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Me at the finish line of the Antarctica Marathon! I am holding six fingers up for Continent #6!

Ever since I was a child, I have wanted to go to Antarctica.  I never really explored the idea until I started running marathons in 2015.  When I decided to try to become a member of the seven continents club, I realized that if I achieve that goal, I would have to travel to the White Continent.

Overall Thoughts

The MOST IMPORTANT thing is that Mother Nature rules down here.  You MUST have an open mind and you must go with the flow.  If you are a person who likes everything to be structured, you will have a difficult time with this entire trip

Marathon Tours

There are two options for running a marathon in Antarctica:  one through Marathon Tours and the Antarctica Ice Marathon.  Neither race is cheap by any means, but the Antarctica Ice marathon is significantly more expensive.  I had traveled with Marathon Tours on four other occasions (London Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, Berlin Marathon, and the Rio de Janeiro marathon) and have had no issues whatsoever.  They do a GREAT job, so I decided to go with them.  I signed up after I ran the Tokyo Marathon in 2017 and began my wait.  Five years later, I finally made it (the waitlist is typically three years, and the 2020 and 2021 versions of the race were canceled due to COVID).  As always, the Marathon Tours staff was superb.  This trip was particularly difficult due to all of the uncertainty about traveling internationally with COVID.  They communicated EVERYTHING and NAILED every part of the trip.  If you are reading this blog post and are wondering whether to use Marathon Tours for ANY trip (not just the Antarctica Marathon), I HIGHLY recommend them (I am not an employee, nor do I get anything for my opinion).  Shoot, on the way back, Jeff (the president of the company) shelled out of his own pocket for a guided hiking tour in Tiera del Fuego National Park for the nine people who were not on the charter flight back to Buenos Aires.  Talk about a class act.  Every trip has been top-notch!

The Ship

We voyaged on the Ocean Victory, which is owned by Albatross Adventures.  This ship was commissioned last October, so it has only been voyaging for a few months.  It is a smaller cruise ship, supposedly holding about 200 people.  Its cabins were VERY spacious and the ship was very clean.  The Albatross Adventures staff were extremely friendly and helpful.  The food was DELICIOUS and there was a good variety for every meal.

The Antarctica Marathon & Half Marathon

On a typical race day, you would start a Bellingshausen (Russian) station, run to Artigas (Uruguyan) Station, back to Bellingshausen Station (4+ miles), continue past Bellingshausen Station, and out to the Great Wall (Chinese) station.  There you would turn around and head back to Bellingshausen Station for one loop of 8+ miles.  Repeat this three times and you have your marathon!  This year, the Chinese were not receptive to the runners (for whatever reason), so we ended up doing SIX out and back laps between Bellingshausen and Artigas.  The half marathon did three laps.

The next thing to be aware of is that there is ABSOLUTELY NO on-course support.  Do you want it?  Then you have to take it yourself.  This includes all energy gels fluids, change of clothes, etc.  (more on this in a minute)

Due to international treaties, there can only be 100 people on land at once.  The day started with all half marathoners and the slower full marathoners with a projected time of 5 hours 30 minutes or more starting in wave 1.  To get to the starting line, you go from your cabin to the mudroom, and change into your waterproof garments, life jacket, rubber boots, gloves, hat, sunglasses, etc.  You must carry your running gear in a dry pack.  When you have all of your waterproof gear on, you board a zodiac for a 10-minute ride ashore.  This is pretty neat in itself.  What other race do you have to sail TWO days on a boat, then hop on another zodiac to get to the starting line?

The Couse Setup

Once on shore, you have to change into your race gear.  They put down several tarps that you can sit on.  Oh, and you are at the mercy of Mother Nature.  When I arrived, there was a light rain and a slight breeze (not too bad).  They do set up two “honey pots”, which consist of a small standing tent and a camping-style toilet in each one.  One was for “poo” and one was for “pee”.  You should make every effort to expel any and all waste from your body before you leave the ship.  I typically drink about 100 ounces of fluids in a typical marathon.  I brought THREE 32 ounce Nalgene bottles (two Gatorade and one water) along with an extra 20-ounce bottle of water.  There is a water drop spot 1 mile into the course, so on the first lap, you carry a water bottle and drop it there and you still have fluids at the start line.  That way, you never run more than about 2 miles without having access to something to drink.

As for energy gels/food, you must carry your own,  however, there is a small twist.  You CANNOT bring any plastic wrappers ashore.  If you were to drop an empty gu packet and wildlife ate it, the consequences could be catastrophic.  I bought two Gu flasks and carried them in my pocket.  Each Gu flask held 5 Gu packets.  I also brought Cliff Bloks, cut up cliff bars, and put them in my pocket (without any plastic bags or wrappers).  The variety worked for me.

The course itself is a dirt road that connects the various research stations. The first half mile (toward Artigas) was a slow gentle uphill.  Then we were greeted with one of the steepest hills that I have had to run up – and it was a good 400 meters long.  There is one other hill just after the water drop point that might be a little bit steeper, but it is VERY short.  Overall, the 2.18 miles out to the Artigas turnaround is fairly hilly.  I ran the marathon on Feb 6, 2022, which is their summer.  The temperature was 36 on this day, so the entire course was MUD.  You will NOT be able to keep the mud off yourself.  Be prepared if you run this race and the temperature is above 32 degrees.  Lastly, as you approach Artigas, you will have some amazing views and scenery.  However, you are fairly exposed and any sort of wind seems to be magnified.  On my first two laps, a small squall/front pushed through and we had sustained 40 MPH (75 KPH) winds to navigate.  After the first two laps, the wind died and it was very pleasant weather to run in.

My runner-to-runner advice would be to take the first lap slow, learn what you are in for, and plan your next laps accordingly.

This was BY FAR the hardest marathon that I have ever run.  I live in Connecticut where there are plenty of hills – and I trained on plenty of them.  But I could not have imagined what I was getting myself into.

The cutoff time for the full marathon is 6:30:00.  If weather conditions permit, they will extend that time until you finish.  On my trip, they gave finishing times up to 7:00:00.  After that time, you got an “FNT”, which is “Finished No Time”.  If you get an FNT, you still get credit for the race and you still get a finisher medal/certificate.  Be warned though, that if the weather conditions deteriorate, they can and will cut the race short.  This is NOT the decision of the race director, it is the decision of the ship captain.  He has an obligation to ensure everybody’s safety.  This scenario happened one year and numerous people were not able to finish the race 🙁

Antarctica

As for Antarctica itself, I was not sure what to expect, but it blew away every expectation I THOUGHT that I MIGHT have.  The sheer beauty of Mother Nature and her blue glaciers hanging over the ocean and watching them calve is breathtaking.  Seeing seals effortlessly swim through the water and watching them waddle on the beach is amazing.  Watching minke and humpback whales crest close to your zodiac is awe-inspiring.  Walking on land among the fearless penguins will make you smile.  How can it not?

Nobody enjoyed the race, and that evening everybody complained about how difficult it was.  However, after we made our first landing to see penguins, I don’t think there was one more word spoken about it.  Nature has that effect on you.

Remember, that Mother Nature rules down here.  We had to cancel TWO of our excursions due to inclement weather / poor landing conditions.  The captain is in charge and passenger safety is paramount.

Where on earth will you ever get to walk on an active volcanic island?  Watching a penguin walk in front of you and not being afraid of you is priceless.  So is watching a seal pop up from the ocean and walking on the beach while looking at you all curious. The same goes for doing a polar plunge in Antarctica (talk about bragging rights among your friends – people are absolutely floored when I tell them I did that).  The scenery is stunning.

There is absolutely NO WAY to describe what it is like to watch penguins 20 feet away from you and have a glacier calving in the background.

It makes you think twice when your Starbucks coffee is wrong.

It is something that you have to experience.

I HIGHLY recommend it.

It is life-changing.

Best of luck if you decide to tackle this race.  You will NOT regret it.

We docked in Ushuaia last night.  Since we were in port, the seas were calm!  No more of these 15-foot waves throwing us around in the Drake Passage.  I woke up, got my COVID test result (negative), and went to enjoy the last breakfast with my friends.

They started to call us by deck, starting at the top.  Since I was on level 3, I was one of the last to be called.  I was one of nine people who were on a domestic flight, not the regular charter flight.  This was disappointing news on the way down, but my fears were put to rest when we had three marathon tours staff with us.  On the way back to Buenos Aires, we had a similar arrangement.

As the nine of us exited the ship, we all got on our own special van.  Jeff arranged a hike for us with a guide in Tiera Del Fugo National Park on his own dime.  I am sure that he billed the company, but the fact that he did something that nice was just amazing.  I took some extra clothes in case it was muddy or if it rained.

We piled in the van and were on our way.  One thing that we were a little sad about was that you can get your passport stamped in Ushuaia with a penguin stamp at a tourist hut.  This is technically ILLEGAL, but hey, who cares when you are having fun, and I wanted a penguin stamp in my passport after this journey.  Besides the Russian base/post office was closed to tourists on King George Island (and you can get your passport stamped there if you want).  We got there, but they were not open yet.  We waited 10 minutes and went inside.  They actually had 4 stamps that you could get, so we got them all!  Why not?  I made sure the stamps were on the LAST page of the passport, not in the middle.

After that, we piled back into the van and we drove to the park.  The van dropped us off with the guide.  We were going to do a 4.5-mile point to point hike and the van would pick us up on the other side.  As we stepped out of the van, my hat almost blew away.  It was super windy!

We started the hike on the beach.  The trail would wind from the beach into the trees, which would spare us from the wind for a while.  At one point while walking on the beach, I looked out on the water.  I noticed a bunch of dolphins jumping and playing.  I yelled to everybody and soon we were all watching them.  We got some good pictures and videos.  As we continued to hike, we were able to see the dolphins from various angles and watch them play.  It was pretty cool!

The hike through the forest was beautiful.  Hills, mud, wind, and birds were everywhere.  After about 2 hours, we arrived at the pickup point where we all piled into the van and went to the visitors center to use the facilities.  Our guide took us to this rather HUGE dome tent-looking structure.  There were two tables in there, along with a propane stove.  It could see probably 15 people comfortably.   We had a boxed lunch there, along with booze.  The tent was situated on a lake, so the scenery was nice while eating lunch.

After lunch, we went to the end of route 3.  Apparently, this highway runs for thousands of miles.  There is a sigh there with miles to various places.  Alaska was 17,894 km (11174 miles) away – which is practically halfway around the world!  We were also able to get another glimpse of the dolphin pod that we saw earlier.

With time running out, we drove back to the airport, where we were to fly out.  As we pulled up and parked, the drive opened his door.  The wind was blowing so hard that it caught the door and bent it backwards with so much force that the door could not close properly.  LOL.  We all laughed and the guide took it in stride.

We all checked in and was told that our flight was 1 hour late due to the high winds.  I passed the time by talking to Sarah and Maria.  We boarded our flight and made it to Buenos Aires without incident. I gathered my luggage and walked outside to the International terminal check in and got settled in.  I found my departure gate and sure enough, there were a bunch of us on this flight to Miami.

With my Chase Sapphire Reserve, I get a free Priority Pass. I looked up EZE airport, and sure enough, I got a free meal there at Outback!  I asked Katherine and Eva if they were hungry (Katherin was, Eva had already eaten), so I invited her to go with me.  For Priority Pass members, they have a special limited menu that you can order from.  There were no steaks, but hey, what do you want for free, your money back?  We had a good dinner and reminisced about the trip.

I still had a little bit of time to kill, so I went to the duty-free shop to buy some wine for Ashley.  I bought three bottles that were recommended by Sarah and Jeff back in Ushuaia (Malbec and anything from the Mendoza region).  Soon, it was time to board the flight.  My row was called early because I had purchased Economy Plus for an extra $50.  When I got to the front of the line, they told me that NO liquids were allowed on the flight.  I protested and showed them that it was in a duty-free bag.  They simply said that NO liquids were allowed on the flight, NOT EVEN WATER! WTF?  This is the SECOND time I have tried to bring wine back from South America (Rio being the first) only to be stymied.  I do not have a good batting average with booze from South America.

This flight was non-eventful, and I landed in Miami.  I planned it so I would have a FIVE-hour layover, just in case something went amiss.  Nothing did, so I went to the Turkish Airlines lounge that snubbed me on the way down.  This time, I got in without any issues. They had a nice breakfast spread.  I sat there for a while, used the more private bathrooms, and watched airplanes taxi in and out of the gates.

The next part of the journey would take me from Miami to Baltimore (with a 3-hour layover) then on to Hartford.  I boarded the Miami flight, landed in Baltimore, and went to Minute Suites (another Priority Pass perk) to take a nap.  I got a free room for 1 hour, and anything after that was billed at $30/hour in 15-minute increments.  I stayed for 1-1/2 hours, but they never charged me for the extra half hour.  The flight to Hartford was also non-eventful.  I landed and Ashley & Grace were there to pick me up.  My FOUR DAY journey north was complete!

Yesterday began my four-day journey NORTH to go home.  There were no morning announcements waking us up for a COVID test, no announcements to report to the mudroom to get ready for a landing, and no announcements regarding breakfast.  I was able to sleep until 9am – which was quite a luxury on this trip.  Also, since no passengers or staff have tested positive since day 1, we were not mandated to take COVID test today!  Our noses got a much-needed reprieve from being stabbed.

Since I slept so late today, I missed my normal breakfast sitting.  That was alright since things were rather lax at this point.  I sat down at the second sitting and tried to enjoy what time I had left this far south.

After breakfast, I started gathering the contact information of my newfound friends – Bai, Eva, Maria, Linda, and Tom.  After such an adventure, we surely wanted to stay in touch about future marathons and adventures.

Much of the next two days would be lazy with the opportunity to listen to lectures on various subjects.

The first lecture I went to was by Sara.  She has a passion for studying wildlife in Antarctica, and she told us about HappyWhale.org.  This site tracks the location of individual animals like whales and leopard seals by their markings.  Every animal has unique markings much like human fingerprints.  You go there, upload a photo of whatever animal(s) you have with the location, and you are updated when a future sighting occurs.  I showed Sara some of the pictures I had of leopard seals and she was excited.  She thought that the markings were definitely good enough to track and encouraged me to submit them.  (I will, but have yet to do that).  I was curious about this, so I looked at the leopard seal pictures that I got on day #12 in Cierva Cove.  Excitingly enough, there were TWO different leopard seals, not just one!  I would have never known that had I not attended Sara’s lecture.

With the completion of the Antarctica Marathon, I now have completed a full marathon on SIX continents.  The last continent for me to “conquer” is Africa.  There was much talk on this trip about who has completed what continent and what race they did on that continent.  For me, I want to run the Big 5 marathon because I want to go on some game drives.  I have very little interest in running the Capetown marathon.  I want to rough it!  After lunch, Jeff of Marathon Tours did a briefing on the state of various races that they travel to.  Capetown came up and he gave some interesting information as it is a popular race.  Apparently, they are on a three-year trial and if they pass, they will be granted world major status!  I want to keep up with all the world majors, so I asked if I were to complete Capetown BEFORE it is admitted to the World Major club, whether it would count toward completing all SEVEN majors.  His answer was an emphatical, YES.  The precedent has already been set, and he actually suggested that you run it BEFORE it becomes a major so that there are no problems getting into it.  This actually changed my mind, because why not double-dip and get credit for both Africa and a world major all in one shot?  Capetown is run in October, so this year is out (I have both Chicago and Marine Corps, so stuffing a third marathon in seems like overkill).  I will plan on doing Capetown in October 2023.

Every year after the Antarctica Marathon, Marathon tours holds an auction, with all proceeds benefitting Oceanities.   I knew this, and have had my eye on the start/finish line banner since I signed up in 2017.  It would be quite a souvenir to have.  Not only was this banner at the race, but it polar plunged TWICE on Deception Island.  I NEEDED to have this banner 🙂

On the last day of sailing, the auction was set to happen.  Here is a partial list of items that were to be auctioned off.

1. Unsponsored mile markers from the race (I sponsored mile 20)
2. Penguin crossing signs
3. Uruguay turnaround sign
4. China turnaround sign (which was put at the start line)
5. The 13-mile marker from the half marathon
6. The 26-mile marker from the full marathon
7. A zodiac propeller that was broken from hitting rocks on a landing
8. 2 bottles of water that were melted from 10,000-year-old glacial ice
9. The captain’s map of our voyage that plotted our course, along with dates
10. The finish line banner

Jeff, being the competitive person he is (remember the polar plunge challenge?) told us that the first voyage raised about $17,000 in the first auction.  He wanted to beat that BADLY.   Previous to the trip, I had done some intel gathering and found that the start/finish line banner had gone in the past for $2,000 – $3,000.  I asked about the price on the first voyage and was told it had sold for $3,000.  I was prepared to go to $3,000 without thinking, probably $4,000 and PERHAPS $5,000 (although that is getting to be a lot).  A lot of my new friends knew that I wanted the banner BADLY.  My new friend Bai casually asked me if I had run the half marathon, would I want to have mile marker 1 or 13 for a souvenir.  I told her without a doubt, mile 13.

The auction started and the unclaimed miles, penguin crossing, and turnaround signs all went for about $500 each.  The glacial water went for $500 per bottle, the broken propeller for $300.

Then came the 13-mile marker from the half marathon.  Interested party #1 was my friend Bai.  Interested party #2 was a gentleman who had finished his seventh continent at the half-marathon distance.  Bidding started at $500.  Bai bid.  The guy bid $600.  Bai bid $800.  The guy bid $900.  Every time the guy bid, Bai upped the ante, not by $100, but by $200.  This went back and forth for quite a while.  When the dust settled, Bai won the 13-mile marker for $3,800!  Everybody in the room was absolutely floored.  I asked Bai how high she was going to bid.  Her response was, “I did not have a limit.  I was going to buy it.  I give a lot more than that to charity every year.”  I thought that was nice, but I did feel bad for the guy who had finished his 7th continent at the half-marathon distance.  The 26-mile marker for the full marathon was a lot less interesting.  It sold for $600.

Next up was the captain’s map of our voyage.  There were two people who REALLY wanted this map and it ended up going for $5,500!

I was kind of in shock.  Two items from our auction went for over HALF of the total in the first voyage.  I was getting a pit in my stomach wondering how much I was going to have to shell out for this damn finish line banner (I was envisioning $7,000 – $8,000 for the winning bid).

After the captain’s map was the last item – the one that I have been waiting for since 2017.  I told myself that if I win the banner, I am going to ask everybody to sign it as a fun little thing to do.  Jeff usually opened bidding at $200, but he jumped straight to $1,000.  Sitting in the front row, I eagerly raised my hand and had the first bid.  I was determined not to even blink until $3,000 (and most likely $4,000).  Bid increments were typically $100, but he jumped the next bid to $1,300.  Somebody in the back bid.  The next bid was $1,600.  I could not get my hand up quickly enough.  Once again, I was the highest bidder.  The next bid was called at $1,900.  I waited for the person in the back to bid.  And I waited.  Nothing happened.  I thought to myself, “Is this actually going to happen?  Am I going to get this for $1,600?  OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!!”  Jeff tied to stir up more interest.  To my sheer AMAZEMENT, nobody else bid and I took home the prize for $1,600 and was the proud owner of the banner that I have wanted for FIVE YEARS at HALF the price I was willing to go!  I lined up for a photo with the banner and everybody congratulated me.  As I filled out the paperwork, Paul said that on the other voyages, the winners typically had everybody sign the banner!  I laughed and said that I planned to do that exact thing.

I put the banner on 2 long tables by the bar and the staff made an announcement for me asking everybody to sign it.  I stood by the banner encouraging people to sign.  The first few were hesitant, but after I told them that it was what I wanted, they signed.  Soon, nobody needed prompted and I had a LOT of signatures.  I do not know if everybody signed, but I think MOST people did.

Later that night if you were flying straight out, you needed to get a PCR test.  They arranged for a boat to meet these people to get a sample that was to be analyzed by a lab and given to us in the morning.  Since I was flying straight through with no extra days in Buenos Aires, I had to get a PCR test.  Later that night, we docked in Ushuaia, but we were not permitted to get off the boat until morning.  I spent the rest of the night packing up and getting ready to leave.  While packing, my cabin phone rang.  It was Alyssa, one of the Marathon Tours staff.  She said that since I was one of the 9 people who were not on the charter flight and since we had 5 or so hours to kill before we needed to be in the airport, Jeff was arranging a hike in the National Park for anybody who was interested.  Heck yeah, I was interested!  We had to tag our luggage separately and we would get on a separate van in the morning.

Today, we had the normal drill of waking up, sticking a swab up our nose, then eating breakfast.  If our captain took us to the correct spot, we would arrive at Deception Island today, doing a landing, then going to Half Moon Island in the afternoon.

The captain delivered on his navigation skills and we approached Deception Island later in the morning.  Deception Island is an active volcano, which last erupted in 1970, and it does so about every 50 years.  That means that an eruption is due ANY TIME NOW.  Hopefully, it will hold off until we are done playing.  The island is about 9 miles wide, has formed a caldera, and is the only volcano in the world that you can sail into.  There is only one way to get into the caldera (Whaler’s Bay), which is through Neptune’s Bellows.

As we approached Neptune Bellows, everybody went outside to get pictures of the stunning views.  Soon we were in Whaler’s Bay and anchored outside an abandoned British whaling station.

The staff started to call everybody by their color group to go to the mudroom and prepare for the landing.  I was called, got dressed up, boarded the zodiac, and was off to the beach. It sounds weird calling our landing places “beaches” because I don’t know about you, but I think of a Bahamas kind of weather when I think “beach”.

When we landed, I noticed a few things.  The first was that the water was not as deep as the other landings we did.  The second was that the rocks were much finer here than on other beaches.  Lastly, if you looked across the beach, you could see infrared/heat waves rising from the ground.  I suppose this was to be expected as we were standing on an active volcano!

A guide met us as we disembarked from the zodiac and gave us one of two options.  We could go left with a guide to the abandoned British whaling station, or we could venture out on our own to the right where there were a few Norwegian ruins.  Left looked quite a bit more interesting, so off with guide David I went.

[[Picture of Antarctica fur seal]]

As we walked toward the ruins, I spied a couple of Antarctic fur seals lounging on the heated beach rocks.  They looked very content and really paid no attention to us as we marched by them in awe.  As we neared the dilapidated structures, David pointed out furnaces where the whale blubber was processed, tanks where the processed blubber was stored, the office building where all of the accounting took place, and an old airplane hangar.  The hangar was quite large.  He explained that there was a dirt airstrip off in the distance that was used for information-gathering flights over the mainland.

After getting pictures of the airplane hangar, we walked up to the summit of a large lava flow.  It was about half a mile long and it was quite narrow and steep.  Once at the top, the views were incredible!  After hanging out there in the wind for a little bit, I descended and started walking back to the zodiacs.  Which brings me to another sub-plot I have not been telling you about. . .

Antarctica POLAR PLUNGE

Jeff Adams is a little bit competitive.  The first boat running of the marathon had 102 runners partake in a polar plunge.  Make no mistake about it, Jeff wanted to beat them and encouraged EVERYBODY to do it so that we would have bragging rights.  We had to sign a waiver to do the plunge, but nobody had ever been hurt in the process.  I took one and intended to do the plunge.  However, when I got up this morning, I was not feeling it.  We were supposed to wear a swimsuit under whatever clothes we wore for the landing.  At the end of the landing, you would undress to your swimsuit, do the polar plunge, dry off with a towel, and then be taken back to the ship IMMEDIATELY.  Since I was not feeling it, I did not put on my swimsuit and I just wore my regular running tights (much like spandex/compression shorts, but they go all the way down to my ankles).

As I descended from the summit of the lava flow, I have to admit – I was having remorse at wearing my swimsuit or bringing the waiver.  I was TOTALLY feeling left out.  I walked back to where the zodiacs were taking people back to the ship.  I decided to walk over to the polar plunging people to root people on.  Several of my newfound friends asked me if I was going in.  Dejectedly, I told them that I did not bring my waiver.  They all expressed their disappointment, and my remorse level went through the roof.  I saw Paul, and he asked if I was doing the plunge.  I told him that I did not bring my waiver.  He smiled and said, “That’s alright, we have extras just for people like you.  Just go see Karen over there and she will take care of you.”

Joy ran through my body, and I think I actually RAN to her to get signed up.  I did not have a swimsuit, but I would pull my tights up to my thighs and plunge that way!  I was ecstatic as were all my friends.  I took all of my clothes off (save for the tights) and up to the water I went.  off I went.  The only requirement for a polar plunge is that you had to get your hair wet.  I ran into the 35-degree water expecting the worst.  As the water got up to my shins, I said to myself, this is COLD!  When the water got up to my knees, I just dove in.  I remember hitting the bottom with my chest/stomach and I swam a few seconds underwater, then popped back up.  “That was not TOO bad”, I thought.  I was SO excited to have just done a polar plunge – in ANTARCTICA!  Talk about some major bragging rights 🙂  I got out of the water and got my picture taken with an Antarctica Marathon finisher medal.  The wind was blowing somewhat, so I grabbed a towel.  Once I was dried off, the temperature was not actually that bad.  I kind of stood there enjoying the breeze and thinking how “nice” out it was.  I definitely overhyped the plunge in my mind.

As soon as I got reclothed, a seal actually swam out of the ocean, stood on the beach, and watched us.  He looked bewildered as to why we would be going INTO the water and not staying out of it.  He would hop several steps, and look at us again.  Perhaps he wanted to join the party.  Here he is observing us.

[[Pic/Video of seal watching on polar plunge]]

When it was all said and done, we had 109 people do the polar plunge!  We beat the first boat!

Half Moon Island

Back on the ship, we set course for Half Moon Island and had lunch.  Half Moon Island has a colony of chinstrap penguins and many seals.  I was excited about this because I had only seen one chinstrap penguin this far in our journey.

Not long after lunch, we were called to the mudroom to prepare for the landing at Half Moon Island.  When I landed, I noticed there were five fur seals, a bunch of chinstrap penguins, and a boat that was abandoned in 1968).  It was a pretty cool sight with all three things in one frame.

I made my way to the chinstrap penguin colony and got some good pictures and videos.  Chinstraps are closely related to gentoo penguins and often live together.  After getting pictures/videos, I walked along the beach toward the rendezvous point.  There were a bunch of adolescent fur seals chillaxing on the beach.  They played a little bit.

I made my way SLOWLY back to the zodiac because I knew that this was my last adventure on any kind of land in Antarctica.  I took it all in and sadly boarded the zodiac.

Neko Harbor, Antarctica

After Cierva Cove we set course for an overnight ride to Neko Harbor (pronounced:  KNEE-co).  There are no actual harbors in Antarctica, but there are many places that are named “harbor”.  I do not get this, other than perhaps, it is easy to land there.

I awoke at 6:30 am for our daily COVID tests.  All passengers and staff were negative, however, three crew members tested positive.  They were quarantined on the ship and we continued our business.

I had the daily breakfast, and at 8:30 my group was called to the mudroom for our next expedition.  I packed up my Antarctica Marathon medal, GoPro, phone, and made my way to the mudroom.  We were at Neko Harbor to visit a gentoo penguin colony on MAINLAND Antarctica!  We are not dealing with any small-talk island in the South Shetland Islands, but MAINLAND Antarctica!  I was getting goosebumps.

Gentoo Penguin Colony in Neko Harbor, Antarctica

I boarded the zodiac, and we were swept off to the mainland.  Upon arrival, I noticed the foul stench emanating from the island.  It was penguin poo, and it was pretty rank.  The second thing I noticed was that there was a pretty large and steep “mountain”.  There were penguins all the way at the top.  “How the heck do penguins climb mountains?” I thought.

I disembarked the zodiac, started the GoPro, and followed the crowd of people.  On the ship, we were educated on penguin highways and that they use them to go get from one place to another.  They can be quite deep because as the snow falls and the penguins continue to use the highway, the snow gets packed down.  When crossing a penguin highway, you must look to ensure that there are no penguins coming up OR down.  Penguins have no natural predators on land (far from the reality in the water), so they are not afraid of humans.  They are curious little ones and will walk right by you and not even think twice.  The number one rule when in Antarctica is that we are in THEIR home, and they have the right of way.  You must stay about 15 feet away from them, and if they are on a course to cross your path, you MUST STOP and let them do their thing.  If they go around you, then let them.  If they hop next to you, you let them hop next to you.  Do not make any sudden moves to frighten them and all is good.

A Penguin Highway on Mainland Antarctica (Neko Harbor)

I saw people walking up the backside of the mountain, so I started to slowly make my way over there.  Twice, I was stopped by a gentoo penguin crossing my path.  I got a cool video of this penguin crossing my path and I had to wait for it to pass by.  There seemed to be quite a few penguins here.  Currently, Antarctica is in the late summer, and you can see penguins in all stages of growth:  Eggs not yet hatched, newborns, adolescents, and penguins molting.

As I walked up the backside of the mountain, I could hear what sounded like a low-flying airplane (or a freight train).  I heard this several times, looked skyward, but never saw anything.  Finally, I got the idea that it might be the sound of the ice breaking/cracking on the glaciers.  I asked one of the guides, and they confirmed my suspicion.  I saw two small avalanches in the distance and a glacier calving a bunch of ice into the open sea.

I continued up the hill and was at the top in short order.  I stood there and took everything in.  To my left was the harbor and the Ocean Victory (with glacier-covered mountains in the background), straight in front of me was a gentoo penguin colony, and to my right was a massive glacier hanging over the ocean.  I pondered just how I was going to describe this to everybody at home.  The result was that there were no words to describe it – you MUST experience it for yourself, and that is the honest truth.

Holding my Antarctica Marathon Finisher’s Medal on Mainland Antarctica with a Gentoo Penguin Colony Behind Me

I took out my medal and asked Liz to take my picture in front of the penguins.  She screamed and said, “You actually brought your medal?  What a GREAT idea!”  She gladly took my picture and then asked if she could borrow my medal for a picture.  Of course, I did, and I took some pictures of her.  At this point, EVERYBODY wanted to borrow my medal for a similar pose/shot.  People were offering to pay me to use the medal, but I told them just to pay it forward and do a good deed for somebody.  One lady offered to buy me how many ever drinks I wanted back on the ship.  I told her that I was a cheap date and that all I drank was water.

After spending what seemed like an eternity at the top, I made my way back down, only to be stopped by three more penguin crossings.  I made my way back to awaiting zodiac.  Before going back to the ship, we went for a small ride out in the harbor, where we saw a crabeater seal chillaxing on an ice floe.  A minke and humpback whale also surfaced.  That led to the question, “how deep is the water right here”.  The guide said it was about 300 meters deep, even though we were not too far from land!

Crab Eater Seal on an Ice Floe in Neko Harbor, Antarctica

After our small zodiac tour, we were taken back to the ship, where I went up to the 8th-floor observation deck and saw several more humpback whale surfacings.

Lunch on this day was going to be a BBQ on the deck.  However, katabatic winds swept in and the winds went from 8mph to 70mph in a mere 90 seconds!  I have NEVER seen anything like this.  One minute I was standing on the deck watching for whales, and LITERALLY the next minute I was fighting to stand on my feet!  WOW!  The outside BBQ was canceled and we ate inside.

We departed Neko Harbor and set course for Cuverville Island.  Cuverville hosts a very large gentoo penguin colony with 4500 pairs of breeding penguins.  9000+ penguins in one spot!  This should be pretty wild.  We arrived there a few hours later, but the katabatic winds were still whipping at 70mph, so there was no opportunity to make a landing.  BOOOOOOO!

The captain plotted a course for Deception Island.  I sat in the library and read my new book String Theory for Dummies.

After dinner, my new friend Bai and I played cards in the 8th-floor observation deck.  We are both very interested in astronomy and we both wanted to see the southern sky.  We planned to stay up to see what time it got dark.  We played crazy 8s until about 11:30 pm when all of a sudden the winds picked back up.  The 8th-floor observation deck has a bar (although it was unattended).  Throughout the evening, people put their empty coffee cups and wine glasses on the bar.  When 70 mph winds pick and rock the ship violently back and forth, guess what happens?  You guessed it!  The observation deck resembled a yard sale with all kinds of broken glass.  Bai and I left and told reception of the problems they had upstairs.  They said they would send somebody to clean it up.

I retired to my cabin where Tom was lying in bed.  We went to bed, but the ship was rocking pretty badly.  At one point, Tom was thrown off his bed and into the wall!  Luckily he was alright and had no injuries.  Most people did not sleep well that night.  Me?  Well, I just shut my eyes and went to sleep despite the rocking.  The next morning, Tom said that he was up all night and could not understand how I could sleep through such a terrible thing!