07 Mar

Day 8 – An Unintentional Polar Plunge and Camping on the Continent!

 

Today we opened the curtains and gasped. There was a glacier right next to us. Like we were PARKED next to a glacier.

Unreal! And there were penguins everywhere!

This was Necko Harbor, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Pictures cannot do it justice.

We got ready slowly while stopping to look outside every two minutes. We went down to eat breakfast, and they came on the overhead and said there was a lot of ice in the area. They weren’t sure we could make landings safely, so they were sending a team to check.

While we ate, we saw the team come back, and saw them lowering some zodiacs! Woohoo!

They said there were some humpbacks in the area, so we went to the top decks!

There are some guides in the zodiacs near the whales:

I also went out to the bow and learned the benches are heated! How did I just learn this?!

The hall to get out there felt all kinds of wrong, though. I felt like I was entering a crew area with every door I opened.

It was so quiet and peaceful in this amazing setting. We could hear everything. Penguin sounds, glacier cracking, whales blowing – it was incredible.

Look at these guys!

I love their reflections!

I saw a glacier calve while I was out there! I got a few pictures in sequence.  Look at the bottom right (ish):

Super cool!

The whales were still hanging around.

There was also another deck aft that I went to explore.

I could see where we were going when our group was called. That’s our people!

There was an avalanche/snow waterfall while I was out there!

More penguins.

Penguins on an iceberg.

We were the last group today, so we had lots of time. Finally, they called us, and we went down to the mudroom! We heard from the group coming in that it was super hot. Like sweat rolling down their back hot. So we took off whatever layers we could.

When we landed, the penguin highway was in front of us.

A penguin. Highway.

Can you even? They went up and down and up and down.

There is never enough time to take pictures of penguins on a penguin highway, but I did want to go to the top!

Plus, being on the continent means more flag pictures!

Then Audrey and I walked up.

Sup?

The glacier backdrop was incredible.

Two penguins passing on the highway.

Looking back:

Babies!!!

We were among the last people down for the last zodiac back.

When I was climbing in, I was on the side that was a tiny bit deeper.  I had one leg up on the zodiac, and the boat moved! I was basically doing the splits and realized I wasn’t going to make it.

I said, “Nope! I’m going down!” as I crashed into the ocean.

An unofficial polar plunge, if you will. Lol

The expedition leader turned around, saw me laying spread eagle in the water, grabbed me and yanked me out! And helped me on to the zodiac safely.

Somehow, I managed to hold my camera bag up in the air, and I didn’t get it wet! A miracle.

I was wet but fine. We all had a good laugh! Everyone said I didn’t want to wait for the polar plunge the next day, so I did my own! I guess I did!

I was pretty lucky.  Normally with 100 people on land, every single one of them taking pictures and videos, there’s no way someone wouldn’t have gotten a picture.  But there were only about 10 of us, all focused on getting on the zodiac!  So there is no photo evidence.  

Audrey was dry:

When we got back, I took my coat to the room to make sure it was dry for camping! My waterproof pants were amazing, and the water never got through them. All in all, I was in pretty good shape for a dip in the freezing water!

I changed when I got back and went to meet Mukta for lunch. Lunch was delicious! No pictures.

After eating, I showered and then went to the Dome where I sat for a few hours. We saw orcas! But they were shy and didn’t come close to the ship. I stopped by the aft deck to see our sister ship go by!

I went down to the room at 4:30 so we could order room service for dinner. We were getting off to camp on the continent tonight!

That’s as crazy as it sounds.

When we learned camping was an option, one with an additional cost (!!), I was like – no way!  We paid a lot for that luxury ship to sleep on!  But Mukta, Gautam, and Cisco were all in.  So, I started considering it.

I’m a sucker when you throw in words like “exclusive opportunity” or “once in a lifetime”.  

Okay, I’m in.  How many people can say they slept on Antarctica?

We would get off at 9 pm and not come back until 5 am. There are no bathroom facilities out there, so I wanted to stop drinking Coke by 5 pm. I didn’t want to eat dinner without a drink, so we decided to eat early in the room.

After we ordered, all heck broke loose. The cruise director came on and said that there was a worker’s strike in Argentina, and our charter flight back to Buenos Aires was canceled! We all needed to reschedule our flights for one day later, and we would be on the ship for one more day! Whoa. Okay! So we got to work!

They gave everyone the internet to make changes and let people use their computers. Mine was surprisingly easy to do! It was a $1 price change.

Our food came while Audrey and Jenn were in our room changing theirs, and I scarfed it down. And stopped drinking!

We hung out until it was time to go down. It was FREEZING out. I was a little concerned. At 9, we were all bundled, and we waddled our way downstairs!

When we boarded the zodiac, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t warm, but not as cold as I feared! The scenery was beautiful! We weren’t staying too far from the ship. We could see it from our campsite.

When we pulled up, we saw the rest of the 17 campers making their way up the hill. We got out of the zodiac, grabbed our gear, and headed up. There was a huge seal asleep nearby. The view from the top was amazing.

First, we picked a spot.

Then, we had to dig out a little. Which was not easy!!

Full disclosure – Gautam helped us. We took a group picture!  Which I will add one day when I locate it…

Then, the guides laughed and waved as they bolted for the ship. We felt abandoned! But three crew members did stay with us. Phew!

Then we set up our bags and sat in our chairs.

Here’s our setup:

Gautam’s:

We could see the ship!

Mandatory flag pic.

Here’s one of the cones marking where we could walk:

It was awesome to walk around and not be in our life jackets, parkas, etc.

I was pretty warm! For about 10 minutes.

Then I started to get cold quickly. We decided to walk around a little and warm up. We went to see the seal. And visited other campsites.

Here’s where the guides sat all night:

Seal!

Right about then, he decided to take off.

I also remembered I hadn’t turned on my heated vest yet! Missy gave me a heated vest! I had worn it several times, but I hadn’t had to turn it on yet. I gotta say, it was glorious when I turned it on.

We sat in our chairs and talked until about midnight. Then we climbed into our sleeping bags.

There’s Gautam over there!  I took a phone picture of him so you can see how it all looks!

I put my parka in the bottom of my bag, and Mukta wore hers. I didn’t feel like I would be comfortable enough to sleep if I was too bundled. Plus I had a heated vest!

So when I woke up, and my hands were cold, I put them in the best pockets.

Mukta was in!

We’re in!

This was the view from our sleeping bags:

I slept okay! I probably got about 4 hours? The hardest thing was rolling over. It let air in the bag, and you had to be careful not to roll up against the ice or let things escape the bag!

So I woke up a few times, rolled over, looked around, etc. But overall, I did sleep! And no, it never got dark. Little duskier, but not dark.

 

Antarctica At Last – January 13-24, 2024
Day 1 – On My Way 
Day 2 – Beautiful Buenos Ares 
Day 3 – To the Ship
Day 4 – Drake Lake 
Day 5 – First Penguins
Day 6 – Two Landings!
Day 7 – Penguins Again 
Day 8 – An Unintentional Polar Plunge and Camping on the Continent!
Day 9 – To Plunge or Not to Plunge 
Day 10 – The Day I Did Nothing
Day 11 – Calm Waters Again 
Day 12 – Ushuaia For the Day