Back in the UK it's hard to believe that the last few days here have been several degrees colder than anything we experienced in Antarctica...!! And as the year draws to a close I've been looking back over this trip of a lifetime and thought I'd share the following excerpt from my adventures:
"To
day we set foot on the Antarctic mainland - and what an experience that was! We arrived in Charlotte Bay on the west side of the Peninsula, at 64 degrees south, to find glassy smooth water scattered with icebergs and surrounded by snow covered mountains and icefields. The sky was a beautiful blue, the Weddell Seals were once again basking in the sun (they're a lazy bunch!) and we trekked up the ice-field for spectacular views of the bay. The Clipper Adventurer looks very small and insignificant in such glorious surroundings! We had some difficulty getting back to ship as it became surrounded by ice whilst we were on land - a good excuse for an impromptu zodiac cruise as the captain manouevred his way free.
Our next challenge, still in these icy waters, was the dreaded Polar Plunge... Yep
, like a bunch of crazy penguins we lined up and followed each other in jumping into the Southern Ocean. Approximate water temperature: -2 degrees. It was COLD!! But also exhilirating - a real one-off experience which left us buzzing with adrenaline (or maybe that was frost-bite?) for the rest of the day..."
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