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I don't know if I will ever get to Antarctica but if I do start planning a trip, and there is some serious pressure being exerted by my better half, this report is a great place to start the research.

Thanks @Atravelynn for yet another TR full of information and detail.

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Atravelynn
On 7/1/2019 at 4:17 PM, xyz99 said:

SO much good info here...thank you!!! I hope my turn for my time in Antarctica will come, this definitely makes the research easier .  Great, that was one of my purposes.

 

12 hours ago, Soukous said:

I don't know if I will ever get to Antarctica but if I do start planning a trip, and there is some serious pressure being exerted by my better half, this report is a great place to start the research.

Thanks @Atravelynn for yet another TR full of information and detail. You are welcome.  Maybe if you have a significant round number or multiple of 5 anniversary coming up, you and your better half could celebrate in Antarctica.

 

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  • 7 months later...

@Atravelynn thank you very much for this detailed trip report! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and seeing your photos. I have already traveled to Antarctica last year in February / March (timed to see as many whales as possible), so shortly after you. We spent 11 days on the Peninsula and it was absolutely fabulous. I have wanted to go to Antarctica since I was a kid seeing documentaries on TV and finally the dream came true...

It was so great that I am already signed up for trip number two next year! This time I'll do 6 landing days in South Georgia and 6 landing days on the Antarctic peninsula. I already know many people who will be on that trip as well, both passengers and expedition staff, so I already know it's going to be great again. For any of you thinking about an Antarctica trip, let me know if you're interested to join, would be fantastic to do a ST get together! Later this year I'll also do a trip to the Falkland Islands for two weeks land based. I'm super excited about both trips and can't wait to get back to Antarctica! I just love the polar regions. Have been on the Sea Spirit as well in Franz Josef Land in the Russian Arctic and went to the Canadian Arctic on a different trip (three places along the Hudson Bay coast in winter). Guess I need to start another trip report soon ;)

Edited by BieneMaja
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@BieneMaja, my goodness you did get hooked on that part of the world.  I hope you saw the whales.  That is the perfect time to go.  What ship and what dates is your 6 + 6 trip?  When are you going to the Falklands and is there an operator you can suggest?

 

Your timing of later this year and next year may be a little soon for me to return, darn.  But it appears you may be a regular visitor, so something might work.

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@Atravelynn absolutely, it is just like with Africa! I just loved all the polar regions I have visited so far and am looking forward to hopefully many more visits! We did see many whales - lots of humpacks, including some bubblenet feeding which was absolutely amazing, orcas, minke whales and more. I can't even remember a single day down along the peninsula where we did not see whales. On one occasion, we were super lucky and three humpback whales approached us and checked out those people in the zodiacs. At first, they did spyhopping, then approached closer. They were really in touching distance, moved reeeeeeeally slowly, turned around so they could really see us when passing the zodiac (we could see their eyes really close), it was fabulous. I think the highlight of the trip for me.

 

Like you, I have done tons of research (already started with it 16 years ago - but that's another story) and chose a small boat with max. 100 passengers so everyone can land at once. Also, I chose an operator that really provides the maximum amount of time possible ashore. On my first trip (also with the same people), we usually had 3 hour zodiac rides (shorter ones were an option too) and 4 hour landings, and if anything exciting happened they were flexible and kept us in the action longer, went out earlier, etc. One early morning two shipmates and I spotted orcas for the first time and they made an announcement for everyone, then we stayed with the orcas for a little while before continuing on. So we spent a lot of time outside and also stayed on the bow and the top deck to just watch the action passing by. I even got up every morning for sunrise because they were so beautiful! The next trip will be October / November 2021 with a full charter of the Plancius, but despite being able to carry more people there will be max 100 passengers so everyone can be off the ship for as long as possible. They will do another charter of the Plancius with the same route in October / November 2022 if that is more feasible for you. Let me know if it's of interest and I can put you in touch with the charterer. I know a lot of the expedition staff aboard already and know they are top notch guides and there are scientists as well. We had a couple of whale scientists on the Antarctica cruise last year and I learned a lot from them.

 

For the Falklands, I am going with a wildlife photographer who will be taking 7 people with him (fully booked already) but it will likely be his last trip. I'll ask him if he will do another one and let you know. If I really love it there (which might very well be the case...), I'm thinking about going to the Falklands for another week or two before going on the South Georgia & Antarctica cruise in October 2021 as we'll depart from Stanley anyways with the ship - if that would be of interest to you, let me know and I'll keep you updated :)

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I hope I'm not hijacking your trip report, I just wanted to share two photos to illustrate the whale sightings and one more that I really love. I was very honored and super excited to have two of them published by National Geographic on their website last year. Couldn't believe it ;) Another addition to the already absolutely amazing trip...

 

The following photo is from the very close whale encounter that we had with the three humpbacks. In this photo, you only see one of them but you can see how big they are! The white-ish part on the bottom right hand side is the pectoral flipper. Would you have thought that a 30mm lens on a medium format camera (which is equivalent to a 24mm lens on a full frame DSLR) is too long for a whale???

552650545_NinaWaffenschmidt-0000888.jpg.24af57db0abd2be98303f1e75c39724a.jpg

 

Whale fluke in front of a beautiful glacier:

1622922926_NinaWaffenschmidt-7355.jpg.cd7cab2377c083134dbb2691d02e74f5.jpg

 

Magnificent ice berg:

1556077517_NinaWaffenschmidt-0000879.jpg.e754f1e8a754b7872e51d853781033f7.jpg

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That's a closeup whale.  Thanks for all the info.  It does look intriguing. 

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@Atravelynn you are very welcome! Let me know if there is anything I can help with. And I'd love to get to know you in person one day, maybe we'll find a trip we can do together :)

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