Day 270: m/v Plancius – Antarctica – Mar 14th

Waking up with our expedition leader kicking us to wake us up, it was another surreal day in Antarctica. As the night went on, it started snowing and we actually woke up with our face covered in snow…strange feeling. We packed our sleeping systems, hopped onto a zodiac and back onto the ship just in time for breakfast!

The morning disembarkment was at Almirante Brown, a disused Argentine base. A short hike up a crevassed hilltop, it was the first we saw snow!!! Atop the slippery and narrow rock that was at the hilltop, we snapped a few pictures and were on our way down. Climbing up wasn’t hard, but coming back down was the best as we put our bums to the snow and tobogganed down!!! It took a bit of trial and error but Alan figured out a suave way of sliding down quick, except Jiajia kept stopping and starting a traffic jam with her high-friction bum! A snow fight and a few snow angels later, you realize everyone is just as childish as we were no matter where you’re from and how old they were. We had quite a few other backpackers aboard the ship, and over the dozen or so days in such a special place (a ship with no outside communication!), a somewhat special ‘polar bond’ seemed to have emerged. Strangely enough, after our walk ashore we took a zodiac ride out in search for ice…despite being surrounded by it, you really can’t stop but appreciate how beautiful the icebergs are, and how the different shapes are formed.

The ship sailed through the Lemaire Channel as we saw some amazing icebergs in the aptly named Iceberg Graveyard. The skies were cloudy and snowing quite heavily, so the icebergs weren’t as illuminated and their images less ethereal than they are in real life.

The afternoon was spent playing with penguins in the snow at Port Charcoat… and we just can’t get enough of penguins!

MORE PENGUINS PLEASE!