
After ten years of planning, our heart’s desire to take a 21-day cruise to Antarctica had become a reality. We arrived at the airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina, within hours of the Argentinian Soccer team’s triumphant return home from winning the 2022 World Cup. With the a victory parade and all the celebrating, getting from the airport to our cruise ship took almost as long as the 10 years it took to create the trip. The sense of pride throughout the city, and the country, was an energy tsunami unlike anything I had experienced. Logistically it was a nightmare, vibrationally it was a spectacular start to our adventure.
Our itinerary continued south along the coast to Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America. We would then continue further south through Drake Passage and spend seven days cruising the Antarctica Peninsula. The final leg of our journey would take us north along the Chilean coastline, completing our adventure in Santiago, Chile. It was to be the trip of a life-time.
The Falkland Island Penguin Excursion is one of the most highly anticipated and popular experiences on this three-week cruise. These excursions are notorious for selling out early, so we made sure to secure our spot, and booked the excursion a full 16 months prior to our departure date.
Bumping up against obsessive, during the next year we explored all things penguins, including purchasing weather-appropriate clothing, and updating our camera equipment with some high-tech zoom lenses and intimidating computer editing programs. Packing for the trip, it was clear our pending walk among the penguins had informed and influenced the contents of our luggage.
On day sixth of our cruise, we arrived at the Falkland Islands. Few of the 1,700 guests had slept well the night before, as we were, much like children on Christmas Eve, far too excited to sleep. We had set our alarms for plenty of time to get prepared, but were up long before the alarms went off. Thinking ahead, we had placed our breakfast order the night before and had room service deliver the meal to our room so we could eat while we got dressed and geared up.
With only our outer layer of clothing yet to be applied at the last minute, I stepped onto the veranda to take in the view of Stanley Bay. Because there is no dock access assigned to our ship, we would have to tinder, by lifeboat, from the ship to shore. So, not being docked was not a surprise. However, I did think it odd that our ship was not facing in the direction which would support our going ashore. But what did I know. And, honestly, what did I care? We were going to see the penguins. I had little brain space for anything else.
A moment later the captain’s voice came on the ship-wide PA system. His tone, though commanding, was not enthusiastic. “Good morning ladies and gentleman. Unfortunately, I have some unpleasant news regarding our Falkland Island excursions.” The captain then went on to explain how the swells were too high for us to tinder safely to shore; and, guest and crew safety being a top priority, he had made the call to cancel all excursions for the Falkland Islands. Everything after that was “Blah, blah, blah … Blah, blah blah.”
My heart sank, my stomach churned, and my mind took off in a half-dozen directions of doom and gloom. “This can’t be! This is why we booked the cruise in the first place. We got all this expensive camera equipment, and a bunch of clothes we are unlikely to wear anywhere else …EVER!” (((WTF?!))) I stood there on the butt-freezing cold veranda, in shock. “Why was this happening to me?!”
I had a choice to make. Which way was I going to go with this? I didn’t know whether to throw up, ugly cry, or release a primal scream. Was our entire cruise ruined? Was I going to have a monumental meltdown? “Use your tools, Peter” my inner voice instructed. “Use your tools.”
Fighting back tears, and holding down last night’s dinner, I took as deep of a breath as I could muster. Defeated and depleted, I leveled up my question: “Why is the happening for me?”… “Not that question,” my inner voice insisted. “The Powerful Question.” I took another deep breath, “What is this trying to show me the seeing of which will change everything?” I could feel myself pivot toward the answer which I trusted would eventually bring clarity and a sense of peace to the situation. I knew I couldn’t access the clarity or peace in that emotionally charged moment, so I worked on quieting my mind, and would have to wait for guidance …