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| Killer Whales…we’ve yet to share the many photos and videos of whales and will do so over the next few days. |
This morning’s short post: Due to a poor Wi-Fi signal at the airport, we’ll have to wait until we arrive in Buenos Aires later today to complete our post. Please check back later in the day for the final expenses. Thanks for your patience.
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| These Black Browed Albatross build these unbelievable nests for their chicks. |
Now, since we’re back in Buenos Aires, a little pooped after so many action-packed days, I honestly don’t have much ummph to write much. I didn’t sleep more than three hours last night and have yet to have a bite to eat today.
In a little while, we’ll make the walk to La Cabrera for our final dinner at the fabulous restaurant. Our mouths are watering over the prospect of the options available, and we look forward to a lavish sit-down meal.
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| Gentoo Penguins in the thousands. |
We mostly dined in the buffet with our group of friends during the cruise since we all found the variety much more appealing than the lesser menu options in the formal dining room.
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| Magellanic Penguins are on a mission to get to the beach. |
It’s 5:30 pm. We arrived back at the Prodeo Hotel about an hour ago, did a little unpacking, getting necessary toiletries out for less than two days until we depart for Africa.
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| Rock Hopper Penguin parent and their chick (they only have one), but a friend chick stopped by for a visit. |
We decided to wait to have our laundry done in South Africa since there isn’t enough time to get it laundered and packed here. We planned to be packed by early afternoon tomorrow, leaving out comfy clothing for the overnight flight.
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| This Rock Hopper Penguin is one of my favorite photos. |
I apologize for the repeat photos we shared only a few days ago. When I perused through all the photos, some of these came up as favorites. It can’t be helped. Plus, I’m reasonably bleary-eyed and couldn’t muster any creativity or enthusiasm right now to go through the several thousand photos we shot during that 17 days. Bear with us. They’ll be coming.
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| Us and our flag on “real life'” ice bar in Antarctica. |
We’ll begin to share our exciting whale photos tomorrow, although we did include one here today. Plus, we’ll be uploading a few unique videos we’ll finally be able to post on YouTube, which allows us to share them here.
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Seeing that which Mother Nature provides is life-changing.
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The flight today was good and pleasantly uneventful. It was fun to see all the beautiful friends we’d made during the cruise on the plane. Roundtrip airfare to Buenos Aires was included in the cruise fare.
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| They were toasting with French champagne on a sofa on an ice floe. |
Speaking of the cruise fare, here you go…our final expenses for the cruise and incidentals. It was a hefty chunk for us, but we have no regrets. It certainly was worth all the sacrifices we made these past two years to make this possible.
| Expense | US Dollar | Euro |
| Cruise Fare | $ 34,500.00 | $ 27,945.00 |
| Airfare – inc in the cruise fare | $ – | – |
| Hotel Buenos Aires – 2 ngts | $ 140.00 | $ 113.40 |
| Taxi – paid by hotel | $ – | $ – |
| Cabin Credit | $ (101.23) | $ (81.00) |
| Wi-Fi on ship | $ 444.45 | $ 360.00 |
| Gratuities | $ 250.00 | $ 202.50 |
| Miscellaneous | $ 29.63 | $ 24.00 |
| Doctor visit on ship | $ 213.73 | $ 173.12 |
| Total | $ 35,476.58 | $ 28,899.02 |
| Avg Daily Cost – 17 days | $ 1,970.92 | $ 1,605.50 |
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| The “ice bar,” the real deal on an ice floe in Antarctica. |
No doubt, this was a lot of money to spend for this relatively short period. However, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one we doubt we’ll ever regret or repeat.
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| Happy as we could be to share this blissful experience. |
We need to get busy handling our complicated packing after storing half of our belongings here in boxes at the hotel. Tomorrow will be a busy day, but we plan to start it with a cup of coffee for Tom and tea for me, sitting in the hotel lobby, sharing more of this incredible experience with all of you.
Happy day to all!
Photo from one year ago today, February 8, 2017:
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| This adorable coffee shop in Southport, Tasmania, made us laugh. It appears to be a diving bell. For more photos from our road trip, please click here. |