New South Georgia and Falkland Islands Article Available - 2018

Want to read about the details of our visit to South Georgia and the Falklands? International Travel News just published my travel article and several photographs from this trip. You can read the piece from this link or from the “Articles” tab at the top of this page.

Life On Board an Expedition Ship - 2017

We've traveled on two different small expedition ships in the polar regions. By small, I'm referring to a ship that is not much more than 300 feet in length and carries about 100 to 120 guests. Readers might be curious as to what its like to travel in this small of a ship. While definitely not a mega-cruise ship, we've found the public room and private cabins comfortable and, can sometimes, border on luxury level accommodations. Here's some information about the MV Sea Spirit.

The Sea Spirit has six deck levels. Guest cabins are located on decks two through six. The public rooms include a dining room, presentation room, small library, club room, small gym, outside deck with hot tub and walkways around many of the decks. In addition, an open policy permits visitors to enter the bridge area, except during docking maneuvers or dangerous sea conditions.. At the rear of the second floor "Marina" deck is an area that is used to load and unload passengers in the rubber zodiacs.

Photo courtesy of Poseidon Expeditions

The Sea Spirit cabins are comfortable, well appointed and range from 200 to over 300 square feet. Most of the cabins have either port hole windows or rectangular windows with outside views. We found our deck five cabin, with sliding glass doors and a balcony, to be spacious. We didn't use the balcony much as the strong winds and/or sea swells made this a cold endeavor. In hind sight, a lower-deck cabin would have likely been subject to a little less sea swell movement. During a period of 18 foot sea swells, we rolled back and forth in our beds and, at times, felt the ups and downs normally associated with roller coasters.

You don't hear your neighbor as the cabins are pretty well insulated. During rough seas, however, passengers in cabins located near the bow felt noticeable bow movement and could hear slapping noises as the ship plowed through high swells. The Sea Spirit does have two stabilizers that work as fins to minimize excessive rolling.

Unlike a number of other small polar expedition ships, the Sea Spirit has an elevator. The elevator can be particularly helpful for those with mobility issues. Even when the ship was rocking and rolling, the elevator was operational - though we tended to avoid using the elevator during such conditions.

Hearty meals were served in the dining room. Buffet selections were served at breakfast and lunch. At dinner, starters, main dishes and desserts were selected from a daily changing menu. Mealtimes followed a schedule, however, excursions took priority and mealtimes were adjusted as needed. Teatime was observed at 4pm, with scones, finger sandwiches and pastries. A couple of times, teatime was augmented with ice cream sundaes and crepe suzettes. A never-empty cookie jar was enjoyed by all as well as the full bar service and 24-hour coffee and tea service.

The cabin stewards, dining staff and reception staff were always attentive. With a broad selection of menu items, it was easy to forget that we had left the coast of Argentina many days ago.  The dining staff recognized special celebrations, such as anniversaries and birthdays, with cakes brought to the guest’s dinner table.

We tended to hand wash most of our clothes. At times, damp clothes on hangers were hung wherever a spot could be found in our cabin. We also brought along a travel clothes line which helped. A couple of hints on reducing clothes drying time: use a hair dryer to blow into wet socks and roll newly washed clothes in a dry towel before hanging. A laundry service was available from the Sea Spirit and we used this service for hard to wash and dry items, such as jeans.

With most polar expeditions, there are several at-sea days as you transit from one area to another. Poseidon Expeditions offered many talks during this time, including topics on birdlife, geology, sea mammals, history and photography. We particularly enjoyed expedition staff sharing their previous work experiences over-wintering in the polar areas.  Some guests used this time to head onto the decks to catch glimpses of whales, seals, dolphins and birds. The only mandatory meetings were safety discussions, boot and jacket fitting and selection and pre-excursion vacuuming of our expedition clothes and dry bags to remove any stray plant material.

When selecting a polar expedition, you might also consider the ship's ice class rating. The ships with a higher rating may be able to explore areas known for thicker sea ice. The Sea Spirit is rated 1D, which translates into safe travel through 3-5 inches of sea ice. On our previous polar trips, the Sea Adventurer (recently renamed Ocean Adventurer) was rated for travel through 15-20 inches of sea ice.

The Falklands (Isla Malvinas) - 2017

Leaving Puerto Madryn, it took a little over two days to reach Carcass Island, on West Falkland, and the site of our first zodiac excursion. This island is 7.3 square miles in size, was named after HMS Carcass, a ship under Captain John McBride, the original surveyor of the island. The island is now privately owned and is operated as a sheep farm, bed and breakfast lodge and location for visitors to view birds and sea mammals. There are five comfortable basic furnished farmhouse rooms at the Carcass Island Lodge. Meals are included as this is a pretty remote island with no other dining options.  

Carcass Island was a great location for birding enthusiasts. We observed at least 25 different bird species, from large Albatross, Caracaras and Upland Geese to Antarctic Terns and colorful Oystercatchers. It was about the only stop in which we didn’t see elephant seals and fur seals lounging at waters edge, but I suspect we only got a glimpse of a small portion of the island during our three hour visit.

Immediately departing Carcass Island, we sailed for two at-sea days to reach South Georgia. On the return from South Georgia to Ushuaia, we returned to the Falklands for two more days of excursions. During this return route, we spent a day visiting Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, and nearby Gypsy Cove. We bypassed an anticipated landing at Saunders Island due to high winds and swells. Our final Falklands stop at West Point Island.

West Point Island was a highlight of our Falklands excursions. There, zodiacs dropped us off on the wharf for a rare non-wet landing. We had an opportunity to take a short hike and stop within just a few feet of nesting black-browed albatross and rockhopper penguins. It was terrific to just sit a while and observe these birds in such close proximity. For those with mobility limitations, Land Rovers were available to drive guests to the observation area. Afterwards, the West Point caretakers invited everyone to teatime, with hot tea and a tabletop full of assorted home-baked cookies.  

West Point Island was our last expedition stop before heading to our disembarcation destination of Ushuaia, Argentina.