On Board the Orion...

Our expedition vessel (they are very careful to distinguish it from a common cruise ship), the National Geographic Orion, was awaiting us in Ushuaia Harbour, and we were able to board as soon as we got off the catamaran. The Tierra del Fuego bus tour and the Beagle Passage cruise were devices to allow staff and crew time to transition from the previous to the next expedition.

Our first glimpse of the National Geographic Orion in Ushuaia Harbour.

The Orion, formerly an Australian ship which used to undertake Antarctic voyages from Hobart and New Zealand, is, according to its commander, Captain Martin Graser, the perfect size for expeditions (which could be defined as cruises with a non-fixed itinerary, able to be varied depending on weather and sea conditions). It is ice rated and small enough to approach features and explore inlets and fiords not available to larger ships. It is 3,984t gross and 103m long, and was built as an expedition vessel in Germany in 2003. Passenger capacity is a mere 106, and crew plus staff total 80 - that's a comfortable ratio! There are 14 Zodiacs for excursions and landings, and lots of kayaks. The present captain was a consultant on the Orion's original design.

Our cabin is spacious and magnificent, on the bridge deck, on the port side, and is all that we hoped (and paid) for. We have a juliet balcony we can step out onto. There is a queen sized bed, and a small sitting room with couch, chair and desk. The finishings are luxurious. We've been in expensive hotels with bathrooms smaller and not as good as this one. As befitting the current owners, the cabin has its own copy of the fabulous National Geographic Atlas of the World. (For all we know, all cruise ships have these features. We've never done a cruise before, so everything about cruising is novel to us.)

Selfie at the cabin door.

Tastefully appointed cabin 505 on the Orion.

We undertook a mandatory safety briefing, where, believe it or not, a roll-call was made to ensure that every passenger was present. First thing to notice, there are no children on board. We received a passenger list - only 4 are not from either USA or Australia. English is definitely the lingua franca on this voyage! Later, we were introduced to the Expedition Staff, that is the Lindblad / National Geographic employees who are not part of the ship's crew. Apart from the Expedition Leader, Shaun Powell, a very personable Texan, and his assistant, the staff includes a top National Geographic photographer and 6 naturalists, Erin, a Scottish oceanographer, and a "video chronicler".

The Orion's captain has an open bridge policy. This means that passengers can go to the bridge at any time to see navigation operations in action. We're sure that this freedom will greatly add to our enjoyment of the voyage.

Learning what an "open bridge" policy means on the Orion.

By the sound of it, the expedition organisers don't want us to relax much. Days at sea will feature multiple presentations on various topics. Other days we'll be kept busy on zodiac cruises, shore excursions to visit penguin rookeries or to see scenic highlights. There'll be kayaking where possible and a polar plunge somewhere suitable.

Our route out of Ushuaia was through the Beagle Passage into the Drake Passage which is the northern extremity of the Southern Ocean and separates the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in an east-west direction, as well as South America and Antarctica in a north-south direction. The Drake, pioneered by Francis of course, is renowned for being wild and stormy and is the reason every single passenger on board has all manner of seasickness medication. We're told that Harbord, after 10 days on board the Nimrod with Sir Ernest Shackleton exactly 100 years ago wrote "some of us are over the seasick stage and we no longer want to die". We faced the Drake with trepidation.

Our southerly passage of the Drake was none of the above. The ship rocked and pitched certainly (and many passengers were seasick) but the crew and staff have expressed great amazement about how benign the Drake is. Modest swell, lots of fog and basically no wind! As we approached the Antarctic Peninsula, the swell did pick up markedly, but still not much wind, and visbility quite poor. One staff member said the swell was 4m - it certainly looked big to us, but he said that it often gets much bigger.

Fogged in and poor visibility from the Lounge Deck.

Grey skies, but some birds followed us early on.

It took about 36 hours sailing from Ushuaia to our first destination the Antarctic Peninsula. This was a faster time than usual, apparently, because of the calm conditions. In between rather too much consumption at mealtimes, the hours of sailing are pretty well filled with interesting and very professional lectures from staff on photography and wildlife, geology, geography, oceanography, politics, treaties etc of Antarctica, and some manadatory briefings (use of Zodiacs, biosecurity rules and precautions), as well as bird-watching on the stern deck. This last was fairly futile with few birds (they like the wind!) and too much fog.

Hopefully, we will learn what all these birds are!