Marilyn Taylor's Antarctica
Travel to ‘the end of the world’, Antarctica. Titan Traveller Marilyn Taylor shares with us her experience in this breathtaking continent on board the Hurtigruten MS Fram.
Last January we travelled to Antarctica with Titan on board the Hurtigruten MS Fram. After two nights in Buenos Aires we flew to Tierra del Fuego. The sign greeting you on the shore in Ushuaia reads “The End of the World”. From here we sailed for two days across Drake Passage, renowned as perhaps the roughest seas in the world.
The first morning we woke to high winds and endless rolling seas. We ventured outside, spending the morning watching black-browed and wandering albatrosses soaring effortlessly in the ship’s wake. Tiny cape petrel swooped back and forth low over the water.
We made landfall at Half Moon Bay on the South Shetland Islands going ashore by Polarcirkel. Misty sleet fell as we took our first steps on land to view the elegant chinstrap penguins nesting on the rocky shore. Crossing the Bransfield Strait we sailed through the Antarctic Sound.
The following day at Brown Bluff we visited the vast pungent Adelie rookeries. Comical little dramas played out on “penguin highways” which wound up the snowy slopes, bold penguins pinched pebbles, whilst others waited along the water’s edge rushing into the waves when an influx of penguins came ashore. Later at Hope Bay we were given a warm welcome at the Argentine base, Esperanza.
The next day we headed south through the Gerlache Strait and into the Errera Channel. Here we took to the icy water kayaking around Cuverville Island and some large icebergs. Our Tour Manager, Tony, kindly captured us on camera for posterity! We also visited Danco Island, Neko Harbour and Petermann Island sailing through the Lemaire Channel to the British Antarctic Heritage site at Port Lockroy.
Antarctica is a beautiful, silent, and pristine continent few people have the privilege to visit. The ship was dwarfed by huge shimmering icebergs, deeply fissured with intense ultramarine layers of compacted ice. Titan offered us the opportunity to “see this world differently” visiting a remote and beautiful continent giving us a chance to see the abundance of wildlife visible on land and at sea, penguins in rookeries and seals basking on land and ice floes. Humpback whales breaching, flukes displayed, orca, their unmistakeable shaped fins slicing through the water.
Our flight home coincided with my birthday, Tony and Titan arranged a surprise upgrade to Business class for us. What a lovely present to round off an unforgettable Titan holiday experience!
Why not make like Marilyn and see Antarctica for yourself?
Nicola considers herself very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit a number of places around the world and these experiences usually involve searching for as many kinds of wildlife as possible. Recent highlights include penguins in Antarctica, bears and whales in Canada and Alaska and sea otters in California - but there are always more animals to search for.
Nicola | About the author
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