PlThe crew on any Antarctic Ship are a unique collection of personalities. The most dynamic personality on the ship was, Brent the penguin specialist. HIs funky hair style and his penguins calls made us think that he had actually been a penguin in a previous life.
Delphine, the expedition director definitely had the most difficult job. She was the one to break the sad news that we wouldn't be able to make it to the Emperor Penguin Rookery and to keep us updated the day that it took 11 attempts before a shore landing was possible.
The rest of the expedition crew were all very knowledgeable and friendly. They took turns giving lectures on a number of antarctic related topics including history, marine life, birds and research stations.
Our captain, Ernesto Barria, was very experienced and was described by one of the expedition staff as the only captain willing to push far into the Weddell Sea to see if passage was possible.
Our fellow travelling companions were likewise a varied sort. Some, like us, were on their first polar voyage while others were veterans having been three or more times before. There were a group of twenty somethings who were on board with mothers, fathers or both parents, an older french woman who was the only french speaking passenger on board, the single women were young unless travelling with a sister, in which case they were older. The young single guys were travelling with a parent or parents while the older single guys were not. The youngest was a 14 year old Israeli boy here with his parents.The oldest was a 90 year old Swiss man, with the average age was about 55. Of the 95 guests on board, there was one other Canadian, Byron from Kelowna, a handful of Americans, a family of 3 Israeli's, 2 Russians and the rest were European. By Tuesday we definitely knew who the assholes were (For those of you unfamiliar with this concept, on weeklong ski trips: "if you don't know who the asshole is by Tuesday, it's you'* This phenomenon can be applied to any group gathering of a week or longer). On our trip, both candidates were American. Every time one of them spoke up, which was often, you could feel the rest of the passengers roll their eyes in unison and silently groan.
Our favourite group on board were the Aussies. The daughter (a twenty something) had been obsessed with visiting the Antarctic since she was a child. For years she had talked about going with her Dad and would leave subtle hints .....like antarctic cruise brochures lying around the house for him to find.
In November, after travelling through South America she arrived in Ushuaia to discover the last minute sales office for Antarctic cruises. She called her Dad to tell him she was booking a trip and he decided that he would join her. The trip was his first time to travel outside of Australia, to be in temperatures colder than 12 C and to experience snow. Despite being cold for most of the trip, he has had a fantastic time. The next phase of his adventure is his ever first backpacking trip on the "W" Torres del Paine, Patagonia.
We had a lot of fun with the Aussies. One day the sun came out, the wind was completely calm and the day was very pleasant. I told Brian that this was practically tropical. He called me a "f'ng retard"! From an Aussie, this a term of endearment and comradeship! Brian admitted that he spent the entire trip freezing to death. We had a commonwealth snow ball fight on one of the ice floes, and declared it a draw.
Matthias from Germany was one of our other favourite people. He reminded me a lot of our nephew Markiyan - young, smart, good looking, super fun and he liked to party! His solution to seasickness was to never be sober enough to let it bother him!
There have been plenty of opportunities to meet people, learn about their lives and exchange future travel ideas. Our plans for the last month of our trip are very open and we may incorporate some of the places in Chile that we have learned about from our fellow travellers.
