Travel Tips

Two nautical charts are spread out on the nautical table. They showed these waters have yet to be surveyed. While concerned, the captain keeps us safe by setting a course over waters known to be safe because of depth soundings.This channel is new to him, though he’s sailed the Antarctic many, many times.

Dusk approaches and it begins to snow in earnest. It is hard to see. The windows on the bridge are soon covered in flakes, obscuring the floating barriers that fill the channel. Radar clearly shows them, even with our diminished eyesight. We can see large spots of orange, indicating icebergs, on the screen. Ahead, we can see a super-sized orange glob, filling the screen. We are three kilometers from it. You need to visit this site to learn about antarctica travel guide.

The captain finally issues a quiet order at one kilometer. With a flick of the wheel, the helmsman steers the ship away from the danger. A tabular iceberg shows itself through the fog and snow. This is a unique type of berg found only in the southern ocean. With sides that rise straight up for a hundred feet, and a flat and wide top, this is one impressive iceberg.

I can?t believe the very size of this Antarctic creation. We are heading to the Antarctic Circle in our polar class cruise vessel. We’d gone by areas that were terribly remote and removed from life.After being found in 1820, Antarctica waited another 79 years for a human to spend the winter there.Explorers were quick to search for the South Pole, but soon perished. Scientist came next. Coming to Antarctica used to be something only rich people could do. Now a trip to Antarctica cost about the same as one to the Caribbean.

Antarctica looks a little bit like a manta ray with a curved tail. The manta ray’s tail extends to within 500 miles of South America. This stretch of seas is called Drakes Passage and is notorious for its turbulent waters.Passing through these waters, which have also been called the ‘Slobbering Jaws of Hell’ is a stiff price to pay to reach Antarctica. One of the passengers told us all to stow everything and secure the latches on the cabin portholes before they went to bed. Learn about adventure antarctica tours.

Our ship left the Argentine port city of Ushuaia and passed through the Beagle Channel. Later we reached open ocean. We spent two days on very rough seas with no land in sight. Extremely strong winds constantly blew. As waves broke over the bow, ocean spray shot up beyond my fourth deck window. Depending on the level of your seasickness, you could see swells from 15 to 40 feet.

After two days sail from South America, we got to the Southern Ocean.The next morning, I could see a coastal archipelago. The seas seemed to have been calmed by the land. The peaks of extremely tall mountains were covered in misty clouds. The smooth, white glaciers showed stark contrast from the dark, angular mountains that stuck through them. Frozen slab ice entered the water. It was rough and bumpy, cracked and dirty. Looking like the mountains suddenly jumped from the ocean, they seem tall enough to be home to Mt. Everest or the like.

One passenger thought that childbirth?s labor was similar to our efforts to reach Antarctica. Like a naughty kid, Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, highest and driest of all the earth’s continents. Antarctica?s polar plateau gets the same amount of precipitation as Death Valley, but the continent holds 70 percent of all the freshwater we have on earth. This continent doesn’t have an indigenous human population, animals that call it home all year round, or even an owner.

Due to the rigorous weather and poor conditions, sailing routes, as well as shore landings are dictated by the weather.Our guides remind us that flexibility is key. Then our first landfall becomes available. We meet on deck in the groups we were assigned to be in. After the call for my group, I climb into an inflatable boat with nine other people. Land is a mere quarter mile from the ship. And with that last step, I join a small number of people who have actually stood on the Antarctic Continent.

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