Trip Report - Patagonia & Antarctica New Years 2023

[Mathmagicland]

Hey everyone, I thought I’d share a trip report for my recent Antarctica expedition adventure over New Years & in to 2023. @starwarsdad has a great one going for his Christmas weeks trip, with lots of good info. https://www.disboards.com/threads/patagonia-antarctica-christmas-2022.3903782/#post-64492278

This is such a dynamic expedition with weather conditions a big determining factor in what can happen. Even though this was Disney’s fifth one, we had a few AbD Antarctica firsts on our trip. So, this might be helpful for others considering a visit to Antarctica, to see how different it can be from trip to trip.

Our adventure start date was December 30, 2022. We flew in to arrive early on the 29th via an overnight flight from Dallas. This was the week following the huge storms that cancelled thousands of flights before Christmas. While the west coast had minimal impacts from those cancellations, I still had two moments of extreme panic at 2am and 3am on our departure day (I am already on Argentina time) when I got texts from American Airlines about flight changes…. Thankfully it was just a one-hour flight delay out of LA, then changed to a 30 minute delay, and we had three hours between flights in Dallas so all was still OK.

We arrived in Buenos Aires EZE airport around 0900. After immigration, customs, and luggage, we found the AbD orange sign for our transport to the hotel. It was about a 45-minute drive to the Sofitel Recoleta Buenos Aires. We had a guide who shared some history along the way.



We had requested early checkin through AbD, so were able to get into our hotel rooms upon arrival which was very nice. We settled into our rooms, had some lunch at the hotel and explored the neighborhood around the hotel a bit. This hotel feels like it’s in more of business district, as it was a quiet neighborhood without a lot of shops or restaurants close by; many options were within a 10-15 minute walk. We didn’t realize how quiet it was, and how much we appreciated that, until the next day when we had a city tour in the afternoon that took us through much busier areas of the city.

Good news re money in Argentina - @starwarsdad has an informative post (#19 in his report) about official vs black/blue market exchange rates for cash money. The blue market rate is much better. At the time of his post & trip, credit card transactions used the official, lower exchange rate, so it was better to use cash. Just a few days later, our guide on the van from the airport shared that the government has made changes to encourage tourist spending. All credit card transactions now use the better blue market rate. So, we had no need for Argentine pesos. We could use credit cards, or US dollars were also accepted in most places ( another tip from @starwarsdad - have newer, unmarked, undamaged bills).

We had booked a private tour of the Tigre Delta for late afternoon. This area is about 30 minutes outside of the city. This is really a hidden gem where a few people live year-round and many more from Buenos Aires go to escape the city on weekends. It is beautiful and quiet, a whole different world. Not the same as Tigre city, the Delta is a 5400 square mile area of many islands, surrounded by various rivers & tributaries, where the only means of transportation is via boats.

There are a couple of schools for the younger kids up to 8th grade, after which they then must boat off the delta to the city for high school each day. Water boats deliver fresh water a couple of times a week - families who need water put the empty bottles out on the docks to signal they need refilling. Trash gets bagged up & left on the docks for pickup. Mail, and even Amazon deliveries, are a couple of times a week - address is the name of the River and then the number for the lot.

Our guide’s family has had farm property in the Delta for years starting with his grandfather; he was born there, grew up there, and he now owns the smaller family ranch. So we got a lot of personal perspective from him while on the tour, which added to the experience. We also made a stop at his property to look around a bit.

Gas station for the boats on the river -



Along one of the rivers -



The police station is building on the left, with a couple of police boats. There is also a fire station with fire boats, but those were out on calls when we went by,



This is a church - the priest comes from the city via boat each Sunday morning -



And a farther back view -



Tomorrow we have a couple more tours, and will check in with AbD.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 1– Bienvenidos

Today is the official First Day of the ABD. There are no ABD group activities; we will need to check in with the guides at some point at the hotel, and also get our required Covid Test. This test is required by Ponant, not AbD. We’ve got a couple of tours scheduled for today.

First up – a walking tour of the Recoleta Cemetery, which is a 15-minute walk from our hotel. Along the way, I saw this very interesting tree which has grown around the perimeter fencing on a church, so had to take a couple of pictures.





The Recoleta Cemetery was established in 1822, and many important people in Argentina history are buried here, including Evita Peron. There are many architectural styles to the mausoleums, and some are also empty & abandoned because the families can no longer pay the property taxes on the sites. It looks like a mini-city as we walk through, with many of the graves going down two or three levels underground. Several of the mausoleums have beautiful stained-glass components.







After the cemetery, we returned to the hotel to check in with the AbD guides. AbD Guide Veronica was there; she will be joining us on the cruise. Local guide Veronika was also there, sharing info about the city as needed. Lisa from AbD Operations was there to assist with the check-ins; she will be going along on the cruise as an observer. We got all checked in, and were told to come back later for our covid tests. They had some dulce de leche treats for those who wanted them.

This was the hottest day of the trip – temperatures up to the mid-90’s by the afternoon. We have a city tour this afternoon, a private tour in an air conditioned vehicle! Still, it was extremely warm and we wilted after a couple of hours even in the AC. Still. we were able to see several different things around the city. My friend is a retired firefighter, so I’d arranged with the tour guide to visit the volunteer fire department in the Boca area of Buenos Aires, the first fire dept in the city and established in June 1822. They have a few antique fire vehicles on display, and the cadets were eager and happy to share about their station and equipment with us. This was their Christmas tree, made out of a fire hose.



Another of our stops was San Nicolas Catedral Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, on the site of the first chapel built in the city. It includes the mausoleum of liberator Jose de San Martin, and Argentina’s Unknown Soldier from their wars of Independence. There is a beautiful domed ceiling above these, with a skylight. Focusing just on the skylight area, what do we find but what looks like the sun symbol in the center of the Argentina flag.





We also made a stop at El Ateneo, a huge bookstore in Buenos Aires that used to be a Broadway-style theatre. They’ve kept most of the original theatrical building interior. The stage area is now a café; the old ticket booths are the cashiers. The balcony and mezzanine floors are still there. This is a panorama picture of the interior; what a great way to repurpose a theatre!



Returning to the hotel late afternoon, our priority was to get our covid tests. Now the waiting begins…our results will be delivered to our hotel rooms later this evening. It was too hot to eat dinner, and we’d heard from several folks about how wonderful Argentina ice cream was, so it was off to an ice cream shop for dinner. We all agreed – it was very delicious!! We went to the front desk after our ice cream trip, to settle our accounts and set up checkout via a phone call to the front desk in the morning, to avoid longer lines the next day before departure.

Large luggage pieces had to be outside by 10pm, for pickup and loading on the bus for the morning trip to the airport. We anxiously awaited our test results, and finally around 0945pm, we got the good word that we’d tested negative. (The guides mentioned the next day that everyone on the tour tested negative – hooray!) We have an early start in the morning – breakfast opens at 0500am, and the busses are leaving for the airport at 0615am.

Next post – Ushuaia, here we come!

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 2 – Hiya, Ushuaia!

We have a very early breakfast…folks are slowly coming in to get some food and last instructions for our flight to Ushuaia. We will have a charter flight, with our entire group on a single plane. The folks on the Buenos Aires Short Escape, who are at a different hotel, will be meeting up with us at the airport.

We are in four busses, headed back to EZE airport. The same guide on our ride in to the city on arrival was on our bus back. He asked if anyone had questions and someone asked who was better, Maradona or Messi. He shared he was old enough to have seen both play, so it was fun to get his thoughts on that question. (He says Messi, because while both were very skilled players, Messi does a lot more for the community both in BA and his smaller home town, in giving back.)

At the airport, we need to pick up our luggage and then get checked in. We have our own line with a couple of counters dedicated to our group, but it was still a long process to get everyone checked in. Here is a cropped photo of my packing heroes for this trip – they traveled carry-only with these packs plus a tote for her and a smaller packable type backpack for him! I asked them how they did it, when most of us were struggling to get all of our layers into one larger bag, and her answer was ‘lots of sink laundry’! There was one other gentleman on the trip who also traveled only with carry-ons. So, it can be done!!



A tip for this flight – if you have walking sticks, keep them in your checked luggage. As we went through security, they asked each of us where we were headed. For those going to Ushuaia, we had a bit of extra security checks with the luggage. My friends had their carryon bags opened, and their walking sticks carefully checked out. I saw at least one person who looked very unhappy as she was taking her walking sticks back out to the check-in counter. I guess the points were not acceptable to be taken as carry-on for the flight. Save yourself this potential trouble.

At the airport, we met AbD guide Damien. He’d been leading the BA Short Escape, and would also be joining us on the ship. Damien is from France and is one of the guides on all of the Seine River cruises. He was a lot of fun during this adventure! Guides Chris Brown and Colin rotated off after the Christmas trip; Byron, Dusty, and Michaela will stay on along with newcomers Veronica and Damien. I was a bit disappointed Chris would not be on our trip, as he was one of the guides on my first AbD and I was hoping to find some time to chat with him. I did manage to see him in passing at the Ushuaia airport, so was able to say HI. Byron has done every AbD Antarctica trip, as he did the three last year and is back this year.

Our flight left around 0945 a.m. It was funny to me to hear the AbD guides on the airplane speaker system at times, making announcements; the flight attendants & Captain must have OK’d this, as they seemed to take it all in stride. We were served a light brunch-type meal. Flight was just over 3 hours; we were landing in Ushuaia around 1PM. We gathered our luggage to take to the busses, and also could leave any carry-on bags at this time to be taken directly to the ship and our cabins.





Continued in the next post.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 2 continued –

Then, it was off to see some of Ushuaia! After the sun and heat of Buenos Aires, it was cooler, windy, and drizzly here. We were loaded onto five busses to head to Tiera del Fuego National Park. We went to the National Park headquarters, which also has an attached restaurant for lunch.

Unfortunately, this place was not equipped to handle a group as large as ours (160+), plus other busloads of visitors, for lunch all at same time on this day. AbD must have told them we were on a time schedule, and had to be done by a certain time. The lunch was all prepared and ready to serve when we arrived; unfortunately, it was not hot - it was either lukewarm at best or cold at worst. Pumpkin soup, Argentina steaks, and roasted potatoes are not good when they are not hot. The rolls were great, though. I didn’t stick around for the dessert; I went to look through the national park information displays a bit before we had to be back on the bus. Thankfully I had some snacks in my backpack to hold me over until dinner on the ship, and we’d also eaten on the plane.

After lunch, we went to ride the End of the World Train back to the city. This was a beautiful train ride through the National Park. There were two trains; we had one just for our group as well as some of the cars in the second train. Before we got to lunch, the guides had passed out stamped post cards for us to write and mail from the End of the World post office. We made a stop about half-way through, at the La Macarena station. Because it had rained heavily in the days prior to our being there, we could not do the nature walk to the famous Post Office at the End of the World on stilts. Thus, we mailed our post cards here at the La Macarena station.





One of the guides in the train behind ours took this picture of our train as we rounded a curve -









We've made it to Macarena station. One family in our group had to take the opportunity to do the macarena while they were there!



The post office where we mailed our postcards - mailbox is under the yellow arrow.



At the main train station back in the city, there was a ‘wall of fame’ with many famous visitors who have visited and ridden the train. Who did we find up there, but Mickey himself! There were no years on the pictures, so I don’t know when Mickey visited Ushuaia. He drove the same engine that pulled our cars, and also was at the Macarena station where we stopped to mail our post cards. Kind of a fun Disney “hidden Mickey” to find there.





Continued in the next post

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 2 continued -

We got to the ship around 6pm. The captain & cruise director were there to greet us as we boarded, the captain with Mickey hands and the cruise director with holiday Mickey ears.

Here is L'Austral, our ship, home for the next 11 days.



The ship still had a few holiday decorations around, and there were also several Disney banners in the public areas. We were all led into the lounge area, where we checked in, turned over our passports, and collected our cabin keys. They kept our passports until the last day, and returned them after onboard accounts were settled.

In our cabins, we found our luggage, one metal Ponant Water bottle per person, and a stocked refrigerator that had still and sparkling water, some Coca Cola, tonic water, beer, juices, and some mini bottles of liquor (whiskey, vodka, and gin), all complementary. There was also a bucket with ice, which was refreshed as needed. You could ask your stateroom host for other things; I asked for ginger ale and she brought me a couple of cans initially and more as the cruise progressed.

We had a mandatory meeting this evening before dinner, to meet the Adventure Guides, Captain and Cruise director, and some of the heads of departments. This included the mandatory safety and life boat drill, where we had to actually going back to our cabins, put on our life jackets, and then go out to our assigned life boat. We even had our first penguin sightings!



Also in our staterooms was the first Daily Program for the day. We would get one of these either in our cabins or in the mail shelf by our doors each evening, with all of the times and activities for the following day. Another tip – the Ponant app is not used at all during their cruises. As I’m used to the DCL Navigator app, I’d take pictures of the Daily Program pages each night so I could refer to it as needed during the next day. It was very helpful to do so, as there were a lot of times to remember and not everything was announced over the speakers.

No sail-away party, because we are overnighting on the ship and spending the next day in Ushuaia. After dinner, since this was New Years Eve, there were two celebrations = one at 0930pm for those who couldn’t stay awake until midnight, and another at midnight.



Next up – tomorrow we cruise Beagle Channel and start crossing the Drake Passage!

 

[AgentMama]

Can't wait to follow along on this trip!

 

[sharktums]

Thanks for another great report on this trip! Do you know what kind of Covid tests they gave you at the hotel? PCR or Antigen? Just trying to figure out if we need recovery letters or what!

 

[sayhello]

Looks like this trip was already off to a good start!

That tree that grew around the ornate fence is bizarre and incredible! Trees are really amazing things!

That's so cool about the sun in the glass of that skylight. I can't imagine it would be noticeable at all without you zooming in on it!

I've seen pictures of that theatre/bookstore before. Such an amazing idea! Whoever did that really knew what they were doing!

While I do admire folks who can travel with just a carry-on, that's never going to be me. I abhor washing stuff in the sink unless absolutely, positively necessary. And I just can't see me ever managing with just what will fit in my international carry-on and personal item. But more power to them! I'm sure it lessens the worry of what happens to your checked bags!

Too bad Chris wasn't one of your Guides. He was one of the Guides on my first ABD, also (the American Southwest). But you got Dusty! I'm still waiting to have him as an Adventure Guide!

Looking forward to more of your report!

Sayhello

 

[runskyhy]

Love your reports for day 1 & 2! Thank you for sharing all these details. Really appreciate the time that both you and @starwarsdad have taken to shared so much helpful information!

Day 1– Bienvenidos

After the cemetery, we returned to the hotel to check in with the AbD guides. AbD Guide Veronica was there; she will be joining us on the cruise. Local guide Veronika was also there, sharing info about the city as needed. Lisa from AbD Operations was there to assist with the check-ins; she will be going along on the cruise as an observer. We got all checked in, and were told to come back later for our covid tests. They had some dulce de leche treats for those who wanted them.

Did you happen to catch Lisa's job title? Just curious if it's someone I know.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Thanks for another great report on this trip! Do you know what kind of Covid tests they gave you at the hotel? PCR or Antigen? Just trying to figure out if we need recovery letters or what!

Thanks for following along! It is a Rapid Antigen test.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Love your reports for day 1 & 2! Thank you for sharing all these details. Really appreciate the time that both you and @starwarsdad have taken to shared so much helpful information!





Did you happen to catch Lisa's job title? Just curious if it's someone I know.

I’m sorry, I don’t remember…..but she said she works with selecting the guides for the adventures along with other things. She isn’t the same Lisa I’ve met on the Japan adventure who helps select adventure locations, activity, and itineraries, if that helps.

 

[Mathmagicland]

That's so cool about the sun in the glass of that skylight. I can't imagine it would be noticeable at all without you zooming in on it!

It was an unexpected surprise when I looked at the picture. I was trying to get a bit more detail on the skylight, had no idea that’s what I’d see.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Let’s pause a moment to talk internet service on the ship. It is available and it is free. But, it is not the fastest or most reliable connection, since the ship is sailing in latitudes with limited satellite range. I could get and receive calls if I had my iPhone set up for Wi-Fi calling. I could open documents attached to emails. However, texts or emails with videos or higher-resolution pictures would come through but I couldn't open/download the pictures or videos. I could not send out higher resolution pictures or videos. A couple of people mentioned they could do face-time calls but the picture quality was grainy.

I don’t know how this works on an android phone, but on iPhone when emailing a photo, a message comes up with an option about scaling the photo to a lower resolution. If I selected the lowest possible resolution, I could email one photo at a time & it would get through.

When you get into your cabin, there will be a folder with that first night’s Daily Program. Also inside that folder is a paper with the internet sign-on ID & password for your cabin. There’s either one per person, or one per adult – I’m not too sure here. The sign-on ID can only be used on one device at a time. When I was later at the reception desk, I overheard a parent asking about codes for her kids & their phones.

That’s when I learned, you can get extra logins for your cabin. I was able to get another, so I had one for my phone and one for my iPad. The lady got three extra codes for her kids. Towards the end of the sailing, I started getting an error message for one of my codes that it had reached its maximum number of logins. I headed to reception, and they gave me another.

So…if you need more internet logins for your cabin(s), head to Reception on Deck 3 where you can get them.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Really enjoying the report. Can't wait for Drake's. Hope it wasn't too bad!

 

[Eastridge]

Thanks for doing this trip report (and the New Zealand one simultaneously!) Although I don't think I will ever book this trip, due to the Drake Passage...

 

[Mathmagicland]

Thanks for doing this trip report (and the New Zealand one simultaneously!)

I don’t think it’s something I’d recommend- haha! If I post about ice burgs in NZ or LOTR & sheep in Antarctica, please call me out on it!

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 3 – Adventure Awaits!

Happy New Year – it’s New Year’s Day and we are starting 2023 in Ushuaia!



Mickey helping to welcome in 2023!




This is the only day where the planned itinerary had to be changed. The original itinerary said our catamaran sailing would include a visit to the Harberton Settlement; however, we had received an email about a month before departure, that we would only do the Catamaran sailing plus light lunch on board, as the Harberton Settlement would not an option for us.

We will be sailing the Beagle Channel on a Catamaran to see some Magellan Penguins, the first AbD Antarctic adventure to do so. The Channel runs between Chile and Argentina. We departed the ship at 0800 to walk to the catamaran after breakfast. There are two levels to the catamaran; we were on the lower level as the upper was full by the time we boarded. There is an open snack bar on board, tab courtesy of AbD.

Our first wildlife sighting was a large rocky island, full of rock shags, also known as cormorants, and seals. The cormorants have black backs and white chests, looking very similar to penguins from afar. But, they can fly and they aren’t as cute as the penguins! Some of the seals were quite vocal.









It was pretty funny to watch the people on the tour - as we got closer to something, everyone ran to the side of the boat closest to the island, lighthouse, penguins, etc, so it was impossible to get up to the rail to take pictures without heads or phones in the way. However, I quickly learned to go to the opposite side of the boat, and wait a few minutes…for the boat driver would pause for a bit, then slowly turn the boat around in a circle for those on the other side to see. I’d be at the railing after he finished the turn getting my pictures, as everyone from one side of the boat then ran over to the other side of the boat. All I could do was laugh, it was so funny. This happened every time, and not many people figured out that they could wait for the rotation & be right at the rail rather than fight the first crowds.

Next up, the famous Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse.





As we left the lighthouse and headed towards Isla Martillo, Dusty made an announcement – we are the first AbD adventure group to go to Chile! But wait, that is not on our itinerary….so how did that happen? Well, I guess Dusty’s phone got close enough to a cell tower in Chile to give him a Welcome to Chile message. If Dusty says it happened, then it happened, right? And we have the proof, for he did a screen capture of the message on his phone. Another AbD first for our cruise!



And, since we are the first AbD to "visit" Chile, here's a picture of the Chile coast across the Beagle Channel -




Continued in the next post.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 3 continued -

Finally, we see what most of us on the cruise are wanting to see – Penguins! No ice, but they are still pretty gosh darn cute. These are Magellan penguins, a large colony on Isla Martillo. The boat spent a lot of time here so we could watch them. This group was quite active, swimming, walking, and probably laughing at all of the cameras pointed their way. I think the front of the boat dropped at least a foot, with everyone congregated there to try to watch them.


There are a couple of Flightless Steamer Ducks in among these penguins -







Posing for us -



No, wait - take another, this is my best side!



One guest was able to snag a great photo, which he shared with me. We have a King Penguin sighting! He is a long way from home, as they are usually found in the South Georgia islands. We get to check a second and third breed of penguins off of our wildlife tracker, as he's hiding behind a Gentoo penguin. I can’t help but wonder what this King penguin is thinking – “Maybe they won’t see me hiding here in plain sight.”




After spending about 25 minutes watching these penguins, it was time to head back to port. On the way back, we were served a light lunch of meats & cheeses.

Continued in next post.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 3 Continued -

We had about 3 hours of free time, as our sail away party was scheduled for 6pm. After going back to our ship, we decided to go into town and see a bit of Ushuaia since this would be our only chance to do so. It was New Years Day, so we did not expect to find a lot of things open. We found several restaurants open, and only one small shop that was more like a mini-mart. Everything else was closed, and the streets were pretty empty. Here’s a find that surprised me – there is Hard Rock Café in Ushuaia! Who knew?



There are several little souvenir shops on the pier; all were closed except one shop that had t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and tote bags. Our ship L’Austral has a very small gift shop that seemed more like the pro shop at a golf course, with polo shirts, jackets, books, a few ski hats, stuffed penguins, & things one might need on our landings; nothing like t-shirts, sundries, etc. I wanted something that said Antarctica & had penguins, so picked up this t-shirt. I saw a few other folks on the ship who had also picked up some items from this shop.




Our sail-away party started at 6pm. This was also our briefing for the next day. The captain spoke a few words, and the Ponant entertainment team (five people) did a couple of dance numbers by the pool. Damien also made sure that the French flag was properly unfurled. After we gathered for our group photo, we saw a beautiful full rainbow off the port side of the ship.








The guides announced that, since tomorrow was a day at sea, it would be Pajama Day! Folks were free to stay in their PJs for the day, if they chose to do so. Tomorrow we will be busy collecting & prepping our gear and getting our first expedition briefings. There was an evening movie in the theatre, Saludos Amigos, which we passed on.

Next Up – crossing the Drake. Will we have a Drake Shake or a Drake Lake?

 

[sayhello]

Congrats on Chile, the King Penguin, the T-shirt and the rainbow!

Looking forward to more of your report!

Sayhello