Virtual Cruise: Antarctica Onboard Lindblad's National Geographic Endeavour

[melissa@cruisecritic]

For many, a cruise to Antarctica is truly a trip of a lifetime. Our correspondent Ben Lyons invites you to take the trip with him, a 15-day expedition, which begins and ends with a stay in Santiago and features 13 days onboard -- with six of them spent exploring Antarctica. We'll publish a new dispatch each day!

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/virtual/virtual.cfm?ID=29

[2552phxcrzr]

Ben's expedition with Lindblad brings back so many wonderful memories of our January 2007 voyage. Our initial consideration was to travel with Lindblad, but the itinerary we wanted (which included the Falklands and South Georgia) was only offered late in the season. Since the dates did not work out, we went with Quark, enjoying a terrific 20-day voyage that was a true adventure.

 

As I read Ben's words today re: Lemaire Channel and Petermann Island, I can't help but feel grateful that our experience was so different with the weather on the day of our visit -- we had spectacular weather with blue skies and a brilliant sun that reflected off the ice and snow; the scenery was unbelievable (in the channel with towering cliffs on either side; atop the bluff at Petermann Island where giant bergs bobbed in an iceberg jam; and on a zodiac cruise later that night, wending our way around the iceberg graveyard of Pleneau Bay).

 

Looking forward to hearing whether they made it to the Circle.

[diebroke]

If you want a sneak peek at whether we crossed the circle, you could look at the Daily Expedition Reports from the ship's staff at

http://www.expeditions.com/DER_Details113.asp?DailyReport=146148&SearchSource=Main&Ship=5

Ben is doing a great job describing our experience. We also have another trip through the Lemaire Channel on our return North.

[2552phxcrzr]

Thanks for the link; I'll check it out. I notice that the next segment of Ben's report is also posted - off to read that next.

[minke]

Facinating report. I was very interested in Day 8 when they got to base W on Detaile Island. This is a link to an ariel photo of that base in November 1956 when it was in operation. http://news.webshots.com/photo/2630443980075034447UupoKw I was on a RN ship that had been built in 1937 with no ice protection at all. We had to cross the Antarctic circle on Nov 5th 1956 to rescue 2 guys from there who had dog sledged to an offshore Island on sea ice when there had been an early break up of ice. The previous 3 photos in the album are pages from a magazine giving details of the rescue. Photo is RN copyright.

[jonathan2340]

This is a wonderful information that you have posted here. Keep it up.