We canโt seem to stay away from the cold. First Antarctica and now Iceland. ย But when youโre working against a bucket list when an opportunity to check off a โmustโ destination presents itself, you have to jump. Thatโs what happened when Sage Lewis announced a June trip to Iceland. Weโve been holding out on doing Iceland until we could do it with Sage. Nowโs the time.
Sage, founder of Project Por Amor https://projectporamor.com ย is first and foremost a talented musician. Check out https://sagelewismusic.com. He also runs a unique travel service specializing in both Iceland and Cuba.ย He has extensive knowledge of the music and culture of both countries. The grub on his trips is said to be pretty good too.
Thereโs an added benny in traveling with Sage. Heโs the son of Barrs and Holly Lewis. Barrs and I were business partners for 10 years, first consulting as PNC Associates and then forming Harmonic Systems, a company we built and ran for five years before cashing out. Theyโre going on this trip too and weโve wanted to travel with them for years. ย
The travel stars are aligned so off we go.
This is a two-part affair. The first nine days (June 13 โ 22) will be with Sage, exploring Reykjavik and southern Iceland for the most part. Hereโs a link to Sageโs trip: https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/v5nDUjICTgOci?
Judy and I will then take off in a rental car to explore the north on our own (June 22 โ 30). There will be more culture on the first part and more nature and scenery on the second. But our plans for the north are pretty loose so no telling what weโll run into as we go. Hereโs a map of the entire trip:
Sage is taking us to the blue spots. Weโre on our own for the red.
As usual, Iโll be (trying to) post every day. If youโve signed up before, youโll get a daily email when I do post. If you donโt get daily emails from us on our trips, shoot me a message and Iโll add you to the list. You can access the blog at jonandjudy.com at any time, email or not. Use the Menu to jump to a particular day of this trip or one of our previous trips.
Of course, I wanted to โshoot the moonโ as it passed in front of Oleโ Sol. It happens that the Lodge at Onawa Lake is smack-dab in the middle of totality as the eclipse moves northeast from Mexico and up to Maine. But would it be worth it to travel 2,000 miles for a lousy photo like everyone elseโs, risking cloudy weather and the good chance of if not snow then knee-deep mud? No.
But wait, the Lodge needs new flooring in the kitchen and if we donโt get it scheduled now, the vendors will get busy with summertime work and weโll be left with nothing. And while weโre at it, we want to redo the downstairs bathroom so our guests can visit us without roughing it on our 50-year-old golden throne and tub. Plus, Anna Rolande Hempstead and Oliver Hempstead are getting baptized the Sunday before the eclipse so we can add that to the list. And we havenโt seen the fam in three months . . .ย You get the drift . . . Rationalization complete, tickets booked and off we go, leaving Friday AM and returning Wednesday PM. One more โmeant to beโ factor: Rebecca, Esme and Griffin are coming Wednesday to visit us in Florida, so we booked the same flight.ย
Getting to Onawa Monday morning, the day of the eclipse,ย was a breeze – clear skies and dry pavement all the way. Even the Onawa Road was passable without too much difficulty. We were ahead of the crowd so the traffic wasnโt bad. Half of the Northeast was in Maine, it seems. We had to walk down through some snow and mud, but nothing too serious. We opened the Lodge, turned on the heaters and the cell repeater for Internet and phone access and prepared for the big event.
The eclipse was scheduled to start at 2:19 PM, go total for 1 minute 44 seconds from 3:31 to 3:32, and complete at 4:40 PM. I had about 3 hours to get my act together. The first question: where to set up for clear viewing. Thankfully, the skies were absolutely clear with temperature in the mid 50s. Perfect weather, despite a strong breezeย from the northwest across the still frozen lake.
It was important to me to do the shoot from our shore of Onawa Lake, not some parking lot or baseball field. But our view to the south is obscured by a hill that leads up to the railroad tracks and some pretty serious pine and deciduous trees. I did some research and learned that the sun would be at an azimuth of 238 degrees, roughly southwest, and an elevation of 37 degrees. My bet was that โCannon Rockโ in front of Spring Side Lodge (the Hemman/Kennedy building) might work. And sure enough, it sufficed. There were a few branches at the beginning and toward the end. If anything, I rationalized, they will add a bit of character to the otherwise stark black-and-white images.
I started shooting at the appointed moment and took pictures every 5 to 10 minutes throughout the period. You can see the results in the images presented below. (300 mm lens on a Fuji XT-2 camera, 1/250th exposure at f5.6 with an 8.5 stop neutral density solar filter).
The โmoney shotโ for an eclipse is totality, the brief moment when the moon completely blots out the sun. And I was, thank goodness, successful, as you can see in the images. The white fuzz surrounding the moon is the sunโs corona. The red spikes are called solar prominences. I understand that we were lucky to have them for the eclipse; they donโt happen all the time. They are loops of solar plasma that can extend out as much as 93,000 miles from the sunโs surface.
Iโve included pictures of Onawa, mostly for those whoโve been there. You can see what springtime at Onawa is like. Weโre told that they had three snowstorms of 27, 24 and 8 inches in the last 10 days or so. Rain and warm temps have melted most of it.ย
Judy has put together a video that documents the Onawa Lake environment while I took the pictures and how quickly the sky became almost completely dark during the total eclipse. Here’s the link:
Bottom line: mission accomplished. We got our plumbing and flooring folks in motion for late May work, we had four nice meals with family and friends, enjoyed the baptisms and now weโre looking forward to fun in Florida with Rebecca and the kids this week. Jeff and Carter come to us at the end of April.ย
Our flight just departed Ushuaia, heading east down the Beagle Channel, covering in 15 minutes the distance the Octantis covered in four hours yesterday westbound, before gaining enough altitude to risk a turn to the north, avoiding the tail end of the Andes Mountains, which surround Ushuaia.
Yesterday was another sea day, the last piece being the Beagle Channel. Lots of birds enjoying the brisk winds, especially those pesky Black-browed Albatrosses that seem to follow us everywhere we go. No creature on earth enjoys flying more than those birds and no creature gets more miles per calorie burned. They are masters at working the wind currents to their advantage.
We probably could have made it from West Point Island to Ushuaia in a hard dayโs sailing; we cruised at 8 knots rather than the 14 to 15 weโd done earlier. But this way gave us the chance to see the Beagle Channel in daylight. It probably serves some scheduling objective known only to Viking.
Itโs three-and-three-quarter hours to Buenos Aires, an eight hour layover and nine hours overnight to Miami. Rather than enduring a six hour wait in Miami, weโre renting an Enterprise Rent-a-Car for a four hour drive, plus a stop to see Cousin Debbie. We can even drop the car in Sun City Center, avoiding Tampa.
So, bottom line: should you go to Antarctica? Endure the sea sickness? Have your itinerary change twice a day? Stagger down the hall to dinner and yet another lecture by some naturalist? Clamber in and out of zodiacs wearing cumbersome all weather gear and huge rubber boots? Being rescued from an island where the overnight accommodations are folding chairs in a barracks and the mail boat comes sometime around the first of the month? See the most spectacular scenery, the most amazing wildlife, experience the most unique continent on the face of the earth?
Weโve covered a lot of the world in our travels and, no matter what continent, region or country, thereโs a lot of similarities. Everywhere has mountains, bodies of water, hot and cold regions. Taylor Swift fans. But Antarctica is truly unique, a world of its own.
So the answer is yes, you should endure the hardships and if at all possible, go. In fact, the hardships are essential to understanding Antarctica. Donโt think of this as a cruise. Think of it as an expedition, an adventure. You can always recover on a Caribbean cruise later on. I, who spent time worshiping at the porcelain throne during our Drake Passage, am so thankful we did go. At last, we have an answer to those who always ask, โWhat was your favorite trip?โ
Thanks for coming along with us!
But wait! Thereโs more! Judyโs still hard at work on more videos. Iโll make a posting when theyโre ready. But no more blogging for me. Iโm off to forage in the American lounge here in Buenos Aires. Haste luego!
Todayโs a sea day but the crew turned it into an open house so that we could visit the areas normally off limits to passengers. It proved to be an interesting day. One thing that continues to impress me is that the crew on this ship seems to be really enjoying their work. Normally on a cruise ship, the staff is friendly, almost to a fault, as if thereโs a reward system behind their smiles. Here the smiles seem more genuine. I think it may be the expedition nature of the trip. This isnโt your usual trip around the Caribbean. The crew seems to be enjoying the trip and its unknowns. They seem to like the challenge of adapting to new situations.
The first stop was the Expedition Hanger and Science Lab. The Hanger houses all the zodiacs, the two Special Operations Boats, the two submarines (yellow, naturally), kayaks and associated support tools and systems. The overhead conveyer system to launch all that stuff is impressive. Viking has made a significant financial investment to make their expeditions different. Itโs money well spent, from our experience.
The submarines, which saw little service due to weather and water visibility, were originally invented for owners of super yachts. Only later did a version for expedition cruise ships evolve. Theyโre good to 1,000 meters beneath the surface. The chief sub pilot told us of two occasions where he took scientists who had spent their careers studying the Antarctic Ocean floor for a ride. Both were moved to tears to see first-hand what they had studied but had never seen before.
The science lab is another interesting development. They study everything from water conditions to ocean floor mapping to DNA analysis of aquatic life forms. As I mentioned earlier, using cruise ships, which visit the same region on a regular basis, can provide a lower cost method of data gathering than traditional research vessels. Vikingโs pioneering work in this area is still evolving.
Next up: the bridge. Everythingโs TV screens and computers, of course. The only person actively doing anything we could see is one guy with binoculars scanning the horizon for who-knows-what: Icebergs? Whales? Ships? Nice to know thereโs one human paying attention.
Lunch time, and the kitchen crew threw a ย barbecue up on Deck 6. The weather was warm enough โ 50s โ and the wind not too strong. Fun for all, including the head chef and the crew.
Then the kitchen tour: lots of stainless steel.
Finally, the farewell party, hosted by the captain. The violin/keyboard duo did the introduction โ popular classics done in a style that was a crowd pleaser but, for me, was a bit over the top. Every bow stroke doesnโt have to tug at my heart strings and make me cry, for Peteโs sake. Iโm in the minority in my opinion I bet.
The captainโs summary was actually quite moving. He listed the several aspects of our trip that were firsts for Viking. He emphasized that it was the crew pulling together that made our experiences unique, exciting, enjoyable and safe. All the crew appeared on stage to a standing ovation from the appreciative passengers. Again, the crewโs enthusiasm and the passengersโ response seemed genuine on both sides.
ย The contemporary guitar/singer duo ended the program with crowd participating and pleasing โSweet Caroline and Take Me Home.โ
As if we need more food, we finished the evening at the Dining Room, the upscale dining venue. It pains me to confess to three margaritas on Deck 6 and two flutes of champagne at the farewell affair but Iโm proud to say I didnโt finish my second glass of wine at dinner.
