Antarctica - Day 1

It was an early start to be at breakfast by 6am, and then we were taken by coach to the airport at 7am. We were told our flight to Antarctica could be at 9am, 10am or 11am depending on the weather - or not at all! Fortunately we did not have long to wait, we took off at about 9am and the 2 hour flight over the Drake Passage passed very quickly with a very skilful landing by the pilot on the very short runway on King George Island.

Antarctica in summer is not what one would expect - the peninsula is rather bleak, barren, brown and muddy! It gets whiter and icier the further south you travel. It was freezing cold and windy - that is what one would expect, being the windiest and coldest continent on the planet. The temperature was -1C but with a wind speed of about 40 knots/h it was -10C with the wild chill factor. We walked from the plane for about a kilometre down to the beach where we had to board the zodiacs to be taken to our boat, the Magellan Explorer. 

The conditions were very rough and icy and boarding the zodiac required extra staff to help everyone aboard. Thank goodness we bought waterproof over trousers yesterday in Punta Arenas as they were absolutely essential, as one got very wet on the zodiac in those conditions with the icy cold sea washing over the front of the zodiac. As the staff said, it was a real baptism of fire boarding the ship in such rough and cold conditions. 

As we boarded the ship we had to go through the de-contamination procedure for our boots and then went straight into lunch. After lunch we had safety briefings, a safety drill with life jackets and met all the expedition leaders. We have now set sail and the conditions are rough so I hope I don’t get too sea sick. This is turning out to be the most adventurous trip I have ever done….


As I boarded the boat my phone pinged that usual message from O2 when you are in a foreign country - except O2 have a geography problem as my message said welcome to China! Then I lost all signal. We have wifi that works intermittently so I hope this uploads.

We left King George Island and crossing Bransfield Strait was awful, it was as rough as Drake's Passage. I have felt seasick all afternoon and have had to take motion sickness pills but the good news it will only be for tonight as when we reach Antarctic Sound tomorrow it will be much calmer.