Patagonia makes you work for it. From boarding our first plane in Missoula, Montana, my Dad, Robert, and I dedicated forty-two hours to get to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost town in the world. Arriving at 8 AM, we started with an introduction to the city with our Adventure Life Guide, Augustine. Ushuaia is a tax-free area in Argentina, …

Robert likes his steak. Visiting Argentina was like bringing a kid to a candy store, or rather a man to the meat capital of the planet. After exploring Tierra del Fuego National Park, we found our way to the best restaurant in Ushuaia, Lomitos Martinica. We ordered bife de chorizo and steaks hot off of the grill, drank Malbec wine, and laughed …

We boarded our Antarctic vessel, One Ocean’s Akademik Sergey Vavilov, at the Port of Ushuaia on March 16. The port was hosting a long ship regatta the same weekend, so we traversed the length of the pier amidst throngs of spectators and sailors. Each ship sported lines of flags and the festivities only added to our mounting excitement. At …

I woke this morning at dawn, rubbed my eyes and sat up to the windowsill – land! Giant, sheer faces of ice surrounded the ship on all sides, and big chunks of ice floated past my window. The sun barely shone through the mist and clouds, giving the entire scene a feeling of twilight in a different dimension.

At 8:30 AM we geared up in ALL …

Most of the ship was up all night as 50-knot winds howled over the deck, and as the foul weather continued we had to scrap our planned landing at Vernansky Station. Boris announced “Plan B”, and we headed for the solace of protected waters. We reached Port Lockroy Bay and as we started to gear up, the wind stopped, blue sky appeared …

We reached the entrance to the Lemaire Channel, a narrow passageway between two towering mountain ridges, and received a message from the Captain that there were too many ice bergs clogging the route for us to chance sailing through.  He said we could get “kind of close”, and as the currents would have it we made it so close that we could not …

Bob Dylan’s “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” is playing behind the bar and I don’t think I ever imagined listening to Blonde on Blonde in such a setting. This morning we set anchor at Neko Bay, and hiked to the top of a rocky outcropping flanking a steep, precariously perched glacier. Gentoo Penguins roosted along the …