This has been a bucket list trip for us for quite some time and since you need time (and money) to do it, we decided to do this trip in retirement! We originally planned on extending the trip for a few months, staying in South America to make our way up through Patagonia but since we had to be back in the States for Keith's prostate surgery, we cut the trip short to just do this leg and then punted the rest of the trip to 2026. We booked our trip with
Lindblad since we had gone with them before to the Galapagos and since Keith's parents also went with them to Antartica (and several other trips) over the years!
Argentina
We flew to Buenos Aires a few days before the trip started to make sure we didn't have any problems getting there. We stayed for four nights at the Alvear Icon hotel - a nice multi-story hotel in the Puerto Madero district. Our room was very spacious and comfortable - although the decor was a bit 'fancy' for our taste. The food at the hotel was not the best and they charged a ridiculous amount for coffee in the morning - each cup was $9 - we were flabbergasted! Overall, we were not impressed with the hotel given the caliber and cost.
Since we had been to Buenos Aires a few times before and had done most of the touristy activities already, we decided to relax more on this leg of the trip. Keith was also not feeling great so we took advantage of having some downtown so he could get better before we got on the boat. We worked out at the hotel, got a massage which was the worst massage Shawna had ever received and caught up on shows and reading.
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| Keith relaxing in the spa |
We joined some of the other passengers on our trip on Saturday to do a city tour where we saw some of the main sites from the bus, including Casa Rosada, the Presidential office and the location of the famous Eva Peron balcony. We got out twice - once to tour the El Zanjon de Granados Museum, a former stately home, turned tenement building that when bought again to refurbish, they discovered underground tunnels. The space was very nicely redone. The second stop was to visit the Recoleta Cemetery (we had been before) where we saw Eva Peron's grave.
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| El Zanjon Museum |
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| Eva Peron's Grave |
We also attended the welcome reception/briefing at the hotel on Saturday night. And then on Sunday, we flew down to Ushuaia where had lunch on a catamaran in the harbor before boarding the boat. We were supposed to do a tour of the bay but the weather was not great.
While in BA, we ate at the following places:
Crystal Bar - this is the rooftop bar of our hotel. While there were nice views, the food was not great. That said, we had a nice gin and tonic!
Aramburu - this is a Michelin two star where we had dinner one night. They serve an 18 course meal. We also go the wine pairing which was plentiful. The food was amazing - there was not a single dish we did not like. The service was also really good and we really liked the decor. Definitely recommend!
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| Dinner at Aramburu |
Osaka - we had dinner here at this Japanese restaurant that was a few blocks from our hotel. Turns out that it is a chain and we had been to the one in Lima before. Excellent food - all very tasty - in a cool environment. We had a salmon sashimi, a pork bao bun and the duck with rice.
Antartica Cruise
We booked the three week trip on Lindblad which went to Antartica, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. Our itinerary had us going to Falkland Islands, then South Georgia and finally on to Antartica - leaving the Drake Passage to the very end!
Our trip was on the Endurance, one of their newer ships especially built to handle the conditions of Antartica. The boat was amazing - really nice decor. There were a few lounges - the main one being the Ice Room where all of the presentations were done. The ship also had two restaurants - the main one being 270 Degrees where we had all of our meals, a really nice sized gym which we used once (it is quite hard to work out with the boat swaying) and a spa with saunas and two hot tubs on the top deck.
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| Our boat |
We paid extra to get a room in the middle of the boat to minimize some of the sway. Our room (room 616) was fantastic - nice size with a queen bed, sofa, desk and bathroom. It was located on the same floor as the Ice Lounge where they did all of the presentations and held the daily cocktail hour with recap. We also had a nice balcony where we could step out to take photos and we even sat out on the balcony a few times to enjoy a glass of wine!
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| Our room |
We attended all of the presentations they provided on the boat on topics such as birds, whales, oceans, geology, sustainability and the finding of the Endurance (Shakelton's boat). Often times these presentations were during the days at sea as we sailed in between islands. We also got a tour of the boat which was cool - seeing the kitchen, laundry, boat garage and engine rooms.
We had all but one of our meals on board - the food in general was really good. Both lunch and dinners included a soup and choice of entrees along with a couple of choices for dessert. Breakfast included a buffet - we mostly just had yogurt and eggs to try to stay healthy. A few times they had themed meals such as sushi lunch, pizza lunch, pasta station and on the last night grilled meats. All drinks were included and to try to stay good, we only had drinks in the evenings, starting at the cocktail reception with a gin and tonic and/or a glass of champagne and then we had a few glasses of wine at dinner. The service on board was excellent.
Falkland Islands
We set sail on Sunday evening to the Falkland Islands, taking one full day and two nights to get there. The seas were a bit rough but thankfully we never got sick - we both wore patches the entire trip. We had three full days here going to four different islands all of which were beautiful and had more greenery than we had expected.
Saunders Island - hiked about two miles up a hill to see a black-browed albatross colony as well as four types of penguins - king, Magellanic, rockhopper, and gentoo. The baby albatross are just too cute with their fluffy grey feathers. It was truly amazing!
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| Albatross Colony |
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| King Penguins |
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| Baby Albatross |
Port Egmont (another location on Saunders) - hiked another two miles and ended on the beach with a bbq lunch. This lunch was one of our least favorite as the meat was a bit tough.
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| Views on our hike |
Carcass Island - hiked for three miles (650 feet elevation) and saw gentoo and Magellanic penguins as well as some geese and ducks. The coastline was beautiful. We ended the hike in the settlement where they served us tea, cakes and cookies.
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| Views on our hike |
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| Gentoo Penguins |
West Point - hiked four miles (800 feet elevation) up Mount Arawat and then hiked down to see another black-browed albatross and rockhopper penguin colony.
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| Rockhopper Penguin |
Stanley - we spend the day here which is the main town on East Falkland Island. We started the day doing a 6 mile hike from Gypsy Cove along the coast and back into town. We saw a few penguins and geese along the day. The weather definitely changes quickly as it went from sunny to rainy to sleet and back to sun in a matter of an hour! Back in town, we walked around and saw the main church and whale bone statue and then went into the museum. We had lunch at the Waterfront Cafe, sharing a fish and chips dish - food was good. In the afternoon, we went to York Bay which has beautiful white sand dunes and a gentoo penguin colony. We also saw a few king penguins mingled in.
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| Church in Stanley |
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| York Bay |
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| Gentoo Penguins |
South Georgia
We sailed for two full days before arriving in South Georgia. The water was relatively calm and we attended all of the lectures that they offered onboard. We spent four full days in South Georgia and were amazed at how beautiful and mountainous the island is!
Bay of Isles / Salisbury Plain - Winds were high so we did not do a morning landing but we did see a ton of king penguins ashore as well as other birds flying around including skuas, petrels and albatross.
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| Giant Petrel |
Bay of Isles / Right Whale Bay - We went ashore and did a 4 mile hike to the glacier. We also saw king penguins, fur seals and elephant seals.
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| Right Wale Bay |
Stromness - We were not allowed to go ashore here but did see the whaling station from the boat as well as the route that Shackleton hiked over the mountains to get to this location in order to get a rescue team to get the rest of his crew.
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| Stromness Bay |
Hercules Bay - We did a zodiac ride of the bay, seeing king and macaroni penguins, fur and elephant seals, cormorants and giant petrels.
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| Hercules Bay |
Grytviken - This is one of the six former whaling stations. We visited Shakelton's grave and did a toast with whiskey and then hiked 4 miles up to a pass - the weather was snowy so we did not see as much. We then did a tour of the whaling station given by a historian from South Georgia Heritage.
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| Grytviken |
Gothul Bay - This was a beautiful calm morning so they decided to offer kayaking on the bay which we did. We saw king penguins, fur seals, gentoo penguins and giant petrel. There were two icebergs floating in the bay - one of which had gentoo penguins on it. It was fun watching the penguins try to get up on the ice!
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| Gothul Bay |
St Andrews Bay - This is the largest king penguin colony in the world with over 300K penguins. We walked about a mile to a viewing point so we can see them dotted across the landscape.
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| St Andrews Bay |
Golden Harbor - Another stunning morning with blue skies and very little wind. This bay has stunning scenery with mountains and glaciers. We hiked about 4 miles up to a ridge which was beautiful. We also saw more king penguins and seals along the shore. When we hiked, we had to pass through the grass to get to the hillside and there were many elephant seals resting that were not too happy with us!
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| Golden Harbor |
On our last afternoon, we could not go ashore because of winds so the boat traveled the coastline where we say a ton of whales - humpbacks, fin and blue whales were everywhere feeding on the krill.
Antartica
We sailed for two days to get to Antartica. The first day, we passed the A23a iceberg which is the largest iceberg in the world - measuring at 1500 square miles (as big as the state of Rhode Island) and 1300 feet thick! Quite impressive! As we got closer to Antartica, we also saw killer whales and humpback whales.
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| A23a Iceberg |
South Orkney Islands - On the second day of cruising down to Antartica, we did a surprise stop in the South Orkney Islands. We did a long hike at Stygian Cove on Signy Island, seeing lots of seals, gentoo penguins and chinstrap penguins as well as surrounding glaciers. And then we did a zodiac ride in Sandefjord Bay between Coronation and Monroe Islands where we saw chinstrap penguins and a couple of leopard seals.
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| Signy Island - South Orkney |
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| Chinstrap Penguin |
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| Leopard Seal |
Elephant Island - Made a quick stop to see this bay from the boat (we did not go onshore) - we saw where Shakelton's crew sheltered for 4 months on this tiny strip of land. Scenery was beautiful.
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| Elephant Island |
Joinville Island - Our first official Antartica landing where we did a 2.5 mile hike at Tay Head. We hiked to the top of a glacier and saw an Adelie penguin colony.
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| Joinville Island |
Paulet Island - We did a zodiac ride around this island where there is a huge Adelie penguin colony. We saw the penguins on land, swimming in the water and resting on the floating ice. We got to see a random small Emperor penguin hanging out on the ice - not where you would expect to see one as they mainly stay in the interior. We also saw several leopard seals. The bar staff did a floating hot chocolate bar so we enjoyed that with Baileys while out on the sea!
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| Paulette Island |
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| Adelie Penguins |
Tabarin Peninsula - Our first official 'mainland' Antartica landing at Cape Bird (the southernmost point of the peninsula) where we took a picture of us holding the seventh continent flag. We did a 3 mile hike up to a ridge - it was quite rocky but misty so could not see that much. There were Adelie penguins and seals on shore as well.
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| Tabarin Peninsula |
Devil Island - We did a zodiac ride around this area where there are more Adelie penguins. There was lots of sea ice floating in the water and we got to see the penguins jumping in and out of the water on the flatter icebergs.
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| Devil Island |
Cierra Cove - The scenery was stunning with tall mountains, glaciers and floating icebergs. We did a zodiac ride and saw a gentoo colony with some chinstrap and Adelies mingled in as well as leopard seals. This is also the location where we did the polar plunge! We each took turns jumping in and quickly getting out of the water - it literally took our breadth away! We are both glad we did it but probably do not need to do it again - so cold!!!
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| Polar Plunge |
Spert Island - We sailed here but it was too choppy so we did not stay for long. More glaciers and icebergs.
Mikkelson Harbor - We did another zodiac ride where we say gentoo penguins and a Weddell seal.
Cuverville Island in Errera Channel - This was probably the highlight of the Antartica portion of the trip. The weather was stunning - sunny, blue skies and calm waters so we opted to do kayaking here. The scenery was also stunning and we saw gentoos and a humpback whale was quite close to our kayaks. It was also cool to just listen to the sounds of the penguins and the glaciers cracking!
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| Kayaking Cuverville Islanda |
Neko Harbor and Adnvord Fjord - As we sailed here, we say more humpback whales. We went ashore to see the gentoo penguins and hiked up a snowy hill to a viewpoint. After the hike, we did a zodiac ride through the brash ice and saw some crab eater seals as well as another humpback! One of the glaciers nearby was calving quite a bit so the zodiacs had to be careful to navigate - we saw one calving that produced quite a few big waves!
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| Neko Harbor |
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| Gentoo Penguins |
Drake Passage - We spent two days at sea crossing this often treacherous passage - it's a narrow crossing where three oceans meet and is often noted for having rough swells. The first night was not that bad but the second night was very rough! We never got sick but definitely did not feel the best that one morning. On our last day at sea, we finally got massages - we both thought they were one of the best massages we ever had. The last evening, they held a wine and cheese event during the normal 'tea' time of 4pm and then did the farewell cocktail reception where we watched a side show of guest photos. We ended the evening with a great dinner while docked at Ushuaia.
Our last morning was spent touring the museum in Ushuaia and walking around town before they took us to the airport to catch our flight back to Buenos Aires and then back to home.
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| Ushuaia from our boat |
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| Walking around town |
Overall, we both agree this is one of the best trips (if not The Best) that we have ever taken. We were sad to leave and definitely would like to do this trip again in a number of years down the road!
