Antarctic Peninsula

The dream of visiting Antarctica and also specifically South Georgia Island started about 5 years ago when we watched the Planet Earth II series and were just so in awe of these incredible places. So we decided to make this dream a reality and booked a 3-week expedition cruise that would take us the the Antarctic peninsula as well as to the islands of South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.

The adventure started when we boarded the Ship, the “Sea Spirit” by Poseidon Expeditions in Ushuaia, Argentina. This ship is an older lady but very luxurious and one of the smaller expeditions ships out there with 100 guests on board. In order to reach the 7th continent we first needed to cross the infamous drake passage, known as the worlds stormiest ocean, for 2 days. Thankfully we were blessed with relatively good weather and swells up to 2.5m. Nevertheless Sarah spent most of this time horizontally due to seasickness, as did many other passengers. For everybody else the time was passed by attending some lectures on the local wildlife and getting to know the other passengers, which turned out to be an eclectic multicultural mix of adventurous, photography-obsessed and lovely people.

On day 3 we arrived at the Antarctic peninsula and spent the next 4 days cruising the surrounding waters and going for landings with the smaller zodiac boats twice a day.

Stepping on the 7th continent felt surreal and the landscapes were dominated by glaciers and huge floating icebergs. Each landing site was unique though in terms of the wildlife we saw. There were Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie Penguins, Fur seals, Leopard Seals, Weddell Seals and we also saw Humpback and Fin whales. These animals were completely unimpressed and undisturbed by our presence and we were able to observe them in their natural environment from up close and personal. To preserve the pristine nature there was of course no touching allowed, a safe distance still maintained and strict biosecurity measures in place (cleaning boots, jackets etc before and after every landing).

Hadleigh and I also joined the Kayaking club, which allowed us to venture out in sea kayaks on a day with calm enough waters, which happened to be a super cold and snowy day. It felt completely surreal to be paddling through the ice and coming within 1-2m of the glaciers and some seals lounging on the snowbanks.

For the brave amongst us there was the possibility of doing a “polar plunge”, a jump into the freezing ocean for a few seconds before they pull you back in with a rope. Of course, Hadleigh was all for it.

We could have easily spent more time there but unfortunately a storm was coming and it was time for us to make a move towards our next destination, South Georgia… (next post coming)