My trip to Antarctica was such a unique, out of this world experience, that I’ve been pondering how on earth I could describe it. When I tell people I went, the reactions range from ‘why?’ and ‘o my god that’s so cool’, to ‘how do you even get there?’. There is so much to tell about my 10 day voyage on the Plancius ship, but let’s start with the basics: what did my time on the ship look like?
At first I sat waiting at the embarkation area in Ushuaia, thinking we’d get our passports checked or something. Then I found out that officially we’d never leave Argentina, so I could walk right through to the ship, where some of the crew were waiting for us. Everyone got their picture taken and shown to their rooms. I opted for the backpacker experience, meaning I shared a room with 3 other girls, from China, Germany and England. Only the top bunk was left, so I dropped my stuff on there and tried to unpack some things in random drawers and closet space. The excitement level was through the roof! We all gathered in the lounge for some instructions about safety and a mandatory safety drill. Then the ship left the harbour.
It takes about 2,5 days to reach the Antarctic peninsula. We had to cross the infamous Drake passage, where the Atlantic and the Pacific meet the Southern ocean. Infamous, because there is often rough weather and… our ship did not have stabalizers. Our crew told us we only had the Drake at strength 3 out of 10, so basically what they call “the Drake lake”. Nevertheless many people got sick and I too had a brief moment of seasickness despite the pills I was taking. Luckily I felt better very quickly and could enjoy the program they’d put on for us. It was just hard to keep my eyes open at times, since the pills make you very drowsy. The lectures provided an intro to Antarctica, talked about sea birds and whales. We also prepared for our time by receiving the rubber boots, cleaning and checking our gear and getting biosecurity instructions. Other than that I stared out at the ocean, walked around the deck, chatted with fellow passengers and ate. We ate a lot!
Arriving in Antarctica, in the Gerlache Strait, was beyond exciting! Every day our expedition leader Adam woke us up with an announcement, ‘good morning, good morning’. His soothing voice followed with: ‘I’m waking you up a bit early today, because there are orcas around the ship’. I didn’t know how fast to put on some layers and get outside. I was in a seemingly white and grey world. The Antarctic coast was hilly and covered with snow. There was a thick pack of grey clouds hanging above us and a bit of sunshine came through on the horizon. I couldn’t believe it. I was in Antarctica! It wasn’t hard to spot the orcas. There was a pod of them swimming alongside the ship. Some where even spyhopping, where their head and part of the body comes vertically out of the water to have a look around. I guess they were eyeing us while we were eyeing them.
So what did an average day in Antarctica look like? After our wake up call, we would all head to the restaurant for breakfast. There was a huge buffet where I ate way too much. The wait staff was incredible and some of them knew our names after a few days. They knew I drank tea, and lots of it, so my cup always got refilled. After breakfast we slowly got ready for a landing or zodiac tour. It meant putting on lots of layers of clothing, as well as our life vests. In the zodiac embarkation area we’d check out of the ship and load about 10 people in one zodiac boat. Sometimes we’d cruise around, looking for wildlife and icebergs. Other times we’d get on land for a walk, penguin visits or to see historical buildings.
After a hot lunch buffet we’d usually have a ship cruise, meaning our vessel would move through a scenic area to get to the next zodiac site. Upon arrival we’d wrap up in our warm clothes again for another zodiac excursion. When we returned to the ship there was always coffee, tea and hot chocolate available, with biscuits from the Netherlands or something freshly baked on board. Imagine how many Bastogne cookies I ate! The taste of home! It was a total coincidence I ended up on a Dutch ship, with some Dutch snacks and some Dutch staff members. Before dinner there was always a recap of the day, with short lectures on various topics. We’d also look at the next day. The itinerary always depended on weather conditions, especially the wind. We quickly learned to look for blues and greens on the wind map and if there was any yellow to orange visible on the map, an “ooooh” would go through the ship.
Dinner was a mix of buffet on some nights and plated dinner on others. There was always plenty of choice and it was fancier than what I would order during my trip in the restaurants. Every day offered different types of cuisines and because we had an Indian chef there were some really tasty Indian dishes. A highlight was the bbq on deck. It was cold of course, but we were going through a scenic area, there was music and the food was amazing. It was so nice to chat to other travelers, sipping a mulled wine and chewing on bbq ribs. When I walked around the deck afterwards, we passed by a penguin on an iceberg. Abba’s Dancing Queen was playing in the background. It was hilarious and beautiful. This is how many evenings were: enjoying a cup of tea, talking and staring outside. Since it barely got dark at all during the night, we could truly enjoy the landscape.
I’ll pause here for now. Details of the zodiac trips and other moments will follow. After all this fun, we did have to get back on the Drake again. I felt the difference between a rolling (side to side) and a pitching (front and back) motion of the ship. Some people locked themselves in their cabins, feeling sick. Luckily I was fine and could enjoy the lectures and a special movie screening with popcorn: Happy Feet! Funny how acurate some penguin features are in this film!
