Trip itinerary (as experienced by a member of the Full Spirit of Shackleton group)

This is my recollection of trip details from my notes. I can see now that I should have recorded things in more detail. I know I've made mistakes with the dates of some of the lectures and videos. If you have corrections or additions, please e-mail me or just add them in the Comments. Thanks. I've added a copy of the trip log (the link opens the pdf file).

• December 13 - Toronto, travelling to Buenos Aires
• December 14 - Buenos Aires
• afternoon spent wandering around and in the Recolleta, with Catalina Colacci; trip meeting; dinner at Siga la Vaca with Juan; some evening explorations (but not much because of our early morning departure from the hotel)
  
• December 15 - Buenos Aires to Ushuaia
• very early departure for domestic airport; bag weighing; trip meeting; wandering around Ushuaia; group dinner
• December 16 - Ushuaia to Explorer
• Brief city tour, with stop at the Mission, by bus enroute to Tierra del Fuego National Park; passport stamps at Bahia Ensenada; group shot on boardwalk lookout at Bahia Lapataia (end of the Rte 3 highway sign); lunch in town; transfer to security and boarding the ship; emergency drill and briefing by the safety officer; delayed departure because some passengers had problems with their flight and luggage; set "sail" for South Atlantic via Beagle Channel
• December 17 - on board Explorer enroute to the Falkland Islands
• At sea, weather sunny and about 5°C; Meet the Seabirds of the Southern Ocean by Ken Wright (9:30 am); photographing seabirds off the Pool Deck; IAATO briefing and Zodiac briefing; bootwashing; Bill Barr on Early Exploration of Antarctica; Hugh Beach on Geology, Geography and Volcanos; expedition briefing; Captain's Welcoming Cocktails and Dinner
  
• December 18 - West Falkland islands; Carcass Island and Steeple Jason Island
• Early arrival in West Falklands (ca. 8:00 am); Zodiacs launched (ca. 9:00 am); Peale dolphin(s) in the bay and alongside the Zodiac; Carcass Island landing (10 am) Magellanic penguins the main event at Carcass Island (no tea with the McGills because we landed on the other side); Falklands Tourist Board videographer. Steeple Jason Island landing ca. 4:00 pm to see small Gentoo colony and really large colony of Black Browed Albatrosses with Rockhopper penguins; overnight to (Port) Stanley, East Falkland
• December 19 - (Port) Stanley, East Falkland
• Greyish day; arriving in Port William ca. 9:00 am; dry landing at the public quay (ca. 10 am); small student group with Hugh to see rock runs; city tour and birding tour; wandering around town; museum; friendly cats and people; lots of Land Rovers; pints of beer; horses; colourful roofs and bright flowers; souvenir shopping, Internet access and postcard sending; enroute to South Georgia (by ca. 3:30 pm)
  
• December 20 - At sea, on board Explorer enroute to South Georgia
• Seas a bit rough; Christmas decorations go up; Marine mammals by Shannon Fowler; recap postponed because of large number of people lying down (me among them); at noon 52° 25.6 S., 050° 50.0 W.; "continuing rough seas and heavy swells"; 503 km to Salisbury Plain
  
• December 21 - At sea, on board Explorer enroute to South Georgia
• Falklands recap; Bill Barr on Expeditions of the Heroic Age; Life in the Freezer (National Geographic video); The Elves of South Georgia with Ken Wright; South Georgia briefing (7 pm)
• December 22 - South Georgia: Salisbury Plain (am) and Prion Island in Bay of Isles
  
• King Penguin colony (extended up the hill) on Salisbury Plain and fur seals on the beach; lunch on board as we crossed the Bay of Isles to Prion Island (southern end only because northern end is protected, in small groups) to see the Wandering Albatrosses and a small Gentoo colony; Prion Island beach had the orange bag "walkway" that attracted the fur seal pups; Fortuna Bay/Shackleton Walk briefing; overnight to Fortuna Bay for "silent night" with ships engines shut down
  
• December 23 - South Georgia: Fortuna Bay, Stromness, to Grytviken
• Clear sunny day; Fortuna Bay, landed the walkers, then landed the penguin and seal watchers (ca. 8:45 am); back on board and enroute to Stromness to collect the walkers by 10:30 am; approaching Stromness by 11:50 am; approaching Grytviken by 2:15 pm; on land toasting The Boss at Whaler's Cemetery by 4 pm; exploring Grytviken, the museum and King Edward Point to about 6 pm; back to Grytviken at 9 pm for Christmas carols in the church; overnight to St. Andrews Bay
• December 24 - South Georgia: St Andrews Bay and Gold Harbour "two spectacular wildlife stops with different landscapes"
• Early breakfast; Landing at St. Andrew Bay for largest King Penguin colony in the world, also reindeer, fur seals, elephant seals (this was where we saw the savaged penguin); back to the ship by 9:45 am; move to Gold Harbour; landing at Gold Harbour by 2:30 pm; King Penguins, fur seals, elephant seals and especially nesting site of Light Mantled Sooty Albatrosses; back aboard by 6 pm; recap and briefing at 7 pm; Open House in the Bonus Room
  
• December 25 - South Georgia: Cooper Bay, Drygalski Fjord, Larsen Harbour
• Overcast and some snow. Cooper Bay fur seal gauntlet; Macaroni Penguin colony above the bay (seeing penguins by 9:30 am); small Gentoo colony; fur seals and elephant seals. Back on board by 11:30 am. Fabulous Christmas lunch (not dinner, since we'll be at sea by then and we don't want anyone to miss it) as we move to Drygalski Fjord (13 km to ice face, steep sided). Cruising in Drygalski Fjord by 2:30 pm. Reach ice face at 3 pm. Into Larsen Harbour by 3:35 pm. Last views of South Georgia by 5 pm, enroute to Elephant Island
• December 26 - At sea, enroute to Elephant Island
• Easy seas, clear and sunny, clouding over by about 4 pm. Noon 56° 55.2 S., 041° 58.1 W. Course 240°. Distance to Point Wild 477 nm. Air temperature 2°C, sea temperature 1°C. Hugh on Cold Climate Landforms, Ken on Lichens, Shannon on Pinnipeds. Whales on krill bloom at 10:22 pm.
  
• December 27 - At sea, enroute to Elephant Island
• Clear and sunny. First sighting of concentrated ice. Cruising along northern edge of broken pack ice by noon. Bill on Fichner Expedition to Weddell Sea. Antarctic Tourism Operations with Aaron at 3:00 pm (interrupted by a large iceberg around 3:30 pm); Birds in Tuxedos: All About Antarctic Penguins by Ken;
  
• December 28 - At sea, enroute to Elephant Island; Elephant Island
• Clear and sunny to start; Hugh on Permafrost and Environmental Problems at 11 am; lobby rope in place by 12:15 pm; arrived Point Wild ca. 1:15 pm; Zodiac cruise of bay by 3 pm; back on board by 4 pm; departing Elephant Island by 5:30 pm; Antarctic Sound/Brown Bluff briefing at 7 pm; fabulous sunset starts around 10 pm; overnight to Brown Bluff
  
• December 29 - Brown Bluff, Antarctic Sound, Terror and Erebus Gulf, Devil Island
• Entering Fridtjof Sound near Brown Bluff by about 8:15 am; on the beach at Brown Bluff by 9 am; Adélie and Gentoo Penguins, jelly fish, exploding grounded ice lump on the beach and the fascinating weathered volcanic rocks described by Hugh; Max's picture of the Adélie leaping down from a grounded ice floe; Antarctic swim club ("the safety boat is in place and the doctor is standing by"); barbeque lunch on deck as we wended our way through the ice into the Antarctic Sound and eastward between Andersson and Rosamel islands into the Terror and Erebus Gulf; enroute through the ice to Devil Island in an embayment of Vega Island; 63° 44.66 S., 056° 57.07W. at 4:55 pm according to my GPS; approaching Devil Island at 5:50 pm; landed by 6:50 pm; returned to ship around 8:15 pm; sunset heading back northward by 10:30 pm
• December 30 - Enroute, Cierva Cove on Danco Coast; Argentine Primavera Station; Whales
• Grey and misty. Shannon on Diving in Australian Sea Lions; Humpback whales feeding at 1:20 pm, stayed about 20 minutes; arrived at Cierva Cove and the Primavera station at about 3 pm; small groups of 25 visited the station while others of either Group B or Group A had a Zodiac cruise of the cove; all back on board by 7:30 pm; Humpback whales at 10:30 pm for about an hour; sailing southward overnight to Paradise Harbour
  
• December 31 - Bransfield Strait to Paradise Harbour, Argentine Almirante Brown Station on Proa Point, Sliding hill; Orne Harbour, Dallman Bay, Huge tabular berg; into Drake Passage
• Grey and misty. Pre-breakfast landing at Brown Station (64° 53' 43.6" S., 062° 52' 13.1" W. according to my GPS); station currently unused, site of a small Gentoo colony; many station buildings are converted shipping containers; in Orne Harbour by 10 am, landed to take a "gentle walk" up to the Chinstrap colony by 11 am; 64° 37' 51.3" S., 062° 33' 19.7" W., and 317 ft at the rookery, according to my GPS; back on board by 1 pm; Humpback whales in Dallman Bay at 2:30 pm for a half an hour; sighted the M/V Bremen about 3 pm; 11-minute cruise past the immense tabular berg (which the Captain said probably drifted here from the Bellingshausen Sea); recap and Save the Albatross Campaign auction; evening Cabaret at 10 pm?; 11:45 pm assembling on the foredeck with champagne to (literally, thanks to Marie and Jenny) ring in the New Year (in Drake Passage); I lost my lens cap overboard
• January 1 - In Drake Passage enroute to Cape Horn
• Brunch; (I'm short of notes for this day, partly because I slept in)
  
• January 2 - Drake Passage; Cape Horn; Beagle Channel; Ushuaia
  
• In sight of and sailing by Cape Horn by 9 am; Argentine Naval Station to the east ("I am the albatross that awaits you at the end of the world" -- Sarah Vial, first line of poem inscribed on the albatross sculpture at Cape Horn); ship's crew sprucing up the decks; in the Beagle Channel by 2:45 pm; Chilean pilot comes aboard at 3:54 pm; pass the wreck of the ??, the ship that was carrying Bibles at 4:35 pm; Captain's Farewell Dinner; docked at Ushuaia and taking pictures of the sunset by 10:20 pm
• January 3 - Disembark in Ushuaia, flight to Buenos Aires
• Luggage out by 7 am; disembark by 8 am; security check; our group free to wander Ushuaia until 1pm; departure to airport; flight to Buenos Aires; transfer to hotel; dinner at Siga la Vacca (again, it was so good the first time!); evening outings for some
• January 4 - In Buenos Aires
• City tour; shopping time; wine tasting, dinner and Tango show; evening outings for some
• January 5 - Depart Buenos Aires (for most of us)
• Wandering time in the morning; mid-afternoon departure for the airport; said our goodbyes to those we've come to call friends over the past 24 days
  

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