January 11, 2023November 12, 2023

The Scotia Sea Surprise

This post is part of our epic adventure to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for a specific part of the trip, here are some shortcuts:

The Scotia Sea – January 7th

56°08’9″ S, 38°42’7″ W

2 Celsius / 35 Fahrenheit – Sunny

I was not looking forward to the crossing between South Georgia and the Antarctic peninsula, so was relieved when we woke to fairly calm seas and dense fog.

We went up to breakfast and saw a few passengers who had finished their five day quarantine. I would have been absolutely gutted to have missed South Georgia, but they were all in decent spirits.

We went back to the cabin to relax, tidy the cabin, and pay the deposit for Brooks. I couldn’t believe that we’d had internet basically the entire time we’d been at sea. It wasn’t speedy, but it was good enough.

My cold seemed to be improving but Andy now had a scratchy throat. I did another rapid antigen test, but this time I saw the faintest of positive lines. Then Andy did a test and his was a solid positive. We were both completely stunned. We’d avoided Covid for almost three years, and now we had it in the middle of the Scotia Sea ?!?

We put on our masks and went down to the docs on level 3. He was in the middle of something and told us to isolate in our cabin and he’d come by to do a PCR. Within the hour, the doc was at our door in full hazmat gear with two nasal swabs. Shortly after, we heard them unfolding the aluminium table in front of our door so we knew the we were positive before he called to confirm.

We were to quarantine in our cabin for five days. We would be provided with menus for meals, which would be delivered. We were to keep all trash and towels in giant red biohazard bags. We could request more towels, but everything we used needed to stay in the room with us. The only minor problem was that the clothes we’d had dried from the walk on the beach the day before were RANCID. Guess we should have washed AND dried instead of just drying. We isolated them into a dirty clothes bag and would deal with them later.

We went through all of the stages of grief in about two hours.

First was denial. Is this really happening? We avoided it for the entire pandemic and got our fourth booster six weeks ago. We didn’t even feel that bad.
Then anger set in. What the actual hell?!? There were several people coughing at meals and lectures. Why weren’t they quarantined? Because they were inconsiderate ass holes who didn’t bother testing.
Next we thought of bargaining – Maybe they would consider letting us out early since our symptoms were mild? Maybe they would let us go up on deck if no one was around? Maybe they could do a Covid zodiak with all of the spicy cough people?
Then we became depressed. We were not looking forward to being cooped up in a 26 square meter (85 square feet) cabin for five days. We were dejected to be missing the landings and I’d been holding out for the clear waters of the peninsula for more snorkelling.
But eventually we just accepted it. Neither of us had severe symptoms, which was extremely important given the remoteness of our location. We were in a lovely stateroom with a sitting area and a balcony. We had thousands of photos to go through and access to the internet. We were being looked after by an amazing team. And if we had to miss any of the voyage, the timing was probably as good as it gets. South Georgia was in a word, epic. By our calculations, being quarantined for five days meant we would miss two and a half sea days and two and a half days on the peninsula. If all went well we would have two days in Antarctica after our release. And here’s what made it really sting less – Aurora gave us a full credit for what we paid to use towards a voyage in the next 24 months.

I can’t believe that the next five days passed as quickly as they did, but here are the highlights:

Quarantine Day 1 – Somewhere in the Scotia Sea

- Lectures were streamed to the in-room television, but when we tried to watch afternoon penguin lecture the system seemed to be down.
- We watched the ships camera and tried to figure out where we were. We watched some episodes of Modern Family and Fresh off the Boat.
- The Expedition Team sent us binoculars.
- Lunch was fried chicken and dinner was veal marsala. We found it ironic that this is what it took to get the table for two that we’d been seeking since boarding.
- We took everything out of the closets and reorganised, made a 2023-2024 travel calendar, and created an animated gif from penguin photos.

Quarantine Day 2 – Still in the Scotia Sea

The covid symptoms kicked in today, and we went through an entire box of tissues.
The TV system was still down, and the daily plan app was also down, so we had no idea where we were.
We spotted our first iceberg! The captain circled in both directions so those of us in quarantine could get a nice view.
We spent some time on the balcony photographing the passing icebergs.
Andy rearranged the furniture so that the sofa faced the window.
The Expedition Team dropped off a USB drive with the lectures from the day before and the nightly recap. It also had some movies to keep us occupied. We couldn’t help but laugh that one of the movies was Groundhog Day. We finally used the HDMI cable that we packed “just in case”.
We received the brochure for future voyages and started planning for our return.

Quarantine Day 3 – Elephant Island

I realised that I lost my sense of smell. It started with not being able to smell moisturiser. As a test, I tried a whiff from the penguin stink clothing bag, and nothing.
We started ordering random food not on the menu and it didn’t seem to be a problem. For example, we noticed there was avocado in the salad the day before, so we asked for avocado toast for breakfast. And when nothing on the menu looked appealing, we requested something from a previous meal.
Greg stopped by to see how we were doing. He’s an absolute legend!
The restaurant team brought us some lovely donuts and macaroons for afternoon tea.
The ship arrived to Point Wild on Elephant Island, a place of historical significance in Antarctic exploration. After Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, was crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea, the crew embarked on an arduous journey, eventually reaching Elephant Island. This uninhabited and inhospitable landmass became their sanctuary for over four months while Shackleton and a small group set out on a heroic rescue mission. The name “Point Wild” honors Frank Wild, Shackleton’s second-in-command, who led the group during their time on the island. It was from this point that the crew was eventually rescued, marking a remarkable tale of endurance, survival, and leadership. It was really foggy though so we couldn’t see much.

Quarantine Day 4 – Brown Bluff and Paulet Island

There was a massive storm in the Bransfield Strait with 70 knot winds, so we’d taken a detour overnight and were in the Antarctic Sound.
We didn’t see much of Brown Bluff, other than Adelie penguins in the water and little mini icebergs hitting the ship.
We also didn’t see much of Paulet Island and were grumpy about missing another landing.
An afternoon delivery of freshly baked cookies and a visit from the snorkel guides lifted our spirits.

Quarantine Day 5 – Lindblad Cove and the Gerlache Strait

We started the day at Lindblad Cove. We were mesmerised by the sea ice, and spent a fair bit of time on the balcony taking photos and video.
After the morning landing, the ship headed to the Orleans Strait. Apparently they were watching some feeding humpbacks in front of the ship. It must have been a great sighting because they skipped the afternoon landing.
As we moved into the Gerlache Strait, there was a lot for us to watch from the balcony, with endless icebergs and beautiful light. Looking closer, we noticed the icebergs were dotted with Chinstrap and Adelie penguins.
We were so thankful that we had a balcony!
The doc stopped by in the evening to clear us for leaving quarantine beginning at breakfast tomorrow morning.