The Story of our trip to Rio, Iguazu and the Antartic with the MV FRAM, Feb. 09

[caramelo]

Today it seems that this practice is no longer allowed, or maybe it was just our ship that don´t want their passengers doing it, but we had a few brave passengers who wanted to swim in the Antarctic waters and they did so directly in the sea.

There were very few penguins left on this island, but we did see a few with the seals.

[caramelo]

Careful, careful, he´s comming closer!!!!:

There were a lot of seals. Here are some images with all the different positions:

[caramelo]

 

 

 

And with the ship in the background:

 

 

 

 

It was important to keep the distance for, as I mentioned, they are seemingly quite aggressive.

 

 

 

 

It was funny to see them playing together, it reminded me of the Japanese Sumo Wrestlers, hihihi, and they made sounds like a dog when you are playing with it.

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

Then we went up a high hill where we had panoramic views of the ship.

This image, taken from the beach, is where the ship came through the narrow entrance “Neptunes Bellows”:

In the afternoon, we were luckily, as it was quite late at this stage, the second group to go ashore. It was 6:45pm and this time, being our last landing, we were allowed extra time, a total of 90 minutes on land so as that we could enjoy the maximum. We were at the Polish Base for Scientific Studies called “Arctowski” of the “King George” Island.

The image of “Arctowski” from the polar cirkel boat approaching land:

[caramelo]

When we arrived we saw this area with a religious statue:

And these other symbols:

We first went into the little souvenir shop where I bought a few postcards which shows what the station is like in the winter season:

The shop:

[caramelo]

And you could have your passport stamped: :

I had to laugh when I saw this polar bear, in the shop, at the wrong pole! :

On this island we saw the three different types of penguins: the Adelies, the Gentoo and the Chinstrap:

The Adelie type:

The Gentoo:

[caramelo]

and the Chinstrap:

Then we went along the beach to an area where there were a lot of seals playing, both on the beach and also in the water:

[caramelo]

And the seals playing with the penguins:

The next photo looks like a couple who have had a row and aren´t talking to each other, hahaha:

[caramelo]

And then we suddenly came across an elephant seal lying on the beach relaxing:

And the elephant seal together with a seal:

and then this image of the large elephant seal with 2 seals playing in the water in the background and 2 penguins watching them at the same time:

and the 3 enemies together:

[caramelo]

When we had finished everything, we headed towards the Polish Station building.

We saw more whales bones:

And yet another seal waiting for us at the door.

They have an area open to the public where they offer coffee or tea with cakes or biscuits to the visitors. It is like a living room with a lot of tables and chairs, television, books, etc. You have to take off your boots before going in. The photos didn´t come out well ........ I think the problem was coming in out of the extreme cold into a room with heating, well the cameras just misted up with the steam and the photos came out blurred, but I will put the photos here anyway just to give you the idea of the place:

[caramelo]

Just outsider there was this sign with the distances to the different countries:

When we came back outside, we saw these images with our ship:

We finished at 8:15pm, just in time to get a couple of photos with the sun going down:

[caramelo]

We had now finished all the trips ashore so we were sad as they had been so beautiful, but on the other hand I felt that the amount of days and landings were adequate and, as we had seen so much, well we really didn´t need more days.

When we got back aboard the ship we immediately took advantage to put on a washing machine, as we knew that the next day this would be a lot more difficult as everyone else would have the same idea. Our waterproof trousers and the jacket provided by the ship badly needed a good wash, as many times ashore waiting for and watching the penguins I sat down on the ground or on the rocks which were dirty to take photos, and with the dirt I don´t just mean mud or snow! At least with a good wash we could now put these clean into the suitcase.

TO BE CONTINUED…………… there is still more to come, including Buenos Aires, Colonia (Uruguay)........ etc.

[caramelo]

Monday, the 2nd of March.

For the moment we were very lucky with the sea going back over the Drake Passage. You could note the movement of the ship but it was nothing compared to our crossing on the way over which had also been quite calm.

After breakfast, our group, which with the rotation system was now in the first position, was called to participate in a bridge visit.

The visit lasted for approximately a half hour, and the Captain Hansen Steiner (left in the photo), and Rudolf (on the right hand side, is the person who speaks Spanish from the expedition team) explained about the functioning of the bridge, their work shifts, the machines, the radar and radio systems etc.

[caramelo]

and the ships log:

They also explained to us that the most important machine on the bridge is the coffee machine!

The rest of the day we spent relaxing, reading a book in the observation lounge, lunchtime, and writing notes for this story.

In the evening there was a charity auction and the money received was for the Albatross Fund. They auctioned one of the ships jackets but as we all already had one, the only bidder was the generous Mr. Antoine Braastad (the owner of the Braastad Cognac), and they also actioned 4 sketches drawn by one of the expedition team, a bottle of the Braastad Cognac and the navigation chart for this trip.

[caramelo]

Tuesday, 3rd of March.

We had another day of navigation through the Drake Passage and we still had a very calm sea. We had a quiet relaxing day just preparing the suitcases etc.

We had a Swiss professional photographer, Sandra Walser, aboard for this trip and in the afternoon she gave a presentation of her work and we went to see it. She had taken some very good photos and all the passengers would receive a free CD with this collection of photos as a token from Hurtigruten. The only pity is that the photos are in the PDF format so I can not use any of them for my digital photo album.

There also was a photo taken by one of the passengers which was published in the ship´s blog of the trip, which is of a whale, which is the following one:

and the other photo which was not in the PDF format was the one of the expedition team, who were all very profesional, really a great team:

also on the CD was the break-down of the amount of passengers aboard and their different nationalities:

In the evening we had the Captain´s Farewell Dinner:

[caramelo]

Once again the expedition team:

[caramelo]

It is a little blurred but this was the dinner:

Before leaving the ship...... here are a few general images,

Of the ice & fruit carvings:

[caramelo]

Wednesday, 4th of March.

We got up early as we had to depart from the ship at 8am in Ushuaia.

We were very sad when the time came to say goodbye to the MV FRAM........it had been an unforgettable trip and experience.

In Ushuaia some of the passengers had excursions organised as their flights were later, but our group had the early flight so at 8am we were collected by bus just outsider the ship. It parked near to the Port and we could leave our hand luggage inside the bus and we had one hours free time in Ushuaia from 8 until 9am befote the transfer to the airport.

The last images of the ship in Ushuaia..... this time with no obstacles or other big ships in front of or behind it:

At 8am there is very little that one can do in Ushuaia as naturally everything is closed at that time, so we just had a small walk through the town.

We could see from closer up the murals where they have painted on the wall “Ushuaia .....End of the World, Beginning of Everything – Fin del Mundo, Principio de Todo”, and the pity is that even the graffiti reaches the End of the World!!!

We had a coffee to wake us up a little ......... and then we continued our walk.

We passed by the old jail which today is a museum, but....... logically it was closed!!!:

[caramelo]

and we couldn´t leave Ushuaia without seeing penguins...... they even go to the local gymnasium:

At 9am we went back to the bus and were transferred to the airport and took the flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires.

If you look closely at the next photo, up at the top in the centre, just below the cloud, there is a straight line in a grey colour....... well I think that this is the runway at Ushuaia:

We arrived at Buenos Aires at 3:15pm.

TO BE CONTINUED.................

[dr__dawggy]

and we couldn´t leave Ushuaia without seeing penguins...... they even go to the local gymnasium:

 

 

 

At 9am we went back to the bus and were transferred to the airport and took the flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires.

 

 

 

If you look closely at the next photo, up at the top in the centre, just below the cloud, there is a straight line in a grey colour....... well I think that this is the runway at Ushuaia:

 

 

 

We arrived at Buenos Aires at 3:15pm.

 

TO BE CONTINUED.................

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning photos....I eagerly await your BA photos...and pray your second stay was more memorable than your first! BA is my favorite city on earth and I want everyone to love her as much as I do...

[caramelo]

Thanks dr__dawggy, we loved Buenos Aires too.

 

Here´s the rest:

 

Wednesday, the 4th of March.

When we arrived at 3:15pm in Buenos Aires it was absolutely pouring rain. We could not complain as we had had fantastic weather right throughout the whole trip. We were determined to make the most of it regardless.

We had reserved in advance a city tour of Buenos Aires, but as we arrived at the hotel later than expected and some of the places closed early, we had to chose between seeing the area of “La Boca” or the cemetery of La Recoleta where Eva Peron rests. We had previously read on internet that La Boca is sometimes not totally safe and especially in the evenings so we thought it would be better to go there with our guide and I didn´t want to miss seeing the colourful houses there. We calculated that we would have time the next day before taking the ferry to Uruguay to first see the cemetery of La Recoleta and that we could do on our own.

It was really torrential rain and we didn´t want to lose time looking for our umbrellas in the suitcases so we just put on our two waterproof jackets from the ship and started our tour.

We had two guides...... or more specifically one was the driver and the second was our guide, and they drove us through all the different areas of Buenos Aires, where we saw the different streets, buildings, Embassies and we could see that, even in the pouring rain, it is a beautiful city. I don´t have photos of the city tour as it was impossible to take any through the car Windows in the rain.

We arrived at Boca where we got out of the car to see it a little. I loved the “el Caminito” street with its multicoloured houses. Here are some images:

[caramelo]

After we left La Boca we continued driving around in the car seeing the centre of Buenos Aires in general. Once we had finished, we thought it would be better to inside somewhere rather than out walking in the rain, so we suddenly thought of visiting the famous Cafe Tortoni which luckily turned out to be very close to our hotel. It really was nice and interesting to see and I was glad that we had decided to go there:

[caramelo]

Esta última foto arriba es la explicación del siguiente imagen abajo:

Adjoining the café and the bar area there were rooms for private meetings and also small theatre rooms where they also do a tango show:

That evening we decided not to go far away as we had been up very early that morning and we were tired after our flight and alter the city tour and also with the bad weather so we just had dinner at the hotel.

An aperitif which they brought us:

and being in Buenos Aires, one feels like having their meat:

[caramelo]

Although it looks good in the photos, but it really was not good. We were the only clients in the restaurant so there was no atmosphere, and then my food arrived totally cold, but as we were so tired it was the most convenient option.

 

Thursday, the 5th of March.

 

When we got up is was a wonderful sunny day, totally the opposite of the previous day.

 

After breakfast we took a taxi and headed for the cemetery of La Recoleta.

 

 

 

 

Normally I do not like cemeteries but I have to say that this place was very special and very interesting to see it. It is nearly like a small village where the mausoleums are the size like small houses.

 

 

 

 

Here is the explanation of the history of the cemetery:

 

 

 

 

And as it is so big there is a map of the different streets showing the location of the different mausoleums:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[caramelo]

And some of my photos: