Author: Jack

We met the most amazing people on this voyage. Being cut off from the internet made us have to get to know each other and helped us make some truly great friends.

In line for the plane we met Emma, from West Midlands living in Hong Kong. She has a dry sense of humor with lots of jokes between us about hiding penguins in the shower. She and I did the polar plunge together!

We met Azul on the plane, from Madrid living in NYC. She and I wiped out the gift shop and we had so much fun. For the Christmas door decorating contest I helped with supplies and ideas, I am NOT crafty (sorry Gay, I need lessons!) And we had a grand time.

Elizabeth also helped with the door, she has an artistic bent. She lives in St Louis from DC. During quiz night she killed it with her drawings and knowledge. We spent many a night hanging out in the lounge having drinks. She was traveling with her mom Karen who was a hoot.

Liz was one of the expedition leaders and we bonded like crazy, she’s coming for a visit next month! She lives in Lake Tahoe North shore for maybe a month of the year, spending the rest of the time leading expeditions to Antarctica, central America, and the Arctic. She is incredible! We danced a lot and sang together!

Lieselot and Mathieu were a couple from Belgium living in London. I have never met people so well traveled, over 100 countries! Lieselot was so positive and engaged and Mathieu loved making puns. They were amazing.

There were so many great people, more than I can count. It was truly a special place full of special people.

We were awoken early today to traverse the Lemare Channel. Huge cliffs towering on both side with calving glaciers coating the sides, it was magnificent. Brash(sea) ice and ice bergs clogged the channel’s water with the occasional penguin or seal hauled out on. We moved slowly through the channel leaving the water mirror calm creating the most entrancing views. Matt and I skipped breakfast because we could not stop watching. Once we reached the other side we went for a zodiac cruising by Pleneau Island, weaving between fast moving icebergs that could crush us like a bug. After unsuccessfully trying to make it through the ice to shore, we abandoned the plan and went to the other side of the bay and got up close with some seals hauled out on some sea ice. We spooked them accidently and we got to see one of them slide into the water and then come back when they realized we were no threat. They just pop out of the water so effortlessly unlike the penguins which can often miss!

The time had finally come for camping. I had been excited/dreading it for the last few days. We don’t get tents, just a bevy sack. At our briefing we all got introduced to Mr Yum Yum, our toilet if needed during the night. That blue canister filled me dread. All the men had to swear oaths a couple times to pee sitting as to not contaminate Antarctica. We landed at 10pm and were greeted by a snow covered island surrounded by calving glaciers and tranquil ice filled water. Matt and I hiked through thigh deep snow, completely stripped of our parkas and jackets, it was hard work just getting to the site and we had been told to avoid sweating at all costs because it would make us cold when we tried to sleep. Matt and I both tried to use My Yum Yum for the experience but we both chickened out. Luckily we had been dehydrating that day for that very reason so were fine. Once achieving our camp site we had to make a bed. We walked in little steps tamping down the snow over and over again until success, we had a shallow grave, haha. Then we rolled our parkas to make pillows, inserted our boots into each other to keep snow out and add another pillow layer. We then put our camping pads on the bottom of our sleeping bags but still in the bevy sack. Then getting in the bevy sack. It has never taken me so long to go to bed, it took like 15 minutes with all the layers we had to squirm into. Finally, you’re there in your python grip laying in your shallow grave and it’s bed time. We slept great! Haha. Throughout the night you’d wake up to huge cracks as the glacier calved or a bird fight. At one point it started snowing and my first thought as the flakes hit my face was there was a leak in the cabin above until I opened my eyes and remembered where I was. Sleeping on land was amazing. We were the only people they had to wake up 😁

Today the alarm went up, Orcas! They quickly deployed the zodiacs next to Enterprise Island and we raced across the water. There was a vortex of birds and underneath we saw fins. There were several Orcas feeding and the birds were trying to get the extra bits. You would just see these black fins slicing through the water in tight circles. Then the Orcas moved off and we redeployed in their path. They came so close! At one point one came within a meter of Matty and me, it was very hard to resist trying to touch it! At one point humpbacks also started popping up right next to the zodiac but all we had eyes for were the killer whales. These Orcas were the Type B Small sub species and are Antarctica natives. They are identifiable by the thin yellow sheen they have from diatoms growing on their skin. This was only the second time our guide had seen them on zodiac, first time this close, and we were their first expedition from our ship in 2 years! We were in awe, several of the guides and passengers cried. After that we visited a cool ship wreck and saw a Cormorant colony. It was an incredible morning.

That afternoon we visited Hydrurga Rocks to see a chinstrap colony. Snow was coming down heavy, occasionally sideways. One of the guides pointed a seal out to me that I’m still convinced was a rock, ha. The penguins were just having a grand ol time, tobaganing on their stomachs and doing their silly waddles. They are the most charming creatures! When the chinstraps walk they also bob their heads like they’re walking to music. We sat in the snow on one of the hill tops and were rewarded with many a curious penguin. One came up and studied Matty from less than a meter away for 2 minutes. You could see it thinking, “what the hell is that?!?!”. I also got a curious one and it was so hard, mentally painful, not to just grab one for a hug!

This morning we visited Spert Island, a craggy basalt formation surrounded by ice bergs. It was a “sporty” location with lots of ice to dodge, big swells, and a ton of wind. We saw a few chinstrap penguins but the main draw was the beautiful sea arches. I didn’t get very many good photos, hopefully Matt did. We then swang over to the leeward side of the island and got some beautiful cliffs, architectural ice, and lots of seals. We learned about black ice (clear ice) and fished some out for the bar that night. That afternoon we entered Cierva Cove, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The sea was covered in ice so thickly it felt like you could hop between the chunks all the way to shore. There is a large glacier calving constantly into the cove creating the winter wonderland conditions. While zodiac cruising the call went out, humpbacks. We went to where they were spotted and were in the middle of whale and ice amphitheatre. Everywhere we looked we could see whales, they were logging which means half sleeping and looking like logs. While in this half sleep they still swim and dive. Our guide took us in front of them and we were rewarded with a very close encounter, catching us all by surprise because she had swum past us without our knowing and came up right on the other side of the zodiac. Spectacular. After whale watching, we saw monolithic ice bergs, a leopard and crab eater seal, and of course penguins.

Today we visited the currently largest iceberg in the world, A-68A. It is about 100km long and larger than Delaware. It broke off from the Larson C shelf a few years ago and was hanging out. It is a tabular ice burg that stretched from horizon to horizon. At first I thought it wasn’t very tall until I saw tiny fish jumping out of the water under it and realized they were penguins and it was HUGE. It was so large the mind cannot comprehend. It is at least 100ft above the water, 500 below. We motored for a few hours watching its’ majesty flow by. At one point it was the whole horizon. That afternoon we had a zodiac ride to Eden rocks. Never saw the rocks but saw beautiful sea ice with wildlife wandering around. The sky was grey with a teal stripe at the horizon, the ice bergs their full glowing blue, and their foot under the water a neon blue splash of color. It felt surreal, like we were living in a painting. Magical. We saw lots of penguin and a seal out for a lounge. Suddenly we had to flee, the sea ice had picked up speed and we’d be trapped in the cove if we didn’t leave immediately. Mad dash by all the zodiacs to the ship and we made it out! Later that night we were all called up to the back deck in our gear. They had hung a giant orange buoy to symbolize the sun. Then the ship geologist gave four champagne toasts: to the sun, to the Earth, the Earth’s tilt, and finally penguins! After that the music kicked on, it started snowing, and we all just danced. I have never experienced anything like that, the energy was great, we had a wonderful group of friends, snow, and the dance. Eventually we had to go in because the snow was so thick and they didn’t want us to fall off, and the party picked up again in the lounge. Matt and I danced till 1(yes Matt!!!) and that was our Solstice.