Brittni’s Blog

Antarctica is by far the most spectacular place I’ve ever been. I feel so privileged to live on this planet after seeing it. To summarize for those who don’t want to read the full story (you’re lose ;-)), here are some highlights of the trip:

1) The Wildlife - We got really lucky with some amazingly up close encounters with several spices of penguins, seals, and whales.

2) The Views - We saw the most stunning views from the ship, on excursions we did in the zodiacs, and especially from a few particular peeks we climbed up to. The ice glaciers where more breathtaking than I can describe. Hopefully my pictures can give you some idea.

3) The Staff and Crew - Quark Expeditions (the company I went with) did an outstanding job. The expedition staff was extremely knowledgeable and I learned a lot about a wide range of topics, such as the history of Antarctica, geology, marine life, penguins, photography, etc. The catering staff was also exceptional. I’ll remember the wonderful food as one of the highlights of my trip.

4) The Passengers - What kind of people go to Antarctica? The most interesting, diverse, intellectual, cultural, witty, successful, lucky, and just plain best people in the world. It would have been a very different experience without all the amazing people that I was on the ship with.

Day 1 (March 3) - Ushuaia

The first official night of the expedition was in Ushuaia, Argentina. Quark Expeditions picked out a nice hotel close to the dock and, I have to say, it was quite nice to be in a proper hotel after being in big dorm-type hostels for so long. I met my roommate, Loyce, a costume and theater design teacher at Ohio University. I was surprised at how many younger people there are on this cruise because I was expecting an older crowd, but I expect its because this is one of the cheaper cruises that Quark does.

Day 2 and 3 (March 4 and 5) - At Sea

We boarded the ship Tuesday, March 3rd and set off at about 5pm. Then we spent the first 2 days in the drake passage which is known to be the roughest waters in the world. Fortunately, I was able to go above deck quite a lot and I didn’t get sick. There were a lot of lectures during the two days at sea by different specialist in the expedition staff on various subjects such as the history of Antarctica, geology, marine life, penguins, photography, etc. Other than the lectures, though, I took advantage of this time for some more R & R; mostly just read, ate, and took naps. I think the rocking of the boat made me fall asleep easily. During the second night the seas were so rough that I nearly got tossed out of bed, and a lot of people complained about not being able to sleep, but fortunately I can sleep through just about anything. Although it was quite foggy, we all went up on deck and first saw land at about 6pm on Thursday. The land we saw was mostly just volcanic rock islands, but very nice looking after only seeing open ocean for two days.

(Click on the pictures to see them bigger.)

Day 4 (March 6) - Half Moon Bay and Deception Island

Finally, the first landing! We had to alternate from our original plan to visit Hunnington beach because the swell was too big. Instead we went to Half Moon Bay which is a bit more protected. There we saw a colony of chinstrap penguins, quite a few fur seals, and even one lone macaroni penguin, which are the ones with wield yellow feathers on the back of there necks (or maybe you know them from the movie Happy Feet as the penguins with the Mexican accents. haha. And, no, they don’t have Mexican accents in real life).

In the afternoon we went to Deception Bay where we climbed a volcano. Although it wasn’t steep or far, it was one of the most difficult treks I’ve ever done because of the intense wind. The staff said they believed that the winds were up to 25 knots (27.6 mph). A few times the wind just knocked me over and I thought I was going to be blown off the mountain. A few people attempted the trek and didn’t make it, but most people just didn’t even attempt it. (Allow me to clarify, the ones that didn’t make it turned back, not died). I’m very happy I went, though, because the view from the top was magnificent.

Then a few of us crazies did a polar plunge in the bay which was 0 degrees celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). It was a bit cold, but so much fun! The funniest part of the adventure was definitely when I was changing behind a big piece of metal, had my panties around my knees and was holding my towel around my waist (not big enough to tie up), the wind picked up and carried my pants down the beach with me running after them, screaming and cursing at my pants. And of course lets not forget to mention the huge crowd pointing and laughing. I suppose the bright news is that I did eventually get to my pants right before they blew into the ocean. In retrospect I suppose it is quite funny and makes a pretty good story. Although the water was numbingly cold at the time, as they always say, you’ll only regret not doing it. I’m certainly glad I did it because now I can say I swam in the Antarctic!

Day 5 (March 7) - Danco Island and Neko Harbour

The first stop today was to Danco Island. When we first arrived we saw beautiful ice shapes sitting on the beach. I’ve never seen anything natural like it. Then we walked around a colony of gentoo penguins, and then hiked up to a peak that had a gorgeous 360 degree view of Danco Bay. We took heaps of photos, (definition of heaps: an untidy collection of things piled up haphazardly …yep, thats it), sat and talked for a bit, did head stands, and finished up a snowball fight that I started the previous day. On the way down a few of us laid down and a bunch of penguins came right up to us! Its amazing to me how curious and fearless they are. They are so cute I almost stole one in my coat ;-).

Then we had our first continental landing at Neko Harbour! We saw another gentoo colony and hiked up to another peak with a beautiful view of glaciers. We sat for a few hours and occasionally saw part of the glaciers fall off into the sea. A few of us slide down the mountain for part of the way down which was a lot of fun. On the way back we took a little detour in the zodiac and road around some amazing ice glaciers. It blows my mind how beautiful ice can be.

In honor of Woman’s Day, a Russian holiday, the Russian crew put on a fabulously entertaining song and dance performance, we had a delicious Russian meal, and stayed up playing cards and drinking white Russians (just to keep with the theme of the night ).

Day 6 (March 8 ) - Lemaire Channel, Pleneau Island, Vernadsky Station

We went through the Lemaire Channel then did a zodiac cruise around ice burgs and saw a few leopard seals up close (video below). This particular leopard seal encounter is definitely one I will never forget. Although the staff warned us that the leopard seals are some of the most aggressive and dangerous predators in Antarctica, it just looked so cute and playful swimming in the water around the boat. I got so much amazing footage that the first video I made was 13 minutes long and it took me forever to edit it down to 4. I think the exceptionally friendly wild life is one thing that makes Antarctica so remarkable. Also, while cruising around we got a surprise visit from some pirates who gave us hot chocolate with rum.

In the afternoon we went to a Ukrainian science station (Verdasky Station) where we took a tour, learned about the interesting history of the station, sent postcards, and took shots of a delicious vodka they make there at the station with the bartender. If you’re interested, here’s a bit on the station: It was where scientist first observed the depletion in the ozone layer known as the ozone hole and it was purchased from the British for 1 British pound in 1996 because it was cheaper to give it away then clean it up (as the Antarctica Treaty requires either selling it or cleaning it up).

On the way back to the ship we stopped at Winter Island where we visited Wordie House which was occupied between 1947 and 1953 and is now preserved as a museum.

Day 7 (March 9) - Cape Tuxen Waddington Bay & Petermann Island

We visited two islands, the first of which was very slippery and after getting of the zodiac I slipped and fell on my face which hurt a bit, but was pretty funny. Now the people on the ship are starting to know me as the clumsy one. Then I walked around the island, and sat and watched the cutest little Adélie penguins playing in a pool for a long time. I can watch them for hours and never stop laughing. Good stomach exercise and more fun than doing sit-ups

In the afternoon we went to an island that had a bunch more Adélie penguins and an old Argentine refuge hut. On the way back to the ship we saw a leopard seal eating a penguin, which most people thought was quite sad, but didn’t bother me much, as you can tell in the video below.

We had a huge delicious BBQ dinner, then I met some of the catering staff and more passengers. We stayed up passing around the guitar and singing songs all together (mostly The Beatles, but a bunch of other classics), then had a dance party, walked around the ship for a bit, tried to do yoga (standing on one leg in the tree pose) with the ship was rocking like crazy, and stayed up discussing philosophy. (I went to bed about 5:30ish, but, to be honest, it was only a few hours after the other nights.)

Feeding Time from Brittni Daley on Vimeo.

Day 8 (March 10) - Cuverville Island & Melchiors Islands

Last day in Antarctica! I woke up about 7ish to the announcement, “If you want to go on the excursion be at the gateway in 1 minute for the last zodiac!” Threw on my clothes so fast my gloves ended up on my feet, my socks on my hands, and I was upside down, obviously very hungover, if not still drunk. But I made it and had a great time on shore where I saw a humpback whale skeleton and had some up close encounters with gentoo penguins. I was completely nostalgic about leaving Antarctica. Even though I was cold, I stayed on the island as long as possible, taking it all in, and was one of the last ones to leave. I finally went back with the crew and on the way we got extremely lucky with two humpback whales which came right up to the boat.

Our last excursion was a zodiac ride around some more beautiful ice bergs. We saw some more chinstrap penguins, fur seals, and wheeler seals.

Then we started heading back to Ushuaia. Goodbye Antarctica. Even though no one really got sea sick on the way down, it seemed like almost everyone got sick on the way back. Its hard to describe how rocky the ship was. It was hard to even sit up straight without falling over. I want to say that I would recommend this trip to anyone because it has been spectacular, but because of the swells, I would not recommend this trip to people that didn’t think they could handle it.

Day 9 and 10 (March 11 and 12) - At Sea

Another two days back through the Drake Passage, but fortunately both days were much calmer than the day before. I went to a few lectures by the expedition staff and learned more about the history of the exploration of Antarctica, orca whales, and industrial whaling.

We arrived back in Ushuaia March 13 around 8am, sadly said our goodbyes to those going back home, and those of us who are continuing to travel went to a hostel and continued the celebrations.

“Its the one spot on the planet that no human rules, that no ownership possesses–a strange location where people from more than forty countries, representing 75 percent of the world’s population, work together harmoniously. Antarctica is the last frontier on the planet–a mix of unspoiled beauty, heart-tugging wildlife, and history, which has been explored only within the last two or three generations.” (Waiting to Fly, Ron Naveen)

Watch out Arctic, Here I come!
After watching one of the staff’s slide show on the arctic I am quite keen to go. I am in no rush, however, so I probably wont be taking advantage of the 25% discount that Quark is offering everyone who wants to go this summer (hint, hint), but I will start saving my pennies and looking forward to this next big adventure. The difficult part, though, is choosing which journey to do. It all depends on what you want to see, whether its the north pole, indigenous villages and cultures, polar bears, or green and blue ice glaciers. While in the Antarctic most people sail from Argentina and do a fairly the standard route, in the Arctic you can sail from Finland, USA (Alaska), Canada, Norway (Svalbard, Spitsbergen), Russia, Greenland (Denmark territory), or Iceland. So, if anyone reading this is thinking of going to the arctic, I would highly encourage it. And write to me about it so I can live vicariously through you!

www.quarkexpeditions.com