Experiencing Antarctica on Viking Polaris

hello viewers would be Ben here on November 29 2022 a freak Rogue Wave hit the Viking Polaris killing one passenger and injuring several others the ship spent two weeks in Punta Arenas undergoing emergency repairs in December 2022 we were on board for her first cruise following the fatal accident what was it like well come see for yourself let's start with an overview of the planned itinerary most Viking Polaris Antarctica explorers start their Journeys in North America Dallas Fort Worth and Miami are the two main hubs for air travel to the Viking Polaris it is usually an overnight flight into the international airport in Buenos Aires this is situated about one hour outside of downtown Buenos Aires most guests are put up at the Hilton Buenos Aires which is located on the historic Harbor District in downtown Buenos Aires if you have no problems with flight connections most passengers will have some time to walk around and explore the historic Harbourfront District [Music] the next leg of the trip begins in the wee hours of the morning with a charter flight from the domestic airport which is only a 15-minute drive from the Hilton this was a three and a half hour flight on an old Frills jet but because it was chartered by Viking it was our first chance to get to meet our new Viking family passengers get a brief bus tour of ushowaya on the way to the Viking Polaris which is docked at the main city pure this is within walking distance to the main tour shopping areas of ushuaya of course all of this was contingent upon making all your flight connections for two members of our party Tom and Sierra flying out of Chicago their travel experience was quite different Viking air and both Sierra and Tom's flight out of Chicago to Miami with a one-hour connection window to the Buenos Aires flight unfortunately through Chicago flight was delayed by over two hours they were rebooked on a flight from Chicago to Dallas Fort Worth where they would have a 45-minute connection window to the Buenos Aires flight but that flight got stuck on the runway for a half hour being de-iced they missed their connection to the Buenos Aires flight by five minutes the two planes literally passed each other on the taxiways there were no flights out in Dallas that could possibly make the connecting charter flights to ushawaya biking air determined that it would be impossible for Sierra and Tom to make the cruise they were booked on a return flight to Chicago Sierra and Tom refused to accept defeat they scoured flight schedules on the internet they discovered that they could fly from Dallas to Miami then they could catch a flight from Miami to Lima Peru and then from Lima Peru to Buenos Aires arriving a half hour before the charter flight but their flight was arriving at the International Airport this was more than an hour away from the domestic airport there was no way they could make that Charter flight but drawing on boundless resourcefulness they found a flight that could take them to El calafate and then a connecting flight from there to ushuaya they were shuttled directly to the ship where they were met by the captain and members of the Expedition team Tom and Sierra's Odyssey would soon become Legend amongst the crew and passengers it pushes off at 5 pm and heads out the Beagle Channel which straddles Argentina and Chile beginning its Antarctica Expedition Journey [Music] the ship's Expedition staff works with the International Association of Antarctic tour operators which coordinates the operations of commercial tour ships throughout Antarctica this ensures that no Landing site or cruising area will be overrun with tourists at any one time and that local resources are not strained Beyond sustainability levels tour operators submit itineraries in advance but Antarctica itself has the final say on where adventurers can go what they can see and what they do we arrive in Antarctica tomorrow morning and in order to prepare for our first arrival there are a lot of preliminaries to be taken care of first thing this morning we have to go down and be tested on our transfers from The Zodiacs Into The Kayaks and then we have to gather up all of our all of our outer layer gear to be a biosecurity tested so they're looking through all of the zippers and velcro vacuuming out any seeds to make sure we don't introduce any invasive species to Antarctica then we also got fitted with our Expedition gear this includes waterproof pants these are by heli Hansen and we have a nice foreign parka we have a nice outer parka and it's got a an insulating inner shell as part of our Expedition Fair this we can take home as a souvenir so we'll have a nice Viking branded parka with the inner liner I suppose it's good advertising for them the waterproof pants stay with the ship and also some boots that they fitted us with these are our Landing boots they're waterproof and they come to just below the knee so the key to Safe transfers into and out of the kayaks is a low center of gravity and not using the seat back as a handle our original itinerary called for us to visit Fournier Bay on Anders Island December 19th this is in the Palmer archipelago in the northwest danco coast of the Antarctic Peninsula this is at 64 degrees 31 minutes south latitude all right we're waiting to get loaded up on the zodiacs the crew actually goes through and checks everybody's buckles and straps to make sure everybody's safe to go and um we're about to load up we're on our way into this morning glad to be here um Antarctica was welcoming and cooperative for our first day all scheduled activities including submarine Dives kayaking zodiac cruises and the SOB were all operating today felt a little like a dress rehearsal for the rest of the trip practice layering all our clothing layers all of our photographic here and managing the transfers off and back onto the ship having ideal weather and sea conditions was perfect for our first day we felt comfortable and excited after completion of our first day's excursions [Music] in the afternoon the ship moved to the south end of bribant Island where we rendezvoused with our sister ship the octantus there's our sister ship the Viking octantus we've got a lot of the crew on the bow here as well as lots of passengers just having fun at the daily briefing we learned that we had a very special guest on board under the Torsten Hagen on his first vacation in 20 years or perhaps he was on board just to prove to the rest of the world that the Viking Polaris was perfectly seaworthy on December 20th we visited a Gentoo penguin Colony at Breakwater Island on the east side of wanaki Island along the Gerlach Strait sea ice conditions canceled our submarine dive we're headed for our First Landing in Antarctica oh there's Penguins right in front of the boat here penguins are using the same Landing hello beautiful people welcome to Craigslist we are going to help you to get off you can climb up the stairs that we built for you for those of you that choose not to do these steps we can also offer you another flat Landing of course you're not going to go up and high and see the penguin Colony but you will get the opportunity to see people okay so you choose which one you want to do with those intrepids that would like to as well in this little walk there is a free roaming area with a lot of processed cross means do not go beyond that cross um and uh your time to be back here is at 25 minutes past three 25 minutes last past three is the last boat okay so come as high as you can and you swing your legs towards the driver so 25 minutes all right clearer okay on the ground in Antarctica 23 well here's the penguin Highway here's a couple commuters headed home a little bit of work getting up these Hills [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] mine [Music] hello [Music] everybody in the pool [Music] [Music] all right I'm fine [Music] [Music] that afternoon we were fortunate enough to encounter a large pot of orca whales in the Gerlach Strait on December 21st we were to land on the Antarctic peninsula of Mainland at Argentinian base Brown in Paradise Bay however sea ice conditions prevented zodiac Landings and submarine Dives thank you um [Music] yes as far forward as possible all right we made it on the SOB and we have casted on all right ladies and gentlemen good afternoon how's everyone doing excellent Yeah well yeah 11 o'clock we have something nice we're trying to find some whales of course but that's never guaranteed Paradise Bay was chosen by to become the um now Ginger Penguins they are Avid swimmers they are like Torpedoes underwater millimeters [Music] Zodiacs and that's why we are allowed to approach a bit more with this kind of vessels and not so much with zodiacs moltum on top means it was on the water [Music] you can really hear the ice hitting the holes we work our way closer to base Brown [Music] with this song [Music] [Music] yes indeed that's another animal mother no oh nice nice [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] landing and hike up to a penguin Colony on a Saddle Ridge overlooking orney Harbor also on the Antarctic Peninsular Mainland was scheduled on December 22nd but sea ice and wind conditions canceled the Zodiac Landings submarine Dives and kayaking excursions um would I have to show you why we didn't land today there's a lot a lot of ice in between us and where we're supposed to actually delay in um which is impossible ice does not like the propellers on these just breaks him and kills them uh so yeah Antarctica decided to show us her churlish side in orney Harbor the sleet snow rain and wind proved challenging [Music] that's the landing Club and then it would have been a little bit late anyway to see what I had to put steps in because the the Snows receded so much still has receded [Music] we're using a colonized somewhere where they know there's a great amount of food and safety to the electricity [Music] um it's not one where it's like oh there's always seals here all these seals here now but we did we it's been uncommon not for me not to see more seals than we have [Applause] [Music] my name is Dennis we're gonna go and have some fun all right thank you in the afternoon we left orney Harbor and crossed the girl as straight we had lunch entertained by a very large pot of humpback whales they put on quite an amazing show for us [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] on December 23rd we successfully made a landing to visit penguin colonies and a research Hut at damoy Point on wainaiki Island but wind canceled kayak excursions we did complete a submarine dive there hello [Music] thank you Down the Hatch ER [Music] all right number three [Music] dive buddies that's right that's some personal everybody said change their mind they want to go back home for the woman we're going down so uh over here it's the air from the diving tanks and we will start diving and we are still a boat because we are always a bit positive [Music] [Music] when we go to 10 meters so you can see some more fun than me Periscope death [Music] you see a new jacket so are you getting a little bit more powerful in color wow oops I don't say Mingo [Music] is purple color is because the uh the light waves that creates the red color they get filtered out by the uh by the water so that's why the channel see red in the depth of the now watch your feet so our fishing lures are definitely a different color when we see them in the store as opposed to what the fish see down below send it what's your fingers [Music] we're over 120 feet down now already smoke stuff 200 feet [Music] oh I see about him so everything you see 30 percent confidence the couple see stars over there [Music] hey there's a fish there's a fish coming on the side here oh it's a penguin penguin oh yeah it's a Gentoo there he goes again [Music] and our Periscope is up foreign [Music] there you go and you take my collection that's what the rappers are okay perfect yes that's it [Applause] it's a farewell to our Yellow Submarine [Music] yellow Supreme we're headed in great we followed our submarine dive with a zodiac landing at Des Moines point [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] December 24th we were successful in making Landings at Half Moon Island in the South Shetland Islands this was at 62 degrees 35 minutes south latitude this is Half Moon Island the argentinians have a scientific research station here there's some kelp goals down on the water there's our ship [Music] and out on this point is a large colony of chin strap penguins [Music] foreign [Music] explosion echoing across the water and turned around to see this in the iceberg flipping over here thank you some of the rocks in Antarctica are amongst the world's oldest these basalts are estimated to be 4 billion years old [Music] [Music] slowly [Music] as I said they show reality services foreign on December 25th Christmas Day a full spectrum of activities were scheduled for president's head but she and wind conditions would have made Landings impossible the Expedition staff and ship's Captain explored the possibility of substituting the ho islands for a president's head [Music] but the weather system developed into a more Sinister pattern which threatened to close the Drake Passage for several days a decision was made to outrun the incoming storm the Viking Polaris and her sister ship the octantus raced North across the Drake Passage we did have one more important task to complete and that was the launch a weather balloon for NOAA six five four three two one the Northbound Drake Passage Crossing gave us time to relax use the spa and even take care of our laundry [Music] another feature on these Viking Expedition ships is a longer wreck complementary to use the Viking Polaris and her sister ship The octantus Scrambled North across the Drake Passage to the safety of the beagle channel before the worst of the weather arrived this also forced us to skip Scenic cruising around Cape Horn we arrived in ushawaya two days early we spent the first day at anchor in the harbor tendering ashore for a bus tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park as our last official Excursion foreign [Music] back onto the ship we packed our bags the ship relocated to the City Pier during the wee hours of the morning in the morning we said farewell to our Viking family and we were transferred to ushawaya airport for outbound flights [Music] most passengers had a very long layover in Buenos Aires but biking had reserved a large section in the Hard Rock Cafe at the airport for Viking passengers to rest have a meal and relax so Antarctica is breathtakingly beautiful wild and as remote as you can get biking certainly makes it possible to experience Antarctica in Comfort this was a once in a lifetime Unforgettable experience we're glad that you could join us until next time this is Whitby Ben saying bye-bye

Channel: whidbeyben

Views: 302,271

Keywords: Viking, Polaris, cruises, antarctica, expedition, rogue wave

Id: szcKIwB74tI

Length: 40min 6sec (2406 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 13 2023