Arriving In Antarctica And The Antarctic Circle – Hand Baggage Solely

March 2, 2023

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After all of the hoops we needed to bounce to get to Antarctica (in our earlier put up), right here we lastly had been. Antarctica!

Like, this took a short while for it to sink in.

I keep in mind wanting to go to for like 10 years after which it took a lot of planning to lastly get thus far and right here we had been in Antarctica.

I keep in mind considering to tempo myself once I bought up in the midst of the night time for a pee however all these although went off of the figurative window the minute we opened the literal window.

We noticed ourselves surrounded by icebergs.

Suffice to say, there was no want for caffeine that morning. The solar wasn’t shining but it surely simply added all of the extra to that drama.

To not point out the recognizing of wildlife which had grow to be much more frequent now that we had been in Antarctica.

Penguins bobbing throughout, extra seals on icebergs across the ship and the occasional whale within the distance.

We had been just about bouncing off the partitions all morning after which the captain determined to up the ante.

Because it seems, you possibly can go to Antarctica however not get into the Antarctic Circle.

The Antarctic Circle is quite a bit decrease down and only a few ships ever make it that far south due to the ocean ice.

As you possibly can think about, the nearer it will get to the South Pole, the thicker the ocean ice is.

The Ocean Victory ship we took all the way down to Antarctica is definitely constructed to traverse the ice right here.

That being mentioned, the ocean ice on the journey to the Antarctic Circle is simply too densely packed and much too thick for many ships to undergo so quite a bit by no means make it that far south.

They simply don’t hassle making an attempt it.

Our captain nonetheless determined that the climate situations seemed nice and the ocean ice didn’t look too dangerous so we might flip our entire itinerary on its head and enterprise far south into the Antarctic Circle.

If we left it just a few days extra, there’s an opportunity the climate may change or the ocean ice may get thicker and so we simply needed to profit from it whereas the situations allowed for it.

Seems, he was proper and with that, we had been the primary crusing of the season to get into the Antarctic Circle!

There have been whoops and cheers throughout with champagne in every single place to have fun.

This was a milestone I didn’t even know we wanted to fulfill previous to the crusing but it surely was superb. Haha!

To be trustworthy, simply going to Antarctica is a large enough win with or with out the cherry on the cake that’s crusing into the Antarctic Circle.

It was completely superb and such a superb technique to begin the journey.

Plus now lets say we’ve been to the Arctic Circle (we did this just a few years in the past in Norway) and now the Antarctic Circle.

We spent the remainder of the day just about in awe of every thing we may see round us.

We’d already come throughout humpback whales, leopard seals, Weddell seals, Adélie penguins (that are tougher to identify than Gentoo or chinstrap penguins) and a few extremely humongous icebergs.

Then the top of the expedition workforce gave us a little bit of a shock announcement by saying that we’d be venturing out on our first zodiac expedition to Antarctica.

I didn’t assume it was doable to be much more excited than we already had been however seems, it is extremely doable certainly.

Bear in mind, if you’re in Antarctica, your plans are topic to alter relying on the climate.

So, having nice climate to have the ability to do a zodiac boat tour felt very very similar to the large deal that it was. This was very true as this wasn’t a confirmed plan for the day earlier on.

Oh, and by the way in which, the waters had been very calm by this level.

It was calm sufficient to make us not hassle with the ocean illness tablets. Plus, these make you drowsy so it wasn’t one thing we needed to take if we didn’t should.

Saying that although, I did take one at night time. I figured the drowsiness wouldn’t matter an excessive amount of and that might hold any sea illness away whereas crusing at night time.

That turned out to be an important plan as I came upon just a few days later once I didn’t take them and began to really feel a little bit seasick whereas we had been crusing round in Antarctica.

Quickly sufficient, we had been known as to do all the way down to the mud room. Able to get suited up, booted up and life-jacket as much as get on the zodiac boats.

You additionally should disinfect your common garments earlier than you go so that you don’t carry contaminants with you.

It’s probably not performed for brand spanking new garments however for older garments and footwear, specifically.

They don’t need you bringing invasive species to Antarctica. So, to assist with this, your boots are decontaminated earlier than and after you go on the boat (even in the event you’re happening land).

Your garments are all performed upfront of heading all the way down to the boats and the best technique to describe that is that it’s basically like they only vacuum your garments.

The zodiac boat cruise was unbelievable.

You’ll be able to inform how superb and the way large a few of these icebergs are from afar but it surely doesn’t examine to if you get near them.

Their sheer dimension is simply mind-boggling; and that color too!

It’s a shade of blue you’ve by no means seen elsewhere and gained’t overlook in a rush.

And yeah, that’s how we spent our first day in Antarctica.

We completed off with dinner and wine beneath the Antarctic midnight solar, which to be trustworthy, was behind some clouds however by no means truly set so it was shiny all night time lengthy.