“H owever, on our return to Argentina, we had the additional excitement of the cruise ship striking an iceberg. The iceberg tore a 9 meter opening in the ship’s hull. Fortunately, the opening was above the water line, so we weren’t in any immediate danger. (Managed to avoid the Titanic experience!). The crew worked all day to repair the damage and that night we were able to resume our return trip to Argentina. Thankfully the crew had the knowledge and all of the needed materials to repair the ship. We were able to return safely to port.”
This is the experience of an incident which was imparted by FlyerTalk member sharkey after enjoying an excursion to Antarctica before the vessel struck an iceberg. The ship — the Ocean Endeavour, which is operated by Quark Expeditions and is one of the vessels which was a part of a promotion last summer where you could have saved up to 25 percent off of the cost of a select voyage — was reportedly taken to Uruguay to be repaired.
You can view photographs of the damaged vessel here.
Summary
I am thankful that sharkey and the other passengers returned from their voyage to Antarctica safely.
That experience will not deter me from trying to fulfill one of my dreams: to visit Antarctica — the only continent to which I have not yet been.
The ultimate goal for me is to spend a night at the South Pole; but that goal is considerably more difficult to achieve for a variety of reasons — but the main reason is the cost of $48,150.00 per person…
