Antarctica Day 1 - Setting Sail

I am hugely excited. Today I am actually heading to ANTARCTICA. It will be continent no.7 for me and with that the very last continent I will explore on my trip around the world. After a cancelled expedition cruise in November, this time it is actually happening. Again, I am going to ANTARCTICA - how cool is that? Pinching myself.

To get there, I will take an expedition cruise ship, the MV Plancius, which can host 110 passengers plus the crew - so a fairly small vessel that is designed for the more adventurous spirits. Before reaching the Antarctic peninsula, however, we have to cross the infamous drake passage, which is known for having among the roughest waters in the world. But, it can also be calm, so l am definitely hoping for the latter bit.

Anyway, after a wild and amazing time in Rio, I had a few days in Ushuaia to relax and get some last minute supplies before boarding the ship. Going from 35 degrees and sun to 3 degrees and cloudy and rainy, was definitely a bit of a shock.

Then it was the day of embarkation. I woke up excited and ready to embark on this incredible journey to one of the last true wildernesses on this planet. At 11am, I left my Airbnb to drop off my luggage, spent a few hours in a cafe and at 4pm headed to the vessel for embarkation. Seeing the ship in front of me gave me a little rush of excitement - this was actually happening.

Once on board, I was shown my cabin and I was in luck. I was paired with the husband of the board's doctor, so I had an inside line into the ship's medical stash. I shamelessly took advantage of that and got myself a patch to stick behind my ear to deal with the seasickness (don't ask me how it works, I just hope it will!). After checking out our cabin, we both went to explore the ship a little and made friends on the way.

At 5pm, the crew assembled all guests and it was time for the safety instructions and a safety drill. So we all went back to our cabins, got the life jackets, waited for the announcement of an emergency and assembled in the briefing room, where we put on our life jackets and were led to the lifeboats. It def sounds more dramatic than it was - it basically was a calm processions with lots of chatting and laughter in between.

At 6pm, we set sail. Leaving the harbour and actually saying goodbye to Ushuaia and South America was a surreal feeling. The next time I would step on a continent would be Antarctica. It still didn't feel real. A couple of friends I already made within my short time on board and I stood outside and looked out into the Beagle Channel - the pathway to the white continent.

We also checked the weather to see how bad the Drake Passage would be and unfortunately we were heading straight into a storm with waves forecasted to be between 6-9m high. Great start. Haha.

This didn't dim our spirits and weirdly enough, we were actually interested to feel those kind of waves. I mean, how bad can sea sickness get? I will certainly find out tomorrow, but with pills and patches I, at least, felt prepared.

Next on the agenda was an introduction of the captain and the crew and oh my do they have cool jobs. Survivalist, scientists for glaciers and whales, ocean photographer, kayak/camping-guide, etc. So so cool!

Then it was time for a delicious dinner with views over the Beagle Channel before an evening of chatter about the trip, life, etc. with fellow passengers and the crew from all over the world. So far, the sea sickness has not kicked in, but in all honesty, the Beagle Channel was supposed to be relatively quiet. At midnight, we are going to hit the Drake Passage and during the introduction our guide told us that things will get "very interesting". Let's see

But with that, a wonderful and surprisingly eventful first day came to an end. It will take us 2.5days or 1000km to reach Antarctica and tomorrow will be all about the Drake Passage.
Hopefully, the gods of the sea and angels of sea sickness are on our side.

My fellow passengers seem very cool and it looks as it this is going to be a really fun trip - potentially a once-in-a-lifetime journey. So bring it on!もっと詳しく