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Tony Freedman, from Freedman & Turner Travel Associates explored the Antarctica with Peregrine on a recent trip returning with some unforgettable memories of this polar region.
The journey commended with 3 nights in Buenos Aires, a grand city with lots of sights, shopping and great food, especially for meat lovers. Tony highly recommends a visit to Recoleta Cemetery (site of Evita's tomb) and also enjoyed visiting the bohemian Palermo district at night for funky bars and restaurants . San Telmo district is a very arty area, full of great shops and cafes with a famous weekend market. Recoleta is a lovely area to walk around and the most upmarket in Buenos Aires.
From here, one night was spent in Ushuaia before embarking on 10 nights on the Akademik Joffe boat with Peregrine. This involved four to five days of sailing with five full days down on the Antarctic Peninsula and continent, two excursions per day from the boat and either zodiac cruising or landings on the continent.
Antarctica....really a bit hard to mention highlights as it was such a great overall experience. However the first sighting of icebergs and land after 2.5 days crossing the dreaded Drake Passage was an unforgettable morning. Cruising in perfect weather though ice fields, with towering icebergs on all sides and a pod of humpback and minke whales putting on a hour's show was incredible....not to forget plenty of seals and penguins Climbing up snow covered hills on the continent for majestic views over icebergs, ice flows and a vast white wilderness could not be beaten.
Even zodiac cruising in sideways sleet and snow for hours on end while trying to hold onto the sides of the zodiacs with icy gloves was a highlight. Turning off all engines, and silently listening to and watching pods of whales break through the ice and literally come up to our small zodiacs was an amazing show. Ice caving off the massive glaciers ...creaking and groaning hundreds of metres high and more was awesome and perhaps the icebergs/glaciers remained my favourite visual memory .
