For every day that we were in Antarctica, there were excursions away from the ship – hikes on shore, zodiac cruises, special ops boat cruises, kayak paddling trips, submarine dives, and science zodiac cruises to gather info for the science labs. Here are some behind-the-scenes notes.
When we arrived at our venue for the day, the guides would go out an hour early in zodiacs, the special ops, and the dive boat to look around the area for things to see. The land guides would go on land to strike out our hiking paths.
We had to suit up for each excursion for cold and wet weather. In this photo I’m wearing rubber-and-neoprene boots, double socks, long underwear leggings, fleece-lined pants, waterproof overpants, long underwear top, base layer top, fleece pullover, puffy jacket, red waterproof expedition jacket, glove liners, waterproof gloves, neck gator, fleece-line hat, and sometimes sunglasses. The black life jacket goes on last. It takes a good 20 minutes to put on all of this gear.
Most trips from the ship departed from the hanger level, and we had to stand in line to wait for our turn on a boat.
On the land excursions, we saw consistent things for each visit. Hiking poles, tons of penguins, orange poles to mark the trail, and snow steps on steep trails.
On our trips, we had other guests beside us who were in a lot of our photos. It was hard to avoid other tourists.
There are strict protocols for biosecurity to prevent humans from tracking pollution and pathogens onto the land. All of our gear had to be scrutinized before we could go on land to make sure we weren’t going to harm the Antarctic environment.
Then, after taking an excursion, when we arrived back at the ship we had to be powerwashed and our boots had to be disinfected as we walked through a foot bath. It was quite the production.
Avian flu has arrived in Antarctica, and while it is harming the penguins, it is particularly devastating to the elephant seal population. This is why we have to take so many precautions when we come into contact with the natural environment.
The ship loaned us most of our outerwear. This morning, we had to put our boots out in the hallway for collection. The staff had to clean them and get them ready for guests on a future cruise. Even though the boots had been powerwashed on our feet, they are now investigated with magnifying glasses and little picks to remove debris and make sure the boots are totally clean for the next cruise.
All of this effort was worth it, though, to be able to explore the White Continent and have the experience of a lifetime.
We’ve been doing our best to protect all of Antarctica including these little guys:
