Live From the Sapphire, 30-Day Antarctica/SA B2B, Jan 20 - Feb 19

[Ken the cruiser]

After dinner in the Reserve Dining Room, we headed back to the cabin, as we are usually finished by 6 pm. Tonight besides the Patter, we received are official Antarctica certificate that everyone seems to get when they cruise here.

 

  
Then it was time to head to the theater to listen to a singer, Alex Post,

 

 

before going over to the Explorers Lounge to watch the very hilarious Majority Rules! 😂

 

 

[EDVM96]

7 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

This looks marvellous. Captain Ravera is one of the best.
 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 8 - Jan 27 - Antarctica (Iceberg A23a and Elephant Island)

  

  

 

Internet download speed a much better this evening.

 
Our current location on route to Iceberg A23a.

 

 
At sunset the fog had definitely started to set in!

 

 
But the winds have remained relatively calm all day

 

 
and so has the wave action. One can only hope it continues. 🤞

 

 

[Mary loves to travel]

15 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

This looks marvellous. Captain Ravera is one of the best.
 

We have been very happy to have him.   

[Ken the cruiser]

19 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

This looks marvellous. Captain Ravera is one of the best.
 

We have been very happy with his decisions so far as well. Although it was a little bumpy for the first 3 days before arriving at the Strait of Magellan, I’m glad he stayed the course and got us to Punta Arenas on time rather than implementing Plan B where we would have lost valuable time cruising through the more calmer fjord waters, and probably would have missed out on seeing all of those cute little penguins and gulls. 😁

 

As far as the issue of Iceberg A23a goes, I’m sorry we missed seeing Cape Horn. However, I’m glad we’re going to be able to see it tomorrow morning, as chances of folks on future “drive by” cruises to Antarctica may not be so lucky according to this news article just published.

 

For the past several weeks, A23a has seemingly drifted without purpose in the Weddell Sea, but the latest satellite imagery shows the gigantic iceberg heading in a distinctly northern direction away from the Antarctic Peninsula, according to the European Space Agency. It brushed the east coast of Elephant Island and is now en route to the southern Atlantic Ocean. 

 

https://gizmodo.com/world-s-largest-iceberg-a23a-breaks-from-antarctic-1851200557

 

[nini]

9 hours ago, rosevew said:

Formal was very poorly supported. In fact, dress code overall was very poor. People were wearing ripped jeans, blue jeans, hoodies, coats, plimsolls, baseball caps etc in the MDR's. Some dressed for formal night (hubby had his dinner suit and I wore a sparkly dress) some others dressed up but the majority made no effort at all, citing the need to bring winter clothes. Not sure why it was so difficult as we flew from UK and only used half our luggage allowance. I did comment that there were the scruffiest dressed passengers I've ever seen on a cruise in the MDR.

 

Re Cape Horn, it seems that there never has been an intention to cruise close to Cape Horn, as none of the trips seem to have done so. On ours it was claimed that we couldn't go close due to no Chilean pilot - presumably they knew in advance that one would be needed.

 

I have to say that their logic is not logical. Nice slacks and a nice shirt take up far less room than heavy outer wear. DH brings nice slacks, nice collared shirt and a tie..... Whoa... That tie takes up so much space! 😄

[Mary loves to travel]

Hi Ken,

 

as far as the Captain's announcements, they as you know can be heard at noon over all the PA systems; all of his announcements can be heard from your stateroom if you tune the tv to the Bridge Cam (and, as I learned, good to unmute 😉).

 

But, I'm with you:   seems it would have been easy for Arrrrrmando to do a quick itinerary update before or after the show, since I doubt you would have heard the captain's announcement from the theater.

 

FYI, on an alternate social media platform, there is a group for this cruise; the moderator of that group writes down and posts the captain's noon announcement daily; one of the ship's naturalists, Rob Raincock also provides excellent updates.

 

Really enjoying following your trip post, as always 🙂

Mary

[effinaround]

For those interested, once we arrive at A23A there will be running commentary from the bridge that will be broadcast on the Bridge Cam channel and all exterior speakers. Sure hope the fog breaks!

[Ken the cruiser]

We’re ready! We just finished with breakfast and are on the balcony with the web cam turned on. All we need now is for the fog to lift just a little! 😂

 

 
About an hour ago, I saw a few Cape Petrels flying behind the ship, but they were too quick for me. But I’m ready now! After all, it’s all about the hunt, especially when it’s 32F outside! 😂
 

Edited January 27 by Ken the cruiser

[Mary loves to travel]

Ken,

 

we were up on 14, Starboard side.   Got there early enough to be right at the rail, so good viewing.    A couple of times the fog/mist lifted enough to make out the iceberg, even seeing the arching holes worn into the side by the ocean.  
 

curious (for future reference) what your views of A23A were from your nice aft balcony?

 

Mary

[Ken the cruiser]

That was definitely worth the trip over! 😁 These photos were taken from our aft balcony.

 

 

 

 

Also got pictures of a couple of Cape Petrels

  

 
and a Snowy Sheathbill. 😁

 

 

This photo was taken as we were leaving. I know it’s hard to see with all of the fog, but Iceberg A23a is huge! 😂

 

 
We’re now headed to Elephant Island with an estimated arrival time of 6:30 pm. I guess we will be bypassing the shows after an early dinner tonight! 

 
Where the ship is in the below picture is where the Iceberg A23a is located.

 

 

Edited January 27 by Ken the cruiser

[Mary loves to travel]

Ok, very similar to photos we got from above - nice!

 

Are you using a real camera?   I have an iPhone only, so far it’s been pretty good.  

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, Mary loves to travel said:

Ok, very similar to photos we got from above - nice!

 

Are you using a real camera?   I have an iPhone only, so far it’s been pretty good.  

I’m using my iPhone SE. Although I will say it took 171 photos to render the above 6! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

We are a little over halfway to Elephant island

 

 

and it looks like the wave action has finally caught back up with us.
 

  

Hopefully it will be a little calmer once we start to cruise around the island.🤞

 

 

Edited January 27 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

We were just sitting in our cabin occasionally looking out to see if we could get a glimpse of any wildlife, mainly birds flying behind the ship, as we wait to head to an early dinner before we arrive at Elephant Island. Then for about 5-10 minutes, blue sky appeared, there was a faint rainbow (if you look close that ends in the ship’s wake), a massive amount of white-capped waves all about, and when I open the door to take the picture, there was a light mist in the air. Then it was gone! I know, it doesn’t take much to keep me amused! 😂

 

 

[HotRoot]

www.travelerscenturyclub.org

If you click on Countries &Territories, it provides a list of the 330 countries currently in the world.  There are 7 listed for Antartica.  Rules state you do not have to spend a night in the country, but you do have to step foot on land.  If your plane stops to refuel and you do not get off, it does not count.  If you have a port call and you do not get off the ship, it does not count.  They do not count a drive-by as actually being there.  This is the list and rules I follow.  Just an fyi if somebody wants to count number of countries they have been to. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We arrived at Elephant Island around 7 pm and spent about 90 minutes there slowly cruising through the area. Just prior to arriving, the Captain changed course due to the extreme winds coming from the West and went on the southern side of the island where the winds and wave action would be calmer.

  

  
The first island we passed by on the starboard side was a little island called Cornwallis Island. 
 

 
As we passed by it, the sun came out and really made the island light up!

 

 
Off in the distance on the port side was Clarence Island, which was a little harder to see because of the fog.

 

 
Then came the views of some of the various icebergs, cliffs and glaciers we saw as we cruised along the “trunk” of Elephant Island.

 

 

 
You can see Cornwallis Island off in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 
This iceberg was so unique I had to post pictures of it from different angles! 😁

 

 

 
And then we were off for our overnight rendezvous with some more awesome sights scheduled for our day 2 of cruising around the Antarctic Peninsula. 😁

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 9 - Jan 28 - Day 2 of Antarctic Cruising starting at Admiralty Bay

  

 

 

 

[that]

WOW!

[Ken the cruiser]

As we got closer to Admiralty Bay, I woke up around 5 am and watched the sunrise over the Southern Ocean, and then went back to bed! 😂

 

 
We entered Admiralty Bay a little before 7 am.

 

 

Here are some of the views we have seen so far. 
 

 

 

 

 

Brazilian Research Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ocean sounds]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here are some of the views we have seen so far. 

Absolutely gorgeous!  Thank you @Ken the cruiser, for sharing these beautiful sights with us. 

[stonepebble]

Just beautiful! Nice and calm in the Bay!

Thank you!

[Ken the cruiser]

We had so much fun taking pictures in 26.6F temps, here are some more of Admiralty Bay on our way out! 😁

 

 

 

 
One perk with being in an aft-facing cabin, is that you get some really closeup pictures when the ship has to turn around in a really tight space near a glacier! 😁

 

 
This is the new Brazil Research Station, as the old one burned down a few years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Poland’s Arctowski Research Station on the left and a small US station on the right.

 

 
Our final view of Admiralty Bay before heading south along the South Shetland Islands, where it is currently foggy and snowing lightly. 😂

 

 

 

Edited January 28 by Ken the cruiser

[stonepebble]

Oh My! Incredible!

We have an Aft cabin on NCL! So excited!

Chris

 

[that]

WOW So spectacular