The Last Continent

Happy New Years! It’s hard to believe that 2011 is already over… it seems like just yesterday that we were finishing off 2010 with our engagey-moon in Central America. This year has been a fantastic year – with the wedding (of course!) & the opportunity to spend so much time with all of our family and friends in celebration! It was really special for us to be a part of so many of our friend’s weddings as well! As much as 2011 was an amazing year, I am really looking forward to 2012 and to seeing where life takes us from here. It all seems a little crazy and unknown at the moment, but in some ways that just makes it more exciting.

We have spent the last four days exploring the last continent, Antarctica. This entire trip has been an unreal experience. The wildlife, the mountains, the ice… everything is virtually untouched and beautiful. We typically have been doing two landings per day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon)- we have spent time in Paradise Bay, Deception Island, the South Shetland Islands, Pleneau Island, Halfmoon Island, Whalers Bay, Lemaire Channel, Cuerville, and Neko Harbour… just to name a few.



We have seen the most beautiful landscapes and interacted with amazing wildlife (penguins- chinstrap, gentoo, adelie, king; whales- killer whales/orcas, humpback, fin, southern right, minke; tons of seals – leopard, weddell, crabeater, fur, elephant; and lots of sea birds). We even saw Orca whales going in for a kill. Are you kidding me?!







All six of us are now officially members of the most exclusive polar bear club- the Whalers Bay Hot Tub Club. Don’t be fooled by the name, the water was not warm. Basically you strip down to your bikini on the wind blown, freezing cold shore and dive into the freezing water. As you get back on the shore there are hot puddles of water where you can splash warm water on your body. Good idea in theory, but practically it is way to windy and cold to stand there for more than 2 seconds. It was incredibly refreshing – something I need to do again… perhaps not ☺



On New Years Eve we actually stepped foot on the Antarctic Continent for the first time (as opposed to surrounding islands), hiked up a huge snow-clad mountain and tobogganed (aka sledded) down the mountain. It was soooo fun!!! I can see why penguins like to do this all day. We rang in the New Year with a midnight dip in the boat pool dressed as penguins, of course. It was a hilarious way to count down to 2012.



On our last landing on Antarctica, Scott and I spent some time just reflecting on life and our beautiful surroundings. It is amazing how quickly time flies when you are having such a great time, but at the same point it was really special to take a step back- to really take our surroundings in and realize just how lucky we are to live in such an amazing world and be able to travel to see this amazing continent. This continent is a must-visit, by the way. It is pristine, beautiful beyond words, and a whole different world. The wildlife is just unbelievable and the scenery is even more beautiful!







We’ll spend the next 2 days traveling through Drake Passage- so far it’s pretty calm, but we’re hoping to see the 40+ft waves. Keep your fingers crossed for us!