Sea kayaking - Pleneau Island.

Today was the day I had been quietly hoping for since we booked this Antarctic adventure — sea kayaking in Antarctica.
We were anchored near Pleneau Island, an area famous for its scattered icebergs and calm waters sometimes nicknamed “Iceberg Alley.” The temperature hovered around zero degrees, but the conditions were great for paddling.
There was a bit of waiting around while the MS Fridtjof Nansen manoeuvred into position, but by about 1pm we were ready to launch.
The preparation alone felt like an expedition.
First our own thermals, then another thick thermal onesie provided by the expedition team. Over that went the dry suit with tight latex seals at the wrists and neck, followed by booties. Beanie and gloves were our own — which is when I discovered my “waterproof” gloves weren’t quite as waterproof as advertised!
Kim unfortunately wasn’t feeling well enough to paddle today, so I teamed up with Georgia from Canberra, and it turned out we made a pretty good paddling partnership.
For about an hour and a half we glided through a maze of icebergs, some tiny and delicate, others towering and sculpted by wind and sea. The water was suitably calm — almost glassy — which made the experience even more surreal.
All around us were Gentoo penguins porpoising through the water or time wasting on rocks, and every now and then we spotted seals resting on the ice. At times the only sounds were the dip of the paddles, the distant cracking of ice, and the occasional penguin chatter.
It was one of those moments where you stop paddling for a second just to take it all in — kayaking in Antarctica, surrounded by ice and wildlife, something I never imagined I’d actually be doing.
My GoPro battery gave up early thanks to the cold, so unfortunately I didn’t capture as much as I hoped. By the end my fingers were pretty numb too — those gloves again!
But cold hands aside, this was easily one of the highlights of the trip so far.

And Georgia and I?
A pretty solid Antarctic paddling team. 🚣‍♂️❄️🐧Læs mere