To Antarctica on the Atlas World Navigator

Monday, January 27, 2025

To Antarctica on the Atlas World Navigator

To Antarctica on the World Navigator

Our first day involved the mandatory safety briefings and getting oriented to the ship. Our Cabin 504 is lovely with a nice balcony and comfortable bed. We "lifted anchor" about 6 PM to "sail" down the Beagle Channel to the Atlantic Ocean and the Drake Passage.

Cabin 504

Captain Sousa advised that flexibility is the key to this journey. Every day the weather may change and plans must be made “on the spot” according to the weather and wind conditions.

We cruised down the calm waters of the Beagle Channel while we enjoyed lovely buffet and a few whale sightings. Upon exiting the channel into eight to nine foot waves in the Drake Passage, beam seas rolled the World Navigator from side to side somewhat. Walking about required holding onto the rails in the passage ways. Many passengers experienced some sea sickness. As for us, we were fine and got a good night’s sleep.

The following day, January 16, the captain changed course to head for the South Shetland Islands providing for a smoother ride.

By 2 PM tomorrow, we should be in calm waters in Antarctica! Meals on board are great. We’ve particularly enjoyed the Arctic sea bass, veggies and desserts. We are going down for our daily briefing soon on expectations for tomorrow and probably will take in a movie documenting life aboard the Peking, a commercial sailing vessel, rounding Cape Horn in 1929.

We arrived sooner than expected on the morning of the 17th in the Aitcho Islands. The cloudy and sometimes wet weather we experienced crossing the Drake Passage began to clear.

We boarded Zodiacs in the morning to cruise around spotting hundreds of penguins in the sea and on land. While we were eating lunch, the ship moved to Barrientos Island.

Penguin Watching from the Zodiac

Barrientos Island, ice free with a gravel beach providing for easy access from the Zodiacs, hosts hundreds of Gentoo and Chinstrap Penguins.

We took a while to get into the drill of donning long underwear, regular pants, waterproof pants, heavy socks, boots, heavy green parkas provided by Atlas, googles, gator (neck covering), hat, gloves and life jacket . W were over dressed! We also had to remember to put our room key into a slot on the life jacket.