The day after the Marathon

The day after

We awoke the following morning to the wake up call telling us there were humpback whales off the side of the ship. We looked out to the beautiful sight of at least four whales spouting and doing their normal dives and flips off our starboard side of the ship. How amazing was [...]

Antarctica Marathon – Afterglow and Aftermath

The next minutes after the race were the worst. I had to hobble to where our clothes were and somehow change out of the shoes and put some more layers on before going inside one of the huts where we could get hot coffee and tea. Every effort was a stretch and not feeling my [...]

Antarctica Marathon – Race Day!

The day started with a 6:30 wake up announcement and the first thing we all did was to look out the windows and to try to judge the weather. The seas were calm but it was a totally overcast day. Temperatures we fairly mild, just around freezing.

We were supposed to have breakfast by [...]

The Day and Night before the Race

Friday February 26th, 2005

We awoke to an amazing sight of land all around us, with soaring peaks covered in snow against a black lava flow background. After breakfast, we all bundled up in most of the cold weather clothing we had to make the Zodiac crossing to land on the island.

Temperatures were not [...]

Iceberg!

Another uneventful day at sea. Very calm seas with little to no wind. As the day wore on, the skies became cloudier and the air became downright cold. We had all entered a contest to see when we would spot the first iceberg, both in latitude and time. I had guessed 61.44 lat and 1845 [...]

Antarctica: second day at sea

Second day at Sea, Wednesday February 24th, 2005

After a hearty breakfast we were invited to several lectures including one on Shackelford’s heroic journey and one on birds and penguins. Though the Shackleford lecture was interesting, I found myself falling asleep during it and decided to take a delicious nap before lunch. It was truly [...]

The Drake Passage – on the Russian Ice-Breaker!

On the early morning of Tuesday February 22nd we awoke at 2:00 a.m. for a 3:00 breakfast and a 3:30 bus to the domestic airport in BA for a 5:30 flight to Ushuaia, the most southernmost city in the world. After a 3-hour flight, the arrival into the airport was simply the most spectacular flight [...]

Antarctica via Buenos Aires-Montevideo-Buenos Aires

On Monday morning, Mike and I boarded an Aerolineas Argentinas flight to the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo. We were both enchanted with the idea of visiting Uruguay and seeing how it compared to BA. We both thought it was a charming city. Built along the ocean with miles of beaches and a cute little [...]