Antarctica
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| Juvenile Gentoo Penguins |
When my wife retired as a government employee, she asked me where I wanted to go on a BIG trip. I said Antarctica. She did a
lot of research. She asked what kind of trip I wanted. There are cruises that just sail by and don’t put people ashore (what’s the point of that?). I said I want to stand on Antarctica as much as possible. She selected a voyage on the Silver Endeavour that was scheduled more than a year later in January 2026. She booked a flight to Santiago de Chile with two overnights. The cruise line provided the remaining flights.
We had a lot of time to prepare. Here's how the trip went.
Preparation
What to wear? What to bring? We both spent a lot of time reading Facebook and Reddit posts by people who had made the trip. We learned that, even though we were going in the Southern Hemisphere Summer, we could expect Antarctica temperatures just above freezing, with strong winds and sometimes rain or light snow. Our outer layers of clothing had to be waterproof. This is especially important for zodiac rides: the wind drives waves and drizzle and spray from waves. We had to be ready to get wet at any time. We settled on:
- Warm weather clothing for Santiago. It’s summer.
- Casual clothing for the ship. It’s well-heated.
- The ship has a guest laundry room; we planned to do laundry so we wouldn’t have to bring a ton of clothing.
- The cruise line provided very nice cold-weather jackets for us to use and keep. They’re waterproof and have a removable insulating liner. We deliberately brought no coats, planning to use the ones that we were given.
- Boots: all off-ship activities involve getting into a zodiac that’s floating in frigid water. Landings require hopping off into shallow water. Warm dry feet are vital. The cruise line rents boots, or we could bring our own. We considered our options: rent (relieving us of the need to carry them in our luggage, but costing nearly as much as just buying a pair, and risking them not having our sizes on board), or bring our own (but having to transport them ourselves, and being sure that we have exactly the right size and comfort). We brought our own. I got Muck Boots, she got Bogs, both worked well.
- Base layers: we each got thin, sweat-wicking thermal base layer shirts. I also got thermal base layer pants (aka long underwear). My wife got leggings.
- Over the base layer pants, I wore athletic long pants, such as you might see in a cool gym.
- Over the pants, we both have waterproof shell pants made for snowboarding.
- Over the base layer shirts, we both have thin sweat-wicking shirts.
- Over the shirts, we have the cruise-line-provided jackets.
- Gloves: she got thick waterproof ski gloves. I had different needs that I’ll describe later.
- We each got balaclavas and beanie hats. I’m bald so I really needed the skin coverage and insulation. We also got gaiters, which we didn’t use.
- Trekking poles - my wife used them in snow and on the many unstable rock landscapes. We could have left them at home - the expedition team always brought poles ashore for people to use.
- We each brought slip-on shoes - the mud room is a cramped mess; it’s easier to have slip-on shoes. They're also great for getting through security at airports.
The cruise started and ended in South America. That means it crossed the Drake Passage twice. This body of water is notorious for rough seas. My wife got seasickness patches. I’m not prone to motion sickness but I did get wrist bands.
Photography
I spent a lot of time researching what to bring and how to shoot. I brought:
- Nikon Z8 and D850
- 70-200mm f2.8, 300mm f4, 24-70mm f2.8
- BlackRapid camera strap
- Polarizing filters
- Dry bag for any trip in a zodiac
- GoPro
- Gloves: this was a big question mark for me. I needed something waterproof but thin enough to be able to use my camera. I brought thin running gloves, thicker fleece gloves, and a pair of waterproof mitten shells.
How well did that work?
- I rarely used the 24-70mm lens. It was useful for a few very wide shots, but I could have left it at home.
- The 70-200mm lens was the workhorse. I attached it to the Z8 and used it for all zodiac cruises and landings.
- I attached the 300mm lens to my D850. It was handy for wildlife shots from the ship.
- I kept both cameras ready for use in the cabin, ready to grab any time I saw something to shoot. I frequently went out on the cabin balcony, or on deck to shoot wildlife and landscapes, sometimes for just a few minutes, sometimes for hours, sometimes in driving wind and bitter cold, once even in snow.
- The big challenge for photography was in the zodiacs. It was usually windy, sometimes raining/snowing/sleeting, and I frequently had salt water spray landing on me. The boat would bounce in waves and water would fly up and we would go right through the spray. In the beginning I used the camera strap; I ditched it after a few rides. For some rides, I kept the camera in the open dry bag, but holding it with one hand. This kept it mostly protected from water, but I could pull it out to shoot. The fleece gloves worked well to handle the camera but aren’t waterproof. Often I wore the fleece gloves with only my left mitten, and my right glove and hand just got wet and cold. We were never out for more than 2 hours; I could handle a cold hand for that long.
- The dry bag worked well to protect the camera, but was very cumbersome. In the zodiac, if it was dry enough, I just took the camera out and stepped on the empty bag to keep it from flying away. On land, it was a royal pain. I would take the camera out on land and put the strap around my neck. Then the empty dry bag would flap in the wind as I either held it or slung it. Between the dry bag, the camera, the bulky jacket, and the life preserver (that we weren’t allowed to remove), it was difficult to manage everything. The lens cap was a surprising pain. I compromised. In the ship, I packed the camera with lens cap on in the dry bag and usually boarded the zodiacs with the camera in the bag. Upon zodiac or land, I reached into the dry bag to remove the lens cap and put it in my pocket. By the end of each outing, when it was time to return to the ship, I just put the camera back in the dry bag without the lens cap. It’s much easer to remove than to attach.
- During the last three zodiac trips, the weather was good, waves were small, and I just boarded the zodiac with the camera slung around me. I rode in the zodiac with my hands/arms covering the camera when spray was possible. This worked well.
- I tried a polarizing filter on some icebergs to try to capture some of the structure that was underwater. It wasn't very interesting.
- I suction-cupped the GoPro to the glass on our balcony, set up in such a way that if the suction failed, then the GoPro would just fall onto the floor, with no danger of going overboard. I shot a mixture of timelapses and video during interesting ship movements.
- I made about 2800 photographs with my cameras, and a few hundred more with my phone. Of the 2800, I initially culled it down to about 600 to spend time examining and editing. After the first editing pass, I cut that down to 410. They're mostly landscapes/seascapes, penguins, whales, and a few seals.
Thoughts on technique…
- The weather is very dynamic. The difference between mostly-sunny and snow squall can be only a few minutes. It’s crucial to be on top of the changing camera settings.
- It helps to be vigilant. When the ship is under way, you never know when stunning landscapes or whales will appear out the window. Enormous icebergs appear. Breaks in the clouds make for amazing islands of sunlight. A break in the fog reveals enormous snow-covered mountains. Whales blow close enough to hear. Be ready to go with a camera.
- I was pleasantly surprised by battery life in both cameras. Photographers writing on blogs about the trip claimed that the cold sucks energy out of batteries. I had no such trouble; I never needed a spare battery. We were never out for so long in real cold that the batteries were a problem.
- We weren't allowed to put anything on the ground, or even to sit, lie, or crouch. This made it really hard to get to penguin/seal eye level. I tried using the flip screen a few times, with limited success because I was loaded up with coat/life-vest, making it cumbersome to hold the camera lower.
- I’ve been using DSLRs for years. This was my first trip with the Z8 mirrorless camera. What I liked about the Z8:
- It was really easy to tell when the exposure was off. What you see in the EVF is what you get.
- Animal eye-detection was very helpful, especially in zodiacs that were always moving in the waves.
- Silent shooting is wonderful.
- What I didn’t like about the Z8:
- I’m used to seeing through the viewfinder the moment I put it to my eye. Power-on is instant. The Z8 has a significant delay between power-on and the viewfinder becoming active.
The Trip
We flew from Dulles airport to Santiago de Chile, with a stopover in Panama City, (the one in) Panama. We joined the other cruise passengers in Santiago when we all gathered in the hotel and boarded buses to the airport at the Antarctica Air terminal. There we boarded charter flights to Punta Arenas. We were on an RJ-100 (4 engine jet), others were on Embraer E190s (2 engine regional jet). The flight to Punta Arenas took about 3 and a half hours, the view was mostly free of clouds until the very end, and we passed some amazing Andes scenery on the way.
The original cruise plan was to sail from/to Puerto Williams. Shortly before we departed home, we received email that notified us that the departure port was changed to Punta Arenas. The cruise line handled this change; the charter flight simply flew us to Punta Arenas. The arrival port was unchanged: Puerto Williams.
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| Cruise Route |
Upon arrival in Punta Arenas in driving wind and drizzle, we boarded buses that took us to the port. We boarded the ship, got our key cards, and went to our cabin. After dropping things off, we headed to dinner, and the ship left port while we were eating. It was dark by that time, so I missed any chance to see the scenery as we headed into the Strait of Magellan (eastbound).
We woke up the next morning in the Atlantic Ocean, heading south, parallel to the Tierra del Fuego coast. We passed through the Le Maire Strait and entered the Drake Passage. The swells were about 2 meters, and were up to 3 meters by the time we approached the Antarctica Peninsula. It took 2 days to cross; the ship constantly rolled and pitched. Walking in the hallways was always an exercise in trying not to stumble.
During the crossing, passengers met in a lounge for the first presentation by the expedition leader (Michael). This was a nightly meeting during which he described the plan for the next day. He explained that he always has a plan for what to do, but the cruise never goes to plan. There's a registry of places in the Antarctica Peninsula where cruise lines are allowed to sail and bring people ashore. There's always a limit to the number of people allowed ashore at any one time. He reserves locations to visit, as do other ships. When plans change, each ship releases reservations. Essentially, each day he looks for places to visit that are reachable for the next day's activity.
Michael's initial plan was to sail to Cuverville Island for our first outing. This location is quite far south along the peninsula. However, during the crossing, a passenger was injured in a fall and needed to go back to Chile. We diverted to King George Island, near the north end of the peninsula. The passenger and her traveling companion were transferred by zodiac to another ship (the Silver Cloud), where the plan was for them to join other passengers who were concluding their cruise and about to fly back to South America.
So instead of starting in the south and proceeding north along the peninsula, we started at the north end and proceeded south.
Here’s a summary of each day:
- Thursday, January 22: Flights from Virginia to Santiago de Chile, arrival in the middle of the night.
- Friday, January 23: Santiago de Chile stay
- Saturday, January 24: Flight from Santiago de Chile to Punta Arenas, boarded the Silver Endeavour
- Sunday, January 25: Sea day
- Monday, January 26: Sea day
- Tuesday, January 27: Fort Point and Yankee Harbor : Arrived in the sheltered area between King George Island and Nelson Island, offloaded passengers, tried a landing at Fort Point but did not land because of fur seals in the landing area, then landed at Yankee Harbor in driving wind and rain among Gentoo penguins and some elephant seals.
- Wednesday, January 28: Portal Point and Wilhelmina Point : Morning landing at Portal Point, whales, seals, penguins, afternoon zodiac cruise at Wilhelmina Point, whales all around
- Thursday, January 29: Lemaire Channel and Petermann Island : Planned landing aborted, then transited the Lemaire Channel in rain and overcast, landing at Petermann Island, Gentoo and Adelie penguins
- Friday, January 30: Detaille Island and Hanusse Bay : Crossed the Antarctic Circle southbound, arrived Detaille Island, zodiac cruise in the morning, moved to Hanusse Bay, afternoon zodiac cruise near Liard Island
- Saturday, January 31: Arrived Prospect Point, landing, penguins, afternoon zodiac cruise in the same spot around the Fish Islands, penguins, stunningly good weather
- Sunday, February 1: Arrived Cuverville Island, landing among gentoo penguin colony, repositioned midday to Neko Harbor, afternoon zodiac cruise among the icebergs, amazing weather
- Monday, February 2: Deception Island, morning landing at Whalers Bay, repositioned midday to Telefon Bay, landing, walked among volcanic craters
- Tuesday, February 3: Drake Passage
- Wednesday, February 4: Drake Passage, Strait of Magellan, arrived early off Puerto Williams because a passenger needed medical attention, dock was occupied by the Silver Cloud, we waited for that ship to depart, then docked
- Thursday, February 5: Disembarked, flew charter flight to Punta Arenas (the runway at Puerto Williams is too short for the charter aircraft to take off with a full load of fuel - refueling stop at Punta Arenas), continued to Santiago, stayed in a hotel.
- Friday, February 6: Returned home from Santiago via stopover in Panama City.
The Cruise Experience
The Silversea crew was great. The expedition leader got us off the ship every day, sometimes twice a day. In all, we had 12 excursions:
- 7 landings
- 5 zodiac cruises.
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| Every Excursion was in a Zodiac |
The ship is small as cruise ships go (max 200 passengers), but very comfortable. Our cabin was a little cramped, with all our gear it became cluttered, but it was comfortable, with a large bed. The sliding glass door to the balcony was frequently ridiculously hard to open. There was plenty of hot water in the shower.
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| Passengers Ashore |
During rough seas, the ship pitches and rolls a lot. In bed, there’s a constant mix of rolling from side to side and getting pressed into the mattress, only to then be light in the mattress. On our first sea day, we heard lots of things moving in the room (pocket door and cabinet door opening and slamming closed, stuff falling off a table) and had to find and secure them. One cabinet door would not stay closed; the butler had it fixed as soon as I mentioned it. A door kept banging closed in a balcony area adjacent to our room that was not passenger-accessible. I asked the butler to step onto the balcony to hear it; she had a crew member secure it. Eventually we figured out how to keep the room silent while the ship pitched and rolled.
On the first sea day, I snagged an orange from the lounge and brought it back to the cabin to have later. The butler noticed, and the next thing I knew she brought a fruit bowl full of tangerines and bananas and kept it full for the whole trip.
The mud rooms are on deck 3. There are “pegs” on the walls for boots. Actually the pegs are hollow tubes through which hot, dry air is forced. After every excursion, we put our boots on the pegs, inserting the pegs into the boots, thus getting our boots dried and aired-out. This area is cramped. The crew was very good about calling us out in groups for excursions to keep crowding minimal. But sometimes we were in there getting boots on/off at the same time other groups were returning/departing, which made for lots of people wearing bulky clothing in a confined space.
We had our meals in The Grill instead of the dining room. Before Silversea bought this ship, this area was open-air with a pool. Now it's encased in glass, 2 decks high, and there's a metal cover over the pool on which there are guest tables. The menu was limited but the views were amazing, at the rear of the ship with glass all around. The wait staff quickly figured out not to push wine on us. One waiter noticed that I liked to have a beer with dinner and he just automatically brought me one every evening without me asking. He also noticed that my wife didn't like the fish of the day a few times, so he repeatedly offered her fish that was not on the menu.
Shortly after we boarded the ship, the expedition staff published the list of zodiac groups. There were 6 groups. Each day, a different zodiac group went out first. Every group got a chance to go first, then second, etc.
Every off-ship activity required suiting up in very warm, waterproof clothing. It wasn't actually all that cold, usually just above 32F/0C, but the combination of floating in icy water and strong wind made every outing seem pretty cold. The crew would announce which group was next, then we would put our layers on and head to the mud room to don our boots. Then it was down a set of steps to the door at the water line. Crew members there helped us get into the zodiacs.
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| Entry To/Exit From Ship was Through the Door at the Water Line |
The expedition staff members were very good at their jobs. They drove the zodiacs and provided commentary while cruising and on land. It was about 20 people, from all over the world. During some of the landings they stood in frigid water, wearing dry suits, helping passengers getting in/out of the zodiacs.
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| Emergency Equipment Pile |
At each location, when the ship stopped moving, the expedition team launched some zodiacs to survey the site to ensure it was safe to visit. For each landing, they brought a LOT of equipment ashore. This was a contingency in case the weather or sea state became so bad that the people ashore could not return to the ship. The supplies were intended to provide for people stranded ashore. A typical landing scene was: red-coated passengers, dry-suited expedition leaders, a pile of emergency equipment, and lots of penguins.
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| Snowy Excursion Among Humpback Whales |
Penguin colonies were easy to spot from the ship: rocky areas covered with brown remnants of food and poop and thousands of little white/black penguins waddling around. They were also pretty stinky.
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| Gentoo Penguin Colony |
Most days we saw seals. They're pretty boring, most of the time. They just lie there. If we were lucky, they might open their eyes to see who was disturbing their nap.
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| Leopard Seal Hauled Out on Iceberg |
Basic wifi service was included at no extra cost. An upgrade was available for a price that I didn't check. It mostly worked OK, but streaming was blocked, which meant I couldn't look at the feeds from my home security cameras. There was a massive snow storm while we were gone; I wanted to see how it looked. And videos from social media sites were hit/miss. I tried talking with my daughter over WhatsApp, the call would connect, but audio would never pass.
Conclusion
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| Daily View of Penguins and Stunning Mountains |
This was an awesome trip! It was a LOT of flying, and a LOT of time in a lurching ship in rough seas. We spent a lot of time in zodiacs, floating in frigid water, with strong winds, rain, and snow. It was absolutely worth every minute and every dollar.
