Going To The Ends Of The Earth: Antarctic Expedition And More

 

One of the great bucket list items many of us have is going to the ends of the Earth. You’re in luck in this episode because host, Kit Parks, takes you all the way down to the South Pole to Antarctica. Interviewing a world traveler, Kit guides us to an entirely new Antarctic expedition—cruising and kayaking the South Pole together into the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Discover some of the great things about touring on a ship that stretches far from its great amenities to delivering an unforgettable experience with wildlife as well as with the people. Follow the adventures and experiences in store such as visiting Shackleton’s grave and the whaling station, seeing the sea ice, and crossing the Drake Passage to Ushuaia. Tune in for more special experiences in this Antarctic expedition.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Where is Antarctica?

Antarctica is the southernmost continent on the planet.  It is the coldest, windiest and driest continent as well.  It is considered a polar desert:  the coast gets less than 8″ of rain each year. And yikes! The interior of Antarctica hasn’t had rain in over 2 million years, yet the continent contains about 80% of all of the fresh water on earth.  98% of this large continent (over 14 million square kilometers or 5 million square acres) is covered in ice.

Why Visit Antarctica?

It’s no joke that Antarctica is hard to get to, and by its very nature, it is an expensive trip.  So what’s the appeal?  For some it might be as simple as checking off a Bucket List item to visit every continent.  Others want to see the penguins – and yes there are a gazillion penguins.  Many express wonder at the utter silence.  Adventurers consider this a ‘must do’ trip, if they can afford it.

I remember a talk by Deb at The Planet D where she showed a video of her seeing the shore for the first time and she burst into tears at the sheer icey beauty.  Check out the photos by my guest, Margaret Clough taken on her trip and you can get the idea – and remember that landscape photos simply do not do the land justice.

When to Visit Antarctica?

Since Antarctica is in the southern hemisphere, their ‘summer’ is the northern hemisphere’s ‘winter’, so you want to go from October to March.  It’ll still be cold, but you’ll have daylight and it won’t be as cold.  Margaret went with my affiliate, G Adventures, with whom she’s done many trips.  G Adventures offers the small ship advantage and if you are travelling solo and want them to, they try to pair you up with a same sex roommate so you don’t have to pay the dreaded single supplement, which on this trip might take your breath away!

How to Get to Antarctica

Allow plenty of time to get to your launch point because it isn’t easy – you are literally going to the ends of the Earth!  G Adventures offers a few Antarctica tours.  Margaret chose the 22 day trip that also includes visiting the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, which she loved.  If you going this far, you might as well see it all!  On Margaret’s trip, she started in Montevideo, Uruguay and ends in Ushuaia, Argentina.  

Many cruises start AND end in Ushuaia, but this means that you have to cross the Drake Passage twice.  The Drake isn’t for sissies: it can get really rough!  The Drake Passage is the waterway from the tip of Chile, South America’s Cape Horn to Antarctica.  It’s where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet and extends into the Southern Ocean.  Weather is critical, so there will be some flexibility in your timing of crossing Drake Passage.  Your captain will look for a proper weather window.  If you only want to cross the Drake Passage once, consider doing Margaret’s itinerary below.

What Do you Do in Antarctica?

On the G trip, depending on the weather, two shore landings are attempted each day.  They have these special raft-like boats called Zodiacs. These small boats allow you to maneuver and get close to icebergs, wildlife and even go ashore!  Because they are so small, you are able to get in to some really cool regions inaccessible by your cruise ship.

If you are able to go ashore, you will hopefully get to chat with some of the few residents of the island.  Only about 1000 people live on the continent in the off-season and up to 5000 in season, mostly scientists.  Antarctica is divided into pie shaped territorial claims and several governments man research stations there.

You also have the option to kayak, which is AMAZING!  If the Kodiaks are able to go out on an excursion, then if you book this option prior to the trip, you can choose to kayak.  All guests get waterproof boots and and expedition parka to wear to help keep you warm.

You can even CAMP in Antarctica – now how cool is that!!!

What Do You See in Antarctica?

For such a cold and inhospitable region, there is a surprising amount of wildlife!  

Falkalnd Islands Wildlife

In the Falklands, there is an abundance of penguins plus the largest colony of black-browed albatross in the world.  Considered only a ‘medium’ sized albatross, these birds can weigh up to 10 pounds and have a wingspan of as much as 240cm/94″!  Plus they can live 70 years!

South Georgia Island Wildlife

You are likely to see whales en route to South Georgia.  Once on land, you are sure to see some of the giant colony of King Penguins.  Plus, more than half of the world’s enormous Southern Elephant Seals reside here.  These are the world’s largest seal.  You might even see a newborn seal pup or two!

Antarctica Wildlife

You’ll see five different types of penguins:  the majestic Emporer penguin, the darling rockhopper penguin (Margaret’s favorite), plus King, Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins.  There is also an abundance of fur seals, even though they were heavily hunted for their pelts when the area was first discovered in the 1800’s.  In the sea, there are blue whales and colossal squid.

Margaret visited Antarctica with my affiliate partner, G Adventures.

If you decide to use G Adventures, please use my links and let them know that you heard about them from Kit at Active Travel Adventures.  Sometimes I will earn, at no additional cost to you, a small commission which helps support this program – thanks!

Ditto for my travel insurance and training links and many others scattered in this website.  It’s a great, FREE and easy way to help me cover some of my costs on this labor of love and to keep the show and website ad free.

​Going To The Ends Of The Earth: Antarctic Expedition And More

Cruise And Kayak The South Pole

We are going to the ends of the earth. We are going all the way down to the South Pole to Antarctica. I know it’s going to be a bucket list item for many of us that perhaps the only time we’ll ever get to visit it is through this show. I hope you’ll enjoy my interview with Margaret who is a world traveler and has managed to get down to Antarctica and come back and tell us all about it. Let’s get started.

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Could you start by introducing yourself? Tell us your age and where you’re from, please.

My name is Margaret. I am now 71 years of age. I love traveling. I’m from England. The world is your oyster as you might say.

We’re going to be talking about your expedition to Antarctica. Before we begin, how about telling us a little bit about how you got to be such an adventurous traveler.

I’ve always been interested in traveling from a young age but never always have the opportunity. When I got married in ‘72 and after two years of being married, my husband and I went on a contract to Zambia for supposedly three years. That turned out into 15.5 years. We did a bit of traveling while in Africa, which was interesting. We came back to England. Our careers took off and got involved in work. We had three children in the meantime. That was all hands-on. While we’re overseas in Zambia, I went to Tanzania and did Mount Kilimanjaro. That gave me a little taste.

When we came back to England and the children had grown up and got married, I got this leaflet through the post. One of the trips in it was about going to Everest Basecamp. I thought, “That’s interesting,†and I just pushed it on the shelf. I never thought anything more about it. The following year, it came through again and I thought, “This is trying to tell me something.†I went to Everest Basecamp and that got the bug going because the company we went with wasn’t exactly ideal. I learned a lot through that trip, listening to the other guys that were on it. Some of them experienced walkers and trackers. I came back saying that I wanted to go back again because we’d gone in the monsoon time. I wanted to go back when I got good views and visit the Gokyo region. A couple of years later, that’s exactly what I did. Since then, I’ve done lots and lots of trips. They got better and better. My husband doesn’t do cold, unfortunately. That’s why I was the only one to go to Antarctica. He wasn’t interested. He does warmer climate. That’s each and everyone to their own, as you might say. Antarctica is not a trip for everyone.

What made you want to go to Antarctica in the first place?

It’s something that appealed to me. It’s funny because going to the North Pole doesn’t have the same pull as Antarctica did. It held some fascination for me. The penguins, the icebergs and being untouched held the fascination for me to know what was going on down there and what it was like. It held an interest for me.

Did it meet your expectations?

It’s far beyond wonderful.

Of all the places on my bucket list, this is by far the most expensive. That’s because it is difficult and challenging to get there. When it came to you and your decision, what made you pull the trigger and say, “I’m going now?â€

I pulled out some old paperwork on travel where I’d like to go. I’m going through the filing cabinet and pull these out. It was 2011 when there was a sheet of paper with Antarctica on. I had thought about it for a number of years. My friend went to the Falklands and she did a trip, but she did it on one of the big liners. She cruised down the west side of South America round to Ushuaia and across the Falklands and then to Montevideo. I’m getting older so you’ve got to be quite active. I thought, “Maybe now is the time to go.†Although I didn’t want to go on a big liner, I didn’t want the big ship. Pam said that I would hate it because it wasn’t her cup of tea either, but she went because her friends were going. That was a different experience for her.

I started researching the small boats and came up with G Adventures. They have this offer going. It was funny because out of the four-berth cabin, there were three spaces. I kept track of it over a number of weeks and it was still three spaces. I then show my husband the details and whatnot. He said, “Aren’t you going to do anything about it?†All of a sudden, there were two spaces left. John said, “You better book it then, haven’t you?†I thought if another space goes or you get two people wanting to share or travel together, that’s it. I’m out of this special and the sale deal that was on. I booked it and that was it. The rest is history as they say.

We did a boat and bike tour down the Danube River before. We’ve never done a strict boat tour. This is new for the show. Can you tell us a little bit about the accommodations in the ships so we have an idea of what to expect?

There were 131 passengers. I had a full berth cabin. I shared it with three other like-minded people and we got on well. There were three berths. There were double cabins.

I like that. You’re not forced to pay a single supplement. If you are traveling solo as I do, you can book your trip and then they try to pair you up. They’ll pair you with the same sex and you can always buy your own room if you don’t want to share it with anybody. If you choose the dorm accommodation, it’s almost like a hostel but on a fancy boat.

 

The boat itself had a lounge that accommodated us all. We all used to meet for our meetings before dinner in the evening. We’d have a debrief about the day that everybody fitted into that. There was a dining room which was wonderful because they catered for all sorts of diets. At every meal, there was meat, fish, vegetarian available and special diets as well. The food was absolutely amazing for the number of people they were catering for. It was spot on. You always have too much to eat.

It looks like there’s a little bit of dancing after dinner.

There was and, on a few evenings, there was music upstairs. I’m afraid I’ve got to admit I was too tired by the end of the day. I wanted to relax and do a bit of reading. I retired to my bed.

Speaking of reading, they also have a library.

There was a library. There was also a small gym with a couple of bikes and some mats and a rowing machine, which was used because I did go and use the machine in the morning. There were people up there doing some exercises, running machines as well. That was used. They gave in the evening sometimes a film or we had a couple of quiz nights, which was entertaining. They did a bird survey, a whale survey and a cloud survey while on the boat once a week. You’d all go out for half an hour if you wanted to, it was your choice. They record what they saw and then they compiled it and made together at the end of the trip. I believe they send the figures to NASA. It’s not a holiday, it’s an educational expedition. It was amazing.

They have what they call a mudroom. In the mudroom is where you go to get all your gear on when you’re going into the Zodiac. The Zodiac was these rubber thingies. You get off the big boat into these Zodiacs, ten to a Zodiac, and then you do landings. They will try and get you to do as many landings as possible depending on the weather and also what the coastline is like. There were a couple of times where we couldn’t land and that was mainly because the coastline was absolutely covered with seals and penguins. I think you’ve got one of the photos that I sent you that indicates that. It was the mating season. The seals are feisty as you can imagine so it wouldn’t have been safe to land. There was another place where we moved up and went to the Zodiac. We couldn’t land because there wasn’t anywhere to land, so we went around and viewed from the Zodiac the shoreline and the penguin. It was interesting and we saw such a variety of penguins, seals and icebergs.

Your crew is not just the captain and the wait staff, but you also have lectures given by biologists, geologists and all sorts of professor-type people that are giving you a clue about what exactly it is that you’re looking at.

Our leader was Jonathan Green. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him before. He’s written books and he was involved in the last Blue Planet film when David Attenborough was trying to find out where the whale shark birthed her babies in the Galapagos. Jonathan Green was our team leader. He was involved in that. There was a geologist, biologist, ornithologist, historian, naturalist and a scientist. You’ve got your team of guys who run the Zodiac and the kayak. The team themselves each gave lectures on their subjects when we were at sea. You were never bored. There was always something to do. It was amazing because they talked about how everything was formed, the forming of the ice, the icebergs, the birds. Their knowledge was unbelievable. They make it interesting. What is nice about it is they’re passionate about their subject. You get honed in on it all. It’s terrific waiters.

Also, while we’re on board, there was an artist and she ran a workshop once a week. After the first week and seeing some of the work that was coming out, I didn’t bother. There was also a musician on board and you’ve got your doctor as well, onboarding resident. There was a photographer who was traveling just to take photos. He wasn’t part of the crew but he shared his knowledge with us and afterward sent us photographs that he’d taken which was quite something. You can imagine he had all the zoom and the camera gear with him. There was a scientist on board who didn’t get involved with the team. He would go off and he’d do his own research and then he would record it. I don’t know where he sent it to. It was for scientific purposes.

You opted for the approximately three-week tour not only to Antarctica, but you also went to the Falkland Islands and also to South Georgia. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

We visited 3 or 4 of the Falkland Islands. It was quite fascinating because that was our first time off the boat and into the Zodiac. You get your safety drill. They’ve all got to do things in sequence for everybody’s safety, not only yours but the crews as well. We landed on this island. That was our first sight of the penguins and it was amazing. These little creatures toddling around. It’s quite mind-blowing at first. You have to take a few deep breaths and pinch yourself to make sure that this is real because there are loads of them. They’re fascinating, their characters. That’s where we came across our first king penguin and also the rockhoppers, which are cute little fellows with the little yellow tufts coming out that look like ears. They do hop along the rocks and it’s fascinating.

It was interesting because when we were there, there were lots of them that have this light brown fur on their back which stood out. We questioned this and they said it was because they were molting and we had to stay away from them, give them a couple of meters. You don’t approach them. If they come to you, that’s fine, but you don’t approach them especially while they’re molting because while they’re molting, they can’t swim. They are relying on their body fat and if you disturb them or they become stressed, then they’re using all this energy up. It can be fatal in some cases. That was quite interesting. They stand there because normally they’re in and out of the water swimming around. While they were molting, they just stood still, didn’t do anything and hardly moved. They were waiting for their coats to molt. All they did was groom themselves.

It sounds like G Adventures was conscientious about being respectful of the wildlife. Can you talk a little bit about that?

They are careful. When we landed at the South Georgia Islands, they go through rigorous health and safety things. They are conscious of everything that’s down there, what’s going on and trying to preserve what they’ve got which is important. It was rather nice going there as well, you’re partly aware of these things. You respect that. It’s like anything else that goes on if you go to a different country then you respect whatever goes on in that country. It’s the same in Antarctica as well.

Did you get to meet with any locals when you’re on the islands?

When we were on the Falklands, we met a family who lived on one of the islands. It was their island. That was the first time we saw the albatross, which are such amazing birds. You’re near to them. They’re not stressed at all. They’re quite calm. They were sitting on their nest and one bird got up, stretched itself, then sat down on its nest again. Underneath you saw this one huge egg. That was amazing. Afterward, we went to this family’s house and they gave us tea and cake and we chatted with them. They had a family grown up and had gone away to school and work. I can’t remember where they were now, but they’d flown the nest as you might say.

Sometimes, going on a trip is a bit overwhelming. You do need time to digest everything. Click To Tweet

Looking at some photos, it looks like the houses are colorful. Can you describe what things looked like there?

We landed at Stanley on the main Falkland Islands. Unfortunately when we landed, it was raining down. We did attempt Tumbledown. People might have heard of Tumbledown, which was the famous hill or mountain that happened during the Falklands War that they went to protect. We tried to climb that but the weather was bad that we had to turn back. We went back into town, had lunch and by the time lunch had finished, it did brighten up a bit and it stopped raining. We got a bit more of a look at the town. The houses are brightly colored. I suppose because the weather wasn’t good, it gave a gray atmosphere about it.

That’s what I read because sometimes it can be overcast and dreary. To counterbalance that, they make the homes colorful to make things cheerful. What do the residents do? Are they whalers or fishermen? What do these people do? Tell us about them.

All sorts, tourists come in, lots of farmers and the shops are there. That’s another activity. It’s a small town, that’s what it is. I suppose some of them have been there for years and years, second, third generations and longer probably. There was one girl that we met. She was from the UK and she’d been there for seven years. She had met somebody, got married and was making a life out there for herself.

They’ve got to be of hardy stock. It’s dark half the year and I imagine they all have to work together.

The people there are friendly and nice.

Let’s move on to South Georgia Island. You’ve spent a lot more time there.

That was interesting. We visited Shackleton’s grave and had a toast to him. We visited where Shackleton came up over the mountain with his collie. He’d landed on Elephant Island. There were four of them altogether. He’d gone in the boat to try and find rescue and he’d landed on this island and then he climbed up. As he got to the top of this mountain, he heard the horn from the whaling station so he knew he was in the right place. He traveled down, then eventually got to this whaling station. It’s all in ruins at the moment, but it’s interesting because there was somebody who took us around the whaling station. He showed us the various parts and what each part did. It was quite horrendous what they did and the damage they did to the whale population. It’s sad and mind-blowing. That was interesting and also there was a museum there and a post office. We’d bought postcards in the Falklands and then I bought some more in South Georgia and posted them from South Georgia. I got home and it was 2 or 3 weeks before they arrived.

You’ve been to the Falklands, you’ve gone to South Georgia Island and now you’re finally arriving at Antarctica. What was it like when you finally got there?

It was blue sky, ice, snow, mountains, cold, but it’s amazing. It’s difficult to describe it because many of these things unless you have been there, to try and describe to somebody what it is like is difficult. You have to have that experience. We went out at one stage onto the sea in Zodiac. It was nice because there were about three Zodiacs and we tied the Zodiacs together. We had a minute of silence, listening. No clicking of cameras, no chatting, no sneezing, no coughing, it was completely silent. You sat there and you listened to the ice and the sea. It’s a special moment. I think they do that when they can. I suppose it depends as well on the people that they’ve got. They said we were a good group on the whole.

Tell us about the group. You had about 130 passengers. What were the people like?

It’s a mixture. We had some young ones and older ones like me. It’s quite a mixed group. There was somebody who had their 60th birthday while on board. They made a special effort to have a birthday cake. They were mainly from the UK, but there were some Americans, Canadians, Norwegians and French. It’s across the board and there were more older ones than younger ones.

It makes total sense because of the cost factor and also the fact that this is not going to be somebody’s first trip. This is going to be a more seasoned traveler that’s going to Antarctica in the first place.

Even the young ones had done some traveling before. When I say young ones, they’re in their twenties.

I believe there was a minimum age of ten for this trip. You also have the opportunity to camp on the ice if you took advantage of it. Did you do it? Do you know anybody that did?

Nobody camped but there were a few that did kayaking. I didn’t bother about the kayaking. I was quite happy with the Zodiacs and that experience. It’s not something I regret not doing. I wasn’t bothered. You couldn’t always get out in the kayaks as well, whereas you could sometimes get out in the Zodiac. It depends. The ones that did it certainly seemed to enjoy it. It was quite a peaceful experience. I didn’t do that, but let me tell you as well that when we were down in Antarctica, we visited the Argentinian research base there. I think there were around eighteen people on this Argentinian base.

The day that we landed there, it was a clear blue sky and it was quite beautiful. Had we gone the day before, we wouldn’t have been able to land because there was a horrendous storm. There was so much sea ice. The boat wouldn’t have been able to get in or the Zodiacs wouldn’t have been able to land. It shows how changeable the weather can be, which was rather interesting because Jonathan said he’s never known it so calm, lovely and clear with the sun shining before. They made us welcomed, the team on the base. There were four women amongst them and they hadn’t seen anybody for seven months. We were the first visitors that they saw in the whole of the seven months.

 

I’ll bet they’re as excited to see and talk to you as you were to see them.

They were. They made us welcomed. They gave us tea and biscuits and chatted with us. It was interesting. It was then that I understood when Shackleton talked in his book about the sea ice. On the other side of where we landed, there was a load of sea ice. It all fitted into place as you might say.

Explain the sea ice. Are these broken chunks of ice floating in the water?

This is the sea that freezes.

The ocean is freezing.

It covers the sea. Sometimes it sets hard. As it gets cold, that’s what crushed Shackleton’s boat.

I completely misunderstood how the sea ice crushed the ships. That’s interesting. I was thinking somehow it got wedged with chunks of ice.

This is the sea that freezes. It all fitted in how it all gets cold and frozen that it crushed his boat. With the sun, it was slowly getting warmer and melting a little bit. They’re all floating on top of the sea. It made sense then and interesting. The icebergs are something else. That was one of the lectures as well that the geologists gave, about the formation of the iceberg, the different colors of the blues that you see in the ice. They make it fascinating. I can’t remember it now. I’d have to read it up again, but it was interesting.

I think the glacial silt is suspended in the water and it reflects everything but the blue. That’s why we just see the blue. I’ve seen many glacial lakes and they’re cool. It’s like otherworldly blue and sometimes a tealy blue. They’re extraordinary but I’ve never seen anything like the huge icebergs and ice packs that you saw.

It is. Also, when we first got on the boat, after our introduction, etc., they said we’ll run two competitions. One is who can spot the first iceberg. Another one was the date that we go over the conveyance line. I can’t remember how long we’re going but a few days. Somebody said that they’d seen an iceberg and Jonathan, our leader said, “You can’t be. We’re nowhere near where icebergs should be.†He went off onto the bridge, got the binoculars out and sure enough it was an iceberg. He said he had never seen an iceberg so far south of the Antarctic. It shows that things are warming up.

You saw icebergs. Did you see any whales? I know that used to be a huge whaling area.

We saw whales, 4 or 5 different types of whales. We saw sea lions and fur seals. We saw humpback whales and minke whales. We saw a crabeater seal and a Weddell seal, a leopard seal and an elephant seal.

I read that South Georgia Island has half of the world’s elephant seals.

That absolutely ugly looking thing that only a mother would love it.

What other thoughts do you have about your Antarctic experience?

A cruise can be quite rough even without a storm. Click To Tweet

I found it special. They say it’s once in a lifetime. If I had the opportunity to go back, I would go back. There are many other places to visit. Perhaps that will never happen. It’s truly amazing. There is so much to take in. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming. You do need time to digest everything. The penguins themselves, one of the photos that I sent you got this penguin with a stone in its beak. Those are the gentoo penguins. It was a cold day when we landed on that island. They were busy going backward and forwards because it was the mating season. They were busy making their nest and on this particular island because it is rough, they make their nest out of stones and pebbles. That’s what this penguin was doing. He was picking up these stones and running to give it to his mate to make a nest. The thing is they were fascinating to watch. They go and pinch from one another’s nest. They get the hip thing and what not and they’d pick up the stone and then they run for it across the snow to their own nest. It was amazing watching them. It was fascinating. There were different penguins that we saw also on that island besides the gentoos. There were the Adélie with the blue eyes. The one that I took a fancy to was the Magellanic penguin. That’s the black and white one. They’re pretty penguins.

I love penguins. Let’s backtrack. You said there was a storm. Did you feel safe on that boat in a storm? Can you tell us a little bit about that?

If it was bad, we wouldn’t go out in the Zodiac.

What about the cruise ship itself? You’re a long way from any help. Did you feel safe and stable on the boat?

It was fine. There were a few days where the weather turned rather wild and the boat would be rocking. There was once where we had crushing in the galley of something going onto the floor. The boat has got stabilizers on. You do feel safe. I think we can say for the majority of us, we didn’t ever feel threatened at all that anything was unsafe. However, saying that, it was on our last day that we’ve visited this island and they had the polar plunge. I didn’t do it, needless to say. We got back on the boat and then over the intercom came a message from Jonathan to say we would all meet in the lounge after lunch. He said there was a storm brewing. We had one more Zodiac trip to do and then we were heading for Ushuaia, going across the Drake Passage. He said that if we didn’t do that Zodiac landing, we could then set off and keep ahead of the storm. He said he’s been advised that would be the safest thing to do.

We had a wonderful trip because I know some people aren’t so lucky when they go because it’s a knock of the draw on the weather, but you can’t always do as many landings as we have. Jonathan said to have this amount of sunshine is unusual. The weather has been absolutely fantastic compared to some of the trips that he’s been on. We said, “Let’s go. It’s only a couple of hours that we’re missing out on.†We headed for Ushuaia. It was quite rough overnight, but I don’t think anybody in particular noticed. Talk about buttoning the hatches down the hatches. That’s what it was. By the time we woke up in the morning, it was quite calm and we were safe.

That’s good because the roughest part of your whole trip is the Drake Passage. You certainly don’t want to be going through that in a storm.

It can be quite rough even without a storm.

Lucky for you because you chose the tour that went out to the Falklands and the South Georgia Islands. You only had to go through the Drake Passage once, unlike a traditional tour which generally goes back and forth from Argentina. You started in Uruguay and then ended up in Argentina. G does also offer tours that do go from Argentina, Argentina, but you start in Uruguay in Montevideo. The shorter cruises start and end at Ushuaia, Argentina. Therefore, you’re going through the Drake Passage twice. You safely cross the Drake Passage and now you’re in Ushuaia, Argentina. Tell us about that.

We landed in the evening and we’d already eaten. We had a walk around the town. There were lots of shops selling walking, trekking and skiing gear. There were lots of restaurants. There were a couple of people who were staying a couple of days in Ushuaia and in hindsight, I wish I’d done that, but my husband was good to me in letting me go. I thought it was best to get back. It would have been nice to spend some time in Ushuaia. That didn’t materialize.

That’s one excellent piece of advice. Is there anything else that you can tell us that you wish you’d known before you’d gotten there?

Montevideo, there wasn’t a lot to see or do there because we had nearly a day there before we boarded the boat. It was just about that but other than that, no. The trip itself was quite wonderful. To mention as well, some of the birds we saw because as we’re going along, you see many birds besides the albatross, giant petrels, skuas, gulls and tern, wildfowl that we saw. You get a real cross-section of birds flying around the boat. It was quite amazing. I wasn’t good at distinguishing which bird was which, so I usually had to rely on somebody, especially with the ones that weren’t common. I think the albatross’ wingspan is about three meters, which is quite something when you think about it.

Truly pause and think about that. This bird is the size of a room. I saw a stuffed one hanging in a museum in New Zealand because New Zealand was big in the Antarctic exploration. It was utterly incredible. You could not believe it was real.

It goes from the floor and when it opens its wing, it can reach the ceiling.

Did it seem odd to see so much wildlife in such a remote, barren, cold, unbelievable environment?

Not really because that’s what I expected. You know you’re going to see seals, whales, penguins. It was part and parcel of what you were going to experience. It seemed quite normal.

Let’s talk about the cold. I’m like your husband. I don’t like the cold at all. Was it unbearable? Did you have the clothes for it? Talk a little bit about how you adapt to this environment.

 

At times, it was minus. I think in the cold day, the wind must have been at least minus fifteen or even twenty because you have your wind chill as well. That particular day we had a wind chill. The thing is you’ve got layers on and because I’ve been walking and trekking before in cold climates and even here in England, we often go to the Lake District or we’d go walking and we always used layers. I’ve got my wooly hat with my hood from my jacket. You’ve got warm trousers on, you’ve got an under layer, and you’re given these big boots because when you go into the Zodiac and then you land, you’ve got to get your feet up and over and you put your feet into the sea, into the water before you get onto the beach. We were all given these special boots and you’ve got your warm socks and maybe a couple of pairs of socks. There’s only one time when I felt cold and that was my right hand and I had liner gloves on. I kept taking my glove off to take my photos so that hand did get a bit cold. Once I put my glove back on and rubbed it, the circulation quickly came back. You felt quite warm and protected. I had a buff which I used to bring up over my nose. You dressed for the occasion. I don’t think anybody said they didn’t have enough clothes or weren’t warm enough. You will go well prepared.

Naturally, since Antarctica is in the southern hemisphere and you and I live in the northern hemisphere, our seasons are reversed. Their warm season is what we would consider winter. You can go anywhere between October through March. When did you go?

I went the last week in October and then into November. That was the mating season. If I went again, I would go after they’ve nest and they have their young.

Do you know what month that is?

That’s probably after Christmas time.

That would be in a heat of summer.

I’d have to research it again because I haven’t gotten that far yet.

When you reflect back on your trip, what do you think about?

It was a wonderful experience. Each part of it was special in its own way. You meet many interesting people. We’ve set up a WhatsApp group, a few of us. There were the three girls that I shared the cabin with and then there were a few others that we’ve got this little WhatsApp group. Whenever we go off somewhere, we contact one another even now, which is rather nice. You post stories on again about places to visit and where to go. It was relaxing in one way because you didn’t have to dress up and whatnot. It was casual and laid back. There was always something going on. It was up to you whether you wanted to attend or not. There were the lectures and we went to nearly all the lectures because they were interesting.

What’s up on Margaret’s travel list? What’s next?

In October, John and I and his sister are off to Jordan, Petra. We’re going to the Galapagos. That’s with G.

The Galapagos is high on my wish list. I’m excited for you. Thanks also for coming to the show. It’s been exciting and fascinating and I hope that I personally get to see Antarctica in my lifetime. Thanks, Margaret.

That’s okay. It’s been a pleasure. It’s been lovely to go back and look at the photos and rekindle some memories.

That’s one of the things I love about travel because you do get to relive it for the rest of your life.

—

Before I sign off, I want to talk to you about who this Ernest Shackleton we keep referring to is. Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was born in the late 1800s and he was a British Antarctic explorer. He had three main British expeditions to the Antarctic and he was one of the giants during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. For a while, he held the record of the person who had gone furthest south and missed the South Pole by about 180 kilometers. He was the first to climb Mount Erebus, which is Antarctica’s most active volcano.

He got the Knighthood for doing both of those, but he missed out on the race to get to the South Pole that was reached in 1911. He decided to change tactics. He still wants to get these records. He decided he was going to cross Antarctica sea to sea via the South Pole. His imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914 to 1917 started off great and then hit disaster. As Margaret talked about, the vessel they were traveling in, his ship called Endurance was crushed by the sea ice. The sea literally throws around the ship crashing and destroying the ship, leaving the men stuck camping out on the ice. Shackleton and four crewmates used a lifeboat to try to get back to civilization. What happened was one of the most impressive survival voyages ever.

They ended up traveling over 1,300 kilometers or over 830 miles and they finally made it to Elephant Island and eventually to South Georgia Island, which is where he is buried. I imagine it’s because he was grateful to finally get rock solid hard land again. He was shy of being 500 days on solid ice. It is this feat of endurance and willpower that he’s most known for. I love fantasizing about going to Antarctica. I do hope I get there one day. Did you notice that Margaret said she was going to Jordan next? We did this interview before I went to the Middle East and ironically, my original tour to Jordan had gotten canceled. When she said that, she mentioned that she was going to Jordan in October.

We missed each other by a week. The important thing there too is that she introduced me to a company that I had never heard of before and so I was able to tack on to one of their trips. It ended up being a fabulous trip. I’m looking forward to sharing my Jordan trip with you. While my Jordan trip ended up being fantastic, not everything on my Middle East trip was. That brings me to the next episode on the show where I’m going to review what you need to look at before you book and invest in a tour company because I learned some expensive lessons on my trip. I want to share with you what I did right and what I did wrong. I’ve done a lot of research since, so I think it is a great program because a lot of these trips are expensive. You don’t want to make a boo-boo. I hope you’ll join me next episode on the show. Please sign up and subscribe to that so you don’t miss it as well. I hope you are a subscriber to this show. Until next time, I appreciate you reading. Please share this episode. Adventure on.

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