Antarctica, Antarctica - Polarsteps

Another beautiful day is waiting on us! ☀️ This day is filled with a great variety of activities! We started with a little muscular awakening in the form of a yoga-class tutored by our yoga-teacher-to-be Julia!🧘 While stretching we were surrounded with beautiful vistas including a second sunrise. At 9 o'clock we boarded on the Zodiac with Greg as our guide. He loved to tell us Antarctica-related jokes while cruising in between the Iceberg graveyard, although positivists would rather call it the iceberg art gallery🧑‍🎨. It's wonderful to look at all the different kind of shapes 🧊. We were still trying to realize at what place we actually were! The second half of the excursion we stepped foot on Booth Island where an Elephant Seal was waiting for us (although Liselot only realized this after he already jumped in the water. No Liselot, Weddell seals are not that big🦭). Next to the Elephant Seal we saw (again) lots of pinguïns (even some Chinstraps!!). We heard a story about a person asking the guides what to watch today and (s)he was surprised that the answer was more pinguïns. Well we DID enjoyed seeing more pinguïns!🐧 Another thing nobody will prepare you for: not all pinguïns are the perfect and beautiful example of a pinguïn. A lot of pinguïns are moulting, which means they are exchanging the feathers and it makes them really grumpy😖. We also saw some really young ones, which made Jean (our bird expert) really worrying, since they might not survive before winter comes in... 🥶 Side Story; Again high at the island we met our Norm again. This time with a black eye. But his story sounds reliable... he fought against the pirates to keep us save. Happy to have you here, Norm 😊. Back on the ship🛳️, and during lunch, the ship repositioned to a new area to explore. This time we did a small canal cruise, just as in Amsterdam🚤. We had good views on the former British base called Faraday, which is sold for 1 dollar to the Ukrainian government💸. This was the place that first discovered the hole in the ozone layer. Unfortunately, due to covid, we are not allowed to visit the manned base, but we brought some waves👋. Back on the ship it was time for THE moment we were all nervous for. Yesterday it was postponed, but today the brave ones needed to get ready. Back to the mudroom... This time not in our skipants+parka, but in our bathing suits!👙🩳 We are doing the POLAR PLUNGE! 🥶The ice cold water with a negative temperature of -0.5°C waited for us. With a little push from the 'sweet' Ema we threw ourselves from the World Explorer. Probably even quicker most of us where back on the ship. However, Frank did some swimming and Liselot tried to stay in for a second longer. We have to admit: it was actually quite nice :). -better pictures as proof will be there within a few weeks- (Meanwhile written in the ship's logbook: "we sipped a well earned cocktail and lied about how cold the water really felt" 🤫). After our plunge -and a very hot shower- we enjoyed seeing our friends doing the same from our balcony. During diner we celebrated this special moment with a toast🥳. And the day is not over... another highlight was waiting for us, since the ship sailed through the famous Lemaire Channel🏞️. Our diner table suddenly turned empty (except Robert guarding the table(?)), since we wanted all to enjoy this moment from the upper deck. We grumbled on the bad timing -being here while diner is served- since this is something you truly don't want to miss. While sailing through the channel the sunset took place, which made the views even more stunning🌄. We only returned after hearing that our orders will be cancelled when we would stay on the deck. Solely Anne and Luuk decided to go for an evening without fancy food. Our plans to go bed early were cancelled when we heard Meghan's message through the speakers. Tomorrow we will passing Port Lockroy, which is the actually Southern most post office (don't listen to what they will tell you in Ushuaia!). And if we want to send some Antarctica-post we have to leave them at the reception BEFORE midnight. Well... Small problem, our postcards weren't bought yet. Fortunately the shop opened and we spend the rest of the evening writing post for some of our beloved ones 🥰.

Country Guides:

Antarctica