Continental Antarctica

Our last day of Antarctica cruising was our Continental landing. We can now officially call ourselves Antarctica explorers. Until then, while we had been in the Antarctica geographical region, our landings were on small islands off the Antarctica peninsula. So we were excited to set foot on Recess Cove in Charlotte Bay. We had the added benefit of terrific weather. Snow and rain had been predicted and we were geared up for a wet hike. But the sun shined through and it was glorious. We have seen magnificent landscapes in many parts of the world, but nothing matched the dramatic and pristine beauty of Antarctica.

We explored Recess Cove by kayak and had some amazing whale sightings.
The penguins which look cute and ungainly waddling on land become sleek and graceful in the water.
Back on the ship we went through the strict decontamination protocol for the last time. Anytime our boots touched land, they were hosed down and then we walked through a boot cleaner machine that swished a biocide on them. We were also instructed not to kneel or sit on land or lay anything down, such as backpacks. We brought our outer clothing in for examination to be sure there was nothing in any of the velcro or crevices that could be dangerous. We were protecting wildlife by not spreading even a single seed or feather from one location to another.

We feel very fortunate to be able to end the new year in such a beautiful and remote part of the world. We will be leaving the Octantis in 2 days. The past few weeks has given us memories to treasure and even some new friends. This is a beautiful ship with many wonderful features. It is our second time sailing on the Octantis. We were here in September for the Great Lakes cruise and I did an extensive blog post about the ship then. If you’d like to learn more about the Viking Octantis and see some pictures, just follow this link: https://jandjtravel.blog/2024/09/26/life-aboard-octantis/ We’ll be sorry to leave the ship, but we’re looking forward to the next phase of our journey–Patagonia.

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