Summary

For all those adventurous type people out there, Antarctica is undoubtedly one destination you have to visit, some determination will be required but the rewards are worth it.

Its such a beautiful yet inhospitable place, weather can change in a breath, you have to take care and be aware of your surroundings.  It is difficult to image a world without this unspoiled corner, a place that needs to be cherished for future generations.

For me there were a lot of firsts, sleeping on Antarctica, swimming in the Antarctic sea, seeing whales and many more things that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

There is a responsibility for us all to be aware of the choices we make and how those choices effect our community and environment.  This was a journey of discovery and learning, discovering new horizons and learning new skills in leadership, increased knowledge of our environment and climate.  All these different segments came together in one expedition, an expedition of a lifetime.

I'd like to thank all those who have helped and supported me on this journey.  Thank you.

Deception Island and Whalers Bay

We are in a volcano, wierd but true, Deception Island is an arctic coldera, which is a volcano collapsed upon itself.  Its still active and you can feel the warm sand on the beach where hot springs warm it up.  Last errupted back in 1970, it has small crators around its edge and further evidence of those recent erruptions.
Deception Island is so called due to access to the centre of the caldera is a narrow opening, difficult to spot, even in good conditions.

We had two walks today, a walk around one of the craters described to us by ne of the Quark team, about the erruption and effect on the surrounding glacier.

A visit to the Whaling Station in a seperate bay was our next destination, an old whaling station where the oil was extracted and stored before shipping around the world for lighting and heating homes.

There is alot of history in Antarctica and acts as a reminder for future generations.

Our second walk took us up 400m from the beach to the rim of the caldera, giving us magnificent panoramic views of Deception Island, a straight forward walk, windy at times with the need to rope up on our descent.

Tableau Iceberg Ahead

We were woken early this morning to get our feet onto deck 7, normally reserved for crew only, this was the top deck of the ship.  What greated us just 200m away was a huge tableau iceberg 1km in length, 70m high and approximately 250 billion tons.

Today was a day of special events, first the iceberg, then later a pod of Orca whales graced us with their presence, around 30 including large males and calfs with their mothers.  I never thought i'd get to see killer whales like this only 20m away from the ship at times.

We headed for Browns Bluff but were unable to land due to the sea ice building up, it is the end of the summer down here, so the team had more exciting things for us instead.  A first for 2041 and the team, a landing on an iceberg, just a little one, but still an exciting event, imagine walking on an iceberg!

Camping on Ice

A highlight for me I've been looking forward to this event ever since I herd we had a chance to sleep on the ice. To sleep on the ice you have to protect yourself from the cold as much as possible that means thick down sleeping bag, plenty of thermal underwear and a bivvi bag, a robust outer sleeping bag to protect you from the elements.  In addition we dug a pit in the snow and ice, about 6inches deep, enough to build a surrounding wall used as a wind break, essential.

-7 degrees with occasional snow flurries and clear skies, ideal, slept well and saw the 'southern cross' and parts of the Milky Way a very fulfilling experience for me, one that everyone should do once in there lives.

Flag Day

So the flag day is all about having your picture taken with Robert Swan OBE holding one side of your country or company or product flag that you have.  Speaking to Robert later he shared with me how demanding the day was with over 80 participants from 29 countries having several photos each, one very important time for most as there is always a moment of pride when the flags come out.

We walked up to a point called MeditationTravelling through the night the ship reached Neko Harbour a natural bay surrounded by huge glaciers.
 Rock where people could reflect and view this magnificent bay from a vantage and watch the light change as the clouds moved effortlessly in the sky. The wind caused a small windchill of -10 which cooled us down and reminded us of where we were.

A huge leapord seal followed our zodiac back to the ship, the water here is crystal clear so we could track his movements under water as it darted from one side to the other, these animals are big, they have a huge head muscly and full of razor sharp teeth. It's agile beyond it's size, its at least 7ft long and looks about 200lb (I'm guessing).

First landing

Booth island, my first steps onto the finest continent of them all! That's just my opinion but it makes me smile to write that.

We had our first "mountaineering" day, this enabled Jason to assess people's ability and provide rope training for the crevasse riddled walk over a glacier programmed in a few days. It went well some basic knots, everyone did well as we headed up the snow slope to "The Port Charcot" memorial. For some people on this expedition it was their first time seeing snow, a strange concept to our wintry isles but fascinating all the same. Needless to say everyone enjoyed themselves and a friendly multi national snowball fight broke out. A joyous day.

Lamaire Channel

Early morning start before breakfast we were out on the bow watching the ship steer carefully through the Lamaire Channel a narrow passage between mountains rising 900m vertically out of the sea on both sides with only 400m between them.  The weather is cold and gloomy but this just adds to the very tense dramatic feel of what's happening around us. Since we arrived in Antarctica there is a reel feeling of danger, Antarctica is beautiful and quiet and prestine and inviting like siren beckoning you to reach out and touch her, only you somehow know not to because if you do, she will grab you and pull you into the icy water where there is only one outcome! Calling for your mummy isn't going to help.

Our first cruise in the zodiacs, nikki our driver manoeuvres our boat with precision carving her way through a myriad of stranded icebergs these are beautiful the light enhances the depth of colour, blues like you have never seen before.  A bunch of wildlife too, Gentoo penguins porpoising through the water only feet away, fur seals and crab eater seals (which don't actually eat crabs) lazing around on the odd iceberg here and there.  Spotted and carefully approached by our skilled driver from Team Quark.