El Fin del Mundo

One of the first things Kristine told me when we met on the plane down to Buenos Aires was that she wanted to go to Antarctica while she was down here. A few years a go I had made it my goal to hit all 7 continents by the time I was 30. At the time I gave myself the stipulation that I could leave Antarctica until I was older. Well... here was the perfect opportunity to go.

Within our first month here Kristine did some research and found a voyage. The advantages of already being in Argentina meant she could find last minute deals/ cancellations. Kristine booked the trip right away. I waffled a bit due to the cost. Even with discount this was going to be a very expensive trip. I wasn’t sure I should be spending my time and money on a trip to Antarctica. I mean what exactly was there to do there? Look at penguins and ice? Also, I was somewhat concerned that the cruise would be comprised of mainly elderly people. Who else would spend that much money on an 11-day trip?

One day Kristine asked me if I had made a decision yet. I told her the truth: I could easily go back and forth until I either booked it, or it was too late to sign up and the decision would be made for me. So I told her to send me the info (right then) and I’d book it. Haha.

We started our trip spending a few days in Ushuaia, the city our cruise was to depart from. Ushuaia is the capital city of Tierra del Fuego Province in Argentina. It is regarded as the southernmost city in the world. We found it to be an adorable city! Seeing as we were about to go to Antarctica we didn’t partake in the main tourist attractions, such as boat ride to see penguins, wildlife etc… Instead we went on a few hikes in the beautiful National Reserve. Everyone kept telling us we were ill prepared because of our jeans and Uggs.... too bad that’s all we had. It wasn’t really a hard hike by any means; Kristine and I were just fine with our “gear”. At night we visited the local café/bars and enjoyed the regional brewed beers and wines. It was so crazy being at the bottom of the earth during the summer because it was light most of the day. We would go to dinner at 9:30pm and it would still be light out!

The morning we were to broad the ship the Today Show had a news segment about a boat that had to do and emergency rescue on The Drake Passage. Kristine’s mom called us frantically to make sure it was not our ship. Thank goodness it was not, however we were a little scared for what was to come. The Drake Passage is the body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It is one of the roughest (if not THE roughest) stretches of ocean on earth. It took two days each way to pass through the passage. Kristine and I survived thanks to the miracle drug that is Dramamine as well as many naps and movies in bed. The way down was pretty decent… on the way back we hit 20 ft waves that sent Kristine and I both flying across the room a few times. We took small beatings, which was noting compared to our bartender who fully split open his head on the wall inside the bar!

Dance Party!!!

We had a three-person cabin that we shared with a random German lady. She was nice but quite awkward. I took the bottom bunk. Normally I am afraid of falling off a top bunk... add the Drake Passage and there was NO way I was getting up there. Kristine was a good sport! Luckily there was a safety bar on the bed or she probably would have flown off. Kristine and I held a dance party in our room ever night before dinner... and sometimes before lunch. No matter how many songs we listened to it always ended with the new Black Eye Peas song "Time of our Life" (Dirty Dancing remix!). Drake Passage dance parties were out favorite because you never knew exactly where you would go.

While I was right in my assumption that we would be seeing a lot of ice and penguins, I was wrong in my belief that it would be boring. Each day we had two excursions from the ship (one in the morning and one in the afternoon). Sometimes they were just shore landings, other times they were hikes up hills or zodiac tours. It was really cool hiking up Antarctic mountainsides, especially because afterwards we got to sled down on our butts! We saw hundreds of Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins. I honestly could have watched them walk up hills all daylong they are so cute!! We probably took a million pictures and never get tired of them! Kristine and I REALLY wanted to hug one – not to mention take one home.

I was also wrong to think the ship would be filled with only older passengers. We actually had a very young group on the ship. There were about 10 of us who were in our late 20s and the adults on the ship were really fun! However, Kristine and my favorite people on the ship probably had to be the amazing One Ocean staff and the Chinese kids. Let me explain. There was a group of high school students from Hong Kong on our ship. All these kids won the opportunity for this all-expense paid trip to Antarctica. Hundreds of students applied and the 20 on our ship were the lucky ones chosen. Kristine and I decided that these kids were literally the smartest, brightest and most polite kids on earth, considering they were the “chosen ones” among hundreds of Chinese kids. Jim, the owner of Polar Cruises (whom we booked the trip through), told me in addition to not being allowed to take home a penguin I could not take home a Chinese kid.... RUDE!

From day one Kristine had been talking about how much she wanted to go swimming. Despite all my resistance, somehow she convinced me to do it too (for those who know me, you know I am easily susceptible to peer pressure when it comes to cool and/or fun things). Together we convinced the Hong Kong kids to join. Diving into the literally freezing cold water was horrible! But you know what was worse? … Doing it a second time.
Our friend Sara was in charge of taking photos of us during the dive. She got some great pre/post photos. However, she totally failed at taking photos of us IN the water. Unhappy with not having picture proof of our insanity, Kristine insisted we needed to do it again. I was not down for it. But of course she convinced me to do it by saying that I was going to be really sad when she had photos and I did not. Let me tell you it was COLD the first time. The second time was a million times worse! I thought I was going to die. What I'll do for a photo!

In the end I am SOOO glad I made the decision to go! It was such an incredible experience.  In addition, we could not be happier with the customer service provided by both Polar Cruises and One Ocean Expedition. The staff and crew on the ship were wonderful! To view more photos of our trip click here.

Now that I have the hardest continent under my belt I HAVE to meet my goal of hitting up all 7 continents by the time I am 30. That leaves me two-and-a-half years to go to Africa and Australia. ☺ Game on!