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Vacation report: the summary
Mar. 25th, 2009 05:56 pmLet me explain ... no, that takes to long, let me sum up.
On Feb 28 I boarded an airplane to Miami. Then I got on a airplane to Santiago, Chile, and another to Beunos Aries, Argentina, where I got to sleep in a really marvelous hotel. That was the night of March 1. On March 2, there was another Airplane, this one to Ushuaia where I boarded the small cruise ship Corinthian II. She was only at about half of her 100 passenger capacity, so we got really good service for the next 3 weeks. Our first port of call on March 4th was a small (1-family) settlement at Westpoint, W. Faulklands. In short: nesting albatrosses, rock-hopper penguins, and some domestic sheep and cattle. That afternoon we wet-landed on a beach at Saunders Island to see penguins (rockhopper, magelanic, and king) and sheep.The following morning we docked at Port Stanly, the only 'city' in the Faulkland Islands. Our bus tour took us by shipwrecks, minefields, peat bogs, horses, sheep and their museum. I mailed postcards from here.
March 6 & 7 - at sea. I will spare you the finer details of 40 ft seas. I like dramamine.
March 8 - we arrive at South Georgia and wet-land at Right Whale Bay. King Penguins, Gentoo Penguins, friendly fur seals, a few Elephant seals, Giant Petrels.
March 9 - I was part of a small group who was left off at Fortuna Bay (still at South Georgia) to hike the last 3.5 miles of Shakelton's journey back from the antarctic where he lost his ship (but none of his crew) finishing at the Van Ness whaling station. In addition to the penguins and fur seals there were Reindeer. In the afternoon we anchored off King Edwards point and visited the former whaling station Grytvivken and Shakelton's gravesite. I mailed postcards from here too.
March 10 - wet landing at St. Andrew's bay to walk about in a King Penguin colony of about 300,000 penguins. There were also reindeer, fur seals and elephant seals. We saw one Leapord seal. In the afternoon we sailed up Drygalski Fjord, where we got a close look at Risting Glacier.
March 11 - 14 sea. some albatross and petrels, but mostly just a lot of sea.
March 15 and 16 Sailing around Tristain de Cunha and Nightengale Island. We did land on Tristian, where we were toured around the settlement (population 300) and hiked into the caldera of the volcano which erupted in 1961. People live in the strangest places. I could write a very long post on just Tristain, but not tonight.
March 17 - 20 sea. some birds.
March 21 - Arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. Toured the nearby town and Stellenbosch and the Blaauklippen winery. Back in Cape Town, we rode the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain.
March 22 - Stood on the cape of Good Hope. and saw more penguins. Then got on an airplane in the evening.
March 23 - arrived in Frankfurt, changed planes, Then to JFK (NYC, USA), then Boston. home sure is nice.
On Feb 28 I boarded an airplane to Miami. Then I got on a airplane to Santiago, Chile, and another to Beunos Aries, Argentina, where I got to sleep in a really marvelous hotel. That was the night of March 1. On March 2, there was another Airplane, this one to Ushuaia where I boarded the small cruise ship Corinthian II. She was only at about half of her 100 passenger capacity, so we got really good service for the next 3 weeks. Our first port of call on March 4th was a small (1-family) settlement at Westpoint, W. Faulklands. In short: nesting albatrosses, rock-hopper penguins, and some domestic sheep and cattle. That afternoon we wet-landed on a beach at Saunders Island to see penguins (rockhopper, magelanic, and king) and sheep.The following morning we docked at Port Stanly, the only 'city' in the Faulkland Islands. Our bus tour took us by shipwrecks, minefields, peat bogs, horses, sheep and their museum. I mailed postcards from here.
March 6 & 7 - at sea. I will spare you the finer details of 40 ft seas. I like dramamine.
March 8 - we arrive at South Georgia and wet-land at Right Whale Bay. King Penguins, Gentoo Penguins, friendly fur seals, a few Elephant seals, Giant Petrels.
March 9 - I was part of a small group who was left off at Fortuna Bay (still at South Georgia) to hike the last 3.5 miles of Shakelton's journey back from the antarctic where he lost his ship (but none of his crew) finishing at the Van Ness whaling station. In addition to the penguins and fur seals there were Reindeer. In the afternoon we anchored off King Edwards point and visited the former whaling station Grytvivken and Shakelton's gravesite. I mailed postcards from here too.
March 10 - wet landing at St. Andrew's bay to walk about in a King Penguin colony of about 300,000 penguins. There were also reindeer, fur seals and elephant seals. We saw one Leapord seal. In the afternoon we sailed up Drygalski Fjord, where we got a close look at Risting Glacier.
March 11 - 14 sea. some albatross and petrels, but mostly just a lot of sea.
March 15 and 16 Sailing around Tristain de Cunha and Nightengale Island. We did land on Tristian, where we were toured around the settlement (population 300) and hiked into the caldera of the volcano which erupted in 1961. People live in the strangest places. I could write a very long post on just Tristain, but not tonight.
March 17 - 20 sea. some birds.
March 21 - Arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. Toured the nearby town and Stellenbosch and the Blaauklippen winery. Back in Cape Town, we rode the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain.
March 22 - Stood on the cape of Good Hope. and saw more penguins. Then got on an airplane in the evening.
March 23 - arrived in Frankfurt, changed planes, Then to JFK (NYC, USA), then Boston. home sure is nice.
