1-14-20 - Polar plunge

Today is our final expedition day in Antarctica.  We start off with the land exploration of Danko Island.  Yes, more snow trekking to high peaks, more spectacular views and lots more los penguinos. We make it up a high snow hike where we catch another penguin highway which is a one lane clearing in the foot high snow that penguins use to get from their colony to the sea to go fishing for their young and back.  It’s almost comical to witness long lines of penguins waddling down a mountain single file.  Kyle gets a great time lapse video of one.  It is also a huge no-no not to stop as a tourist if the penguin highway crosses our trail and penguins are traversing it. In fact, IOTAA, the organization that the operators use to govern tourism in Antarctica, has very strict restrictions on distance from wildlife one is to keep.  Five meters is the minimum amount to stay from penguins. 

The hot topic of the day is the polar plunge.  We found out yesterday the guides are organizing a polar plunge off Danko Island.  The water temperature is 1 degree C (34 degrees F).  Yes, that is cold, very freaking cold. At first, most of the passengers think the crew is kidding about it but it soon becomes apparent this is the real deal should we choose to do it. We are to bring our bathing suits and they will provide towels.  We will have to make the polar plunge decision at the end of our Zodiac ride so the guide knows who to take over to the island.

We pile on the Zodiac which is guided by Nozomi from Japan who we have not had before. We spend the time cruising for icebergs, glaciers and wildlife.  It’s very relaxing and awe inspiring but we don’t see anything new either wildlife or landscape that we haven’t seen before.  Decision time has arrived.  John, Ashlynn and Ashley opt out of the plunge.  Justin, Corey and Kyle are all-in.  Leanne is still undecided and punts the decision until she is on the island.  

As we are dropped off, we are shocked at how many people are on the rock beach starting to strip out of their clothes. We estimate it was probably about 50 people or more.  “Good to see that we’re not the only ones who have lost their mind,” Kyle notes. Our Zodiac cruise with Nozomi ran a little late so by the time we are dropped off, most people are ready to go in and the wave of people start off for their plunge.  Justin and Corey are off in a flash, in the water and back while Kyle is still trying to maneuver out of his seven layers of clothing.  Leanne does the compromise plunge and goes in halfway and then retreats safely back to land. 

Just as Kyle is down to his bathing suit, the guides run out of towels.  Kyle stands there in only his bathing suit debating what to do.  Justin and Corey offer their towels which are wet but the best Kyle is going to get. Kyle gears up and runs down the rock beach (not so much fun on the feet) and dives in and down.  He later says that the world went dark, he went instantly numb and couldn’t breathe until he managed to stand up and run like hell back for the shore. “That is definitely something you do once to check the bucket list and never do again,” Kyle says as he still can’t feel his feet twenty minutes later back on the ship. 

Martin, the expedition guide leader, informs us that it will not be possible to squeeze in an afternoon expedition as they had hoped due as the ship has to head back towards the Drake Passage.  So that’s a wrap with the expeditions as we managed nine of a possible ten expeditions.  

In the afternoon, we attend the lecture on glaciers by expedition guide Lawrence who is a glaciologist and studied glaciers on Greenland for 7 years.  Yes, a glaciologist is real thing if you’ve never heard of one. We learn all about the science behind the glaciers we’ve been seeing for the past week.  A glacier is a moving permanent body of ice. We learn about accumulation and ablation and then 98 percent of the glaciers are shrinking. 20,000 years ago, Antarctica would have been covered with ice 2 kilometers think above us in the place we were.  EPICA drilled a core in Antarctica and found ice 740,000 years old. The youngest glacier on Earth is Mount St. Helens in Washington State which formed from the volcanic eruption and is only 20 years old from eruption.  

Laurence looks no more than 30 but speaks as confidently as a Nobel peace prize winner about his topic.  This guy knows his ice. He shares there are only two Ice Sheets in the world — Greenland and Antarctica.   Laurence continues on his fascinating topic of glaciers when he shows us some outstanding video his research in Greenland when the bridges radio interrupts him. 

“Pod of Orcas, 1 pm, 2 miles ahead,” crackles over the loudspeaker. “We unfortunately interrupt this talk for some orcas ahead,” says Laurence with a bit of British disdain (did we mention he’s from Cornwall?) for the wildlife sighting.  Here he was just about to show the research climax of his hour long talk, only to be rudely upstaged by killer whales on the starboard side. 15 minutes later and probably a collective 25,000 photo shots taken by the 170 passengers later, Laurence resumes. 

At the daily recap, we are shown weather maps and told tomorrow could be a little rougher on the Drake than we’ve had thus far but still not bad relative to the scope of how bad it could be. Neil the photographer gets up and tells us about the photo competition where each passenger can submit 3 photos – 1 wildlife, 1 landscape and 1 general and the passengers will vote on the winners.  George also announces that passengers are free to submit 15 second videos and he will compile the best ones into a final video.

The photo and video competitions have energized the clan and a good portion of dinner is taken up with the kids showing their best photos and asking “what about this one?  You like this one?  Is it good enough to win?” After a great dinner and couple more David Attenborough documentaries, the crew is ready for bed after 5 straight days of expeditions.