Quest Grand Voyage around South America, 2023

[2SailingNomads]

12 hours ago, Sunviking said:

We are fortunate to have an excellent expedition team onboard. I read Endurance by Lansing just before I came on the ship and was fascinated by it. One night I was fortunate to be invited to dine with a team member named Robert Egelstaff.  In the mid 1990's he and several other adventurers got sponsors to fund an attempt to recreate Shackleton's journey in the 23 ft long James Caird  from Elephant Island to South Georgia.  It was fascinating to listen to his tales of that trip.  I think he said the boat, which was built for their voyage and is an exact replica, is now in a museum somewhere in the UK.  Besides the spectacular scenery I'm seeing, I'm learning so much, an added bonus.

Tervor Potts who was on our cruise was part of that recreation, the stories were amazing he told. 

[Sunviking]

I was in the last group of zodiacs to go out and I can only describe the weather as glorious. The sun came out and it added new perspective and color to the ice around us. In the early evening as we left Melchior we passed through a number of whales feeding. It was wonderful to watch. I, like probably many others onboard, managed to get a short video, but I won’t even attempt to upload it because the internet is pretty awful tonight. I think tomorrow the weather isn’t supposed to be as good. We really lucked out today.

[frantic36]

deleted because repeat post.

Edited February 8, 2023 by frantic36
repeat post

[rivierawildchild]

Thank you everyone for your very informative posts,  which I will now follow with much interest as we are booked to do this same cruise next year.

Any tips, suggestions for us will be gratefully received. 

It will be a first time visiting South America and Antarctica and our 10th Seabourn Cruise. 

 

 

[mcmarya]

Looking forward to boarding in Buenos Aires.

 

[Sunviking]

4 hours ago, mcmarya said:

Looking forward to boarding in Buenos Aires.

 

You will have a lovely time I’m sure. I’ve been on since Santiago and things have been wonderful. Today in South Georgia we had a picture postcard day. In fact the young woman in the post office there told me the ship should come more often if we brought today’s kind of weather with us. The expedition team has been great and the regular staff is working very hard to keep all of us happy.

[mcmarya]

Any idea how many passengers are disembarking in Buenos Aires?  Glad that you are having a wonderful time!

[Sunviking]

I'm not positive but I think I heard that 120 are leaving and 80 are joining the cruise.  The trivia team I'm on is losing all but four of us.  What part of No. Virginia are you from?

[Fred arbuthnot]

Does anyone know if the jewelry boutique on board will discount their items before Buenos Aires? Do they ever discount items? Thanks 

[mcmarya]

We're from Springfield, northern VA.

[Sunviking]

2 hours ago, mcmarya said:

We're from Springfield, northern VA.

Not too far from where I live then.  I'm on the lower Peninsula.  We will have a big change of entertainment in Buenos Aires.  We've had fabulous guest entertainers for the last few weeks, but I'm sure the new ones will be just as good. The ship's entertainers (band, trio, singers and dancers are great too.)  We'll be getting a new expedition team for the Amazon cruise and I'm sure they will do a great job.  Our Antarctic team has been wonderful and has been outstanding in conveying lots of information and helping us to get off and on the ship in sometimes challenging conditions. I hope you will have as great a time as I am having.

[frantic36]

Updates from our journey so far. The day of the plan plunge was sunny and the the next day started off well with the two early colour groups enjoying seeing penguins including some chicks. Some of the third group had just got ashore when the wind gusts suddenly intensified and they were informed they had to return to the ship. The change in weather was very quick and in fact Quest had to move and reposition in order to be able to get the three zodiacs with passengers back onboard. One of my friends was on the last zodiac to reboard and she had nothing but praise for the expedition team and all the crew on board who helped her transfer as it was not easy. 

 

I was to be in the last time slot so we missed out and since the weather gods weren't playing nice we never managed any further time to land in Antartica. We did go past Elephant Island where they did a running commentary about the Shackleton, how he then made the trip to South Georgia to get help for his crew he left behind on Elephant Island. Also how those men survived while they waited. Elephant Island  looked very inhospitable. There was also a large pod of fin whales we didn't see many breaching but we saw many blows all around us.

 

On our journey to South Georgia we passed many icebergs one of which was ~ 1 mile long that had recently broken off in the Weddell Sea area. I will post the photo but I also took a video to try to capture it's enormity.

 

[frantic36]

South Georgia landings

 

We landed at Grytviken, South Georgia in lovely sunshine. In fact the people at the post office thanked us for bringing the sunshine. We landed near the cemetery where Shackleton's grave is but were unable to go near it because their was a big group of female elephant seals were laying in front of it. But at least we could see it.

 

 

There were also many fur seals some of which would charge at us. Iggy in his briefing the day before told us not to back away but to make ourselves look as big as possible and if possible walk with others. Most were juveniles though so backed away quickly.

 

 

And some young ones were very cute.

 

 

There were a few penguins around some having a bad hair day as they moulted into their adult coat.

 

 

Lots of relics of past whalers.

 

[Mr Luxury]

Thanks Julie,

 

Your ship looks like it needs painting 

[frantic36]

Day 2 in South Georgia was in Salisbury Plain which is the second largest breeding colony zone for King Penguins in South Georgia. The expedition team had to work very hard to hold the zodiacs so we could get in and out because of the waves crashing on the beach. Iggy and his team must have been very tired that night and maybe a few sore muscles the next day.

 

However it was the most amazing experience. I would call it a Sir David Attenborough moment for my husband and myself. There was likely well over 200,000 penguins with a few fur seals to keep them company.

 

Yes all those white dots up the hill are more penguins.

As you can imagine being in such close proximity to each other arguments did break out but those lasted only minutes. The two on the right were telling the other guy he was in their personal space.

 

I only saw one chick that I was told was likely around 5 months old.

 

This fur seal pup was having a feed, then soon it was time for a nap like his friend.

 

Another magic day on Seabourn Quest.

 

[cadburysmom]

Wonderful photos!

Must’ve felt incredible to be there 

…thanks so much for sharing!

[frantic36]

There were two sea days to get from South Georgia to Falkland Islands. Many lectures onboard both from expedition staff who specialise in topics like geology, the various bird life and marine life endemic to these areas etc plus other guest lecturers like Paul Deegan who has climbed Mount Everest. The days pass quickly and we have enjoyed having lunch in the MDR each sea day. The MDR has been very busy mainly because it is very cold outside and sometimes too windy to even open outside Colonnade area. There are hardy souls who eat dinner in the Patio Grill but I am not one of them.

 

A friend organised a penguin party which was fun. I wore some trousers my husband came across in a shop In Antifogosta so I could be the psychedelic penguin with my sequinned jacket. Here is another friend, myself and my penguin friend going for a nightcap after a delightful dinner.

 

[lincslady]

That multitude of penguins shot is almost unbelievable, Julie.  Congratulations.

[frantic36]

Port Stanley, Falkland Island

 

I had organised a private helicopter flight to Volunteer Point. The weather wasn't looking promising when the ship arrived at 7am as there was rain showers and strong wind gusts. Tom our pilot suggested we wait until 10am to see if the weather improved which thankfully it did. The tender takes at least 30 minutes so make sure you allow for this if booking private excursions. 

 

Tom was very experience having flown commercial helicopters, small planes and small helicopters for years. He was also born on the island and has a deep love and knowledge of the wildlife and island history. He has travelled extensively so a very interesting person to spend time with. Here he is discussing some interesting features of a penguin skull.

 

 

We saw a few Magellanic penguins one of which hopped into his burrow quickly when he thought we got too close.

 

There were a lot more chicks here at various stages of growth.

 

Thought this guy was cute as he obviously had got tired of standing in the mud so he stood on the rock.

 

Which was odd as there was grass to lie on close by.

 

Even though we left later than first planned we still arrived well before then most other overland tours. We spent over an hour here and was just heading back to the helicopter when we had a heavy rain shower which was bitingly cold. Thankfully we had dressed in our Seabourn orange jacket, waterproof pants and waterproof hiking boots. The rain passed over quickly and we could safely take off and go back to Port Stanley just as the overland tour groups arrived.

[frantic36]

Once back in Port Stanley Tom dropped us at a restaurant to have fish and chips made from a local caught fish called Grenadier. A white fish similar to a cod and very tasty.

 

We also enjoyed walking around the town, visiting the Anglican church and the Historical Museum.

 

On a final note on our Port Stanley visit I was very taken with the colourful police cars.

[Mr Luxury]

On 2/17/2023 at 2:14 PM, frantic36 said:

Once back in Port Stanley Tom dropped us at a restaurant to have fish and chips made from a local caught fish called Grenadier. A white fish similar to a cod and very tasty.

 

We also enjoyed walking around the town, visiting the Anglican church and the Historical Museum.

 

On a final note on our Port Stanley visit I was very taken with the colourful police cars.

That's giw we have the cars in the UK Julie

It's called Battenberg design for obvious reasons 

[frantic36]

9 minutes ago, Mr Luxury said:

That's giw we have the cars in the UK Julie

It's called Battenberg design for obvious reasons 

I didn't know that so thanks for the information. I like Battenberg cake 😋.

[hoya68]

Those of you on the Quest headed to Montevideo there is a wonderful wine bar just outside the cruise port gate. The owner will give you a great recommendation for a restaurant.in the attached market. Steak to die for.

[frantic36]

New Island, Falkland Island 17 February

 

I will confess I did not actually go ashore as I had again woken with cramp in my feet and the thought of getting my feet into the heavy boots and doing a wet landing wasn't appealing. I was eating a banana a day for K+ and drinking tonic water for the quinine but sometimes it wasn't working. I think cold weather and I are not always on good terms.

 

However I did get some photos of the people going up the hill to where the Black Browed Albatross rookery and some Rockhopper penguins were. Then the GSM who did get ashore was kind enough to share some of her photos with me.

 

The wet landing.

To the extreme left of the photo about half way up you can make out a white shape and some intrepid orange parka wearers as the hike up the hill.

 

albatross chicks and Rockhopper penguins

Black Browed Albatross chicks with one testing his wings

 

Rockhopper Penguins of which the New Island warden said there were about 6,000 currently in that colony and more in various cliffs around the island but getting an accurate count was too difficult because of the terrain.

There was a small settlement there with even a shop if you wanted to purchase something.

 

 

[frantic36]

5 hours ago, hoya68 said:

Those of you on the Quest headed to Montevideo there is a wonderful wine bar just outside the cruise port gate. The owner will give you a great recommendation for a restaurant.in the attached market. Steak to die for.

Thanks for this information as we were aiming to go to the market for lunch and will stop by the wine bar. It is Carnival time in Montevideo so it will be interesting if anything is happening during the day or if all the events happen in the evening.