Today is the day I finally touch land in Antarctica!

Because the Drake Passage was so relatively calm, our ship will actually arrive in Antarctica this afternoon instead of tomorrow.

Oh, happy days!

I’m going to see penguins today!!!

IAATO Briefing

The IAATO, which stands for International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, was formed in 1959 to regulate a set of rules and regulations when it comes to Antarctica covering everything from country claims, scientific research, and tourism.

Every vessel that makes its’ way down here has to have a mandatory meeting about the rules to follow while here.

In fact, if you miss the meeting you can not do any landings which would really, really suck.

So, naturally, after breakfast there wasn’t an empty seat in the lounge as all 131 of us attended.

The basics of IAATO are that no country can claim Antarctica and that the continent is dedicated to peace and science.

As for rules when visiting, we have to maintain a 5 meter (15 foot) distance from any wildlife.   If they approach us, we have to move away.

If it’s elephant seals we have to be even future away at 15 meters (45 feet) because apparently they can rip you apart if they are so inclined.
We can’t kneel, or squat or lie down to prevent us from contaminating our pants from the elements out there.

We can’t bring any food and if you have to go to the bathroom, well, you have to take a zodiac back to the ship.

We also have to stay away from the penguin “highways” which are the routes they travel back and forth on.

So, yeah, as much as I really, really want to – I won’t be petting any penguins on my travels.   Sigh.

Bio security check

Avoiding contamination of the grounds of Antarctica is near the top of the list for vessels visiting here.

With that in my, after our meeting we all brought down in our designated groups for a bio security check.

When we were called we had to bring down all our outerwear and any bags or tripods we’d be bringing on land with us.

One at a time we were inspected by one of 6 crew members.

I was lucky enough to get Pablo, the singer from last night, as the one checking my stuff.

As he was checking things I mentioned that there was cat hair on my bag and he said that wasn’t a problem.

And then he told me he had six cats of his own.

And one was famous on Instagram apparently.

Yup, sure enough, they’re on @catcatcity_ on Instagram.

The random things you discover when you have casual conversations.

Anyway, my bio security check was all good and now it was just a waiting game.

Waiting to do our first landing…

Getting ready

After lunch, Carlos, Harper and myself went back to our cabin waiting for the ship to arrive at our landing point.

From there, they’d send out a scouting party to setup things and then they’d start sending groups out 10 at a time in zodiac speed boats.

While we waited we watched a John Wick movie on the TV cause, hey, what else are you going to do with that nervous energy building up inside you.

Finally they started to call our groups.

Now there is a bit of a process in order to get ready to head out to the cold Antarctica weather.

First of all, the weather is not that crazy.   It was probably about -5C out today and we’re not expecting it any colder the rest of the trip.

Having said that though, we do have to bundle up mostly for the zodiac rides to shore cause the wind blows pretty hard.

So, yeah, there’s a bit of a process to get ready.

First there’s your inner layers, the underwear, the socks, and tshirt.

Then there’s a second layer of long socks, long underwear, and a long sleeve shirt.

Finally there’s your outwear which are your waterproof pants, boots, parka, and life vest.

Oh, and of course your beanie, scarf, and gloves.

And suntan lotion.   Must not forget the suntan lotion cause while it’s cold out, this area is directly under a depleted ozone layer and the sun can hit you pretty hard.

At 4:30, being all bundled up, I was finally walking onto a zodiac and racing over to our first landfall.

Penguin Island

After a short ride we had arrived.   The zodiac pulled up and to the right, almost as if he was greeting us, was a solitary penguin standing on the shore.

I beamed from ear to ear.

This was what I had waited for.

This moment.

Seeing my first penguin in Antarctica.

I don’t know, there’s just no way to describe the joy you feel when you accomplish a dream you’ve had for many years.

Naturally with an island named Penguin Island you just knew there’d be more.

We got off the zodiac and started walking along the marked path the scouts had laid out ahead of time and I couldn’t take photos quick enough.

A penguin!

Oh my God, look, a bunch of penguins!

And, here, over here, a bunch more!

Yeah, it was pretty exciting.

On this island is also the Deacon Peak which is a old volcano that last erupted 300 years ago.

There was a trail marked for us to climb all the way to the top.

Now, when I saw that trail, I’ll admit I really didn’t wanna climb all the way up there.

I’m not the most in shape person in the world and climbing up a snowy hill wasn’t screaming out to me.

I did, however, start to climb a little.

And then a little more.

And before I knew, despite multiple stoppages to catch my breath, I had reached the top!

Note to self, next time I visit Antarctica, bring one of those folding chairs so I can sit down.

Along the way I came across a Seattle mom traveling with her two teen daughters and a Chinese guy who I bonded with over our dual usage of DJI Osmo Pocket 3 video cameras.

It’s cool that I’m constantly meeting new people all the time on this trip.

After two hours I was heading back down the hill and back on to the zodiac.

Back at the ship we had to scrub our boots, have them inspected, and then step into a cleaning solution before we headed back to our cabins to strip down our layers.

I tell you, that shower I took right after felt, oh, so good.

Daily recap

At the end of each day right before dinner Johnathon, our expedition leader gathers us all in the lounge to recap the day and to also tell us what’s in store for tomorrow.

Yesterday he was met with loud cheers when he said we’d be arriving a day early and get today’s bonus landing.

Well, tonight he got loud cheers as well.

Tomorrow we’re going to have two landings, one in the morning to see elephant seals and one in the afternoon to see a colony of 120,000 chinstrap penguins.

Yup, a whole ton of penguins!

And to think I got excited by the few I saw today!

Wait til tomorrow!

Dinner

I sat at my usual table tonight joined again by Ella, Erin, and Marion as the four of us always seem to dine together.

The table fits 7 though so we were also joined by my roomie Carlos as well as Jess, a nurse from Sydney, and Nadine from Liverpool.

Jess is actually roomed up with the oldest person on the boat, Margaret, who at age 87 is truly an inspiration to all of us.

There’s a rumor that maybe, just maybe, G Adventures purposely matched Jess, a nurse, with Margaret in the same room.

And Nadine, well, she works in the digital field but really dreams of being a digital nomad.

Ah, don’t we all.   Don’t we all…

Dinner tonight was bruschetta to start followed by french onion soup and then a main course of either duck or seabass.

Not surprisingly everyone at the table chose the duck which turned out to be an amazing choice cause, damn, that was so good.

Truly this cruise has hit it out of the park with their food so far.

For dinner was cheesecake or, if you’re celiac like me, a gluten free carrot cake.

After dinner we all went into the lounge to play an icebreaker game.

We were all instructed to go to a table with people we hadn’t met yet and basically do speed dating Antarctica style.

Yeah, this was gonna call for a glass of wine.

I had refrained from drinking alcohol while we were going through the Drake Passage but now that we were on relatively calm waters there was no holding me back now.

Topics to talk about were why we wanted to go to Antarctica, the best and worst food we’d had while traveling, and the most lost we’ve ever been.

It actually was a pretty good way to meet some new people and talk about our travel experiences.

At one point I mentioned I had visited 64 countries which prompted the girl across from me to say she had “only” visited 35.

I felt so bad that she was downplaying her amazing achievement.

I mean most people out there, especially in North America maybe only visit a few countries in their entire life time and here she was at 35.

You should never downplay your own travel experiences because, no matter what, their amazing achievements.

I also chatted with Abby from Toronto who has a Filipino heritage.   She actually visited Fogon restaurant in Buenos Aires last week which is the same restaurant I’ll be visiting for my 14 course sendoff meal at the end of this trip.

And then there was Casey from New York who left her husband at home and is traveling with her sister Kelly.

The two of us chatted for quite awhile about my experience in North Korea which, I’ll be honest, is a pretty good icebreaker on it’s own right.

By 11:30 it was time to call it a night.

There is a very exciting day in store for us tomorrow and I can’t wait!

120,000 penguins!

Hot damn!

Edit Note: I am currently still sailing in the Antarctica with limited expensive internet.   I’ll be uploading all my photos and videos into a gallery at the end of this post when I arrive back on land.