Author: awaywiththebirds
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Hitting the trail with Queen Charlotte
Day 2-3: the walk begins Early start with a 7.30 am pickup, briefing and a ferry ride from Picton to Motuara Island where there are some unique species of birds and penguins. They have a series of breeding boxes along the track and you can see if there’s anything inside. There was a blue penguin…
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Atacama Adventure
Day 5: Clouds and more colours Ok Sammy, I consulted dr Google ( as the guide clearly didn’t know) and the “some place in Russia” is on Kamchatka Peninsula and has the second largest concentration of geysers in the world!!!! James and I have been wowed by the magnificent cloud formations we see over the…
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Atacama Adventure
Day 4: The geysers Dina has asked why llamas are so colourful… people place ribbons on them as a sign of affection and thankfulness because the llamas enabled transport across the country Early start to travel to the geysers at Il Tatio which has the third largest in the world, after Yellowstone and some place…
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Atacama Adventure
Day 4: Atacama colours The hotel runs two excursions each day ( a bit like what Scenic Eclipse did in Antarctica). When you first arrive, the guides sit down with you, describe the excursions and then map out what you will do. Today, I did a walk through Devil’s Gorge, while James did a bike…
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Atacama Adventure
Day 1-3: Antarctica to Atacama Very sad to say goodbye to Antarctica. But we are going from the driest continent in the world to the second driest place on earth, the Atacama desert in Chile, and from one of the coldest places on earth to something a little warmer. Two travel days to get from…
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Antarctica Adventure
Day 16: Drake passage, Beagle channel, Ushuaia – special sport and food edition Sorry none of you could open video……have tried again at the end of this blog. In the meantime, James finally managed to get his act together and get some photos of his sporting exploits throughout the cruise. He did 2 kayaking outings…
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Antarctica Adventure
Day 15: At sea By popular demand (drum roll), the plunge ……. and he got a certificate for his effort……
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Antarctica Adventure
Day 15 : Portal point, Charlotte bay and unexpected visitors to the polar plunge Up early for a zodiac landing on Portal point, another stop on the Antarctic continent (rather than an island). It was snowing quite heavily but not that cold. As we were on the continent again, the Antarctica flag came out again….…
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Antarctica Adventure
Day 14: Lemaire Channel, Pleneau and Petermann islands By the way, am loving all your comments!!!! And today we are at the southernmost point of our adventure …. Here are our coordinates. Apparently this is 1 degree short of being in the Antarctic circle (66 degs), defined to be where there is 24 hour daylight.…
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James’ and Sara’s Excellent Antarctica Adventure
Day 13: Paradise Bay and Damoy Point In answer to Sammy’s question, every passenger was given a heavy, waterproof jacket to keep, so I am only feeling any level of coldness around the face, and the hand that has to be gloveless in order to take photos. We are also loaned a pair of wellie…