Rememberer when we swore, “No more wild and crazy trips? No 12-hour plane rides? No extreme activities? We’re going to act our age!”

Fergitabouit. We’re off to Antarctica, a place we took off the bucket list back in 2018 when we toured Patagonia. The seas are too rough, the weather too cold and who needs to see a stinkin’ penguin, anyway? Someone said the other day, the trip to Antarctica starts smelling like vomit and then smells like the poop of 1,000 penguins.

But . . . It will be our seventh continent (depending on how you count ‘em) and everyone we met on our last trip said, “You gotta do it. The incredible wildlife and scenery make the pain and suffering worth it.”

So here we go, flying on Tuesday, January 30 to Buenos Aires, overnighting there (tango show, anyone?) and then to Ushuaia, Argentina where we board the expedition ship, Viking’s Octanis. From there we sail to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Both are sub arctic locations with their own characteristics and wildlife different from what we’ll see on Antarctica. We’ll spend five days on Antarctica, most days making landings via zodiac boats.

Then the dreaded Drake Passage, said to have the most violent water in the world. The currents from the South Atlantic and South Pacific meet here in the narrow slot between South America and Antarctica. Each ocean has several thousand miles without intervening land mass to build up a good head of steam before they crash into each other. The Southern Ocean, which circulates around the globe at the 50th parallel with no intervening land, contributes to the mayhem. “Hasten, Jason, bring a basin. Never mind Jason, bring a mop,” as Judy’s father used to say.

My erstwhile traveling companion, Judy, having read the above, said, “I don’t want to go!” Never fear. She’ll be there holding the basin for me, in sickness and in health.

I’ll post a couple of maps to give you the lay of the land. As you can see, we, like most cruise expeditions, visit only the northern most tip of Antarctica and set foot on the continent proper on only one landing. Pray for good weather that day!

As usual I’ll be doing daily blog postings, stomach condition and Internet connectivity permitting. If you received daily email reminders from our previous trip to Australia, you should get the daily reminders this time too. If not, and if you want them, shoot me an email or text and I’ll add you to the list.

By the way, I think I’ve fixed the problem where some of you didn’t get daily reminders on our trip to Australia. Seems some of the email providers, like google, blocked my blog emails from even reaching your spam folder. Other providers didn’t. With any luck, I’ve figured out how to get around that problem.

Here’s the world view of our trip. See what I mean about seeing only the tip of Antarctica?

Here’s a closer view of Ushuaia, Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica.

And here’s detail of the three destinations: