Three Days to Go

12/20/2007
Our bags are packed and our seasickness prescriptions are filled. We have just enjoyed watching a short video about the delightful sail that awaits us Tuesday evening as we cross Drakes Passage. See it yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jld5pIUKhCE . Looks like fun, doesn't it?

I hope you'll check in on us over the next couple of weeks as we explore the bottom of the world. We will try to post photos and share our adventures in Antarctica. Pray for us.

Doing the Research

Many of our friends have asked what we did to prepare for this journey. I personally spent most of the past six months saying to Marc: “You’re taking me WHERE??” He encouraged Allie, Dave and me to do a little research on other voyages to Antarctica. Of course we watched the classic move, “Endurance,” the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s voyage in 1914-16 to the South Pole. (Never made it to the South Pole – did make it back after being stranded in the ice-choked waters for 22 months.) Shackleton had no trouble recruiting a crew after placing the following ad in a London newspaper:

"MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS,CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS."

We also watched “The March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet.”

The Last Supper

12/22/07
The family gathered for a bon voyage dinner at our favorite Turkish restaurant - SEVEN'S. We enjoyed some great Chilean wine with yummy Mediterranean delights (probably the last fresh vegetables that we will eat for the next two weeks.) We are anticipating a steady diet of smoked fish and reindeer meat in Antarctica. Right --- there are no reindeer in Antarctica. However, I expect the Norwegian crew brings a ton of it from Norway. It will feel a little uncomfortable eating reindeer over the Christmas holiday, but explorers have to deal with this kind of thing.

Allie, Dave, Ruthellen and Marc are packed and ready to head south. Julia is heading down to Panama with Sequoia to ring in the New Year Latin American style. Becky will keep the home fires buring and remain in New York City with our son-in-law-to-be, Steve.

And so ... we are off on our great adventure. I hope the internet gods are friendly down in the polar region and with a little luck this blog will continue.

On Our Way!!

12/25/07
Tuesday evening: We have set sail on the good ship MS FRAM. It is all very exciting. The internet access is real slow and we are just figuring everything out with pictures, etc. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have more time to download pix, etc.

This morning we flew from Santiago to Ushuaia (pronounced "oo shwai ahh") - it is the southernmost city on the planet earth. Actually it is a bustling town of 70,000. We took a bus tour through Tierra Del Fuego National Park and met up with some motorcyclists who had come on their bikes from Brazil, Canada, Boston -- very rugged guys and gals.

The scenery was beautiful and we'll try to show it to you shortly. We also learned about the indigenous people called the yamama who did not wear clothing - they just ran around buck-naked. They rubbed sea lion blubber on themselves for warmth. The ate mushrooms "shrooms" off of the trees.

The ship is really nice, the other passengers are interesting and varied - all ages and nationalities. The crew is a lot of fun and keep warning us all to take seasickness medication. So far - the waters are calm (I think we're still in the beagle channel tho.)

SHOUT OUT TO MY NEW FRIEND CATHERINE: All of your advice has been right on! Thanks so much - and thanks for your comments.

That's it for now - I'll work on the pictures and keep you all informed.

In the Thick of It

Good morning.  We are in the thick of Drake's Passage- about 200 miles from So America and 300 miles till we arrive at the So Shetland Islands around noon tomorrow.  Captain says "seas are calm" but the ocean is "confused"...hmmm.  We were awakened at 1 am last night when we left the Beagle Channel and entered the Passage.  Our stash of Chilean wine bottled started rolling around and clattering in the closet.  Walking this morning is a challenge - it feels like the floor is dropping out from beneath our feet.  Everyone is bouncing off the walls and looking a bit like penguins or drunken sailors.

Scop Patches are a lifesaver and keep us on our feet and not puking.  Dave and Allie are  bit unsteady and are trying to sleep the day away.  They are not sick -- just trying to adjust to the sea swells.  It seems like more people on the ship are lying down today.  We were instructed by the crew to keep our stomachs full - and eating does make us feel pretty good.  The ship serves salmon twenty ways. Food is interesting (lots of herring) but there is always fresh fruit and lots of bread.

Even tho we are 300 miles from Antarctica, we are seeing lots of sea birds and even albatrosses.  They fly around the ship as if they are escorting us south.  It's really barren out here and we a true sense of being on an "exploration."  No other ships in sight.

The ship is beautiful - brand new and very high tech.  Things are organized and the crew is great.  All day today there are lectures by geologists and historians.  We just sat through a lecture on Cape Horn and the southern ocean and in a few minutes there will be a lecture on Antarctic History.

Interesting fact of the day:  Did you know that at the South Pole, the sun rises and sets only once a year?  It rises on Sept 22 (my birthday) which marks the beginning of summer and sets on March 22 marking the beginning of winter.  Our days are very sunny.  Last night it was bright light out till 11pm.  We sat at dinner with our sunglasses on!

Dave and I are enjoying our cameras very much and enjoying the digital age as it allows us to shoot to our hearts' content.  Easy t delete the marginal shots and save the great ones.  We carry our cameras everywhere because there are so many opportunities to shoot.

I am disappointed that I have not been successful uploading pix to this blog.  Allie and I are working on it and hopefully, they will appear soon.  Stayed tuned.

Thanks again for your wonderful comments - it's easier to read them than to get my email.

Reindeer for Dinner

Ship's Blog: 20:00 Tuesday.
Location: In the middle of nowhere
Weather: 38 F Slight breeze - steady, rolling seas/

Shout out to Becky!!! Thanks for your notes and comments! We miss you and Jules and wish you were here with us.

It was a lazy day; most passengers were in their cabins, sleeping. We all got several hours of day time sleep between the educational programs. There is lots of food and it always seems to be mealtime. Tonight was our first formal sit-down dinner. We enjoyed a filt of reindeer in blueberry-mushroom sauce. It was delicious and tender and if I ever figure out how to upload these pixs, you'll be able to see Allie eating reindeer up close.

We are lounging around, playing cards and awaiting tonight's movie and a briefing on our first landing tomorrow inthe Shetland Islands.

Blogging out....

The Exploration Team at Tierra Del Fuego

Reindeer Meat for Dinner

First Penguin Sighting

Our first penguin appeared at tea time:
Penguinicus Plasticus Minimus
12/26/07

Welcome to Antarctica

WOW! Marc and I were sipping a cup of coffee early this morning in the ship's cafe when lo and behold we looked out the windows and there they were: ICEBERGS!!! Gorgeous and all around. They are amazing - big and blue-ish with some brown on the bottom. This is the first tangible sight of Antarctica. Suddenly the ship has come alive -- most people have slept off their seasick medication and are chatting excitedly in German, Norwegan, Spanish, English and American English.

Today is a big day. We have traveled for four days are we are finally here. Lots of people on the ship who have traveled further - like from Europe, India and even China!

Allie and Dave are real good company. Everyone has time to relax and do his own thing. Marc is reading "Fountainhead," Allie is choosing her courses for next semester and Dave is determined to crack Rubik's Cube. I'm busy blogging away. It's much more fun than a travel diary.

Shout out to my loyal commenteers: Becky, Mom and Dad, My-My, Dr. David and Judy, Marty, Andee, Catherine, et al.... Keep those comments coming.

Lesson for today: Surrounding Antarctica is an ocean that maintains a fearful repultion with some of the most ferocious sea conditions to be found anywhere on earth. It is the covergence of many oceans and currents. Plus the interaction between the frigid air coming off Antarctica and the relatively warm air of the southern oceans creates a wild sea. However - PRAISE BE TO NEPTUNE: We have had the smoothest crossing ever. It's like a lake out there. (Surely we will pay for this good luck on the return trip.) However by then everyone will have worked out his own cocktail of seasick medication.

"Nuther shout out to David: You'll notice that I am in the pix without feet. They are pictures taken by others. Your instructions are in my head - tic-tac-toe. I promise you some excellent shots will be forthcoming.

Our first landing is schedule for this afternoon so you can expect some pix of Chinstrap Penguins tonight.

More Penguini Minimi

The penguins are everywhere!! Look below for great shots of "Penguinicus on-an-iceberg Minimus" And - "Penguinicus Rubik Cubicus Minimus."


As entertaining as the Minimi are, we can't wait to see Penguni Realistici Maximi later today!

Livingston Island Landing

EXCITEMENT ON BOARD + PENGUINS

After a wonderful day ashore and the excitement of getting up close and personal with a zillion chinstrap penguins, we were all called together for an emergency meeting. The crew informed us that one of the passengers had a stroke and required medical assistance. SOOOO... we are deviating from our route and heading to a Chilean Research Base that has a landing strip. A plane will "try" to fly in and pick her up and take her up to Punta Arenas (Chile). Marc says that she'd be better off in the ship hospital than Punta Arenas Hospital but he was not called in to consult. So - we are heading away from our course and making a medical run. (They say it's life or death...Marc says the damage has been done...but as I said, he wasn't called in to consult. Hopefully tomorrow we will get back on course and see where we can land. Cool, huh?

Our landing was amazing - I have uploaded a few pix (As you can see) and I'll try to upload a few more after this posting. (It's very slow to upload pix, but they are so great tat I know it's worth the effort.) We went ashore in the small rubber Polar Cirkel boats and walked all around the shore with the Chipstraps. We loved it. We were all bundled up and the weather was quite nice - about 25F and no wind. The penguins were friendly and noisy. Allie made a little video that we will try to upload but I'm not sure if that will work - we'll see.

You may have read that there are 17 species of Penguin here in Antarctica -- not true. There are two kinds: white and black. The whites are walking towards you and the blacks are walking away from you. (That's a joke, haha) (You have to be here....)

We continue to enjoy the other passengers. Really nice people and everyone is interesting -- most have traveled extensively.

So much to say but I know if I make this too long no one will read it.

We'll keep you posted on the medical run and let you know when we are back on course.

More Pix from Livingston Island

Sorry the pictures are small but the big ones take too long to upload. Anyway - ain't we cute?
12/27/07

Guest Blogger

Greetings from the bottom of the earth. The Rubins and Dave are too lazy to blog right now (having just returned from a visit to the Polish Research Base in Admiralty Bay.) So, they asked me, Penguinus Plasticus Minimus) to fill in as a guest blogger. Bear with me I usually use a PC and this is a Mac...so I'm going slowly here.

The tourists are a real trip for us penguins. They bundle up in all this heavy clothing -- they have matching jackets and they look like a cross between the Pillsbury Dough Boy and an astronaut. They are not very surefooted on the rocks and ice so they waddle around. We laugh at them and point to them and oblige they by posing for pictures. They think WE look funny -- HA--they look ridiculous.

And, although they are warned to get no closer to us than 15 feet, they are always inching up a little closer. They are also warned not to trample our precious moss and lichens and other plant life, but they still manage to traipse over it.

We love to swim alongside the ship and escort it in and out of the bays.

I hope that all of you reading this, who have not yet visited Antarctica, will plan a trip very soon. You will not be disappointed. Oh - and by the way -- all that talk about disappearing penguin colonies...HA...there are a gazillion of us down here.


Signed,
Penguinus Plasticus Minimus

Friday's Photos + Report

Here we are preparing to launch for Admiralty Bay this morning where we encountered many, many penguins and a few seals. We still have not uploaded the stroke victim - since a rescue plane has not arrived yet. We are cruising back to the Chilean Base this afternoon in hopes of a rendezvous with the airplane (de plane! de plane!)

You do not want to have a stroke on a ship in the Antarctic. Our itinerary has changed substantially but the expedition crew is doing their best in getting us to shore. Because the ship has a great relationship with the Poles at their research base, the base captain welcomed us with great hospitality today.

Update!! Just had an announcement that the rescue plane will not be flying in today. So we are sailing south again and we will come back to the Chilean Base when the plan does finally arrive.
We may even be able to do a second landing on shore this evening. (It never gets dark.)


Off to lunch...salmon and reindeer twenty ways. Yum. We are slowly developing a taste for Norwegan food.

A GREAT ADVENTURE AND WE ARE ALL FINE!!!

12/28/07
Hi Everyone:
Tonight we had a small mechanical problem on the good ship FRAM. We drifted for a while and after a few minutes everything was corrected - and all is well with us and with the ship. There are a couple of news reporters on the cruise and they saw this episode as a great story to send up to CNN. So - you may hear something on the news about the MS Fram in Antarctica -- but don't worry -- there was absolutely no danger and I wouldn't even mention it except that you might see something on the news.

More to come...

Saturday Morning and all is Well

After last night's adventure (blog above) things are calm this morning. Because of the slight inconvenience posed by the mechanical issues, the Captain opened up the bar (free) last night. We all drank champagne and had a rousing party. Kind of a prelude to New Years.

This morning we have returned to a place called Maxwell's Bay and we are here awaiting the rescue plane for the stroke victim. The weather is gorgeous and so we are confident the plane will land and take this poor guy off the ship. Speaking of gorgeous weather, we sunbathed on the deck yesterday (lots of sunscreen.) I have some pix of that and will upload them later today.

The four of us are really having a great time. It is truly a huge adventure and we will be home with amazing stories. This morning's itinerary is still unconfirmed but we are hoping to make a landing at the Chilean Base. I'll write more later and keep you posted.

We Are Fine!

By now you probably have seen on the news that the little problem we had last night resulted in a collision with an iceberg. Honestly we were never in danger and no one was injured in the least. The news services are reporting it pretty accurately but they left off the big party that took place on the ship afterward.

There was an announcement on the PA system that we were all to report to the top deck with warm clothing (WARM CLOTHING!!!) That was scary. Everyone was calm and the crew was excellent. There was never a time when we were going to abandon ship -- so we didn't need the warm clothing.

We cruised through the night and the ship works fine. We went ashore this morning for a visit to the Chilean Base. We are lounging now - after a big lunch. We are not sure whether the ship company or Lloyds of London (insurer) will allow us to continue with the voyage or not. But we are safe, calm, and enjoying reading about ourselves on the internet news services.

Here's a photo of us lounging on deck.

Saturday Night near King George's Island, ANTARCTICA

No Andee...I am not making this up!! We bumped up against an iceberg -- well technically a glacier since it was attached to the mainland of Antarctica. If you haven't seen it on the news, google FRAM and you will see what we're up to.

Everyone is safe, everyone is fine and the boat is not damaged. However, one lifeboat is a bit damaged. I'll try to upload a picture for you all. So - we are beginning to head back across Drake's Passage and back to Ushuaia with the escort of a Russian expedition boat "Academic Ioffe" - which will act as our spare lifeboat. Not that we need lifeboats, since our ship is fine. (Our little ship is shipshape.)

You'll probably see some of this in the news. We have a couple of newsmen on board and they have been busy sending out the word to the papers. I sent some pix to the Trenton Times and the Philly Inquirer so if any of you see those pix, save them for me.

It has been an adventure -- a little different adventure than we had planned. We're laughing a lot, eating quite a bit and enjoying a few cocktails now and then.

Right now, we are looking out the windows at the most magnificent scenery in the world and a couple of whales are swimming by. It's 9:00 pm and broad daylight! Will keep you posted.

Saturday pictures from Antarctica

This is a picture of the damaged lifeboat. ouch! It acted as an airbag for our ship.

These are our friends, the three amigos, that hung out with us today at the Chilean Base on Antarctica.

Guest Blogger Allie

12/29/07
Hi all --

I'm sitting in the cafe of our newfound home right now. Looking out the starbord side there is a gorgeous sunset at 12:45am. Out the port side its foggy, but still a very pretty dark blue sky. Through the fog I can see our trusty Russian ship that will be escorting us through Drake's passage for the next 3 days.

Some highlights from today:
Playing with penguins at the naval base.
Seeing ourselves on the news.
Hearing on the news that the Chilean navy saved (!?!) us. They, in fact, had nothing to do with our minor incident last night, nor our success. They were just a nearby landing site with some penguins that we decided to visit.
Playing hours upon hours of hearts with mom, dad and dave.
Mom trying to shoot the moon like 3 times in a row and forgetting that one of us already had a heart.
Onion rings and pasta.
Reading everyone's comments on the blog.

All in all, its been a pretty good day. It was also the first sunset we got to see down here (they don't happen very often at all).

This has been an incredible adventure so far. The four of us have been having a blast and are looking forward to showing you the 1000+ pictures we have taken in total while down here.

Keep the comments coming, they are so fun to read!

We miss and love you all.

See you in a few days!
Allie

Once again Dr Marc saved the day. Today there was a case of acute appendicities on board. Here we go again... we just uploaded the stroke victim last night and sent him on his way by airlift from the Chilean Base. Now there's a case of appendicities! We have set sail - full speed ahead - for Ushuaia to get this appendix kid to a hospital. Marc went up to the ships's doctor and asked if he could help. Well, her supply of medicines is very limited. She took a ton of stuff from Marc to help the patient. Before we reach Usuaia, I'm sure he'll be needed again -- maybe even to do an emergency appendectomy.

WE are all fine and laughing a lot. We did get out briefly to see a great group of penguins this morning. I'll will send pictures later.

We passed by Elelphant Island today. Elephant is the icon for Antarctics the way Cape Horn is for mariners. Those of you who are familiar with Sir Ernest Shackleton's fabled 1914 expedition will recall that Elephant Island is the place where 22 of Shackleton's crew were marooned for 4 and a half months. Led by one of history's great heros - John Robert Francis Wild, the barely survived living in horrible conditions beneath two life boats. Today the area where Wild camped with his men, is home to a colony of chinstrap penguins.

Good Morning from the Vicinity of Elelphant Island -- At the Bottom of the World

Thanks for your emails and comments. It's still very difficult and expensive to get emails out so I'll communicate to you through this blog. Your specific questions:

No Diane, that's not me. However that's a shipmate and I stepped out of the following boat. We were landing at the Chilean Base to see penguins and the Chilean Navy took advantage of the photo op to say they were rescuing us from our iceberg collision. There was no rescue because we were not in danger. The Chileans were looking for a way to get into the newspaper.

Catherine: Trip is really only cut short by a half day -- we are leaving a half day early so we can coordinate our Drake's Crossing with the itinerary of our escord ship - the Russian vessel Academic Ioffe.

David: You are right about who belongs in Antarctica.

Steve - Yes, we are enjoying many reindeer sandwiches. We eat reindeer in many forms.

This morning we are cuising in seach of iceberg B-15 -- which calved off the Antarctice penninsula a few years ago.. It is a huge iceberg and is about the size of Jamaica. We will also be near Elephant Island (of Shackelton fame) and maybe, just maybe we will have a landing to check out the wildlife there.

Our itinerary changes every 10 minutes based on weather and other condidtions. Be assured that one does not travel to Antarctica for a pleasure cruise (in the traditional sense of the word.) Rather it is an expedition and we go where nature permits. And, we abide by all the captain's decisions. Like for example, when we had our iceberg mishap Friday night, we were drifting towards a huge, threatening rock. Colliding with the iceberg was actually what happened while we were avoiding the rock.

If any of you see newspaper articles about us, please save them for me.

The Drake's Crossing back lays ahead later this afternoon. We are hoping that it will be as calm as it was getting here. More later...

Answers to Some of Your Questions

Here are some responses to your questions:



We have not been cold on this trip at all. When we go outside we do "full bundle" as you can see in our pix. Layers of long underwear, face masks. So we are very comfortable -- it's like how one would dress for a cold day of skiing. We also bundle up on the deck of the boat if we're on the windy side. On the protected side, we sunbathe. On the ship - we wear tee shits.

We are only allowed on land (rock, glacier) for 1 hour. This is the Antarctica regulation so we tourists do not mess up the ecosystem by trampling everything. We wash our rubber boots each time we leave and each time we reboard the ship.

Yes - there are great lectures all the time - on history, geology and ecology of Antarctica. The lecturers are our expedition guides who are very good. When we are not out making a landing, we read, play cards. wrtite i this blog, sunbathe and take a million pictures.

Will try to send pix soon.

Dave's Amazing Animal Pictures

CAN YOU SEE THE SEAL AMONG THE ROCKS?

PENGUIN FLAPPING HIS WINGS.

PENGUINS SINGING WITH AN AUDIENCE.

PENGUIN FEEDING ANOTHER PENGUIN -- OR DOING SOMETHING...
12/30/07

Good Morning from Drakes Passage

This morning we are in the middle of Drake's Passage. There are gale force winds and we are really bouncing. Fortunately we are acclimated and we are not seasick. However, we could have used a few bungie cords to tie ourselves into our beds last night. (Note to self: Pack bungie cords next time.) Above is picture of the waves this morning.

We got to visit the "bridge" this morning. Dave was called for a consultation with the Captain and as you can see, the Captain turned the ship over to Dave's capable hands for while.

We have an ETA of 8 am Tuesday morning arrival back in Ushuaia. That will put us a day ahead of schedule and we will most likely hang around Ush Tuesday and sleep on the ship Tuesday night. So, we will have lost one full day of exploring due to the iceberg collision. We are very content and satisfied that we have seen everything there is to see down here. However several passengers believe that we are due a refund of some kind and that we should be compensated for the iceberg collision.

I will post an additional note with pictures to show you how we are spending the time while crossing this incredible southern ocean.

Livin' la Vida Loca

When we are not off the ship, chillin' with the penguins, we keep very busy on board the good ship FRAM. Dave is usually on the bridge helping the captain avoid icebers (see photo on previous blog.) Marc is very busy helping the 25 year old ship's doctor and providing the appendicites patient with meds. Ruthellen takes pictures and blogs. Allie keeps us laughing. (No problem there - we laugh all day long!)

As busy as we are, there is still time for other activities -- here we are in the hot tub out on the deck - in 0 degree weather. This picture was taken at 10 pm. You can see the sun beginning to set in the background. The sun dips under the horizon but it never actually gets dark.

Last night there was a big show up in the lounge. The staff - waiters, housekeepers, engineers, etc put on a riotous talent show. It was terrific and it really brought everyone together for a great laugh. A few of the passengers had been a bit sour after the iceberg crash (I can't imagine why) and this show really lightened things up for everyone. The Captain once again "opened" the bar for free drinks.

A Few Words about Antarctica

Human eyes did not see Antarctica until 1820 yet it had been known to exist since the time of Aristotle. Although it has been on our maps and charts and satellite photos for less than 200 years, it survived in our imaginations for 2,000 years before that. Among all the mythical and magical places of the world - Atlantis, El Dorado, the Fountain of Youth - Antarctica is the only one we have found so far. Its very existence is proof of magic.

Shout Out to Ex-Frammies

I was excited to hear that Catherine had passed this along to some ex-Frammies and that you are following our adventures. You can just imagine what took place a few nights ago when we were told to go straight to the observation lounge with our warmest clothing. It was a Muster without the drill part. This ship is amazing and we were able to dislodge from the iceberg (technically glacier - more technically the continent of Antarctica) because we had the ability to steer the ship sideways. (Which answered the question of why the ship needs to be able to steer sideways!) And - you will be especially happy to hear that the only damage was one broken window and one lifeboat.

We all have fallen in love with this ship -- it is cozy and comfortable and capable.

Hurtigruten canceled the next trip to Antarctica. I guess the FRAM has to order a new lifeboat and also do full diagnostics to determine whether there was any other damage.

We are looking forward to our New Year celebration tonight. And - we wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Happy New Year from the Vicinity of Cape Horn

12/31/07
Happy New Year to all -- and shout out to Milko - Congrats on the birth of your new granddaughter, Olivia. Mazel Tov!

Since I wrote this morning, we had a roller coaster ride over Drake's Passage. We had some great lectures on board, a bit of suntanning on the outside deck (we used bungie cords) but mostly we slept through the waves. Just finished New Year's dinner -- guess what it was? Reindeer filet. Big party planned tonight up in the lounge with karoke (sp?) - can't wait.

The waters are getting calmer as we approach Cape Horn and we expect to be in Ushuaia when we awaken tomorrow morning. Since we lost a day at sea due to all the calamities, we will be treated to an all day tour (land and sea) of Ushuaia tomorrow. I'm not sure when I'll be able to blog next, so don't worry if you don't hear from me for a few days.

There is so much I want to add to this blog about our impressions of Antarctica. I won't be able to uintil I have a good internet connect back at home this weekend. So please continue to follow the blog through next weekend. I hope to wrap it up by Jan. 6th with some good stories and lots of pictures.

Ushuaia - January 1

1/1/08
This morning we made land at the southernmost city in the world - Ushuaia. It lies on the southern coast of the island Tierra Del Fuego surrounded by mountains and overlooking the Beagle Channel. To give you an idea of how remote Ushuaia is -- for the first half of the 20th century the city housed a prison for serious dangerous criminals, since it was so remote that escape would be impossible. Today, Ushuaia is a thriving gateway for Antarctica and Patagonian tourism.

We enjoyed a full day tour of greater Ushuaia. The highlight was a visit to a training school for husky dogs (the kind that pull the sleds.) It is the largest sled dog training center in So America. Here's a photo of Allie holding a newborn husky pup. soooo cute!

We also took a catamaran cruise in the Beagle Channel and came across this lighthouse. It is the southernmost lighhouse in the world. There are a lot of southernmost places here. We drove by the southernmost golf course in the world!

The third picture is of Magellanic Penguins kissing. These are Argentine penguins -- very plentiful and very attractive. We did not know that there were penguins outside of Antarctica -- but here they are!

That's it for today. We are still having a ball - and enjoying every minute. Tomorrow we head back to Santiago for an overnight and then we head home. As I mentioned, I will be making some final postings when I get home and the internet is better. Stay tuned.

LOVE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Pix from the Fram

These are the Polar Cirkel boats that take us ashore for our landings.

This is us, toasting our survival with champagne right after the glacier crash.

This is the view from the ship as we pulled away from the glacier.
1/2/08

Hola from Santiago, Chile

Good Morning Friends

We are in Santiago, Chile - the last leg of our journey home. We have had such an amazing adventure and we hate to see it end. Thank you so much for coming along with us -- for reading our postings and for commenting. And to the ex-frammies: Your buddies Ian and Anya really earned their keep on this trip. They and the rest of the crew worked so hard to keep us "afloat" and not "adrift" in all senses of those words. Interesting note - We are actually getting a cash rebate back from Hurtigruten because we missed some landings and returned a day early.

Antarctica --- Would we go back? Who should go? Here are some of my impressions:

It is truly a great wilderness. It takes days to get there and a crossing of treacherous waters. That is what makes it so special. It feels uncharted and there are lots of hazards along the way --- rough waters, many icebergs, extremely changeable weather conditions. If you get sick as two of our passengers did (by the way - the stroke guy is fine and the appendix was a false alarm -- just a bad tummy ache) there is no medical care and evacuation of a patient is almost impossible. (You can buy the medi-vac insurance but it doesn´´t help much if there is no way to get you out.) In the case of our stroke victim -- it was three days before a plane could fly in and and before we could rendezvous with that plane. However, our captain put the care of our sick passengers ahead of the expedition and our priortity was to get them the care they needed. (No Catherine, Marc did not have to perform surgery on board ... but almost!!!)

It is not a journey for the casual traveler. It´s not about sightseeing -- it is truly an expedition and is about exploration. There are no guarantees of what you will see nor is there a guarantee of a set itinerary. You have to put your trust in the hands of the captain and crew and trust that they will give you the best adventure posssible.

We experienced and saw far more than I ever could have expected. The penguins were adorable and funny and more plentiful than ants at a picnic! I will post a few more pictures later today for your enjoyment. The lectures were fastinating and informative.

We loved our ship - The Fram. It is a wonder of engineering and built to navigate the iceberg strewn waters. And, for some still unknown reason, the engine cut off at a very unopportune time. The ability of the Fram to move laterally got us disloged from the glacier. The ship was delightfully comfortable and homey. We would definitely sail on the Fram again.

I definitely recommend this trip for adventure travelers. If you go, be flexible, relax and have the confidence that your expedition team will take you on the adventure of a lifetime. Bring medications. Bring a really good camera with a telephoto lens. Bring a laptop computer to manage your photography and blog to your friends.

On the other hand -- this trip is not for young children and is only for people in good health.

Would we go again? You bet!!!

I will try to post some more penguin shots later.

Late night flight tonight back to New York.

Fame!

1/3/08
Shout out to Doug Berv for sending us the link to the article that was published in this morning's Bucks Co. Courier Times! What a riot! We were trying to give the reporter a sense of our adventure...who knew that she'd actually publish it in the newspaper!!??

For your reading enjoyment:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-01022008-1464874.html

Be sure to click and see Dave's Amazing Animal photos!!!

Seems as though the adventure continues to grow.

Giggling in Santiago. Love, Ruthellen, Marc, Allie and Dave

Images of Antarctica

Thanks for joining us on this expedition. If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact Ruthellen at ruthellenr@comcast.net .

Happy New Year and happy and safe travels to all,

Ruthellen, Marc, Allie and Dave