On the far southern tip of South America is the small community of Ushuaia, Argentina. Flying from Lima, Peru to Buenos Aires, Argentina to Ushuaia we left the sunny and warm Pacific Coast and ended up on the cold windswept coast of Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia is the gateway base camp for outdoor adventures in Patagonia and Antarctica. We met a young German couple who are riding their bicycles from the southern tip of South America to Alaska. The ride will take them twenty months.

The long anticipated highlight of our journey did not disappoint. We set off on our expedition to Antarctica with great excitement. Little did we know that our beginning smiles, as we boarded the Ocean Diamond, would soon turn into two days of sea sickness. Crossing the Drake Passage was very rough due to high winds. The winds are measured on the Beaufort Scale with zero being calm and twelve being hurricane force. We experienced nine on the scale and it had the ship rocking and rolling. Michael was one of the few who were not sick so he had the ship to himself as he visited the bridge and explored the ship’s interior as no one was allowed outside on the decks.

As we neared the Antarctic Continent the seas calmed and the days were bright and beautiful. The temperatures were near zero to about thirty degrees. As this was an expedition as opposed to a cruise, we had in-depth presentations about the geology, history and flora and fauna of Antarctica. There was much excitement on board when the expedition leader announced the first ice berg sighting. Everyone rushed to the decks to get a picture and we knew our Antarctic adventure had begun.