45-50 Humpback whales surrounding us for about 2 hours! The Drake Shake with 84 knot wind gusts! Lemaire Channel with brash ice and growlers. Camping in Paradise. Sailing into Deception Island (Neptune's Bellows) at 5 am in broad daylight. Seeing 3 types of seals and 3 types of adorable penguins. Adventureous, friendly, inquisitive people-and staff.

Life changing

I finally got penguins porpoising! The whales were incredible-and the seals were happy :-) The birds were beautiful.

The zodiac excursions were great-lots of ice bergs, seals, penguins, and whales. We even cut the engine to enjoy the "silence" of the ice-magnificent. We always felt safe-they explained what to do (and why), and reminded us how to enter and exit the craft.

Wow-they were amazing! Sara was the leader, with her "good morning, good morning, good morning" waking us up, Laurence with his love of and knowledge of glaciers, Andrew & Hazel with the birds, Ben & Alex as camping guides (although Ben is a bit abrasive), Sebastian & Alexis for kayaking (our friends did this), Felicity, Guillerima (sp) added a lot to our knowledge-Bill with his drawings and wisdom, Mark with his humor, passion, and shorts! Christian our young (he turned 23) doctor, Eugene, the "old" doctor (in his 30's), Sasha with his tragic countenance from St. Petersburg, Juan with his photography skills...and Allan. All were approachable, knowledgeable and passionate. I enjoyed learning about the history of discovery, women in Antarctica, the birds, mammals and bathometry. The glacial lectures were very informative.

Twin porthole cabin was comfortable and lots of storage for 2. We loved our cabin steward (Albert) and all the staff was friendly and professional. We were close to the zodiac shells, and liked our location. Deck 4 had reception, the "shopping" area and the dining room, while Deck 5 had the lounge and lecture room. Sigi was the hotel manager, and he was very personable. There were lots of extras, from the water bottle to the mulled wine while whale watching to hot chocolate during a zodiac cruise! We even had popcorn while watching a movie about Amundsen. The food was good-our companions were vegan and vegetarian, and they were happy with the food, too (sometimes prepared especially for them). We liked the ship, and the staff-and the stabilizers! Yes, I would choose it again.

Beautiful scenery (go to the national park), friendly people, good food. We stayed at Alto Andino, which was a great choice. City is very hilly, with lots of walking but easy to navigate. Saw whales and dolphins in the Beagle Channel. Loved this area.

Just transited through...LONG lines (3 1/2 hours) at the airport to check in, friendly people.

We were pleasantly surprized when they gave us a slideshow for free to recap our journey, and the trip log will be amazing (with all the places, dates, wildlife, temperatures/wind) when we get it. I wish we had had a way to contact other Swoop guests prior to the journey, because it would have bonded us together. We loved the barbeque on deck, too!

Bring anti-fog wipes, moisturizer, and conditioner :-) GO FOR IT!

I met so many people who "booked" last minute-it gave me an appreciation for the "village" we live in (someone gave us seasick patches, we loaned clothing to another passenger, people took care of eachother). Antarctica is vast, beautiful, and unforgiving. So much beauty, and so much struggle.

Thank you~! It was amazing, incredible and inspiring.

Helped with airlines-Aerolineas changed our flights at least 4 times...covid stinks!