And finally…the things I did. In previous missives, you’ll have seen me visiting a British base, a Ukrainian base and making a snow angel. So you’ve already got a pretty good idea of the things I did, but yes! There’s more! As well as this and experiencing a near ‘pond like’ crossing, learning a lot from the lectures/talks from the expedition staff, witnessing enormous icebergs, towering peaks and abundant wildlife, I went kayaking 7 times, did some mini hikes, barbequed on board, ate and drank very well, camped one night on the ice, visited two bases, sledded and did a ‘polar plunge’. All of this packed into 10 days! No wonder I was absolutely shattered at the end. Nearly didn’t make it!
Here’s a summary of the things we did and where:
So, sectioned as usual, we’ll start with…
Kayaking
Maybe I should leave the ‘best til last’, as, for me, this really was the most amazing part of my trip. But I can’t resist, so here we go! Only 10 of us out of the 68 passengers got to go, and because I booked kayaking when I booked my trip, I guess I snuck in and secured a place. Worth every penny let me tell you! We were lucky with the weather which enabled us to go 7 times in the 6 days of cruising around the peninsula. That meant that sometimes we went twice in a day, and we were usually out for a couple of hours. Knackering, but so worth it! Being that close to the water was exhilarating as well as intensely peaceful (when everyone was quiet that is!). Deep blues, violets and indigos were the colours of the ocean, and it had an almost velvety/oily surface that made the water look really heavy compared to other seas I’ve looked at. Maybe it’s more dense! I don’t know.
As well as the surface of the water, you can see here how far we were away from the group, and how risky that is. This is when a Minke whale popped up about 3 metres from the front of our kayak and almost had me needing a change of undies!
So, being in a kayak meant we got a lot closer to the wildlife than the other passengers would have in the zodiacs. If you’ve read the ‘Wildlife’ missive, you’ll know that actually, the wildlife got closer to us when we were kayaking! The zodiacs, although safer, were so noisy compared to the kayaks, and therefore much more intrusive.
Here’s a bit of a clip of us drifting and penguins just swimming by. So peaceful at the bottom of the world…
Being that close to the water, we also saw the ‘bergs from a different perspective. It was so tempting to paddle up close to them, and touch them, or even paddle through the arches that some of them had. But, for strict safety reasons, we couldn’t. If a ‘berg rolls, and you’re anywhere near it, it could collect you and take you with it. So I had to drool and wonder at them from a distance. Probably could have been further away though looking at these pics!
The next two pics are of our final kayak excursion, where our guide decided to show off a bit by beaching his kayak securely on a piece of sea ice, climbing out of his kayak to stand on the ice, and strike a few poses! Nuts!
Although it was pretty warm here (could easily have been in a t-shirt whilst kayaking), we were always rigged up head to toe in layers with a dry suit completely covering us. We also wore a ‘skirt’ to keep the water out of the cockpit. Because the kayaking was usually on at the same time as the hikes, I frequently found myself trying to climb up hills and slippery slopes in full kayak regalia (did a mini hike before or after our paddle). Let me tell you, it wasn’t the penguins who looked silly and cumbersome! I felt like I’d come off the ‘Starship Enterprise’! Worra Trekkie!
Ready for action! Bit like those pengies behind me (right of my elbow) who are nutting each other! “See you Jimmy!”
Sledding
Looking silly did come in handy at times though. I sledded on my kayak skirt down hills a bit like this one…
I also did a massive sled down a huge hill on the Antarctic Peninsula itself – took a good 5 minutes to get down, but heaps of fun! Really was missing having a pair of skis on my feet for those descents I must say...
Hiking
Something I didn’t do as much as most as I was pretty busy with kayaking, but did it whenever I could. Here are some shots taken by other passengers…
Camping
By the time I got round to this, I was exhausted!!! If you look at the Voyage Summary table, you’ll see I’d done a couple of short hikes, and two kayaks. Still, I pushed through, and learnt how to pitch a tent in the snow, make a little porch and storage area for our boots and implemented tips of how to get a decent night’s sleep on snow.
Although the tips helped, they weren’t too effective for this chick-a-dee who uses an electric blanket with four thick layers and flanellette jammies during a Sydney winter! Thanks goodness my tent-mate had brought extra layers and was Canadian, so not as much of a wuse as me and let me use her extras overnight! Went to bed after midnight, and eventually got to sleep, but woke not well rested, and still tired. Was beginning to feel jet-lagged at this stage from all the sleep deprivation, but had to push on! It’s not every day you get these opportunities, and I kept my recovery time for back in Argentina. There were two photos in ‘The Ice’ missive of the views from our campsite, and with this extra one, I’m sure you can appreciate how stunning it was, and what an extraordinary experience it was.
I think sitting on the dunny looking at icebergs and seals was one of the most surreal things I’ve done, and the feeling of ‘am I really here?’ was exaggerated by my fatigue…
The Polar Plunge
Whoa! If this isn’t the most uncomfortable, unpleasant experience I’ve ever chosen to do, I don’t know what is! It involved being harnessed and roped up (in case you pass out) prior to plunging into an icy 1.8°C in just your usual swimming gear - just to say “Yeah, I did it!”. Well, I was last to go (about 45+ people in front of me), so I was freezing before I even dived in. I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t that bad really when I splashing around, but probably only lasted 10-15 seconds before I realised, in fact it really was that bad, only worse!! The pain didn’t really hit me til I climbed out, and that’s when my body went into shock. It felt like my body was covered in strong electric shocks the size of 20c pieces, and the shot of vodka and a long hot shower barely did anything to appease the discomfort. However, I’m glad I did it, and would probably do it again, just to embrace every opportunity I guess!! Check it out…
It was interesting watching what ‘the plunge’ did to people who stayed in longer than me – some people’s speech started to slur, and reactions slowed down dramatically. I think it’s because your body just puts everything into the autonomic nervous system, and just tries to keep the heart, lungs and brain going until the final whistle goes.
The extras…
And just to finish off…
BBQ on board – wonderful spread of food and drink, whales breaching around us, and blistering sunshine. Couldn’t have been better!
We were fed fabulous food with table service. 3 or 4 course dinners every night, 3 meals a day (big ones!). Fabulous hosts and kitchen staff.
Some pointers, just in case you decide to make a bolt for it from the Ukrainian base.
Many people were celebrating landmark birthdays on the trip. This was a toga party! Brrrrr! Check out the beautiful ‘sunset’ though.
Two stamps in my passport from Antarctica – one of my favourite souvenirs. 
Before I close, I hope my scribblings have inspired you to go to this incredible place, or at least, raised your awareness of how precious it is and in need of active protection. I thought my Antarctic adventure would be a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip, but I left thinking it would be my first in a lifetime. Our expedition leader quite rightly identified the lesser known ‘Polar bug’ – I certainly got bitten by it.
Next, Buenos Aires…
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