ANTARCTICA!!!

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This is absolutely going be the hardest blog post to write. In all of the places we've been in the last 11-months there has always been some sort of relatable experience to compare it to. I have never wanted to tell someone about someplace so much but be at such a loss for words to describe it, or have as many pictures I want to share that won't do it a bit of justice! So please enjoy all of the photos at the end.

As Sky mentioned in our last post there was only one female spot available as a last minute trip so the decision was made that I would head out to Antarctica while Sky went fishing. I felt quite guilty taking this opportunity solo, plus after spending 24/7 together for the previous 9 months at that point, it also felt pretty strange to say our goodbyes and go on our own for a week and a half. Needless to say the majority of the guilt and sadness dispersed once I boarded and found out that this particular cruise had an open bar!

My trip was an 11-day voyage on the 114 person Sea Spirit vessel through Quark Expeditions. My booking was so last minute that the crew and staff had no idea I was even coming aboard as the 114th passenger. Once everyone figured out who I was and what I was doing there I threw my stuff into my cabin, met my roommates Roz and Lyn, befriended the bartenders, got the first of many glasses of malbec, and ventured out to have a look around the ship and meet some people.

Let me get my love of Quark Expeditions out of the way. Quark is absolutely amazing, and the only company you should consider if you ever are blessed with the opportunity to use them. The Sea Spirit was amazing, the staff was beyond helpful, the accommodations first rate, the expedition crew (marine biologists, glaciologists, ornithologists, photojournalists, even someone who diffuses land mines in her off time!) were all ridiculously fascinating people who have enthralling life stories. I can't say enough good things about them and everyone involved made my trip one I will never forget!

The first afternoon/evening was spent with the crew and passengers getting to know each other, going over mandatory safety drills, being outfitted with our mud boots and cold weather parkas, rough itinerary of the cruise, and followed by the welcome reception. What's different about an expedition cruise is that there is no particular set itinerary in regards to particular activities as so many things in Antarctica are weather dependent. However, we were informed of the following schedule:

Night 1: departure from Ushuaia, passing through the Beagle Channel

Days 2 & 3: passing across the Drake Passage - morning and afternoon lectures

Days 4 - 9: morning and afternoon off-ship expeditions, nightly lectures/entertainment

Day 10 & 11: passing across Drake Passage, through Beagle Channel, back to Ushuaia

The best part of the first evening was the welcome reception, everyone was in the best of moods and once we finally set sail the energy of the entire trip kicked up 10 notches. There were people from all across the globe on this trip, many couples, several of us solo travelers, but thankfully everyone seemed up for having a really good time! I met so many wonderful people, Roz, Lyn, Nicole, Betsy, Karen, Ping, Raakhe, Kanak, Michael, Giselle and Jean-Louis, you guys made this trip so special!

The Drake Passage: Day 2 & 3

The first two full days on the trip were reserved for crossing the Drake Passage. The Drake Passage is a 600-mile wide strip of ocean that passes between the tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. It is this narrow channel, the massive amount of water passing through it and the winds circulating around the Peninsula that creates what can be some of the roughest waters on the planet. Everyone had a lot of nervous anticipation about crossing the Drake as we were told you never know what to expect and on a previous trip they encountered 30-foot swells with all passengers being on lock-down in their cabins! Well, we woke up to quite a surprise on the first day of our Drake Crossing, no clouds, no wind, no swells, zilch! The entire staff and crew were astonished as they had never seen the Drake act the way it was, the Drake Lake is what they called it. So all of us spent that day out on deck, whale watching, soaking up the beautiful sunshine, and eating and drinking out on deck!

The second day was a little dicier, cloudy, windy, with rough to moderate seas, but still what the crew said was only a "2 out of 10" as far as rough seas go. There were a lot of sea sickness bags placed throughout the ship, a lot less people walking around and at meals, and a whole lot of nausea/motion sickness medication being passed around. Thankfully I don't get sea sick in the least so I was able to go up to the bridge, enjoy my full share of hot toddies and wine, and listen to some great lectures on whales, penguins, and glaciers, and celebrate our crossing over latitude of 60 degrees south marking our crossing into Antarctic waters!

Expedition Days: Days 4 - 9

Since we were able to cruise across the Drake Passage at full speed on the first day we actually arrived to Antarctica early! Because of this we were able to have an unplanned off-ship excursion that afternoon. The twice daily (morning/afternoon) off-ship excursions involved zodiac cruises, island landings or a mix of the two.

From here on out it's going to be much easier to write some bullet statements about our amazing excursions, fun facts I learned, and personal experiences, there is just way too much that happened to go into great detail!

*Penguins are hands down the cutest and funniest animal on Earth! I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching them walk and run around. We were able to see Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie penguins on all of our excursions.

*Saw a pod of orcas (killer whales) hunting while we were in the zodiac. Apparently this is a pretty rare event, this was a first for many of our guides who own whale watching businesses!

*Saw elephant seals, fur seals, Weddell seals, crab eater seals and leopard seals up close and in abundance!

*A full moon shining over Antarctic oceans illuminating massive icebergs is breathtaking!

*I have never seen colors like I did in Antarctica. The blues were so blue and came in so many shades, the white of the snow and ice was so crisp, and I never realized what an amazing color grey is, it made everything around it pop out of background. There's something about the sun down there that casts the most unique light on everything.

*I have never been as fascinated with ice. The shapes, the sizes, the textures, the sounds, the movement is unbelievable!

*90 percent of all the world's ice and 70 percent of the world's fresh water is located here.

*Visiting abandoned whale processing plants is a little creepy.

*Best excursion involved sitting silent in the zodiacs while a pod of 30+ feeding, circling, breaching Minke whales passed directly under and by our boats for over 45-minutes. The sound of their breathing as they swam away and back again in the bay was like small bombs going off in the distance. This was a very unique experience as Minke whales only travel solo or in groups of two or three, never in a pod this big. It left all of the marine biologists speechless!

*A growler is a type of ice that is totally clear, this is the type of ice ship captains worry about as you can't see it until it's too late!

*Polar plunging into 35 degree water will literally shock the words and all sense right out of you!

*If all of the ice on Antarctica would melt the oceans would rise 200ft.

*I still think the hull of a ship going to Antarctica should be thicker than 2cm!

*Croatian/Russian/Hungarian captains/crew members are badass and aren't afraid of anything!

*The weight of the ice on Antarctica actually depresses the land mass into the mantle of the earth's crust. If all of the ice were to melt, the continent would actually rise up.

*I still shouldn't attend any kind of live auction that has an open bar attached to it.

Drake Passage and back to Ushuaia: Days 10 & 11

As much as none of us wanted to end, it unfortunately had to do so. Our crossing back through the Drake was slightly rougher than our second day down. So again, fewer people were walking about, but we passed the time listening to more lectures about some of the life experiences of the expedition crew, watching movies and attempting to drain the ship of all its remaining booze and wine. The nights were spent dancing and singing in the club while being tossed from one side of the room to the other from the waves.

If I were to ask one thing of all of you please consider placing a trip to the 7th Continent on your list of things to do in your life. For me going to Antarctica was truly the most amazing experience of my lifetime. I have never seen such unspoiled beauty or have truly felt that I was able to witness Mother Nature in its purest form. I hope you enjoy the pictures, and if anyone needs/wants a travel companion to Antarctica, don't hesitate to call!

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Photos

Drake Passage
Calm waters on the "Drake Lake"