Into the Wild... Antarctica

I never thought I would say this, but I have been on every single continent! Yup, that’s right. We landed in Antarctica today! Wearing our 3 layers of pants and 3-4 layers of tops plus our wool socks and almost knee-high boots on the plane was certainly an experience, but it is totally worth it. Here, you can see my mom and I in all our gear prior to leaving our hotel in Punta Arenas, Chile.

Once we arrived at the airport, we sat around for a little bit before we boarded a European plane that is able to land on short runways… I was the first one on!

Upon arriving in Antarctica, we walked 30 minutes to the shore, where we were pleasantly surprised by a welcoming committee… chinstrap penguins!

From there, we boarded the Ocean Nova, our ice-cutter boat! We had a safety briefing and were told we wouldn’t get to go back ashore today because we were going to set sail for a better location. However, one of the guides spotted an emperor penguin. This was very special because emperor penguins are usually spotted on the northern islands and rarely where we were.  So, of course we went on shore to check it out!

Finally, I enjoyed the view from the top deck of the boat!