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Friday
I finally tracked down my luggage at 10am in the airport, so I was able to relax and have a look round Ushuaia. It is so like the Shetlands or Norway that it actually seemed strange to hear people speaking Spanish.

We boarded the Ocean Nova at 4pm and set sail at 6pm. The crew and expedition team seem very friendly and the facilities are luxurious. We have a minimum 48 hour or so crossing of the Drake Passage - depending on the weather.

Food is 5 star standard, with a 7 course meal in the evenings - always at least three choices of main course.

We had a pilot all the time we were in the Beagle Passage, the narrow channel between Argentina and Chile which had nearly caused a war in the seventies! At about 10pm the pilot's boat came alongside, without either boat stopping, he climbed down a rope ladder and swung onto the pilot boat! We were left alone heading south across the Southern Ocean.

Saturday
We were told that it was a fairly good crossing however the ship was rolling at least 20 degrees, it took a lot of practice to walk without holding on all the time. I was amazed how the waitresses could carry bowls of soup! All the tables were covered with a special cloth which was really effective, all that ever came off the table in the roughest swell was occasional pieces of cutlery.

Three or four times a day we had lectures on the Antarctic wildlife, geology, icebergs, history etc as well as briefings on preservation of the Antarctic - we have to follow very strict rules.

I slept a lot, due to the sea-sickness tablets I had taken, but haven't felt at all queasy yet - touch wood!

Sunday
At around 6pm after what had been a very fast crossing due to tail winds, we finally caught sight of land - the South Shetland Islands. It was a relief and also a respite from the swell. I was initially a little disappointed that there was no sight of snow but we soon saw snow covered cliffs as well. We anchored for the night in a bay in Half Moon Island, where we would be landing the next day.

Monday
Early breakfast and we started landing around 8am. We were met by thousands of chin strap penguins, quite a few fur seals and many other birds - I was dive bombed by a Skua with a wing span well over 1 metre. Although it rained steadily the whole time,we were well clothed and it was lovely just to wonder round the island, or to sit and watch the penguins. They ignored us completely, one walked about a foot away from me.

There was a wrecked rowing boat near where we landed. It appears that one of the first tourist boats back in the 1960s landed here and encountered a sudden violent storm. Their boat was wrecked and they had to shelter until it passed and another boat could be sent to rescue them!

In the afternoon we moved to Deception Island, an active volcano with a flooded caldera which the ship went into. The weather was much nicer, sun shining, although still cold. One of the expedition staff said it was the first time she'd ever seen sunshine at Deception Island! We had been told not to expect much wild life but there were lots of furs seals, an elephant seal, gentoo penguins and skuas. The skuas where mostly just walking round the beach quite close to us, although a few dive bombed. I was interested to see one chin strap penguin amidst all the gentoos.

We landed at Whalers Bay, an old whaling station, abandoned in the late forties and then taken over by the British Antarctic Survey until it was completely abandoned in 1969 following two eruptions. Most of the buildings are ruined but it was interesting to explore - it was from here that the first ever Antarctic flight took off. It was a single engined Otter and it flew 600 miles south until it had used half its fuel and then turned back - a total flight time of 11 hours!

Tuesday
Our first landfall was on Danca Island, the weather was lovely and I spent over two hours watching some gentoo penguins with their chicks, it was really nice. In the afternoon we made a short landing at Admirante Brown station in Paradise Bay, which is actually on the Antarctic Continent. We then went for a tour in the zodiacs. First we went to see the nesting places for some Antarctic Shags then we headed for the nearby glacier. We found a massive leopard seal - about 4m long basking on an ice floe - the largest the crew had seen! I guess it had eaten well - of penguins . We also saw about half a dozen crabeater seals also basking but in pairs on different floes. The glacier itself was amazing, the tall ice cliffs of every shade from white to deep blue. Lots of bergs broken off and we heard the roar as more pieces fell - unfortunately I didn't see it.

As we returned to the ship the weather worsened and it started to rain heavily. The next hour showed what is meant by the changeable nature of the weather, it rained, hailed, snowed - with snow flakes blown horizontally - we had a sustained gale of around 100 kph which is approaching hurricane, followed by almost no wind and bright sunshine. At one point we thought we'd have to change plan because a passage we were heading through was nearly closed by ice, however we have a strengthened hull and managed to get through! We also saw a hump back whale and four minke whales. It was an amazing sixty minutes.

Wednesday
Poor weather in the morning restricted the length of our landing at Port Charcot, but I had a great hour there, it is one of my favourite landings. We were surrounded by pack ice, on which we could see half a dozen crab eater seals. There was a fur seal, surveying the territory and behaving as if he owned it! On top of these were the seabirds and gentoo penguins.

In the afternoon we landed on Petermann Island, near the landing site is cross which is a memorial to three British scientists who died here in1982. I saw my first Adelie penguins here, they were moulting which means they basically stand still for up to two weeks concentrating on this process!

That evening half of us camped at Damoy Point on Anvers Island, it was close to a British Antarctic Survey Station, unmanned but still with a maintained hut open for use in emergencies containing emergency rations and a massive Union Flag . We slept in tents though! I had to stamp down an area of snow to make in comfortable and then erect the tent. It really was comfortable although the temperature was well below freezing in the middle of the night and getting out was rather cold! My nearest neighbour was a fur seal who was sleeping on a nearby rock. He occasionally raised his head briefly to see what on earth these strange people were doing. There were also about 100 gentoo penguins nearby. I had a fairly restful night.

In the morning the wind had picked up a lot so it was quite difficult to strike the tents without loosing anything and the trip back to the ship for breakfast was a bit hairy. The strong wind continued so unfortunately our morning call at Port Lockroy had to be abandoned. It is another former British Antarctic Survey which has been converted into a museum, gift shop and post office. The crew did manage to take cards ashore for those who wanted them posted but the last mail boat of the summer had already departed and the next was not due until November!!

Unfortunately the poor weather persisted all day so we had no landings but we cruised through spectacular scenery - which we could just see through the snow and fog and saw several hump back and minke whales plus one killer whale.

The weather finally cleared up in the evening and 45 out of the 73 guests on board (including me) went for a swim - well maybe I should say quick dip! - in the Southern Ocean the pack ice around!

Friday

The weather was still poor as we headed back to the South Shetland Islands but the crew risked a landing on Barrientos Island. It was a really nice landing and demonstrated the Antarctic microclimates. The beach we landed on had a strong wind and it was raining. We walked about a mile over a not very high ridge into sunshine! Lots of elephant seals, fur seals, reclining in the seaweed, nesting petrels and many other birds - including the usual skuas plus many penguins, most gentoo but a few chin strap and adelie. It was a lovely end to our incredible visit to Antarctica

Saturday/Sunday
In effect, the trip is over. Following the landing we set sail north, back across the Drake Passage. Initially very rough, however at the time of writing - 18.00 Saturday, fairly smooth, though the boat is still continuously pimtching and rolling. We're spending the time eating, reading, sleeping and attending lectures put on by the crew. I have been today to one of the 18 different types of penguins and on the first crossing from the Russia to Canada via the North Pole, Lawrie - the expedition leader - was part of the team.

Sunday was extremely rough, so much so that lunch was cancelled and snacks delivered to our cabins - I still wasn't the slightest nauseous though!!

Monday

We docked back in Ushuai at 7am and I had an uneventful flight back to Buenos Aires, and then on to London tomorrow.