Blow Out

Huh. There were many things to consider on a trip like this, such as crevasses, staying warm, avalanches, etc., but it never occurred to me that the boat would never even leave the dock and Quark, the tour company, would just cancel the trip, which is what has happened.  It seems hard to believe.

After being a day late, we sat around and waited for progress reports, which were always “soon.”  At a final meeting, one of the Quark representatives got up and said that in the process of trying to fix a seal water had gotten into the main engine compartment and now instead of a small repair, it was going to be a huge, multi-day affair and thus the trip was cancelled.  This is a HUGE disappointment for all involved, but none more so than for Doug Stoup and Karyn Stanley who have spent the last year organizing the trip.  To actually be on board and ready to go, the get shut-down is almost too cruel for words.

About a third of the people (myself included) are going home, another third are hanging around in Patagonia and some others are jumping on to another cruise ship to Antarctica.

Bummer!

Category: Trip Reports