It’s the great outdoors you’ll be wanting to be spending your days in this picturesque archipelago, but be sure to visit during the dry season (which is typically between September and May), otherwise you’ll likely be stuck with thunderstorms. Here are four places to check out: Continue reading
Our last landing in Antarctica. An island covered in penguins – both gentoo and chinstrap. There is quite a bit of wind here, so the smell isn’t too bad. Either that, or I have gotten used to the smell of penguin poop… what a terrifying thought. There aren’t any glaciers around, so at least we can walk around with ease. The penguins are all molting, so there are feathers flying everywhere. Note to self: keep mouth closed so feathers don’t fly in when the next breeze comes along.
Aitcho Islands, aka land of the penguins
Arriving to King George Island
China in Antarctica! Arriving to King George Island was such an odd experience. For days and days, all we’ve seen when we peered out the ship’s deck was glaciers and icebergs. Vast nothingness. But this morning, looking out, there were buildings and cars! Barely a penguin in sight. Quickly boarded the zodiac and got dropped off. Navigated through a bunch of trash at the shoreline, but once Team China has assembled, we were ushered into a truck operated by Chilean company DAP. Extremely odd experience. Riding in a truck in Antarctica, it almost felt unnatural, but now, here we are! As soon as we saw signs in Chinese, we knew we had arrived.
Team China on IAE 2013
Spent two hours traversing an icy field riddled with crevasses. I’m not going to lie – it was terrifying. Starting the walk up from the landing point was the most difficult part of the entire hike – there hadn’t been much snowfall, so we were pretty much trying to climb uphill with ice beneath our feet. As we got higher up, there was a layer of snow, making it easier to gain a foothold. IT was also around this point that we saw a lot of debris integrated into the snow/ice. This region is volcanic. Passed by our first meltwater stream, which, thankfully, was considered to be fairly shallow. Just before reaching the summit (or just the top of our hiking point) we had to walk over a crevasse. I was at the end of the rope, so I was the last to cross over. As I was nearly at the edge, my feet slipped a little bit, causing me to slide too close to the edge for my liking. The surface of the glacier is completely white, but as I got to that crevasse, I looked down and it was a deep blue. I don’t know how deep it was, but for me to see those colors meant that it was deep enough.
A curious gentoo penguin watching humans invade its space
Orcas in the distance
Sighting of a pod of orcas! There’s just something about the mere mention of orcas that sends everyone flying out to the decks with cameras in hand. Forget jackets (okay, jackets are pretty important in this part of the world) – there is a thrill of seeing them that cannot be explained. The ship even stopped and turned around so that we could get a better view of the whales. They know what the people want to see!
On deck, waiting for a glimpse of the whales
Getting right to work setting up camp before the light fades
We’re camping out on the ice! Arrived on land before 7:00pm and were immediately put to work to set up camp – shovels were being passed out and slowly, groups of people got together to dig their homes for the night. We had to dig a hole, level the snow, and build a small wall in the direction of the wind to block it from freezing us in the night.
We’ve got lots of penguins near the shore, and a lone seal keeping us company. There is a chance that more seals may appear throughout the night, and we should be able to hear ice breaking off the glaciers and hitting the water, but what I’m most excited to hear is the sound of Antarctica. The silence.
It sounds too crazy to be real, but we did it. After camp was set up, we had the night to ourselves. Did a little bit of stargazing, and once all traces of the sun had disappeared from the sky, we just sat and enjoyed the moment. The number of stars visible was incredible. Continue reading
Pursuit of Paradise 