Wonderful Trip!
We were on the Jan 7, 2023 expedition to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica on Sea Spirit. And, unfortunately, my wife was injured on the trip, through no error on the part of the ship or expedition staff. The stops in the Falklands and South Georgia were absolutely wonderful - great wildlife, good guides, and clear guidelines on access and safety. And, in particular, the expedition staff (lead by Aaron) was superior in their efforts to get us to land on South Georgia despite poor wind and wave conditions - They were able to divert to other alternative landing and zodiac sites when the planed landing site was not available to land. In general, reading about expected results in these expeditions before our trip, it is not unusual to only be able to land in slightly more than half of the planned sites - both the Poseidon literature and the staff were clear about that. This size of ship is ideal in that you can get into places that other boats cannot go and, because there is about a 100 person limit in the number of people who can go to shore at a time, you do not have to wait for others to come and go before you get your turn. My wife is an experienced hiker, doing 3-5 mile hikes a few days a week. She was blown off her feet by a sudden and unexpected 40+ knot wind gust and unfortunately landed on her shoulder. I personally witnessed two other passengers knocked over (they were not hurt) in the same area closer to the waterfall. The expedition staff and ship doctor responded immediately, got her back to the ship, and did the immediate task of putting her shoulder back into the socket. Once it was determined that her arm was severely broken, the ship's doctor and expedition leader worked diligently with the insurance company to schedule a medical evacuation from King George Island. As others have stated, we had to wait for 1.5 days for the weather to clear enough to allow a plane to land (since there are only research stations on the island, there is no place to stay and wait for the weather to improve). But the same weather would have precluded any landing on the Antarctic Peninsula at the same time. I should also add that the emergency surgical care she received in Punta Arenas, Chile was equivalent to what would be available in the US. Overall, I would recommend this trip - and this ship and their expedition staff/crew - to anyone who wants to see the Antarctic up close and personal. We are already looking at potentially booking just the Antarctic part of the trip to finish our adventure.