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Live trip report begins in the beginning of this thread and continues (amid a fair amount of banter) until post #321 here.

Regular trip report begins here.



Other people's trip reports:

@chff: https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=101296.0

@Dan:
Original Post for the trip: https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/trip-notes/join-lifetime-kosher-catered-trip-antarctica/
Intro to trip: https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/trip-notes/follow-me-to-antarctica/
Part 1: https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/trip-notes/trip-notes-antarctica-part-1-buenos-airesplanning-positioning-adventure-lifetime/
Part 2: https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/trip-notes/antarctica-trip-notes-part-2-flying-end-world-southernmost-chanukah-party-ushuaia/
Part 3: https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/trip-notes/shabbat-shalom-southernmost-shabbos-earth/



Related DDF Threads:

A Once-In-A-Lifetime Kosher Catered Trip To Antarctica!
A Once-In-A-Lifetime Kosher Catered Trip To Antarctica! FOMO support group

Antarctica Cruise Raffle
Antarctica Raffle #2, Fill Out This Form If You Would Like To Join A DDF Raffle!
New Antarctica Cruise Raffle! Win A Superior Cabin
Another Antarctica Raffle!

"First" in Antarctica?
Polar Zmanim On The Antarctic Cruise
Antarctica TR: the trip after Dan

Author Topic: Live Antarctica Trip Report  (Read 223147 times)

Offline Dan

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #580 on: April 28, 2020, 01:12:33 AM »
Scop patch worked fine for me as well, it's practically a requirement for the drake. The tricky part was that it made you very thirsty and as one of the few kayakers on the trip, you had to be able to go hours without using the facilities...

As @Traveler718 said, those who were machmir on the 24 hour fast were quickly rewarded and those who were not paid dearly...
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Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #581 on: April 28, 2020, 01:16:36 AM »
Scop patch worked fine for me as well, it's practically a requirement for the drake. The tricky part was that it made you very thirsty and as one of the few kayakers on the trip, you had to be able to go hours without using the facilities...

As @Traveler718 said, those who were machmir on the 24 hour fast were quickly rewarded and those who were not paid dearly...
Oy, I'd probably have fasted even if it weren't a fast day. I know that getting nocious when fasting is way better than having to throw up.

Offline EliJelly

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #582 on: April 28, 2020, 01:27:28 AM »
Oy, I'd probably have fasted even if it weren't a fast day. I know that getting nocious when fasting is way better than having to throw up.
Ever heard of bile vomiting? I'm having flashbacks of my experiences of this as a teenager on fast days.

Offline Dan

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #583 on: April 28, 2020, 01:27:57 AM »
Oy, I'd probably have fasted even if it weren't a fast day. I know that getting nocious when fasting is way better than having to throw up.
That's why i was surprised only about a dozen of us fasted.
It was the worst day at sea, but the fasters were doing better than the others.
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Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #584 on: April 28, 2020, 01:29:00 AM »
Ever heard of bile vomiting? I'm having flashbacks of my experiences of this as a teenager on fast days.
No, I haven't. In my most traumatic vomiting episode (3 hours non stop), once my stomach was empty, I didn't vomit anything else.

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #585 on: April 30, 2020, 05:15:11 PM »
Tuesday, December 18

It was Monday evening, and we were entering the Drake.

We were 800 miles away from Argentina, and ahead of us laid the stormies waters on Earth. On the way down we lucked out with the "Drake Lake", but now we were about to feel the full fury of the "Drake Shake".

And just too add another fun twist, it was now the 9th of Teves - in a few hours the fast of the 10th of Teves will begin. Due to our southerly latitude and the lack of a halachik night, what is normally the shortest fast of the year will now take a whooping 25 hours - from 1am to 1am. Most people had asked their Rabbis how to handle this fast, and while "two Jews, three opinions" remained as true as ever, most people were told to break the fast if they felt they had to.

From mine and Dan's end, we had to make sure that everyone is covered. We catered a regular dinner Monday evening, a light before-the-fast meal around midnight, regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Tuesday for those not fasting, and finally a breaking-the-fast meal at 1am for those who made it all the way.

As the sun went down and Monday drew to a close, the wind picked up and the waves began battering the ship. The captain announced a forecast of 40mph winds and 23-foot waves, and ordered loose items stored, all windward decks and walkways closed, and the elevators and bridge shut. We quite literally battened down the hatches and settled down to wait it out.

Here's what we had for the next 24 hours:



Towards sunset part of our group gathered in the Bistro lounge, where the view out the windows went from sky to ocean to sky to ocean and on and on and on. The ship was bucking up and down in a slow, repetitive motion, over and over and over again.

After an hour or so we lost the shelter of the Antarctic islands and a little bit after that the mountain peaks dropped beneath the horizon. We were now in the open waters of the Drake and the movement of the ship became more erratic, being buffeted about by the raw winds in addition to the waves.

As it got later, more and more people filtered into the Bistro, had a light meal, and, once the clock struck 1am... davened Shachris and went to bed.

I slept pretty well, and woke up to a malstrom going on outside my cabin window. Waves were battering right at the window, and the ship was rocking in all directions. I went to the dining room to have some breakfast, but I was one of the few who even tried - most people just stayed in bed.

The morning was the worst as far as the shake went, but as the day wore on the waves slowly diminished. Every few hours the captain would come on the PA and give us an update, and his reports slowly but surely went from 7 meter waves, to 5-6, to 4-5, and so on. However, for me at least, I felt worse as it got later. Apparently the smaller waves didn't offset the fact that my body was getting hammered hour after hour. I spent most of the day resting and relaxing in my cabin, moving from bed to couch and couch to bed. I spent a fair amount of time hugging the toilet (Dan's words, not mine), but only actually threw up once.

I didn't spend much time socializing, but as I learned later the rest of the group had very varied reactions. There was one person who claimed they barely even noticed anything, one person who didn't get out of bed for 24 hours, and just about everything in between. The ship's doctor went around doing house calls and giving meds to those who wanted, and all in all it was a very strange day.

In the end, 15 out of 51 people in our group successfully completed the fast.

By the time the fast ended, the weather had calmed down dramatically and more closely resembled the Drake on the way down. I found it interesting that as soon as the seas calmed the vast majority of passengers immediately felt better. By the next day many people actually felt it had been an excellent adventure, and yet another exciting part of the Antarctic experience.

We were still due south of Cape Horn, but also too far north at this point to daven Shachris before bed - our wacky zmanim were quickly returning to normal. Clearly we were getting closer to civilization.
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Offline Dan

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #586 on: April 30, 2020, 05:22:02 PM »
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline Traveler718

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #587 on: April 30, 2020, 11:42:32 PM »
They say that the higher up you are on the ship, the more you feel the tossing of the waves. Although my room was on the same floor as @Something Fishy, being almost a full foot shorter than him made it much easier to survive the intense swaying. :)

In all seriousness, what in the world were you thinking to try to have breakfast just as we were making our way into the 24-hour roller coaster ride? My wife and I were among the apparently 15 who successfully completed a fast that made Yom Kippur and Tisha b'Av look easy, and the lack of food in our systems made it much easier to cope with the Drake. I don't know how anybody could have claimed they barely noticed anything, though.

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #588 on: April 30, 2020, 11:45:26 PM »
They say that the higher up you are on the ship, the more you feel the tossing of the waves. Although my room was on the same floor as @Something Fishy, being almost a full foot shorter than him made it much easier to survive the intense swaying. :)

In all seriousness, what in the world were you thinking to try to have breakfast just as we were making our way into the 24-hour roller coaster ride? My wife and I were among the apparently 15 who successfully completed a fast that made Yom Kippur and Tisha b'Av look easy, and the lack of food in our systems made it much easier to cope with the Drake. I don't know how anybody could have claimed they barely noticed anything, though.

also depending where you room was relevant to the center. As my room was in front of the bridge, it was hell

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #589 on: May 01, 2020, 12:07:28 AM »
In all seriousness, what in the world were you thinking to try to have breakfast just as we were making our way into the 24-hour roller coaster ride?

Yeah, I didn't really end up eating IIRC.

I don't know how anybody could have claimed they barely noticed anything, though.

When I say "barely noticed" I meant as far as feeling bad, obviously they were aware of the boat jumping up and down. There were a few of those, including @CheskyGold, for example - who ironically was so worried about the Drake that he almost didn't come ;D.
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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #590 on: May 01, 2020, 12:35:46 AM »
Yeah, I didn't really end up eating IIRC.

When I say "barely noticed" I meant as far as feeling bad, obviously they were aware of the boat jumping up and down. There were a few of those, including @CheskyGold, for example - who ironically was so worried about the Drake that he almost didn't come ;D.

I can confirm that this is true, and I’m going to suffer for this from @Something Fishy and @Dan till the end of times 😀

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #591 on: May 14, 2020, 09:42:05 AM »
Any chance of finishing the TR? I'm in suspense - did we ever make it back, or did we get diverted to the Falklands again to refuel?

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #592 on: May 14, 2020, 10:44:26 AM »
Any chance of finishing the TR? I'm in suspense - did we ever make it back, or did we get diverted to the Falklands again to refuel?
I think he forgot about it got too busy with this

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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #593 on: May 14, 2020, 10:50:47 AM »
Any chance of finishing the TR? I'm in suspense - did we ever make it back, or did we get diverted to the Falklands again to refuel?
Weren't you on the trip?

Ami had the full scoop when we were attacked on the way back by the Bolivian Navy but we valiantly fought them off and sunk their destroyer by correctly calling out A2 and B2.

It even had Fishy's amazing drone pics of the battle!
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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #594 on: May 14, 2020, 11:22:34 AM »
Weren't you on the trip?

Ami had the full scoop when we were attacked on the way back by the Bolivian Navy but we valiantly fought them off and sunk their destroyer by correctly calling out A2 and B2.

It even had Fishy's amazing drone pics of the battle!


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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #595 on: May 14, 2020, 11:26:17 AM »
Weren't you on the trip?

Ami had the full scoop when we were attacked on the way back by the Bolivian Navy but we valiantly fought them off and sunk their destroyer by correctly calling out A2 and B2.

It even had Fishy's amazing drone pics of the battle!

ALOL, my finest moment ;D
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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #596 on: May 14, 2020, 11:26:40 AM »
Any chance of finishing the TR? I'm in suspense - did we ever make it back, or did we get diverted to the Falklands again to refuel?

Yes indeed. Just haven't had a chance yet.
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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #597 on: May 18, 2020, 07:43:59 PM »
Are there any articles of previous kosher cruises to Antarctica?
@Yehuda57
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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #598 on: May 18, 2020, 07:45:23 PM »
Are there any articles of previous kosher cruises to Antarctica?
@Yehuda57

Some listed here https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=100251.0
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Re: Live Antarctica Trip Report
« Reply #599 on: May 18, 2020, 07:51:15 PM »
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.