PerfectlyPerth

Hiya. Yes I pinned a post in TA a while back with the most current IAATO guidelines and the changes re avian flu. (But as we know not all folks obey the rules so at the very least they should be scrubbing/vacuuming before landings).

I did it a few times in the 80s when I was a budget tight teen and flights were very expensive. It was long and intensely boring. It's basically there for pensioners (as they get free passes annually) and newly released prisoners who also get given a pass. When flights are less than 90 minutes and flights are cheap - there really is no reason to torture yourself! Train travel in Aus is not like Europe or Japan with efficient high speed trains etc.

I've been there in every month except mid January. There is no such thing as "pristine" snow except where there are no seals or penguins at all. They don't only poo at certain times of the year. They poo constantly. If you want to see penguins you will see, smell and walk on poo regardless of what time of the season you choose. Seal poo is huge - bigger than that of a huge German Shepherd dog ! Can't avoid it. There are still plenty of penguins through March. Tens of thousands of them on SGI shores. Thousands on many landing zones along the peninsula. Seals will be on ice flies and shores. Whales of all kinds are plentiful throughout the season but certain breeds like humpbacks are more abundant in March.

I was editing my post to add - but timed out! As I have said for many years - if "your" boots or gear smells then "you" have not cleaned them properly. It's not the responsibility of a machine. It's yours. And not just boots. Your overpants if you sat on the ground, your parka if you lay on the ground, your bag if you put it on the ground, your tripod legs etc. Everything gets scrubbed after each landing. And it many cases in specific regions also before each landing.

Yes on each of my trips there was a combo of doing your own vacuuming plus staff doing extra stubborn vacuuming especially of velcro (even using tweezers!), and the control checks. Plus we all signed forms confirming the vacuuming had been done.

Every expedition I've been on involved a high pressure hose, trays of antiseptic liquid to step in, and boot brushes. what is the issue with that? The ships I've been on didn't have muck rooms so all outdoor gear went back to our cabin in between landings. Nothing retained any aromas because they were properly cleaned before and after every landing. My Muck boots have done 3 polar trips with me and I've loaned them to 5 or 6 friends for their trips. They are in my wardrobe right now and smell of rubber - not penguin or seal poo.

Hiya I had a Crumpler satchel bag on my trips. Everything inside in including camera was in individual ziplock bags. My iPhone was generally in a waterproof pouch around my neck ready to capture any action. I was also in a couple of wild zodiac rides where the weather turned and we had waves coming over us. I still remained completely dry !!

Just FYI - Oceanwide has an offering of an itinerary that is only FI & SGI. (Not sure if link will be removed here so just go to their website and look at the newest itineraries). https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/antarctica/cruises/hds21-24-south-georgia-grand-tour

Why thank you kindly. It's been my constant response on travel forums since the 90s on this pesky topic 😄

There are several but they are private to the members. It's generally "invite only" from existing members to others they meet on their travels who meet the criteria for membership. The one I can think of off hand that has a public facing website is the Travelers Century Club.

Repeat nothing nothing and nothing Please memorise this. Full stop. If one of them performs CPR on you, thank them and buy them a drink. If you feel a random desire to give money away for no reason there are plenty of homeless people on the streets who will appreciate it.

I can't answer number 3 so will leave that for others. 1) if you are happy with expansive amazing scenery and not close up sights of penguins and seals, then a drive-by will satisfy you. 2) I guess that's down to the purists. At the end of the day your travels are for you - not as a competition with others. I count that I've been to India simply because I spent 12 hours sitting on a plane on the tarmac in Delhi surrounded by armed soldiers in the early 90s and that was ample India for me 🤣🤣

Why would you assume or presume from my post that I was suggesting any such thing. I simply mentioned some places I have had the privilege of landing. IAATO has a very active social media presence on Twitter and Facebook. I suggest you take it up with them given none of us here are members and have access to the identical info you do on their website. https://www.facebook.com/iaato.org?mibextid=LQQJ4d Unless you are writing some kind of thesis - none of this is really required for a holiday. At the end of the day none of it is within your control when it comes to landings - it's up to the EL and Captain. All you need to do is comply with the biosecurity measures and distance requirements and enjoy your experience.

Lol same !!!! Also that two others went under at same time so I didn't look like the only doofus!!!

I've personally landed at many places along East Antarctica where the last humans that landed were explorers in the 1940s. Not remotely listed on IAATO ! We still complied with the basic ideals of IAATO guidelines and there was only 80or90 of us so it was easy to maintain the numbers. PS you may be doing it out of politeness but could you maybe cease with the clicking like on everything I've posted in the past 7 years. It means I get a mass of notifications and assume they are new threads seeking responses. Forum etiquette anywhere on the WWW is generally to not necropost and re raise such old posts as it pushes current posts way down the list or to the second page.

Still plenty of ways to prove arrival in a new country, island, location etc. Time stamped photos etc. E-visa emails. I do personally miss adding stamps to my passport ! Last one was empty when I replaced it - despite travel. Times have changed.

On my West Antarctica, East Antarctica & Ross Sea trips literally no one on board has heard of / or would use Cruise Critic or Trip Advisor. Many belong to private forums for the worlds most travelled people -where entry is open only if you have passport evidence of 100 country landings. The rest are simply more interested in travelling than talking about it online.

Lol same. Plenty of thigh deep landings. I also slipped on seaweed on rocks and ended up fully submerged once. But bone dry thanks to goretex jacket and pants and my trusty wide calf half height muck boots !!

I'm not sure if there is something specific re the term "air bridge" but several operators offer fly-cruise or fly-cruise-fly itineraries for those who wish to skip the Drake. I can't remember if we can post links here so I've posted the names of the operators as well as the links. Or just google "fly cruise Antarctica" and they will all come up. Quark. https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/expeditions/antarctic-express-fly-the-drake Antarctica 21 https://www.antarctica21.com/ Aurora https://www.auroraexpeditions.com.au/expedition/antarctic-explorer-express/ Chimu https://www.chimuadventures.com/en-au/antarctica/antarctica-fly-cruise

I would suggest you google "fur seal attacks" for your own research. There are ample articles out there. https://www.wemjournal.org/article/S1080-6032(20)30212-X/fulltext The environmental awareness swimmer in question is lawyer Lewis Pugh. He does big swims all over the world and holds world records. https://lewispugh.com/ https://lewispugh.com/swims/ this link shows all the locations including the polar ones.

Did you bother to read the IAATO links before commenting? Your attitude would suggest this is not the ideal travel location for you. We don't set the rules & guidelines but as visitors we certainly respect and comply with them. It is expected by every operator and its passengers & crew. Researching a travel destination is one thing, but rubbishing the guidelines for that destination is just disrespectful. We are all travellers. The majority of us fully respect the environment of the destinations we visit. Just as demanding posters here have access to years of sea conditions and produce them at your whim - as you have on a previous post - is bordering on ridiculous. Do you ask the same of people on an African safari - how many days did it rain in the past decade? Did the lions still appear on cue in the rain ? There is a real danger in over researching down to the enth degree for a trip of this nature. As we (and every member of every expedition team) all like to say "throw expectations out the window and go with the flow". If someone did provide you with the past stats on sea conditions in the Drake - what would you then do when your specific ship encounters a storm, or a rogue wave which of course are completely unpredictable? Traversing the Drake Passage and Southern Ocean multiple times does not make me nor anyone else a professional meteorologist ! It simply makes us people who enjoy the big seas. In my case the bigger the better. 🌊🌊

Yep that's the stop/s hiding under the train bridge. (The one heading south was always there but the one heading north is the newer one built 13 months ago). I don't recollect them getting rid of stop 115 in the recent "clear out". That would make it quite a hike to the next stop in Southbank for folks. I walk over there weekly for dinner but can't say I've noticed if the stop is there or not. I only take notice of the ones under the train bridge as I use them to go up William - or direct lost tourists to them.

The easiest way to differentiate is: - a cruise ship does "drive-bys" with no landings. Some do go via Falkland Islands and will land there (weather dependent). - a small expedition ship does landings along the Antarctic peninsula, sun Antarctic islands and (if chosen) multiple landing zones in the Falklands and South Georgia Island.

Lol I got in the shower and promptly yelled out Gazebo!!! At least it didn't come to me at 3am !!

The stops you have circled are not very well marked on the map. They are actually directly under the train bridge. The PTV shuttles (yes I know the difference - I've lived in the cbd for 12 years and deal with cruise pax throughout the season) terminate & rest beside the Immigration Museum. Pax can disembark and board there. There are little tents (tent isn't the word I want - the square thing people take to the beach!!) and PTV staff there all day helping out with maps and directions up to Collins & Bourke st stops etc. I know the map suggests the buses physically terminate on the Queen St bridge - but they actually don't. That is just where they let off pax so they can walk back to Southbank if desired. But realistically in practice the final stop is the Immig Museum. The non PTV big glossy tour type coaches park in the bay on the opposite side of the road and generally just have a driver or two hanging around outside them.