Half Moon Island - Zodiac Lowered from Ship
On Wednesday 19 December I left the Ushuaia harbour onboard the M/V Antarctic Dream, ready for an Antarctic Expedition. I was one of 69 passengers onboard, varying in age between 14 and 80, but with more younger people than I expected. A great deal of the time seemed to revolve around food: breakfast in the morning, 4 courses for lunch, and 4 courses again for dinner. It is a good thing the portions were relatively small, otherwise I would be leaving the ship with quite a few extra pounds. After getting to know most people onboard a little, I ended up having most dinners together with Michael (Swiss), Patricia (Swiss), Yannis (Greek), Aspasia (Greek) and Shani (Israeli/American/British), all aged between 28 and 32. We had quite a few good laughs together.
Half Moon Island - Penguins
It took us until Friday afternoon to cross the Drake Passage, 1000km of Southern Ocean separating South America and Antarctica. We had a very good crossing, with only some china breaking. During the day we had lectures onboard about the penguins, birds, and ice of Antarctica. We got the first sight of Antarctica when huge tabular icebergs passed by in the distance, simply amazing to see. Since we crossed much faster than planned, we already did a zodiac landing in the late afternoon. This meant getting dressed really warm with waterproof clothes and a lifevest on top, stepping into the zodiac from the ship, and out of the zodiac in shallow water. The first landing was absolutely amazing: seeing chinstrap penguins in their real environment for the first time, watching the pristine beauty of uninhabited, snow-covered islands, walking through knee-deep snow, and feeling very small admidst all this.
