Leaving Antarctica

February 12, 2025

By the time we had finished dinner on January 24^th, the ship was on its way out of the sheltered waters back into the Drake Passage – sooner than we expected – so we had not started our motion sickness medicine early enough. Fortunately, the Passage was smoother this time – not Drake lake but definitely smoother.

We spent the next two days sailing northward to a warmer climate. In addition to more wonderful meals, the expedition staff provided us with more education sessions and activities. We have had a wonderful voyage. The Captain and all his guys on the bridge did an excellent job keeping us safe and positioning the ship so we could get all the photos we wanted. The housekeeping staff took exquisite care of us and our state rooms, always being so careful to tidy everything up while we were at meals. The chef and his crew were amazing and spoiled us with any little extras we might like. The expedition crew and zodiac drivers were great at spotting wildlife, birds and beautiful scenery so we could get the best pictures and always answered all our questions. It’s been a trip of a lifetime!! Huge thank you to Polar Latitudes. Can’t recommend them enough.

In one of our educational sessions the presenter displayed a life-sized replica of a snowy albatross.

One of the citizen science activities was observing and reporting clouds at the same time a weather satellite was overhead.

This is the science lab on board. The penguin counters and whale observers used it.

The staff wanted to make sure we were well prepared to leave the ship – on time, because the next group of passengers started loading about 8 hours after we left.

This coffee/hot chocolate that we used frequently would not fit in our luggage.

The ship had many pictures from cruises in other parts of the world. This was one of our favorites.

We arrived back in Ushuaia around 5pm on the 26^th. After one more night on board we disembarked the ship the next morning around 8am. Since our flight to Buenos Aires was not until that evening Polar Latitudes arranged to store our luggage downtown, so we were free to walk around town one last time. We bought a few more souvenirs, had lunch in Ushuaia and then called our Uber for a trip to the airport. The trip is not quite over yet because we have one more day to explore Buenos Aires.