Beagle Channel, Antarctica - travel experience, post, guide, blog and photos

Antarctica: The Expedition, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage, Halfmoon Island, Rocas Hydrurga with Cuverville Island, Palmer Station with Lemaire Channel & Petermann Island, Brown Station with Neko Harbor, Brown Bluff with Esperanza Station, Whalers Bay with Yankee Harbor, Drake Passage

Antarctica Expedition - Day 1:
by Prakash Bang, Editor in Chief

Saturday, January 09th
Ushuaia, Argentina
Lat. 54º 48' S, Long. 68º 18' W
Evening Temp: 10ºC
Winds: 5 knots WNW

Our voyage to the frozen land of the Antarctic started at 6 pm from the Ushuaia pier. Once onboard, we settled into our cabins and right after setting sails, we gathered in the pub / lounge for a Welcome Toast. We met our fellow passengers and the staff of the Ushuaia. During our first briefing, the Expedition Leader, Agustin Ullmann, presented the staff that would accompany us during the landings and help us to understand how sensitive the ecosystem in Antarctica is.

Agustin Ullmann, Daniel Martinioni, Marcos Gazzolo, Mingo Moreno and Mariano Albano would share with us a lot of interesting details about the wildlife, history, geography, geology, conservation, and would guide us safely through the landscapes of this wild part of the world. We indeed were in good hands with this enthusiastic team.

Agustin also introduced us our captain, Jorge Aldegheri as we sailed through the Beagle Channel on our way to the Drake Passage.

Later on we had our mandatory lifeboat drill. Donning our lifejackets, we made our way to the lifeboats on the outer deck and hoped that we would never all meet there again.

On Board, The Ushuaia, Argentina

Though we had a 3-course dinner on the menu, I just settled for some fruit and biscuits. I was preparing for the topsy-turvy sailing through the Drake Passage. As a further precaution, I had a pill to avoid motion sickness. Off to bed. Our ship would hit the open waters at about midnight. We would be rocking thereafter!

Fact file:
Antarctica is a continent capped by an inland ice sheet up to 4.8 km thick, containing about 90% of the world's fresh water. The ice sheet is so heavy that it has pushed the land below sea level in places. Because of the thickness of the ice sheet, Antarctica has the highest average altitude of all of the continents.

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