(this is Monday’s post; we had no internet connection last night)
After the overnight flight from Miami to Montevideo (Uruguay) for a re-fueling stop, our flight continued to Ushuaia, Argentina, on the far southern tip of South America. We were met at the airport by a large contingent of friendly Viking hosts, anxious to ensure that the first expedition of the Viking Octantis is a success.
Following a quick bus transfer to the ship, we were given one more COVID PCR test, reviewed emergency procedures and life vest use, then we were sequestered to our cabin for six hours until our 3rd of three pre-expedition COVID tests came back negative. After nearly three years of planning, with countless itinerary and health & safety procedural changes, we are finally embarking to Antarctica! The Octantis is named for the southern star Sigma Octantis; a sister ship will be put into service soon, named the Polaris for the north star Polaris.
Once we received our negative test results, we were free to wander the ship. We walked through each deck, checked out the library (first stop for Keith!), dining options, inspected the spa, pool & fitness areas, and walked around the outer decks. Then we visited Expedition Central to ensure that our desired schedule of daily activities was registered – we signed up for everything, including kayaking, shore hikes and submarine adventure.
Next, we had a pre-dinner cocktail in the Explorer’s Lounge. The Octantis has a large buffet dining room called the World Café, plus three special smaller dining rooms. We had pre-reserved Manfredi’s Italian restaurant for tonight. My 4-course meal included calamari, chicken cacciatore ravioli, rack of lamb and tiramisù. Keith had an asparagus appetizer, gnocchi gorgonzola, seared tuna and a pistachio cake dessert. The food was every bit as good as we were told to expect from Viking.
The maiden voyage of the Viking Octantis set sail at 9:00 pm local time (2 hours ahead of U.S. EST). We returned to the Explorer’s Lounge, on the upper level in the bow of the ship to view the ship's exit navigation from Ushuaia, followed by smooth sailing through ~100 miles of the Beagle Channel leading to the Drake passage. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow’s sailing of the Drake passage calls for 35+ knot winds (~40 mph) and 3 to 4 meter swells. So, it seems we will experience the typical “Drake Shake.” More tomorrow from the Drake Passage.
#VikingOctantis
#AntarcticExplorer
#MyVikingStory
Congrats on making it aboard! If you edit your post, look at the right-hand column. There is a "published date" entry. You can override the "automatic" setting and change it to whenever you want so that the date of publication matches the date of the activities. I had to do that a couple days ago for the same reason as you - no internet at night when I was posting. Enjoy the journey!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about overriding the published date -- I used that regularly.
ReplyDelete