Middle East 2024 - Day 11 - 12/9/2014 - Journey home + final thoughts

My Etihad flight from Zayed International Airport to JFK was scheduled to depart at 10am. I figured that getting to the airport about 2 hours before would be fine, and that's just about what I did. I got up early, prepared, packed, said goodbye to Brad (he wasn't flying out from Dubai until 2am the next morning), had a quick breakfast at the hotel, then hailed a Careem for the ride to the airport. I was running a little later than planned, but still made it there by 8:05a. When I went to check in at the business class counter (I got a credit card charge the night before hinting that my ~$2K bid for an upgrade was accepted), I found out that check-in for US flights closes 2 hours before departure, so I was just about 10 minutes late. But the agent made a couple of calls to re-open check-in for me, and I was able to get a boarding pass.

This scary moment potentially could have been avoided if my attempt to check in online the night before had succeeded, but I couldn't complete it then for some unknown reason; of course knowing to arrive more than 2 hours before would also have helped. I think the fact that I wasn't checking any luggage helped the case, and perhaps also being in business class. In any case, I was able to breeze through the security line and US pre-clearance due to a combination of business class and Global Entry, so I was at my gate by 8:40. I guess I could have had a little time to check out the Etihad lounge after all...

The 14+ hour flight was a lot more comfortable than it would have been in economy. We left about a half hour late, but arrived just about on time. I was in a seat facing "backwards" (opposite the direction of travel of the plane) - Brad informed me that this layout allowed every seat to have aisle access. I tried to take advantage of as much of the experience as I could, but I was probably still among the least demanding passengers. Highlights included: the lay-flat seat with built-in massage, larger and less trafficked bathrooms, complementary slippers and loungewear (I declined the latter), hot towels at take-off and landing, ample drinks (including mocktails), ample snacks, eating on real flatware. One minor complaint is that the anytime bites (which people were having as a lunch of sorts before landing) didn't have a hearty vegetarian option, so I settled for some muesli and cheese. Due to timing (boarding the flight and having the meal not too long after breakfast) I never felt like I had enough room to sample the dessert options.

Back in cold and rainy NYC, I chose just about the worst option to get home from the airport. By the time I was able to take the shuttle to the ride app lot, the wait for an Uber driver, and the ride through rush hour traffic, I could have taken the AirTrain and subway home for one-tenth the cost. The taxi line looked pretty long, but I probably could have gotten in one sooner than an Uber.

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Some brief final thoughts about the trip...

Overall, it was a good trip, and went just about as planned. The amount of wealth and development in Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi was impressive (ignoring the dark side of that development for the moment). Doha in particular had more going on than I expected, and perhaps had the best infrastructure relatively speaking (although the traffic to get to the circuit was hellish, the metro and shuttle worked fairly well; the parking at all the places we went was underground, plentiful, and free); and the scale of development in Lusail is mind-boggling. Dubai and Abu Dhabi seemed more tolerant of Western culture, and more so than I expected. And it was fantastic to meet up with Ngozi, and have her show us around Abu Dhabi a couple of times. Oh, and if I were to do the Dubai / Abu Dhabi trip again, renting a car would probably be the way to go (despite the anxiety of driving somewhere foreign).

In terms of track activities, the seats at Yas Marina provided the most action that I've seen at a race (I've been to four after the two this trip). The only very minor downside of that was that I couldn't hear the announcers / PA system much during the race, as they were drowned out by the cars essentially all the time. Perhaps listening to the commentary on a personal system (either a stream or a radio) would be a good idea, as you don't get a good sense of the whole race (and have to watch highlights after 😅) even with a view as good as we had. The seat at Lusail was also good, nice and close with a good view of the main straight, the pit lane, and the podium (plus the seats were spaciously spread out); but the main straight was the only thing I could see there. The facilities were also nicer at Lusail, and the trackside activities were perhaps marginally better there. However, there was less total area to walk around at Lusail. Both tracks had better facilities than the other tracks that I had been to before (COTA, Hungaroring), but there was less ability to watch track action while walking through general admission areas (especially at Yas Marina). YMC was closer to things, with all the other entertainment options nearby on Yas Island, while LIC was way out by itself like the other two tracks. These were the first two in-person weekends for me with support series (there wasn't any at COTA, and I only went to the race at Hungaroring), and I didn't spend much time watching those; F1 qualifying and racing is really what I'm there for (though practice sessions are nice as well). It was cool to see a sprint race (in Qatar), especially one with much different results than the main race. It was even cooler to for the first time see a main race (in Abu Dhabi) that was won by someone other than Max Verstappen.

I could get used to traveling business class... The part I appreciated the most was being able to stretch out and lie down, particularly with the pelvic issues that I continue to have. But at the end of the day it's tough to justify the significantly higher price if you're all just going from point A to point B. We'll see if my thinking changes after going back to economy next time around...

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 10 - 12/8/2014 - Louvre + Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

After breakfast we took an Uber to meet Ngozi at Louvre Abu Dhabi, an art museum renting the name of the original in Paris. This was yet another museum where the building greatly outshined the works within, though this time it was partly because the three of us were spending more time chatting than paying attention to the art. We had also considered doing a kayak tour around the museum, but we found out that it was only offered in the evening. Instead Ngozi drove us over to the nearby Mamsha complex also on Saadiyat Island. We took a short stroll along the boardwalk and then stopped for a light (but luxurious) lunch at Valgerand Nordic Grill. After that she kindly dropped us off at the track about an hour before the 5p race.

 

We were in our seats about 35 minutes before the start, and caught the national anthem and A380 flyover. We also got a glimpse of one of the cars from the upcoming F1 movie (starring Brad Pitt) doing a lap. The race was pretty entertaining, especially the couple of incidents on the first lap. We also caught a little bit of argy-bargy in front of us at turn 6. Lewis had a great recovery drive from 16th to 4th on his last race with Mercedes, passing George on the final lap. Despite a Ferrari double podium, Lando Norris' win ensured that McLaren clinched the constructors' championship. We left during the podium celebration (and also later found out that we missed the fake podium celebration for the F1 movie), and were able to snag an Uber without nearly as much hassle as the night before. We made it back to the hotel around 7:40p, and had (a somewhat expensive) dinner there.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 9 - 12/7/2014 - Qasr Al Watan, quali, and Eminem

Today was a pretty long day amidst a streak of nights with not quite enough sleep. After breakfast at the hotel we took a Careem over to Qasr Al Watan, a grand presidential palace that is used to greet foreign dignitaries but also is open to the public for tours. It was another pretty spectacular building. A (random and) perhaps interesting note is that upon entry you have to take a shuttle bus from the entry building to the main building. A more noteworthy happening was that we didn't realize that there was a dress code so both Brad and I were not up to code in our shorts; when this happens they lend men sweatpants to wear (in our case over our shorts).

We didn't stay at the palace all that long before heading over to the race track via Careem. We first watched Free Practice 3 and then walked around to check out other parts of the grounds and get some food. During FP3, Brad made a wager on one of Alex Albon's flying laps that if Alex topped the timing table then Brad would buy a Williams shirt (he had been trying to decide which team for which to buy merchandise in support - it was between Red Bull, McLaren, and Williams (who were only in the running because Albon was his favorite driver this year)). Well, Albon did indeed go top by a few hundredths of a second, so Brad had to make good on his promise and indeed bought a Williams shirt (for the outrageous trackside price of something like AED 680). We missed out on the F2 sprint race during the walkabout (unlike a track like COTA, you can't get views of the track as you walk around), but headed back to our seats to catch qualifying. Unfortunately, Lewis was knocked out in Q1 due to an unlucky incident where a bollard got caught underneath his car; George did fine, but the car didn't look so great in getting him to P7, behind a couple of midfield cars. Another noteworthy occurrence at the start of the session was a drunk couple coming up to us and belligerently claiming that I and a lady next to me were in their seats. Of course they were wrong, but they showed no remorse nor shame when an usher intervened to direct them to their proper seats. This got my normally cool blood boiling a little bit.

After quali we walked over to Etihad Park (which is on one side of Ferrari World) for the Eminem concert (included with the F1 ticket, if you were able to pick up a wristband before they ran out). We were there at least 1.5 hours (including time getting a bite to eat) before Eminem came on sometime around 9p. The show was meh; I wasn't particularly interested in going, but Brad wanted to. It was certainly not worth the subsequent headache getting home, nor the lost sleep. Traffic was a mess, and there were multiple failed attempts at hailing a Careem/Uber; which brought out a small heated (or maybe lukewarm) exchange between Brad and me. Brad was eventually able to land us in an Uber, though the surge pricing almost quadrupled the cost of the ride to the hotel the night before. We didn't get back until after 12:30a.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 8 - 12/6/2024 - Ferrari World & FP2

Today was relatively simple in terms of activities, though not so straightforward at times. After breakfast at the hotel (a buffet plus some made-to-order items), we took a Careem to Ferrari World on Yas Island. Brad was super excited about the theme park, and also about his first in-person F1 session; as usual I was more low key about things. Unfortunately, Formula Rossa (the fasted roller coaster in the world) was closed for maintenance. We went on Flying Aces (a more standard coaster) and then Mission Ferrari (a mini coaster with immersive qualities), at which point Brad needed a break from the coasters. We stumbled upon a Ferrari fan zone, the highlight of which was a static display of the F1-75 from 2022. We then did the Fiorano GT Challenge and then grabbed some lunch.

Next we headed to the Yas Marina Circuit, though finding the way was not so simple. We eventually made our way through the parking lot, a portion of the mall, and out to the shuttles, which we took to the west grandstand. The seats that Brad got us were in the premium section of the west grandstand, giving us a view of most of the first back straight and the subsequent 3 turns (6, 7, and part of 8), the last 2 turns (15 and 16), and the first half of the start/finish straight. This was the most racing action viewable from my seat at a race thus far. We watched part of a Formula 4 qualifying, then Formula 1 Practice 2. After that we walked around a bit and grabbed a bite to eat.

Getting back to the hotel didn't take too long. Once we exited the circuit we took about 10-15 minutes to find a spot to call an Uber. Once we were in the car (after Brad passed up the first driver who was in the wrong car), it took less than 30 minutes to get back to the hotel. Back at the hotel we headed down to the bar to play a couple of games of Kingdomino. We initially couldn't find a suitable table, and an Emirati who was drinking alone at a larger well-lit table noticed this and insisted that we switch with him. We played the 7x7 variant for the first game, and Brad won 133-123. As we were concluding, the Emirati came over to talk to us, showing interest in the game. We showed him some basic rules and offered for him to join us. He asked instead to watch us play as he learned more, and then join in. This ended up side-tracking the game a bit, as he told us some wild stories about his time in the US when he was younger. We ended up calling it a night after finishing the second game, a 5x5 variant, which Brad won.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 7 - 12/5/2024 - To Abu Dhabi

After breakfast and a short stroll, we used the Careem app (which I finally got working after failing the verification process in Doha, but had the option to verify via WhatsApp in Dubai) to hail a taxi to take us to our hotel in Abu Dhabi. We had also considered going by bus (which would require a car to get to/from the bus station on both ends, but still be significantly cheaper), but opted for the convenience of a point-to-point journey after a couple of days of hemming and hawing. The ride to the Andaz Capital Gate took about 1.5 hours (we got there a bit after 1:30p) and cost AED 324 ($88.24 based on the conversion rate on Google, but Bank of America charged me $92.39). Brad's friend also gifted him status there, so we got a larger room (which happened to be a disability friendly room) and complementary breakfast.

I had contacted a family friend, Ngozi, the day before, and arranged to meet up with her today. This was actually a last minute connection, as I didn't think that she lived in the UAE anymore. She graciously offered to show us around, and picked us up at the hotel around 4:30p. We initially headed toward Qasr Al Watan, but had to make a detour to top up the air in one of her tires after a low pressure warning. We then found out via the internet that Qasr Al Watan had closed (at 5p), so we pivoted to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (which closed at 10p) instead. We had initially ruled this out when she picked us up because I was wearing shorts, but we decided to head back to the hotel so that I could change to pants before going to the mosque (which wasn't too far from the hotel - maybe a 10 minute drive).

The mosque was quite grand indeed, very large and spectacular. I found it interesting that Ngozi commented that they had greatly reduced the places that you could go within the mosque - it used to be essentially completely open 5 years ago, but now there was a roped-off path where you were allowed, which excluded all of the central area. She also had to go buy a covering for herself (I don't remember the name), as they didn't lend them out anymore. At least visiting the mosque was still free, though you did have to reserve tickets (which we did online).

After walking though the mosque grounds, she drove us to one of her favorite restaurants, a Japanese place called Zuma. It was quite fancy (though I was fine entering in a t-shirt), and also pretty tasty. She also secretly ordered a special personalized dessert to celebrate my birthday 😅. After dinner she drove us back to the hotel.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 6 - 12/4/2024 - Dubai

Brad was gifted status at our hotel by a friend, which meant that we got a couple of additional perks, including complementary breakfast. Interestingly, the breakfast menu was à la carte. After breakfast we took an Uber to the Burj Khalifa, which has to be entered via the Dubai Mall for tourists. We eventually found our way there for our 10a reservation for At the Top SKY - the second highest observation deck, on the 148th floor (and correspondingly second most expensive package). It felt a little bougie to wait in a lounge area instead of the general line and get stickers labeled with "Premium", but it did make for a more comfortable experience; I also appreciated the complementary water and juice in the lounge at the top. The view was nice, though some of it felt kinda empty perhaps due to the desert landscape; I wonder if it would have been more meaningful if I was from the area or knew more about the surroundings. Nevertheless this was my favorite activity that we did in Dubai. I'll also note that the observation deck on the 124th/125th floors also had good views, and the windows there seemed bigger and amenable to better pictures (we didn't spend much time there because we were on the way down).

Our next destination was the Google office in Dubai Internet City. On the way in search of the nearby Dubai Metro station we walked by the Dubai Fountain, which looked like a bigger cousin of the Bellagio fountain; the shows only happen at night, so we didn't get to see it in action. The swanky downtown area was quite a contrast to the old city that we had walked around the night before. It took us a while to find our way to the metro station, but we eventually got there and bought 2 one-way tickets (16 AED, or $4.36 USD, total). We took the Red Line down to DIC, then walked about 20 minutes over to the Google office. Unfortunately, the workers had the day off for UAE National Day (which was a couple of days before, but Google gives 3 days off for it), so the cafe was closed. We had been counting on this for lunch so we were pretty hungry (and in Brad's case hangry) by this time. We looked around for a bit and had some snacks and drinks from a microkitchen in order to hold us over until we could get a proper meal. We then took an Uber over to the Nakheel Mall on Palm Jumeirah (an artificial archipelago in the shape of an encircled palm tree) to grab a bite in the mini food court.

After eating we took the Palm Monorail one stop to the end at the Atlantis hotel. From there we walked along the boardwalk to the Atlantis The Royal hotel and then hailed an Uber back to our hotel. I should mention that we were not allowed to walk up to the Atlantis The Royal lobby, but instead had to have the driver pick us up at the gate. Back at the hotel we played a game of Kingdomino 7x7 (which I won 128-97) before heading down to dinner at the CBar in the hotel.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 5 - 12/3/2024 - To Dubai

In contrast to the previous days I was forced to get up early this morning - I had a 10a flight to Dubai on flydubai. After a quick breakfast at the hotel I took an Uber to the airport to catch the 1h10m flight, which ran on time. I found it notable that the Dubai/UAE immigration officials give tourists a SIM card with 10 GB of free data upon entry.

 

Brad's flight from Dallas was due to arrive at noon at DXB, 15 minutes before mine. He got in slightly earlier than that and we coordinated meeting up - his flight landed at terminal 3, while mine was at terminal 2. He had used credit card points to update his round trip flights to business class on Emirates, which he was excited about. Because of the upgrade, he got the fast track through immigration and came over to my terminal to meet me. There was a bit of confusion about meeting at departures vs arrivals, but we eventually worked it out. From there we took an Uber to our hotel, the Hyatt Centric Jumeirah.

After settling into our room, we headed out on a walkabout. Our first stop was the Jumeirah Mosque a short walk away, but we just missed the end of visiting hours at 3p. We continued north to the Etihad Museum to look around there for a bit. This continued the tradition of museums I had visited Qatar, but on a lower level: visually interesting building (though to a lesser degree than the Qatari museums), but uninteresting subject matter (the least engaging so far). As the museum was dedicated to the formation of the United Arab Emirates as a country, I did learn that "Etihad" means "union" or "unity"; so "Etihad Airways" is essentially "United Airlines" (except with significantly better service 😅).

Brad's colleague had recommended that he visit the Gold Souk, so we headed in that direction. We took an Uber to a Nepalese restaurant that Brad had picked out in the old city area, but left because he wasn't feeling the vibe. After a bit of wandering around we eventually settled on a South-Asian-ish place that was honestly almost certainly worse than the initial place we passed on; I say that not only because I found my paneer masala too spicy.

Following the suggestion of the concierge at the hotel, we walked to the Dubai Creek and took one of the abra ferries across to the Spice Souk / Old Souk (this cost 1 AED / UAD Dirham, or about 27 cents; good thing we took out some cash). During the walk through the market we were hounded by merchants trying to catch our attention - something neither of us is ever in the mood for. We continued on to the Gold Souk for a very quick look around. This souk expedition was not something either of us was particularly interested in, so Brad decided to downgrade other recommendations he had received. From there we took an Uber back to the hotel.

On the subject of Ubers... At least two of the UberX's that we ordered so far in Dubai were Lexus cars - not something that we would have expected.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 4 - 12/2/2024 - Touring Doha

My main plan for the day was a reservation for a 4.5 hour shared guided tour of Doha, which was due to start at 3p. That was later than I would have liked, but the other options with all the items that I wanted were for private tours (or way earlier than I wanted), and I didn't want to be 1-on-1 with a guide for that long.

Another lazy morning saw me skip breakfast at the hotel. I tried to make up for it a little by doing a brief treadmill run in the fitness center. Interestingly, I forgot that the hotel has it reserved for women on Monday morning until 12:30p; but this only cost me about 6 minutes of waiting. After the run I cleaned up, started some laundry (there was a combined washer/dryer in the room), then went down to the Indian restaurant in the hotel for a late lunch. I was only able to get through about half of the palak paneer - I also didn't enjoy it that much, probably because my stomach wasn't ready for it at the time - but I decided to box up the remainder anyway.

The tour driver, Ali, didn't roll up to the hotel until about 3:45p (I had a WhatsApp exchange with both the tour operator and him a little beforehand, so I knew to expect him to be late). He was in an SUV with 4 other clients already, so I had to pop in the third row with minimal leg room. Besides that, though, he was very friendly and knowledgeable about all things Doha/Qatar. The other 4 tour guests were also in town for the F1 race (2 from Manchester, 2 from Northern Ireland), and also friendly.

We first headed to Katara Cultural Village, where we got out and Ali led us on a brief walkabout. Next he drove us through a section of Pearl Island (a man-made island with swanky hotels and residences), and then back down to the Corniche just south of West Bay where we took a half hour cruise in the Doha Bay / Persian Gulf on a "traditional" dhow boat. Lastly, he took us to Souq Waqif, a large open marketplace that gave me vibes of a better version of a Moroccan medina. The two from Manchester stayed there to end their tour, and I was last to be dropped off around 8:30p.

I was pleased that I saved the palak paneer from lunch, as I didn't have to worry about dinner. The room had a microwave and flatware that made warming it up pretty easy. It also had a dishwasher to make for easy clean-up (of all 3 items 😅); though I had to buy the dishwasher soap (as I had the laundry soap) from the front desk. Speaking of the laundry, I was disappointed that the dryer didn't work very well (which I probably should have expected from a combo unit).

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 3 - 12/1/2024 - Qatar Grand Prix

This was a very lazy morning, given how late I got back to the hotel the night before. I slept through breakfast (which closed at 10) and gave up on any sightseeing plans. The only thing of note from the morning and early afternoon was that it was kinda cool to hear the Muslim call to prayer echo out over the city a couple of times.

I had a late lunch at the Thai restaurant in the hotel before heading out to the track. I wore pants this time around, as the shorts from the day before were not the best idea when the temperature dropped from the low 70s (Fahrenheit) to the mid 60s during the evening/night, along with the constant breeze; I brought along a thin hoodie again, though I probably would have been better off with my puff jacket. And If I was thinking ahead before the trip, I would have packed my long sleeve Mercedes t-shirt, instead of (or in addition to) the two short sleeve ones.

I decided to try the reverse of the metro route that I had taken back to the hotel the previous night, though giving myself plenty of time in case there were any issues. I walked to the DECC metro station and took the train to Lusail QNB, then the shuttle to the track. This went much smoother than taking the Uber the day before. It took almost as long (a little under 1.5 hours), but there were no significant delays at any point. They gave away free water at the shuttle stop, just as they did on the grounds at the track. I got to the track around 5p, a couple of hours before race start. I mostly stayed at my seat watching pre-race activities while killing the time. I do want to give a shout-out to the track for the best bathrooms that I've experienced so far at a race (not that they were spectacular, but much better than port-a-potties), though that may be because this was my first time in the main grandstands.

The race turned out to be a huge disappointment for Lewis. First a slow start that dropped him a couple of places, which turned out to be a false start that later yielded a 5 second penalty, then he was lacking pace, then a puncture that dropped him out of the points. George did better to finish 4th, though he had a mix of bad and good fortune. Max won the race, as he has done for all three races that I've seen in person so far - it's infuriating how good he is.

I didn't hang round too much longer after the podium celebration, leaving the stands around 9:15. The journey home was much more efficient this time around, I suspect because many people were staying for the Maroon 5 concert. I was on a bus headed to the metro station by 9:50, and made it to the DECC station by 10:40. I was hungry, so I stopped by the food court at the City Center Doha Mall for a quick bite (a veggie "philly" sandwich) before heading back to the hotel. It turned out that I could have gone to one of the hotel restaurants, which was open until 11:30, but I didn't know that at the time. In any case, I was back in my room by 11:35.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Day 2 - 11/30/2024 - Doha museums + quali

Today was the first time since I met Fran that we had been apart on her birthday. Fortunately, I later found out that her family and friends surprised her with a small gathering, which somewhat made up for my absence. It was kinda cool that they watched on TV some of the event that I was attending.

Anyway, today I did a bit of sightseeing before heading to the racetrack. I had a decent night of rest before getting complementary breakfast at the hotel about 30 minutes before it closed at 10a. The breakfast buffet was at their Thai restaurant, so there were a couple of “interesting” additions (e.g., noodles) to the standard fare; nevertheless, some decent options, even for a vegetarian.

Right after breakfast I took an Uber to the National Museum of Qatar. The exhibit there was a path through the complete history of Qatar, all the way from the geological formation of the peninsula to modern culture. It was visually catching and fairly well done, though I wouldn’t say that I found the subject matter riveting. I would also add that the last part begins to border on national propaganda, which is fine I guess. The building itself (with a design inspired by the desert rose) was quite striking.

After that museum I walked over to the Museum of Islamic Art, situated right on Doha Bay. On the way I made a short detour to Flag Plaza to find the US and Nigerian flags. The Islamic museum was less interesting to me, though it was also well done and a nice building. I finished up there around 2p, then took an Uber back to the hotel. I also want to point out that things seem to be fairly cheap here, perhaps due to a favorable exchange rate. The 15-20 minute Uber rides were the equivalent of about $8 or less, and a small bottle of water at a convenience store was 1 QAR, or 30 cents.

After some poor time management at the hotel, I decided to skip a late lunch and head for the Lusail International Circuit a little after 3:15p, hoping to make it in time for the 5p sprint race. What ordinarily might be a 25 minute drive was obviously going to take longer due to race traffic. However, we ended up making a bunch of detours (some forced by traffic cops,  couple perhaps due to the driver’s impatience), and didn’t get to the drop-off until about 4:45p. I did make it to my seat right before they began the formation lap at 5p.

 

The sprint race was fine in terms of performance; George Russell started 2nd and finished 3rd while Lewis Hamilton went from 7th to 6th. The car noise from the main grandstand was louder than at the previous races I had been to, probably because I was closer and the location is somewhat more enclosed than my previous seats. They later gave out ear plugs, but I didn’t feel a need to use them. After the sprint I want for a bit of a walkabout to check out the grounds and find some appealing food. The food lines were pretty long, especially at places that might have decent veggie options (like pizza). There was a mix of classic fast foods and some ethnic options, though seemingly less “Middle Eastern” fare than I would have expected. I ended up waiting about 45 minutes for a couple of veggie bao, and missed most of the F2 sprint race. With more time to kill I waited another 45 minutes for a slice of NY style cheese pizza, which was better than I expected.

The next event of significance was F1 qualifying for the main race at 9p. George did well to qualify 2nd (later promoted to 1st after a penalty on Max Verstappen) while Lewis was down in 6th. I hung around for interviews after quali, attempting to avoid the mad rush to leave; I’m not sure this was the best idea. I began heading out a bit after 10:30, and found that there was no taxi or Uber service - only shuttles to the Lusail QNB metro station (next to the Lusail Stadium). The line for the shuttles was long, and I didn’t board one until around midnight. Once we got to the station I decided to try the metro route back, instead of trying for an Uber or taxi - they were strongly pointing everyone in that direction, as they were apparently running the trains later than normal. This actually ended up being fine, as I took the train (which I think only cost 2 QAR) to DECC and walked 20 minutes back to the hotel. I was back in my room around 1:15a.

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Middle East 2024 - Days 0/1 - 11/28-9/2024 - To Doha

This trip was organized around the last two Formula 1 races of the season, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. These would be my third and fourth races in person, and the last time seeing my guy Lewis Hamilton competing in a Mercedes car. I’ll probably keep the posts on the short side; but at least I’ll write, unlike my recent trip with my and Fran’s moms to Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Las Vegas.

I took a flight the night of Thanksgiving directly from JFK to Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha. The Qatar Airways flight left a few minutes earlier than the planned 9:30p departure, and arrived almost 12.5 hours later just about on time about a quarter to 6p the next day. The flight was fine, save for the rumbling in my stomach (which I placated once on the ground) the last hour or two. I considered upgrading to business class when I checked in, but the additional $2800 was more than I could justify. It turned out that I would have been there with Busta Rhymes, who happened to be on the flight.They served two meals and a snack, though I couldn’t stomach much of the second meal due to the previously mentioned condition. Even though I have ordinarily preferred window, aisle seats for long flights are my new thing so I have easy access to the toilet.

After deplaning it took an hour or so to get through immigration. As a US citizen I was charged a 76 Qatari Riyal / QAR ($21 USD) entry fee, which I think was new as of a couple of months ago. I was in no mood to navigate the longer public transport route, so I took a taxi to my hotel, the Centara West Bay. I also checked Uber, but it was unavailable - I later found out that they only drop off at the airport. I also tried to set up Careem, but the phone number verification didn’t work.

The hotel room was well appointed, though perhaps not the (affordable) five stars promised. It was probably nicer a few years ago when the hotel was built, but there was some wear and tear apparent (including water damage on the bathroom door).

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Trip highlight photos can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Days 13-6 - 1/7-10/2024 - Journey home

I’ll combine the remaining days of the trip, as there was not much in terms of activity.

Days 13 and 14 were for sailing back across the Drake Passage toward Ushuaia. Even though the sea was choppier on the return voyage, I didn’t have any issues with seasickness this time around. Day 13 had about 3 meter swells, while Day 14 had 4-5 meter swells. The wind speed on the second day of the crossing reached 50-60 knots, high enough that they closed the outside decks of the ship.

Inside, the days were scheduled with talks and activities, though we skipped out on most of them. The subjects of the talks/activities that I did attend included: the geology of Antarctica, the Antarctic treaty, knot tying, our ship (Ocean Endeavor), orcas (aka killer whales), and a fundraising auction. The auction raised funds for WWF and the Citizen Science charity; notable items up for auction included: driving the ship for 20 minutes, delivering the morning wake-up announcement, the ship’s Antarctica flag for the voyage, and the expedition nautical chart (with additional artwork). The flag and chart each fetched about $800-$900. There was a captain’s farewell event, during which they also presented some employee-of-the-month awards. The executive chef also provided some fun statistics about the amount of food that was consumed during our 1877 (later adjusted to 1927) nautical mile voyage; I don’t remember any specific amounts, but most things mentioned were in the hundreds of kilograms.

Day 13 had a “plant based” dinner to promote Intrepid’s sustainable practices; I use the quotes because: (1) it was a vegetarian dinner, not a vegan one (as I expect the term plant-based to mean); (2) they still had the option to order the standard grilled chicken or fish that was available every dinner. In all, I think the dinner menu was reasonable for the clientele on board; I just have issues with the use of the term “plant based” to describe it.

On Day 14 we settled our shipboard accounts, which included all onboard purchases and gratuity for the ship and expedition crews (they automatically added a suggested amount, which we did not change). We also each got $50 credits for the late boarding and missing dinner the first night of the expedition. We also tagged our luggage with ribbons (organized by bus color) and set them out for pickup before 11pm.

We were originally supposed to be on the pink bus which went directly to the airport, but we changed to the green bus which went to a luggage storage location (a bar that they had rented for the morning/afternoon) since we had plenty of time before our 1:15pm flight. We disembarked around 9am, took the bus the short ride to storage, and stowed our luggage there for a couple of hours. We walked with Liz, Michelle, Diane, and Kayla to a cafe on the main street for breakfast. We made a couple more stops (cafe, pharmacy, chocolate shop) on the way back to storage, where we picked up our luggage and five of us (Diane’s flight was later that night) took a couple of Ubers to the airport.

I somehow didn’t get dinged for overweight luggage, but Michelle did. This caused her to have to wait in the incredibly slow payment line while the rest of us (minus Liz, who waited for her) went through security. It all worked out, though, and she made the flight with us. Liz and Kayla were on later flights. Seating on the Aerolineas Argentina flight was a little weird. The first class section had economy seats, but was half empty - they seemed to only fill at most the window and aisle seats of each set of 3. Fran and I each had a side of row 3 to ourselves; though we had initially selected seats in row 1 at purchase time. We also saw something like 15 or 20 other people from our expedition on the same flight out. And there was another Intrepid couple on our same flight from Buenos Aires to JFK. We had about 5.5 hours between the flights, which were once again in separate airports. We shared a taxi with Michelle from AEP to EZE. The check-in line for Delta was really long, but we had plenty of time and no cause for stress. The flights today were better than the other way a couple of weeks ago in terms of pelvic discomfort. I suspect that the 2 weeks of antibiotics might be helping, but another big factor is less anxiety/stress on the return. I’ll also give a shout-out once again to the Global Entry facial recognition system that made immigration a breeze. The exit process in Buenos Aires also used facial recognition, but it didn’t go quite as smoothly (especially since I scanned the wrong boarding pass barcode, but also because it required taking off my glasses to work). As an aside, we didn’t get Argentina stamps in our passports because I guess everything is going digital.

In closing, I’ll add a few thoughts about the trip overall. I can easily say that this was my favorite trip that I’ve taken over the last 6 years with Fran, and likely also my favorite of my lifetime; though there may be a bit of recency bias there, and I definitely struggle to remember all my past trips. And I say this even with the anxiety and discomfort caused by my pelvic condition. The landscape was more spectacular than anything I’ve seen before. And the excursions were (mostly) great, even though I’m not normally one for the cold. I particularly enjoyed getting close to the whales, and the seals and penguins were also fun to see. It was also good to have Fran to push me to do a couple of things, like day paddling, that I normally would not have done on my own.

When we were at port in Ushuaia, I noticed a couple of fancier looking ships alongside. That got me wondering how much, if at all, the experience would have been improved on a new ship - the Ocean Endeavor is about 40 years old. Besides creature comforts (the other ships had rooms with balconies, and fancier looking terraces), the newer ships would pollute less than the Ocean Endeavor (which seems to release a lot of sooty smoke) does. Intrepid claims to operate carbon neutral, so hopefully they have high quality carbon offsets to balance the ship’s emissions. Nevertheless, I can’t say that I have any regrets about the trip, and would highly recommend Antarctica and Intrepid to anyone interested.

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My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Day 12 - 1/6/2024 - Last of the excursions (Base Brown & Danco Island)

We stayed in Downtown Peninsula for our last day of excursions. The day on ship began with a cool humpback sighting in the morning after breakfast, and ended with an exciting (Type B) orca sighting just before dinner.

The morning excursion to Brown Station was the farthest south we got - almost 65° in latitude. The flag route at the station included a hike up the hill, where they had set up path to slide down on our backs (this was permitted, as opposed to most locations where we weren’t even allowed to kneel, because this was a designated camping site). Fran being Fran, she ran up the hill and did the slide two more times before we left the site. She built up a reputation for being active, where multiple people (like the expedition doctor) were regularly asking her how many times she had been up and down the hills.

Our last excursion brought us back to Danco Island, in the previously visited Foyn Harbour. Fran and I decided that we liked cruising before the landing, so we stayed back a couple of groups after ours was called to ensure that we did the cruise first. The landing portion included more mini-hiking up snowy hillsides and observing Gentoo nests and highways.

After the recap all the passengers went out to the bow of the ship to take a group photo. The forecast for the return across the Drake passage is a bit ominous, with 3 meter swells the first day and potentially up to 5 meter swells the second day. Let’s hope that we can outrun the incoming low pressure zone and minimize the bumps. We began our Bonine course before going to bed.

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My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Day 11 - 1/5/2024 - Foyn Harbour & Cuverville Island

We would spend the next couple of days in the area that the expedition leader referred to as “Downtown Peninsula”. This is the area that most Antarctic tourist expeditions visit. For the morning, we sailed down the Gerlache Strait and hung out in Foyn Harbour. We did a zodiac cruise that took us by a shipwreck (Guvernøren) of an old whaling company. A cool aspect of this cruise is that the ship sailed off afer dropping us off, and the zodiacs caught up to it down the harbor after cruising around.

The afternoon excursion was to nearby Cuverville Island, home to a Gentoo penguin colony. The cruise portion wove through an “iceberg graveyard” off the coast of the island. The landing portion felt a bit less invasive to me than when we went to the Adélie colony. I had been a little cold during the morning cruise, so I added an extra later for the afternoon. This ended up being a bit of a mistake, as I was overheating while walking around. But then I knew better for the next time.

Tonight was the camping night, for those (not us) who opted for that additional excursion. Transfer to the island in Leith Cove for camping began after dinner, around 10pm. There were 60 people camping, and many more on the waitlist. We heard from multiple guides that our expedition passengers signed up for more things than the typical tour group. This seemed to be because we had a younger group than normal; and that in turn was likely because there was a batch of 20+ Remote Year participants on the expedition.

Another random musing… The west side of the peninsula has a noticeably different landscape than the Weddell Sea side. There is more snow, mountains, and glaciers on the west side, while the east side is rockier. I like the general landscape better on the west side, but in the sea I prefer the majestic tabular icebergs of the Weddell Sea more.

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My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Day 10 - 1/4/2024 - Freud Passage & Portal Point

Today was a day of alternate plans. Because, as Ryan would say, it’s an expedition after all. We were originally supposed to have a morning landing at Palaver Point and an afternoon landing at Cierva Cove. Right as they were starting the disembarkation announcements around 8am, they decided to call it off - the winds were too high and the water too choppy. They then scheduled some talks and onboard activities for the morning in place of the outing, while repositioning the ship to look for alternatives. Toward the end of the first talk, the presenter (who was a guide) let us know that he was being called to prepare for a standby excursion. And not too long after it was announced that we would be doing a short zodiac cruise in Freud Passage. We headed out around 10:15am for the one hour cruise with Carlos. The best thing about the cruise was watching 3 humpback whales from the zodiac, though we didn’t get all that close.

The afternoon excursion also ended up being a change from the original plan. It was a split landing / cruise at Portal Point. Since we were in the second to last mudroom group, we went on the cruise first - Julie was our zodiac driver. I think we were originally supposed to cruise for about 35 minutes, but it seemed closer to an hour by the time we were done. We spent the whole time watching a few groups of humpback whales feeding, sometimes getting as close as 100ish meters to them. It seemed like not more than 30 seconds would go by without us hearing spouting in some direction, then we’d each have to figure out which way it was to prepare to take shots as the whales surfaced. It was great seeing so many whales so close; Fran absolutely loved it. She also got a sighting of an almost full humpback breach (one of the things that I would most like to see during the expedition), but I missed it.

The (mainland) landing was at a place where we did a tiny bit of glacial hiking for an hour. The guides had flagged out a path that traversed 2 hills and circled back on itself. The path through the snow was narrow, and we were asked not to deviate from it (in one section in particular there was a danger of crevasses, and in fact that section was blocked off because a crevasse had been recently found). We were also treated to a group of seals resting on the snow - the initial group of 2 grew to 4 as we were leaving. The last point of note is that there was another small group of expeditioners nearby who had apparently traveled there in a yacht - we noticed them in the distance when our ship initially approached, and the hike took us even closer to where they were. I should also mention that we saw one or two cool iceberg calving events.

At dinner we chatted for a while with Chris and Marissa, the guide couple who had led our day paddle outing.

One random item of note… We took advantage of the shipboard laundry to help get our underwear through the whole trip. But I would have been much better off packing underwear for the full duration instead of the extra base layers that I brought along. Conservatively, I think I ended up not wearing about one-third of the clothes that I brought, and simply re-wore items more than I expected. And the laundry prices were as expensive as you’d find at a hotel - $2.50 per underwear, and more expensive for other items.

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My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Day 9 - 1/3/2024 - View Point

In accordance with the early schedule for the day, we had breakfast at 6:30am - 30 minutes after it opened. We were the first normal mud room group (apart from the photography group, who is always first) called for the morning outing, with the call going out a little before 7:20am (about 10 minutes earlier than expected). The original plan was a split landing at View Point (our first Antarctic mainland landing), but the zodiac cruises were cancelled soon after we were on board, and everyone just did a landing. The site was a rocky beach that led to a walk over some shale to an outlook with some man-made structures. There was a meteorological station, two Chilean huts (one long abandoned) for emergency shelter, and a cross. The area around the huts was scattered with Crabeater seal bones and remains, from a hunt by humans. We spent about an hour on land before boarding the zodiacs for the return trip to the ship.

The return to the ship ended up being a bit of an adventure. We headed straight for the ship, but as soon as we approached they pulled up the gangways; the captain decided to move the ship to clearer waters to escape approaching ice. Unfortunately, these clearer waters were also choppier waters. We hovered around for a bit while the ship was being moved, and took a small diversion to go gawk at a seal laying on an ice floe. Afterward we turned and followed the ship through the path it had made through the ice, hovering around and waiting for a decision to open the gangways and allow approaching. After a couple of false starts and some circling, we became the second boat in line to approach. By this time the water was quite choppy in the 35-40 knot winds. The adrenaline level was elevated when the first zodiac had an incident where one side was caught under the gangway and resulted in a puncture of one of the seven compression chambers. Fortunately the passengers were able to unload without any injuries, as the zodiacs are built to withstand multiple punctures. We eventually made it off the boat successfully as well, in spite of the big bumps; we had been on the zodiac for about an hour by that time. All of the other zodiacs also had successful unloadings, and no other ones sustained damage. The expedition leader, Ryan, later said that this was in his top 5 roughest loadings/unloadings in his 70+ Antarctic expeditions.

The afternoon excursion was supposed to be a landing at Brown Bluff. But because of the sustained high winds, the rough time in the morning, and the fact that the ship was running behind schedule because of having to navigate sea ice, the afternoon outing was cancelled. Nobody in the restaurant seemed to be surprised when the announcement was made during lunch. The ship would instead get a head start on passing through the Antarctic Sound to head to the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The day’s programming was updated to include a few afternoon talks to replace the cancelled outing. Fran spent a couple of the afternoon hours out on deck and in the bridge of the ship; the ship has an open bridge policy, where (at almost any time) guests can come hang out in one corner of the bridge, and use provided binoculars. When I went to join her and a few others once, we got into a discussion about how read the electronic chart being displayed. Ryan, the expedition leader, happened to come up to the bridge, so I called him over to ask about the chart. This led to further discussions about his path to becoming an expedition leader, his experiences on Antarctic expeditions, how he plans expeditions and excursions, and other topics; it was an interesting and informative time for the group of people who were up there at the time.

The water became choppy as we navigated to the west side of the peninsula; so much so that I developed a hint of queasiness. I got through dinner alright, though, and then was fine to laze around the room for a couple of hours before turning in for almost 9 hours (!) of shut-eye.

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My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Day 8 - 1/2/2024 - Croft Bay & Devil Island

It was an early morning, with breakfast starting at 6:30am and disembarkation starting around 8:30am. We were still on for the day paddle - basically, paddling in inflatable kayaks - and met in the reception area at 8:20am. Like the kayakers, day paddlers are given dry suits to wear over our internal layers. The instruction and preparation process took a while, but we eventually made it down to board a zodiac. The guides were Chris and Marissa, who just happened to be a couple. The zodiac had 5 inflatable tandem kayaks and 1 regular solo kayak tethered to it. Chris drove us out to some open water, and then we began boarding the kayaks.

I took the front seat of our kayak while Fran took the back. This was my first time in any sort of kayak, and I was initially not good at all. Enough so that Fran at one point told me to stop paddling so she could figure things out herself. I feel like I improved over the course of the 2 or so hours, though, and we were probably the second fastest kayak (vs fourth-ish initially) by the end. More importantly, the paddle was quite spectacular despite my initial learning curve frustrations. We spent a lot of the time paddling through grease ice - the thin layer of flexible ice that forms on top of water as it starts to freeze; this only made the learning curve steeper. In some cases Chris used the zodiac to break a path through the ice for us to follow. The weather was great - sunny and calm - so I ended up taking off my gloves and using just the paddling pogies. The harder than expected ice work and the sunny weather (still around freezing temperature-wise, though) meant that I worked up quite a sweat by the time that we were done. We hopped back on zodiac and Chris drove us back to the ship.

Because we were paddling, we missed out on the regular zodiac excursion. From what we later heard, we didn’t miss much, as they made a relatively simple split landing (half on land, half cruising; then switch) without a ton to see. The original hope was to make a landing on the fast ice at the south end of Croft Bay, but the scouts had found it not strong enough to hold the big groups.

The second outing of the day was another split landing, this time at Devil Island. The island is home to a large Adélie penguin rookery. We were in the second mud room group, so we were one of the first to disembark around 3:45pm. The first half went to land while the other half cruised, and then they switched after an hour on shore. A flag route was set up along the rocky beach, leading right into the penguin colony. We were directed to stay 5 meters away from any penguins, though this was pretty much impossible at times (and some people weren’t trying too hard to meet that guidance), and to walk at “penguin pace”. They also had us move in clusters at penguin pace so as to minimize blocking of the penguins’ paths between the water and their nesting areas. I had mixed feelings about this landing - while it was certainly nice to be so close to the penguins, it was obvious that we were disrupting them (even if without any significant long term impact) on their home turf. The zodiac cruise after the landing was nice, but less of a spectacle than the landing.

The plan for tomorrow includes two more landing attempts within the islands at the boundary of the Weddell Sea before we head over to the western side of the peninsula. However, there’s a chance that the high winds forecasted for tomorrow afternoon could cause that outing to be cancelled; the wind has already started picking up tonight. In any case, there will be an early start once again tomorrow. The post-dinner activity was a talk by one of the guides who spent the last summer and winter working in inland Antarctica for the US Antarctic Program, primarily at McMurdo Station.

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My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Day 7 - 1/1/2024 - Admiralty Sound & Seymour Island

I finally got some decent sleep after the somewhat late night. Our expedition leader Ryan thought that we should start the new year off with a bang, scheduling the polar plunge (where passengers jump into the 0.5°C water) for this morning. Being averse to both cold and deep water, I did not take part in this activity; but Fran was super excited for it. Ryan was also sensible enough to start things off later than normal, with breakfast opening at 8am. Fran did the 8am yoga class, then we met up at 9am to eat.

The ship was parked in Admiralty Sound next to Cockburn Island. The weather for the day was pleasant - although the temperature was similar to yesterday’s 0°C, the sunny skies and lack of wind made things feel warmer. The plunging began around 10am, with Fran’s group being called about half an hour later. It was fun to watch (from the safety of the 7th/8th deck) the various types of jumps that people did. We later found out that 157 people took the plunge, more than 75% of the guests. Most people did some sort of pose facing the photographer, but some people got creative with it. Diane did a back dive, while Fran did a swan dive. A few people slipped as they jumped off, resulting in more of an awkward fall; a couple of people who slipped (including both Tom and TJ) took a second more successful go at it. They put down mats about halfway through to help prevent slipping. After Fran’s plunge she went up to the sauna to warm up alongside many of the other plungers.

As we were finishing up lunch Ryan came on to announce that the afternoon excursion would be to the primary location that he had mentioned the night before. This was the site of a group of mummified crabeater seals on Seymour Island - he had only just learned of this via a friend in the weeks leading up to the expedition, and was fairly sure that no tour group had ever tried to go there. He apparently consulted a research paper about the site and combined that with Google Maps sleuthing in order to come up with a plan. They had sent out two scout boats in the morning while the polar plunge was going on, and had managed to find the site. We later found out that one of the boats had to be left on the muddy shore because the tide had pulled out while they were scouting.

Zodiac boarding began around 2:30p. On each excursion (or plunge) they rotated which mudroom group to start with, so our group was moving closer to the front. However, we ended up boarding toward the end because I had to go back to the room to find my hat, which I apparently had accidentally dropped just outside our room. Our driver/guide was Carlos, who was another good navigator - so far I have been lucky with the drivers I’ve matched with (there have been a couple on other boats who seem  less experienced). The cruise had a bit of an unfortunate start, as a couple of the last boats (including us) were called back to pick up an extra passenger, as the number had apparently overflowed what they planned for; but the 2 hour clock restarted when we pushed off for the second time, so we didn’t lose those 20 minutes. We ended up staying out for almost 30 minutes longer than the planned 5pm return. And fortunately my bladder wasn’t struggling very much, probably thanks to my new technique of semi-dehydrating myself before the excursions.

As far as I can tell this excursion hit a new high point for all the guests. For one, we made a landing, so we can all say that we have set foot on the Antarctic continent. Secondly, the landing was at a rarely visited/seen site that required extra planning by the expedition crew. The nice weather also made a positive contribution. The site was quite far from the ship, and required going around Cockburn Island to get there. The landing site was a muddy beach next to a glacier. The seals were a short walk away across some rocky ground. There, Ryan proudly gave each incoming group a brief history of the site. I don’t think any of the groups came close to keeping under the 20 minutes that they were each supposed to stay at the site; but then again the guides were totally fine with people taking their time to soak it all in. On the cruise back to the ship we were met by the ship’s drone at the ice floe that still (we had seen it on the way out) had a Weddell seal lazing on it.

Dinner tonight was a BBQ buffet out on the aft of the 7th deck; plus a DJ. It was an admirable effort to take advantage of the nice weather, but with the boat moving it was too cold to hang around longer than the time it took to quickly eat. We later found out that the day paddle groups would be going out tomorrow, and we were set for the morning outing. A late announcement was made after 10pm when an emperor penguin was spotted on some ice - a rare sighting in these parts.

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My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.

Antarctica 2023-4 - Day 6 - 12/31/2023 - First excursions (Heroina and Paulet Islands)

The sleepless nights are starting to get old. This time I think it was mostly from anxiety about the off-ship excursions and how my bladder would handle them. The plan from the night before indicated that the first disembarkation for the first excursion would be at 8:45am. However, the expedition leader (Ryan) announced around 6:30am that we were now aiming for an 8am disembarkation. Before breakfast Fran also found out that her sign-up for the acoustic zodiac had been accepted, and that they would be touring in their separate zodiac as part of this first excursion - so we would be on separate zodiacs. The expedition used the term “zodiac” for their rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) - I think it’s a particular brand of RIB.

After a quick breakfast we returned to the room so that Fran could hurriedly prepare for her boat - they were among the first groups, while our normal group (Crabeater Seals) was third to last. They call passengers down to the mud room by group, with about 20 passengers to a group - this avoids overflowing the mud room. Once down in the room, passengers don their muck boots, coats, and life vests, then line up to board the general zodiacs in groups of 10 or 11 - your call group doesn’t matter at this point. Special groups (photographers, kayakers, science groups) of course board specific vessels and don’t take part in the general lines.

The calling of the groups went faster than we anticipated, and I was quite flustered at having to get on all my gear without my "guide" Fran to help me. I somehow managed to get prepared in time and made it down after my group was called. I put on the boots, jacket, and vest, and lined up. The boarding members head down the stairs, step in a tub of Virkon to disinfect our boots, then board with the help of the guides as soon as the zodiac pulls up.

This first excursion was a sea cruise at Heroina Island - one of the bigger of the Danger Islands at the tip of the Antarctic peninsula. We apparently had good conditions in the Weddell Sea, as the water was relatively calm for us. The main attraction at this island was a very large colony of Adélie penguins. Our driver Julie drove us around the sea ice and toward the island. The penguins were all over the island and the nearby waters, including on top of the ice floes. We got within 3 or 4 meters of swimming penguins at multiple points on the cruise. One of the “highlights” was witnessing a leopard seal that had caught a penguin and was bashing it against the water and ice to dismember it so that the seal could eat it. Another noteworthy moment was the first whiff of the mass of guano (feces) when we got close to the island and a bit downwind. Apparently some other groups ahead of us (including Fran's boat) had also seen some whales, but we did not get sight of them.

We headed back to the ship after about 75 minutes of puttering about. The boat was still buzzing with excitement, but unfortunately I was starting to have the pelvic discomfort; the high speed dash to the ship helped in terms of time, but not in terms of comfort. I was also getting a bit cold toward the end of the cruise, so I’ll have to think about how to adjust my layering to improve that.

Once back on the boat, we brush our boots off in a tub and then step in another tub of Virkon. From there we head up to the mud room and get changed. Fran was waiting for me in the mud room, and we immediately began exchanging stories. She had a great time on the acoustic cruise (they were making sound recordings to support a PhD project for a researcher on board), though she didn’t get as much time for sightseeing as other zodiacs did.

From there we headed up to the common areas to debrief a bit with some fellow passengers before going back to our room. Fran went to the gym for a quick workout while I hung around, chatted with a few others in the lounge, and went to the “Polar Boutique” to buy some glove liners. I met back up with her for lunch while the ship was making its way toward Paulet Island for the afternoon excursion. Afterward we had a check-in about how I was feeling, which turned into a bit of an intervention, but also some inspiration for me to make a better time of the trip and stop sulking so much about my condition.

It took a while to get to Paulet Island, partially because of all the sea ice, and the announcement around lunch indicated that we would arrive in the area around 3pm, and hoped to begin disembarkation at 3:45pm. However, the wind picked up when we got to the area, and they announced around 3:30pm that they were repositioning the ship downwind of the island to get some shelter to operate the gangways, and would continue to assess the situation. Unfortunately, the result of this is that we weren’t able to make a landing on the island. We began disembarkation around 4:45 for another 75-ish minutes of zodiac cruising. This island also had a large Adélie penguin colony. This time there was more sea ice / pack ice for our driver Andy to navigate during the cruise. We saw 3 different types of seals (Elephant, Leopard, Weddell) laying out on the rocky beaches.

After the cruise we headed over to the restaurant for dinner; it was buffet style this time, and had some New Year decorations. After dinner we changed into more festive clothes before heading out to the lounge to join the New Year celebration. It started with a series of musical performances by the expedition crew before moving upstairs for a mini dance party. We rang in the New Year (Argentina time) with Liz, Michelle, and Diane, then headed off to bed.

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My favorite pictures from the trip can be found here.