My family and I travel worldwide and are based in the lovely state of North Carolina. We have two dogs named Winnie and Watson. I love Art, Creative Writing, Writing with lots of sarcasm, and playing outside. I love to bake, and my signature dishes are Meringues, Chocolate Mouse and Bundt Cakes.
Below are all photos of Antarctica and what I consider to be the best photos. A couple of photos are not mine. The beauty and natural beauty of Antarctica is really amazing! I hope you get a good taste of it through these photos!
Below are people’s photos from Antarctica; I hope they show how fun and truly amazing it was. 🙂
On the second to last day of the voyage, I was allowed to get a hoodie or t-shirt. I opted for a hoodie because, well, I just love hoodies. I also wanted to have a hoodie that had the crew’s signatures and the signatures of my friends. This gray one proved to be perfect! I asked Valare (one of the guides, she was the second guide I met on the trip) to do some sort of Antarctica artwork on the back because she is an AMAZING artist! She made it perfect! I then asked all the guides to sign it, as well as my friends and some random people who I did not know. At the captain’s farewell, I played a Ukrainian folk song (the captain was from Ukraine, as well as 12 crew), and then I got to meet the captain and the other bridge people. So, in the end, I got the bridge crew, all the guides, and most of the head of staff to sign it!!!!!!!!
Agenda: All Zodiac Cruising cancelled due to high winds. We sailed to Deception Island to try to cruise, but our efforts were not rewarded.
Another Stormy Day
Sadly today was just a day to watch the landscape and learn history. The winds were too high at our morning location to go cruising, so we aimed for Deception Island. Deception island is like a horse shoe. It was once a volcano that erupted but then the caldera broke letting a bunch of seawater in and making beaches. It’s called deception island because when a ship sails around it it looks like sea cliffs all around but there is a “secret” entrance called Neptunes bellows. This entrance is even thinner than the Lemaire channel, and it has a big underwater rock in it, which makes it extra dangerous. It’s called Neptune Bellows because it’s in perfect shape and spot to make extremely forcefully and high wind, which makes ship navigation even harder! Somehow our captain got us through!
Inside the Volcano
Inside it was still windy but everything looked very still. On the several beaches there were abandoned buildings from old whaling stations and the abandoned research stations from when there was a second eruption. The second eruption was not huge, but it was big enough that the island had to evacuate everyone! We were hoping to cruise and land in Whalers Bay, but it was still too windy. Instead we toured the island via the ship and received a history lesson from Ian.
Don’t Make Me Leave!!!
In the evening we had to gather in the Auditorium for our last debrief and briefing about our departure schedule. We also got to see our voyage slideshow and learn some more about whales. We were told how early we were going to wake up and what sequence we were going to fly home in. Alot of people looked sad and I was sad because who wants to leave Antarctica???
Captains Farewell
Later that evening there was a “party” where the captain came down to socialize and a lot of the crew came through the main lounge and we got to clap for everyone and there was a lot of smiling and clapping. On board, there was also a piano, and I had my violin, so… I got to perform a song with my brother. There is a backstory to the song that I performed. The night before, I was practicing this song with my brother (B). He was on the piano and I was on the violin. The song was Chervona Kalyna (Червона Калина) which is a Ukrainian folk song. This song was sung by Kozaks and soldiers and it is about a Red Kalyna in a medow. I know this song because I have been learning Ukrainian and I mostly only listen to Ukrainian and 80’s music. We were playing the song and a lady came in to listen. When we finished the song, she asked how we knew the song and why we were playing it. I told her how I knew it and that we were just practicing it and then I asked if she was from Ukraine. Turns out, she was! We talked for a while and I learned that 12 of the crew were from Ukraine and then I asked if I could play Chervona Kalyna for them the next day at the captains Farewell. That’s how I ended up playing it for the captain (who is from Ukraine) and a few of the Ukrainian crew and all the passengers!
Disco Party!
After dinner I had to pack all my stuff. This meant that I just put everything in my bag and got ready for the next day. As my bag was being checked by my mom my brother came in and announced that there was a disco dance party in the observation lounge! I LOVE dancing! I immediately wanted to race upstairs but I had to wait for my bag to be checked. As soon as it was I raced upstairs!
The dance floor was empty and adults just stood around talking. Some of the head captains were there talking and a lot of guides were there. As two of my siblings walked in the music changed and people moved to the dance floor. Me and Emmy were dancing like teenagers and two of the guides were doing a dance that we did not know. It was like ballroom dancing but probably less fancy. Me and my sister asked to be taught this dance because it looked fun. Once we mastered it we could not stop! Its a simple 10 step dance that repeats forever until you stop. At one point people started going outside so we did to and guess what we saw?? A sunset! The sun was actually setting! This was very surprising and unusual but I later learned that it was the summer solstice (southern hemisphere) and that’s why it was setting.
It was pretty cool! The sun fully dipped below the horizon at 10 pm! It usually sets for an hour or two around 1 am so this was surprise! It was a perfect last night in Antarctica!
Photos from today!
Neptunes BelowsThe last flakes of sunsetIts just so pretty!This is the kind of dessert that they had!American in Antarctica!!This is the daily schedual and what we were supposed to do.Group photo of all the guides!Veiws from the ship!The spot we were was just so beautiful!Snowy Mountains!This lifeboat These charts showed the nationalities of the guests, crew and guides which totaled over 30 nationalities on board!
Agenda: Skip the morning cruise and sail to Danco Island, Zodiac Cruise, Onboard Auction
Antarctica Is Not Always Majestical
Yesterday was beautiful. Today… Today is stormy, windy, and cold. I can’t blame Antarctica. Weather in Antarctica can turn at any moment. Today, it turned out, and we had a very cold day. We were not able to go Zodiac cruising in the morning because it was too windy and the waves were too big, so instead, we cruised to Danco Island. On the way we had a little entertainment provided by no other than the Great Breaching Whale!!!
So, You Saw a Whale Breach?
Yeah, I saw a whale breach, not once, not twice, but over 40 times!!!!! When a whale breeches, it expends 2-5% of its daily energy. This whale breached non-stop for over 40 minutes with over 40 breaches!!! Usually, on the ship, when a whale breaches, they announce it, but the whale is done by the time you get to the right side of the ship. This time, they announced it once, thinking it was a one-time thing. About 15 minutes into the breaching, they announced it again, telling people that they weren’t gonna miss it. They announced it twice more, each time sounding more and more excited! Annie, the marine biologist who specialized in whales, was stunned. All the guides on the ship, some of whom had over 30 years of polar trips, said they had never seen a whale do this. It was a natural phenomenon! It was pretty insane!
The Bridge
Since the whale stole 40 min out of our voyage to Danco Island, we had extra time. Time enough to do bridge tours! The bridge is the part of the ship that the captain steers from and controls everything. It was really cool to visit! It was very quiet and spacious, with wraparound windows and “wings” that go over the side of the ship to see the side of the ship. There were two main captain chairs in the main controlling area, which had sonar, radar, and other fancy equipment. There was a chart room and the captain’s quarters all in the bow of the ship! I ended up visiting the bridge twice because I did not have much else to do, and it was cool, so why not?
Warning: Zodiac Cruising Can Be Wet
Be aware that when you are in a small boat in waves, the ocean can rise to meet you in full force. I am probably making it sound super dramatic, but what I am saying is I got wet. It wasn’t really a surprise because it was raining and it was very windy, which made bigger waves. The good thing is that I had some pretty awesome waterproof pants, so it was really only my face and coat that got wet. Lol
My biggest tip is BRING WATERPROFF PANTS! Some people did not, and they were sad and wet. The waterproof difference is really big. If you are sitting on the cold side of the Zodiac when you are soaked is not fun. Bring pants that have unzippable breather sides so you don’t overheat when it is sunny and warm.
Back to the Cruise
Our afternoon Zodiac driver was Jensinna from Alaska. She took us to watch a penguin colony that had elephant seals on the beach! The penguins were the best part, though. They were waddling up this big hill and tobogganing down. It looked like a penguin ski resort! They had little penguin highways that they would all share, walking in a line, stopping at the top, and sliding down. The penguins who were going down probably did not just make it to the top, but that’s what it looked like! I guess this is when people think penguins are cute. 🙂 We also saw some Ice caves and Ice cliffs, which was pretty cool! We had to head in quickly because the waves and wind started picking up.
Auctioning in Antarctica
What better pastime in Antarctica than an auction? On the second to last night in Antarctica, the on-board penguin research team held an auction to raise money. It was a lot of fun! Adrian, the assistant expedition leader, was the auctioneer, talking very fast and raising the price of things almost as fast! Some of the stuff auctioned was swag from the penguin organization, but some of the things were pretty cool! There was a map of our voyage with art on it done by Valarie (The same person who did the art on the back of my Antarctica sweater). There was also a bottle of Antarctic Glacial Water which got lots of laughs. One of the guides also was making good jokes out of it. Ian, the historian, was showing the bottle around, and Adrian was joking that Ian is over 100 years old because he drinks glacial water, and that’s how he knows all the history of Antarctica so well!! It was pretty funny! Those were the coolest things, but there were many other things auctioned off. I was sad for it to be the second to last night, and I started to be worried about leaving. Nobody ever wants to say goodbye to Antarctica.
Here are the Photos from the day!
Valarie holding up one side of her art! All the animals and the ship were done by her!This ice berg cliff, with a shaft of sunlight on It was asking for a picture.Cool Ice caves!Just the usual veiwAs close as you get to sunset in Antarctica. The sun is still pretty high in the sky.Typical Outer Layers for an outing.Controls on the BridgeA window in the floor to see if icebergs make it past the bow.RadarZodiac Cruising past Glowing Ice Bergs!They look like skiing penguins right?
Location: Lemaire Channel, Peterman Island, on the World Explorer
Agenda: Visiting penguins on Petermann Island, visiting iceberg graveyard on Zodiacs, and the Polar Plunge!
Lemaire Channel
In the morning, I woke up earlier than usual and joined the few early risers in the observation lounge to witness us going through the infamous Lemaire Channel. The Lemaire Channel had been blocked up with ice for the whole season, and it was foggy, and it looked like icebergs were blocking it up. Thankfully, our amazing captain thought it was okay to go through, so he very carefully and slowly navigated us through the foggy, extremely narrow channel. On either side, tall mountain cliffs and glaciers rose up, making it seem like we were sailing through a trench. The end did have icebergs in it, but not too many. Our expedition was the first of the season to make it through the channel!!
On The Other Side
On the other side, we cruised to Pettermann Island near the Kyiv peninsula and the Vernadsky base. The Vernadsky base is the Antarctic base that Ukraine bought from the British for one British pound. The British really did not want the base, and the Ukrainians wanted a base but could not build one, so they got one almost for free.
Petermann Island has a penguin colony and a Chilean hut for emergencies, but the hut has been overridden by penguins, so we could not go see it. The place where we landed was a small rocky “beach” big enough for two Zodiacs side by side. There were penguins everywhere! The guides made trails through the snow up to the main penguin nesting spots, and we trudged up perfect snow hills to see them.
Are Penguins Actually Cute?
Everyone says penguins are super cute, and I think they are mistaken. In my opinion, antarctic penguins do not look cute. They have beady little eyes and are covered in their own poop. The smallest penguin, however, is very cute. The little blue penguin is the only one that is cute, and it’s not in Antarctica. I saw some in New Zealand but only for a few moments. These Adelie penguins on Petermann Island were funny, not cute. They go around trying to make nests for their mates by piling up rocks. Antarctica naturally does not have many small rocks, so penguins just go around stealing rocks. I watched a single penguin go around his group, trying to find rocks but resorting to stealing. Meanwhile, his mate was protecting their nest from a greedy neighbor who repeatedly tried to steal the same rock, only to be fended off by loud penguin squawks.
After Peterman Island
After Petermann Island, we did not get to cruise around in Zodiacs; we just went back to the ship. On the ship, I had lunch and worked on felting penguins to pass the time. We were heading to an iceberg graveyard. You might be wondering, what is an iceberg graveyard??? It is an area with a bunch of grounded icebergs. They don’t move, and it does look rather eerie.
Ice Berg Zodiac Cruising
In the graveyard, we carefully cruised around because it was very shallow. Our guide was Shasha (Alexander), and he got us to a seal! This seal was just lying on the ice, totally chill. Seals have very chill lives, they eat fish and krill and lay around all day sleeping. This seal took the trouble to wave at us and lift its head, but then it went back to sleep. There were no clusters of penguins, but we found a single penguin trying to fish in a foot of water. It just stood there, dove down, then came back up to stare at the water. It looked very sad. On our way back to the ship, we rounded a corner and encountered some whales hanging out, logging by some zodiacs. Everyone was silent, just watching them, and it was very beautiful.
Polar Plunge
Who would go to Antarctica, be offered to do the polar plunge, and turn it down?? Me. I was sadly the only one in my family who did not get into the -7 degrees Celsius water. I don’t like jumping into ocean water, and if it’s freezing water, I definitely didn’t want to do it. I greatly enjoyed seeing my sister be the first one on the whole ship to get in the water! One after the next, my family went. Almost 80 passengers went, and the best part was hearing their surprised yelp of “It’s cold!!!” or “It’s salty!!” Alot of people were surprised that it was salty. lol
After my family went, I raced down to the mudroom to greet them, and I saw a lot of people lined up in white bathrobes, waiting to jump willingly into freezing water. I don’t understand it! I would not put myself through that. Alas, I will probably regret it later in life…
Lemaire Channel, Again
The rest of the day was spent on dinner, relaxing, and drinking a lot of cocoa. All of that is very uninteresting, though. So, I get to tell you about the night time Lemaire Channel. In the morning, when we went through, it was foggy, cold, rainy, and not very majestic. In the night, however… I will let the following picture do the talking
How insane does this look?? The water was like glass, and there was a gentle mist on the tops of the mountains. Everything was perfectly quiet, and it was not too cold, so everyone was outside. It was just so breathtaking!! I can’t get over the moments I spent staring at this mountain, open-mouthed, silent in awe.
That’s what Antarctica does to you. It makes you stop and stare at the world as if it’s your first sight of it because it is just so beautiful!
Here are the pictures from today! Enjoy!
This ice berg spire was super cool!Ice berg shelfThis was the silly diving penguin I was talking about.Just Majestical!Hold your breath! I wish this moment lasted forever!
Where: World Explorer, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctic Continent (Exact locations visited will be updated when I receive the voyage log)
Agenda: First 2-hour Zodiac cruise, First Continental Landing, Captain’s Welcome “party”
Zodiac Cruising!!!!!
Our first Zidaic Cruise was with Vladimir. When our zodiac was fully loaded, he turned to us and said: “Here are the rules; there are none. But please don’t stand up while I am driving, and we will switch off standing and sitting to for wildlife. Also, we go fast [because] I am Russian.” Sure enough, he zoomed away from the ship, and we quickly found ourselves watching a group of chinstrap and Adelie penguins. They were the first penguins I saw, and they were pretty cute. Cartoon penguins are much cuter, and in real life, you can see how silly and dirty these creatures are. We did not see Emperor penguins (the ones in Happy Feet) because they live much further inland. After we were done with the penguins, we drove past some ice cliffs and towering Icebergs. We found some whales that were logging (sleeping) and hung near them for a while. At one point, some other whales came in between us and an iceberg, and they were so close that we could hear them super loudly! It was just so cool!!!!
Post Zodiac Cruise
Coming back after a Zodiac cruise to a warm cup of rich cocoa is like nothing else in the world! The coffee station that I mentioned in an earlier post became one of our favorite places on the boat. After each Zodiac cruise, I would hurriedly get my coat and boots off and rush upstairs, get a cup of cocoa, and then walk up to my room to drop off all my gloves, hats, etc…
After our first Zodiac cruise, we had some time before lunch to chill, so I went up to the Observation Lounge. It is on the seventh deckhand and has almost complete wrap-around windows off the bow of the ship. It has an outside deck that goes all the way around the ship. Lots of lounging space, the ship library, a bar, and space for the afternoon tea to be served 😉 Lunch was really good! The lunches on board are buffet, but you can also order steaks, chicken, and other things. Each day, there is also a special dish that you can get at the counter. For example, one day, they were cooking pasta, especially on demand. Another day, they had whole pigs roasted and carved into nice chunks of meat right in front of you. Pigs, plural, over the course of the hour, I think they probably had 4 pigs served. Pigs for lunch in Antarctica!!!! Another thing to note, the buffets are not your normal buffets. These are nicely arranged and full of beautiful and delicious food. There are always mountains of bread (there are small plates of GF bread) and soups at lunch. Everything is kinda fancy but at the same time casual. With such few people on board, you get to know people, and everything seems so free and calm. On a large cruise ship, everyone is in their own world, but on our expedition ship, we were all in one world together.
After lunch, we waited and prepared to arrive at our afternoon continental landing site. My family was in the Pink group, and in the morning, we went last, so in the afternoon, we got to go first. There are four groups Pink, Green, Orange, and Yellow. The groups rotate each time we go out to give everyone a turn being first. All passengers go to a group, and you pick your group so you can be with family and friends. You stay in the same group throughout the whole voyage, but that’s why there is a rotation of the group exit times. Somehow, the majority of the pink group was from floor 6. This was a good thing but also bad because that meant that we all were cramming into the floor 6 locker row, which got very crowded very fast.
Sweating? In Antarctica????
My biggest fear of going to Antarctica was the cold weather. I had never been in below 0 celsius temperature. I grew up in Seattle, where it is normally in the 60’s and sometimes drooped below freezing in the winter, but rarely. I ski, and I’m used to cold weather, but the thing most people think about Antarctica is polar bears and cold. FYI there are NO polar bears in Antarctica. It might blow your mind, but they are only in the north. Well, on our first continental landing, we had a short hike up a “hill” to get a good view. Hiking in the cold Is hard because your breath does not come easily. Hiking in the sun on snow with about a million layers on makes the air seem like an oven. Once I reached the top, I immediately unzipped my coat and all my sweaters. I took off my gloves, hat, and neck warmer. I had a bag to put these in, but the thing is, you can’t touch anything but your shoes to the ground. There are bird flu bacteria and little microbes that we cant see that shouldn’t be spread around. This made de-layering extremely hard. So, the fix? Choose one person to be the bag and coat rack for a few minutes as everyone de-layers. We must have been a funny sight. Eventually, we got to the proper amount of layers, and all cooled off, I was able to practically run in the snow!
Yeah, I think this picture is pretty awesome because we are like in base layers with icebergs in the background. We had to keep our life jackets on because, of course, you can easily drown on land, right? 😉 The Quark coats we got also had these really nice “backpack straps” inside the coat, so you can wear It like a backpack if you get too hot.
After climbing the snow hill, my sister and I went back down to the boat area to wait for our family. We helped people navigate the slippery rocks to the boat, but in the end, we had to take the last boat because the rest of my family was stuck at the back of the line. This proved fortunate for us because we ended up in Vladimir’s boat. This meant that we were going to be able to go just a little bit closer to wildlife and go just a little bit faster than the other boats. Sure enough, we had whales swimming just below our boat!! They were so huge! A bunch of Zodiacs were just floating around and these whales were swimming around them and playing and showing their tails! We did not see any penguins, but Vladimir told us all to take our cameras out and start a timelapse. We followed his instructions, waiting for something, and then he drove really fast around an iceberg, and it created such a cool timelapse!
In Between Outdoor Adventure and Really Good Food
What do you do on a small ship in a quiet ocean? Well, there are plenty of things. Staring at icebergs, reading a book, walking around the ship, looking at the ship’s boutique, standing outside for as long as you can before you freeze… That last one is legit and it is very fun.
There are plenty of things to do, and in Antarctica, I was never bored. In the afternoons there is also afternoon tea served in the Observation lounge. There are drinks, snacks and sweets. Everyone hangs out and watches things, and it is super fun! The ship library is in the observation lounge, and it has books in several languages about Antarctic and polar adventures!
Before dinner, there was a “party” in the Main Lounge on deck 4. The captain came down, and all the staff captains lined up and introduced themselves and a lot of people dressed up nice. The adults drank champagne, and all the kids had orange juice. There were toasts to the voyage, and then everyone went off to dinner. Dinner was very good, but the dessert was so good!!!
Friday, 12/15/2023 Punta Arenas Dream Hotel
Saturday 12/16/2023 Punta Arenas to King George Island
Sunday 12/17/2023 World Explorer, Antarctic Peninsula
Briefing about Antarctica, the ship, and what will happen tomorrow
Drive to the Airport and board the flight with Quark group 1 (half of the ship’s guests)
First full day on the boat!! First breakfast and earning up in mudroom!! We are Pink Group, so we go last today.
Pack and Re-pack to make things fit!
Receive Quark Coat, Special Boots, and Bag tags for non-Antarctic luggage.
Our first Zodiac cruise! Our guide was Vladimir! He was very funny and good at getting us close to the whales and penguins.
Arriving in Antarctica and working to get onto the ship World Explorer
Being welcomed on the ship warmly and found our rooms! 🙂
First Lunch aboard! We also hung out in the observatory lounge and met Annie, the Marine Biologist!
Welcome dinner with the rest of the ship guests in the hotel
Lifeboat drill!! We had to all find our life jackets and go to our muster stations with our key cards! They scan every one to make sure nobody is missing. What a good system!
First Continental Landing! We had a very hot, sweaty snowy hike on the continental Antarctica! There was a seal by the path, and it was super lazy!!
Off to sleep we go before our big travel day!
Wow! Our first dinner was so good!! They have gluten-free bread and a basic menu, as well as an international menu that changes every night with different themes!
Afternoon Zodiac cruise after continental landing with Vladimir again! We got very close to some whales, and they were breathing right next to us!! I also got a super cool wrap-around timelapse of an iceberg!
This Table is the schedule of our first two days with Quark Expeditions.
