought of, there was a photography group on the expedition with us. How they managed to wrangle tripods, camera gear etc on the zodiacs and walking around in some places is beyond me. I know MrFM likes to have 'all the gear' but he might look at culling some of it for this trip. Super zooms lenses are not really useful on land and if you have Y flights included, it will weigh really heavy.

I will pass that onto him - I know he has been doing a lot of investigation as to what he should take. He has bought dry bags for the camera gear. We have charter flights from Santiago to Ushuia and return that Silversea run. Normal Y restrictions apply, although from comments I have seen they aren't too rigorously imposed. With 4 of us we should be OK, although there is a lot of winter stuff - we have hired boots which get delivered to the ship. We are OK to Santiago because we are J.

Mr FM's toys are quarantined - he is planning to use his consultancy work to fund them

 

[love_the_life]

I will pass that onto him - I know he has been doing a lot of investigation as to what he should take. He has bought dry bags for the camera gear. We have charter flights from Santiago to Ushuia and return that Silversea run. Normal Y restrictions apply, although from comments I have seen they aren't too rigorously imposed. With 4 of us we should be OK, although there is a lot of winter stuff - we have hired boots which get delivered to the ship. We are OK to Santiago because we are J.

Mr FM's toys are quarantined - he is planning to use his consultancy work to fund them

Not sure what gear you are hiring and what you are taking. We have waterproofs so only MrLtL did the free boots. I wore 2 pair of long johns only under the waterproofs and a couple of layers on top under the jacket; beanie and neck gaiter made me easily warm enough. It was cooler on the ship than we thought and I needed a thermal plus jumper plus down vest (or down jacket for outside) at times. It should be a bit warmer for you though,

 

[Flying mermaid]

Not sure what gear you are hiring and what you are taking. We have waterproofs so only MrLtL did the free boots. I wore 2 pair of long johns only under the waterproofs and a couple of layers on top under the jacket; beanie and neck gaiter made me easily warm enough. It was cooler on the ship than we thought and I needed a thermal plus jumper plus down vest (or down jacket for outside) at times. It should be a bit warmer for you though,

i bought heaps of stuff on the sales as we had almost nothing. Didn’t go for high quality, as we might not wear again. Ms FM and Mr FM had ski pants so they are using them and I bought ski pants for me and sil. Then I got uniqlo long john and t shirts for Ms FM and I and also a warmer second layer. Bought neck gaiter cough balaclava things for all of us, have two pairs of socks - thin + snow level. Two pairs of gloves for the guys - thin + warmer, as they will be taking photos and Ms FM and I just have ski gloves. I have two pairs of light weight foldable walking poles for Ms FM and I. I think Ms FM and I will be Ok - bit worried about the guys, but they don’t seem to feel the cold as much. I will have the heat pads Ms FM uses for her Raynauds as well and that keeps you really warm.

We get given the parkas, so the only thing I have hired are the boots. There are boots available on the ship, but Silversea was quite insistent about hiring (I guess they get a cut) and it did mean we weren’t worrying about not getting the right size, although of course we are guessing a bit about sizes for hiring as well, so that’s not necessarily true and they were quite expensive to hire.

It cost a fair bit to outfit the 4 of us, even using sales etc, so I didn’t want to go too overboard. I have heard it’s quite chilly on board, so we will be taking warmish clothes - you seem to be able to buy stuff on board, so that’s a backup if we find we are short of anything. My biggest nightmare is Qantas losing the luggage en route. Just had a friend fly to Santiago and it took Qantas 3 days to deliver their luggage!

 

[drron]

When we have done polar expeditions we buy a pair of cheap boots from Bunnings and leave them on board when we disembark.Wear your thick socks when you try them on so you know they will fit.

 

[love_the_life]

When we have done polar expeditions we buy a pair of cheap boots from Bunnings and leave them on board when we disembark.Wear your thick socks when you try them on so you know they will fit.

I took my own boots this time. I have small feet and fat calves so I bought a pair of Mid length Muck boots on line. I looked at lots of boots here and knew that any regular type was not going to fit my legs.
Last time on SS, they had to split the back of the boot for me so I knew the boots on Ponant were not going to fit. One passenger we met who was short like me, had to get a boot much too large and then fold down the leg part so I’m glad I took my own. MrLtL was fine and if you are a pret standard size, you should be as well.
Sounds like you will be warm enough FM.

 

[JohnK]

Very nice trip report with lovely photos and commentary.

You're braver that I. Don't think I'll ever visit as it's too cold for me.

 

[love_the_life]

Very nice trip report with lovely photos and commentary.

You're braver that I. Don't think I'll ever visit as it's too cold for me.

The cold really wasn’t terrible. The wind came up a few times when we were on land and whilst you could feel it, certainly no worse than we’ve had in other places. I really only wore 4 layers on top (vest, thermal, light down and jacket) and three on the bottom (2 sets of long johns and waterproofs). Only one pair thin/regular socks.
Don’t let fear put you off visiting this amazing place. Though I do remember you saying your wife gets quite seasick.

 

[JohnK]

Don’t let fear put you off visiting this amazing place. Though I do remember you saying your wife gets quite seasick.

Thanks. No doubting the place is amazing but the cold affects me badly and my wife does get seasick so any cruises are out. I can take my daughter and later on I can go alone but will limit those cruises to the tropics.

 

[Straubs]

Wow, thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks for an excellent TR!

 

[bPeteb]

Thanks for a great report ltl.

Two years ago we were in countdown mode to our surprise/unexpected Ross Sea Expedition. Still a pinch ourselves holiday.

Peninsula from Ushuaia next time we go, or maybe Weddell Sea. The sub-Antarctic islands sound tempting too although not with SS. Way out of our budget.

Thanks again.