Final Leg: "On the Way Home"

And that - was Antarctica!

At the start of this trip, I wrote that I had been thinking about this trip in legs i.e.

• Vancouver to Toronto to Santiago to Buenos Aires - first leg.
• Buenos Aires to Ushuaia - second leg.
• The boat - third leg.

Then everything in reverse, but lumped together because that's "on the way home" which is inherently less exciting.

This post is about that last leg - the inherently less exciting, everything in reverse, "on the way home" leg.

Last Days on the Ship
The days we spent northbound on the Drake Passage headed back to South America and in transit through Ushuaia and Buenos Aires, Argentina were all a little melancholy for me. Like, we just had an amazing experience on the 7th continent! And now it's over and we're heading home. Sad face.

However, there were some highlights from those last days at sea. We were able to enjoy a few more meals on the ship with some of the expedition crew members, hearing about what was next for them - whether they were staying on for the next voyage or wrapping up for the season. We sighted Cape Horn, the "southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile (Wikipedia)" and learned that an albatross-shaped monument was erected there to commemorate the lives of thousands of seafarers who died while attempting to sail around the cape.

Later that same day just off the coast, we saw even more whales (I will never tire of seeing BLOWS off in the distance - totally remarkable), and even a few dolphins that decided they wanted to race the ship, swimming and jumping alongside us. Está bien.

Sighting Cape Horn from the Ocean Endeavour © Matthew Boulton

The monument to the sailors who perished trying to
"round the Horn" © Matthew Boulton

Disembarkation and Tierra del Fuego
We pulled into the port of Ushuaia in the early hours on February 7 - disembarkation day. As one of our guides put in, coming over the loudspeaker: "The time has come. It is now time to get off the ship!" We finished packing up, said our final goodbyes and loaded onto buses with Rumbo Sur, the local travel agency and partner for Quark Expeditions. I hate to be dramatic, but it was all I could do to stop myself from crying as we pulled away from the dock!

One last stroll around the aft deck

Disembarkation morning in the port of Ushuaia

Luckily, I had a chance to reset - and resign myself to the fact that the voyage was over, sob! - before we headed to the airport, with a little tour through Tierra del Fuego National Park.

Entrance to Tierra del Fuego

It's nice, but it's no Antarctica

At Ushuaia's old airport

Old planes are cool

Hangin' around the old airport

Driving around Ushuaia

Just Another 25-hour+ Travel Day
The rest of the story about us getting home is a long and harrowing one - and one I, frankly, am not interested to write up in detail on the blog (sorry/not sorry). Let's just say, it involved a flight delay in Ushuaia, a taxi strike in Buenos Aires, another flight delay in Buenos Aires, resulting in a delay transitioning through Santiago and being rebooked onto a different flight in Toronto, a disturbed individual on that flight causing another delay... but then after more than 25 hours finally, and thankfully, HOME.

From the tarmac at the new airport in Ushuaia

Adiós, fin del mundo!

February 4: The Final Day of Excursions and Saying Goodbye to Antarctica

Thanks for coming to
see me, even though you
weren't feeling well!

Written on March 1

It's Not Coronavirus, But Still
And then I got sick. Boourns!

I had been fighting a sore throat for a couple of days before taking the Polar Plunge; the sore throat escalated after I'd jumped into the cold waters of the Southern Ocean, and I woke up on February 4 with a terrible head cold. Given the coronavirus fears, I checked in with the ship's doctor who gave me throat lozenges, asked me to report in again if things got worse, and sent me on my way.

This was the last day of excursions on our voyage, but with me feeling so poorly, I just didn't have the energy to keep up the same pace as previous excursion days. Hubs, at this point, was also feeling a little "zodiac-ed out" so we had a bit of a modified/easier day of outings.

Morning Excursion: Cuverville Island
Cuverville Island is a small rocky island in the Errera Channel and home to the largest gentoo penguin colony in the region. Even though I wasn't feeling well, I was definitely not about to give up this last chance to see more penguins on our trip. After a chat with the Expedition Leader, we were able to skip the zodiac cruising portion of this excursion, and opt only for the shore landing.

As this was our final excursion, we did our best to just be in the moment after landing on the island - sitting down, listening to all of the penguin sounds, watching adult penguins be with their chicks, and seeing the penguins splashing around and porpoising in the shallow water along the beach.

Beach at Cuverville Island

Parenting, am I right?

Gentoo penguin and whale bones

Heading back to shore

Parent-teacher meeting?

Just hangin'

Practicing for National Geographic © Matthew Boulton

Afternoon Excursion: Paradise Harbour 
The original plan for the afternoon was to head onshore midway along the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula at Paradise Harbour, to visit Argentine Base Brown. Formerly known as Almirante Brown, this place has a bit of an incendiary history. From our voyage journal provided by Quark Expeditions:

"Almirante Brown was the base conducting Argentina’s Antarctic marine biology and hydrography research. In 1984, the base doctor, who did not want to overwinter a second time, burned down the main base building. The concrete foundations still exist behind the remaining buildings. 

The base was reopened in the 1990s but plans to rebuild it were dropped during Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis. Currently, the former boatshed is used as summer accommodation for the scientific staff and the cleanup team. The current scientific program is continuing the hydrographic work of the 1990s, and studying the effects of these physical factors on biological systems in the harbour." 

(Aside: one of the historians on our ship, who also happens to be Argentinian, joked that if someone from Argentina says they're going to burn something down, you should take them seriously.)

Argentine Base Brown, taken from Ocean Endeavour
© Matthew Boulton

However, given the nice weather on this day, the staff at Base Brown decided to do some maintenance and re-painting of the buildings, which meant no shore landing for us. The plan was revised for everyone to instead take in an extended cruise around Paradise Harbour and nearby Skontorp Cove.

As beautiful as this spot was in the brilliant sunshine, and even though it was the very last excursion of our voyage, hubs and I opted to skip the zodiac cruise and enjoy the amazing views from the ship instead. While part of me is a little disappointed that we missed this outing, it was quite nice to have the ship nearly to ourselves. Plus, given my nasty cold, I think staying onboard was the more sensible choice versus being on the water in the zodiac for more than an hour.

Farewell Antarctica!
Everyone came back to the ship in the late afternoon, and our Expedition Leader led everyone in a farewell toast to Antarctica - a touching albeit bittersweet way to say goodbye to the 7th continent before heading northbound on the Drake Passage and back to South America the next day.

Final note on this day: we heard that a few members of the expedition team hosted an epic Antarctica-themed quiz night that evening, but we went to bed early.

Our Expedition Leader Laurie leading the farewell toast

Cheers to you, Antarctica!
© Matthew Boulton

Paradise Harbour: a stunning way to end our time in this amazing place