Sadly we had to leave Antarctica behind, all of its beauty and grandeur, amazing wildlife and glaciers, all the wonderful personal experiences of kayaking, camping, exploring desolate stations, meeting new people, crossing the Antarctic Circle, all of it never to be forgotten.  Now we had two rough days to cross the Drake Passage again and return to Argentina.  Sweet sorrow.

We spent the next two days relaxing and taking advantage of the various onboard activities the crew offered us to help pass the time.  Julie was a little under the weather from the rough seas during the crossing so I entertained myself by attending a workshop on photography, icebergs and glaciers and a fascinating presentation on the Antarctic explorations of
Scott and Shackleton.  They made them tough back in those days (although in the case of Scott, not tough enough).

Moving around the ship during these rough seas was not easy.  The Akademic Ioffe, designed originally for Russian exploration rather than western tourists, maintained a large steady sway as it was buffeted by the large seas and strong winds.  But by this stage we had learned not to leave anything out which might slide off tables.  Walking around the ship was a bit tough but if you use the ‘one hand for the ship’ rule and go slow you can make it.  Showering and toileting present new challenges, in both cases you frequently had to hold on or be thrown off, all part of the experience.

The crowds at the bar at night were thinner than usual as most people had queasy stomachs.  It didn’t seem to affect me as much and there was always a couple of hearty souls to share a beer with late at night.

The weather outside during the crossing was excellent, clear blue skies, a temperature of around 5C (41F), a rolling, swaying ocean with a few giant albatrosses always on attendance.

By the afternoon of the second day we cruised within 12 miles of Cape Horn (the closest Chile allows), the southern most land of the South American continent and the key landmark for all those sailing vessels in centuries past.  Cape Horn is actually an island in a small group on the southern tip, the infamous home of towering seas and many shipwrecks since first rounded in 1616.  For us the seas were very mild and the Captain got as close as he could before veering up the east coast toward the Beagle Channel.

That evening the kayakers, by now a strongly bonded sub-group of the cruise, had a final meeting where Zach our kayaking guide handed out certificates (and beer) and everyone stood up and told their magic moment. Kayaking had been a ‘must have’ for me beforehand when choosing our Antarctic cruise and it had surpassed my expectations a thousand times over.  As we said, why come to Antarctica if you don’t kayak?

That evening was our last on the ship and everyone got a little dressed up, as much as you could given our limited wardrobe.  Our Tour Leader Lynn and our Russian Captain each made farewell speeches and the mood of the one hundred passengers was bitter sweet – celebratory in that we had just spent 16 extraordinary days cruising in Antarctica, one of life’s ultimate travel bucket list items, but sad because it would soon all be over.

It was a late night in the bar but an early start the next morning as we cruised down the Beagle Channel towards the Argentinean port town of Ushuaia.  There was then some minor chaos as the ship docked, bags were offloaded, passports were handed out at the last minute, boarding passes for those who were flying out that day, various certificates for achievements like kayaking and snow camping, and many instructions were handed out.

At 07.20 we disembarked to a cold rainy wet Ushuaia.  We identified our bags and got on a bus for a transfer to the storage area where we said many sad farewells to our new friends.  Will we keep in touch with some of these people, who knows, but we certainly won’t forget all the great time we spent together.