Tauck Clothing and Advice for February 2023 Antarctica?
Do we need to bring our own heavy coats for the Antarctica portion of our trip?
How waterproof are the pockets in the parka that Ponant provides? I'm asking to see what kind of backpack or other bag to take on the Zodiak trip for smartphone cameras, sunglasses, etc.
Any other tips as far as clothing, gear, seasickness meds, currency, Covid tests and vaccine cards, etc.? We're renting gloves and rain pants from necessarygear.com to complement our own hats, scarves, fleece, etc.
Thanks.
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I didn't go to Antarctica with Tauck, but I think every tour provides coats for the trip. If you want to keep things dry, bring some large zip-lock bags or purchase a commercial dry-bag. When I went, there were several zodiac rides that had a lot of spray into the zodiac. The people in the front got the brunt of it, but that's where you can get the best pictures.
Gloves and rain pants are cheap to buy and don't take a lot of suitcase room. You definitely want to rent the boots - they take too much room in your suitcase to take your own. Here's a link to my discussion of clothes for the trip - https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2021-2Antarctica-01.htm#Clothing
Mike
I was on this trip a few years ago. Unless things have changed, the parka provided on the ship (which is yours to keep) is very heavy, warm and waterproof. Tauck also provides the boots at no charge. There is a fitting after you are aboard ship. I was there in January and the weather was moderate, mostly in the low 30's. I get cold easily and yet while walking ashore on the daily excursions I often removed the parka, under which I wore a fleece and polartec vest. I had two pairs of gloves, but often removed those as well. I carried a light-weight waterproof pack I had from a trip to the Galapagos, for my camera. I purchased a pair of waterproof Helly Hansen rain pants (an absolute necessity), on Amazon for about $25. I don't get seasick, but rather than risk the wrath of the Drake Passage I did wear a Scapoline ear patch and had no problems whatsoever. I stressed a lot about clothing before the trip and considered renting or buying special gear, but decided not to. I ended up using common sense and taking multiple layers of clothing, which turned out to be more than adequate. This is a an absolutely phenomenal trip, enjoy!
We did this trip a short year ago. It is not that cold in the Antarctic summer, and the parka is quite warm. Unless you live in Florida, don’t leave it behind. We are in Northern California and use the parkas frequently. My wife sleeps under it almost every night this winter. They provide the boots, and you need long underwear, and a second layer. I normally had three layers of clothing plus the parka, and I was toasty. Someone said the parka pockets fill with water. The pockets have zippers, We were out in some pretty rough weather, and got some spray, but we did not get ‘soaked’. The water is around thirty degrees. The water was rough enough that we sometimes had four helpers to get into the zodiacs. In my wife’s case they just picked her up and threw her aboard. But, we never got ‘soaked’.
We had a fabulous trip in early December 2016.As far as clothing,we took thermal base layer and waterproof mid weight pants.We shopped in REI for every thing including waterproof daypack;waterproof covers for phones etc.We also took our packable winter coat which we used for travel.During expeditions the parkhas worked extremely well;We have used them a few times where we live in the winter.This trip was a great learning experience for layering appropriately in cold weather!
Thanks for your help! How about trekking/hiking poles...do we need them as well?
We took them and used them...there were times the snow was deep and icy...helped balance. Personal preference!
Take the trekking poles, and make sure you have a "foot" on the bottom. Otherwise, the pole just goes down into the snow.
Foldable walking poles are very useful.Walking surfaces are not always ice or snow ;sometimes rocky and uneven.
I agree with all of the above experienced Tauck travelers. We traveled from Texas there in February 2020, AND WE WAY OVERPACKED FOR WARMTH. Of course, each year, the temperature changes, but when Texas visited there, it was the warmest winter they had ever had.
Warm hoodie is needed just to get there, and perhaps in Argentina. Your basic gloves, socks, headcovering, and long underwear, both tops, and bottoms. Thank goodness I had glove liners. When you are on the little boat and are fumbling for your camera, you sometimes fling your glove off to get that perfect shot to catch that whale that is right beside your boat. So the liners are nice. STRAP for your Iphone off Amazon is nice and small binoculars. Hubby wore his ski bib, and I bought rain pants. Both did their job. Forget the heavy coat. Dress in layers. You will absolutely LOVE this trip. We took this trip solely from me reading this chat page, and I'm so glad we did. A lifetime!
experience, and we finished all our Continents here.
Question anyone, is their internet connection on the boat? What happens if anyone wants to go potty?
When we went to Antarctica it was not excessivly cold. I wore long underwear under waterproof pants, and several layers on top. Always felt comfortable. A neck gaiter is good, also.
Thanks to everyone for your help and advice. We got back just over a week ago and now it seems like a dream! The parkas were indeed quite warm as everyone claimed, and the layering worked like a charm. We wound up getting trekking poles right before we left, and they did, indeed, come in quite handy.
mil...we were in Antarctica over 10 years ago, but found the potty situation to be similar to the Galapagos. There wasn't one!
The landings are relatively brief - most last only an hour. There are specific laws in Antarctica that restrict the number of visitors allowed on the continent. This limits the amount of time you'll be off your ship. The zodiacs may do some iceberg drive bys, but again, you're not off the ship for very long. In any case, the time between rest room opportunities isn't much different from land tours where you have an hour or two between breaks.
SGF
Thank you for the info.