After our second night at sea through the Drake Passage, we woke up in Antarctica. Massive icebergs floated everywhere, some surprisingly close to the ship, in an endless variety of fantastic shapes and sizes. Ashore, steep and snow-covered slopes soared straight up from the water. Antarctica is much more mountainous than we were expecting. Taking…
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Drake Passage Southbound
Our two-day crossing of the infamous Drake Passage from Ushuaia to the Antarctic continent was wonderfully calm. We passed the time at the bridge, taking in several educational seminars, and just enjoying being on board the National Geographic Endurance. The ship’s public areas are comfortable and generously laid out, never feeling cramped despite a full…
Ushuaia Arrival
Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina, is the departure point for the majority of Antarctic cruises. Our flight there from Buenos Aires was delayed by the overnight return of the victorious Argentinian World Cup team. Over a million fans had traveled to the airport to greet the players, abandoning their cars and walking when…
Buenos Aires Tour
On our second day in Buenos Aires, we took a bus tour through the city as part of our Antarctica cruise package, followed by dinner on our own overlooking Puerto Madero. Buenos Aires is a striking city, full of grand historic buildings, extensive parks, impressive monuments and much public art. We particularly enjoyed our visit…
Seattle Boat Show 2023
The seminar schedule for the 2023 Seattle Boat Show has been posted. We’ll be presenting this year on Saturday Feb 4th at 12:00pm on our trip around the world in Nordhavn 52 Dirona. We will describe some of the techniques we used to make the trip more safe and comfortable for longer passages and at…
Caribbean Cruise on the Norwegian Encore
Prior to our Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Encore, we had close to zero interest in cruising in general and none on the really big ships. But while sitting on our balcony watching the Encore depart from Pier 66 below us, in one of James’ spur-of-the-moment suggestions, he said “I’m not interested in big boat…
Argentina Wins the World Cup!
We arrived into Argentina on December 19th, the day that Argentina would take on France to decide the winner of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Everywhere we went, people were setting up televisions indoors and out in preparation for the game. Our hotel setup two and we watched the game from there. The game was…
Miami Cruise Terminal
The Miami Cruise Terminal is the busiest passenger port in the world, handling 6.8 million travelers in 2019. The facility has room for ten large cruise ships and has recently seen a number of upgrades and new construction projects to support the burgeoning industry. In 2018, Royal Caribbean opened the 170,000 sq ft (15,000 sq…
Choose Your Cruise Operator Carefully
The infamous 500-mile (800 km) Drake Passage between south America and Antarctica is considered one of the most dangerous crossings in the world. Waves and currents that meet no resistance from land masses elsewhere are amplified here, the narrowest passage around the Antarctic continent, producing seas that can regularly reach 40 ft (12m) in height….
Summer to Winter in Fall
The summer weather in Seattle continued from September into October, with a high of 81°F (27° C) on October 15th, 20 degrees F (11 C) above the average for this time of year. The dry weather resulted in many burning forest fires and Seattle’s smoke-filled skies made the city among the worst in the nation…
