Incredible Antarctica

It covers an area roughly twice the size of Australia, has no resident population apart from a few scientists working at base stations, is the highest, the windiest, the coldest, and the driest continent.

And it’s the most fantastic destination to visit if you get the opportunity.

With only a limited season when visits are possible, it also has strict limits on the number of visitors.

I accepted my trip there in February 2022 with my husband was almost certainly a once in a lifetime experience. The sea crossing from the southern tip of Argentina takes around two days. The infamous Drake Passage can be a ‘lake or a shake’. I had a shake on the way out and a lake coming back. But it wasn’t as bad as folklore may suggest. It was time spent around the ship listening to lectures and briefings, signing up to the conditions stipulated by the Antarctic Treaty that ensure visitors leave the continent in the same pristine condition they found it, and getting kitted out with the essential clothing and equipment you’ll need to explore on land and sea.

I sailed on Scenic Eclipse, a luxury discovery yacht built to take on the ocean and ice formations that you sail through. Once aboard it was luxury all the way - 10 small and chic restaurants, relaxing spas and yoga studios, and a cabin with facilities that would do any 5* hotel proud.

After two days sailing you wake up, look out of your cabin and see Antarctica. A mix of snow, floating icebergs and mountains reaching up to the sky. And this is when the real fun really starts.

There is no set itinerary for the 7 days spent exploring Antarctica. You leave the ship twice a day to explore on land or in a zodiac boat as it criss-crosses the freezing waters. Each day the ship visits two separate locations and these stops will be dependent on weather, tides, ice flows, and where the best things to see and do are in that moment. Your Discovery Team on board work incredibly hard to maximise your experience. The Discovery Team are the scientists and expedition leaders who have hundreds of trips on their CV. They are an encyclopaedia of knowledge. Ask them a question about icebergs, geology, mammals, birds, weather patterns or anything else Antarctic related, and between them they’ll be able to answer you.

With 7 days ahead what do you see and do?

I could not have imagined the amount of wildlife that you get to see and experience living in its natural habitat. Seals that lounge on icebergs, leopard seals that ate penguins and and fur seals that played on the foreshore. The elephant seals I came across weighed in at several tonnes each and dozed on the beach snoring. The different species of penguins were fascinating. They live in colonies and at one location I walked through over 100,000 of them! They swim in the icy waters, diving in and out between the bergy-bits (small pieces of ice) as they avoid any predatory seal that might be lurking. They were charming, especially the youngsters which would walk over to you and look inquisitively. I quickly learned to differentiate between the different species and never tired of watching their antics.

Whales were spotted every day. Dinner one evening was interrupted by an announcement over the ships tannoy that a pod of 30 Orca whales were alongside us. Everyone rushed out of their restaurant to witness this incredible sight.

Birds flew past the boat as it crossed the Drake Passage. The enormous albatrosses frequently swept past us as we sailed south. In Antarctica the shags and the skua birds were plentiful. The skua’s hang around the penguin colonies looking for eggs and young penguins to prey upon. Snow petrels are beautiful and graceful, and gulls, terns and some sea skimmers were also to be seen.

To witness so much wildlife in its natural surroundings is a privilege. No day went past where I wasn’t left in awe of what I got to see and experience. I was surprised at the scale of the mountains in Antarctica, their ice and snow topped peaks often reaching above and peeking through the cloud lines that gather around them. The crevices in the snow and ice on the mountain slopes are enormous and as you kayak on the still Antarctic waters you hear the rumble of snow and ice breaking away. It sounds like thunder and can be many miles away. Some of these avalanches are huge and help to create the ice formations in the water.

The icebergs were stunning and beautiful. The scale of the icebergs was something to behold, and we were only seeing the tip of them, as the saying goes. Often there would be 8 times as much ice below the water as I could see above it. The iridescent blue that was such a feature of many of them was stunning and unique. Seals and birds rest on them, taking a break as they pass through Antarctica.

As the week passed, I became more proficient at spotting the wildlife, and understanding what the ice was doing as it formed on the surface (grease ice) and floated past. I could get in and out of my thermals and waterproofs in minutes, and boarding the zodiac boats and stepping ashore became second nature.

The weather ranged from glorious blue skies with an icy sunlight, to blizzards and snow storms. It was wonderful to see this incredible place in all weather conditions. The clothing and gear you take or get provided with, stands up to anything the weather can throw at you. Typically, the temperature would be hovering around freezing. In the sun it could make you warm as you trekked across the land. In the wind and snow it could be cold and your layers became essential. The Polar plunge is another highlight for many. In only swimwear you dive off the ships bathing platform! You’re rewarded with a certificate, a hot drink laced with spirit and bragging rights for life!

The ship had two helicopters which would fly you over the mountains, valleys and ocean if weather permitted. An incredible experience and I was glad I took the chance to go on a flight. They too operate inside the Antarctic Treaty and cannot fly near any wildlife.

The remote continent was everything I dreamed of and more. Words simply don’t do it justice, so we took 1,500 photographs to help!