The Antarctic Expedition Experience Explained
What’s it like to cruise to Antarctica?
Nobody really knows what to expect when going on an Antarctic Expedition. We know that we are going to see penguins and whales and a lot of snow and ice, but what is life like on the ship?
It’s not like we’re taking a cruise the Caribbean and are going to spend our days sipping pina colada’s by the pool. Nope, an Antarctic Expeidtion is unlike any other cruise you will take in your life.
The Sea Spirit in Antarctica
Antarctic Expedition with Quark Expeditions
We had the honour of sailing on one of Quark Expeditions more luxurious ships the Sea Spirit. They have since introduced the even more decadent Ocean Diamond but for us, this is exactly how we dreamt Antarctica to be and wouldn’t do it any other way if we had the choice again.
Back to the Ship after a day with the Penguins
The Sea spirit is a 90-meter long 112 passenger cabin, all suites ship. Each cabin has an outside view, flat screen tv and fluffy duvets for sleeping covered in a rich quilt like bed spread during the day.
Not that the room matters very much because you will rarely find yourself indoors.
The Antarctic Expedition
The trip starts with a pre cruise briefing where we learn about our muster stations. We all have two sets of life jackets in our cabins. One inflatable one for our daily shore landings or zodiac tours and one regulation type life jacket for emergencies. We also all have cold water survival suits under our beds.
The first two days of the cruise are a time to get to know the extremely qualified expeditions staff and your fellow passengers as you cross the Drake Passage. It’s the roughest seas in the world so make sure to take your sea sick medication the minute you leave port because it doesn’t take long before the water gets choppy. There is no sense taking a chance, they say that if you wait until you start feeling nauseous it is too late.
Our first briefing
After the briefing there is free time to explore the ship and grab a drink at the bar before dinner.
The Sea Spirit has an open bar so the wine is flowing at our nightly four course meals prepared by top chefs and expert kitchen staff. The passengers generally are a well-travelled group filled with a sense of adventure, and instant bonds are made over cocktails. But it’s an early night as the seas are already getting rough and before we fly out of our chairs, we head to the safety of our comfy king bed.
The Open Bar on the Sea Spirit
During the Drake Passage crossing is a time to get to know a bit about Antarctica. The Quark Staff is filled with marine biologists and polar experts who lead talks on the wildlife and polar environment throughout the day.
At night before dinner we all meet for a recap of the day with snacks and drinks being served and talk about what will be happening tomorrow.
Team Member Duncan giving us our daily breifing
We were lucky as our Captain had over a decade of experience in the Antarctic waters and we make it to the continent sooner than expected. Not ones to slack off and take the early arrival as a chance to relax, the expedition team plans for an early landing.
Dressing for the Continent
Getting ready for landings is an arduous task at first. We dress in our layers of long johns and microfiber shirts, polar fleece mid layer, waterproof pants and then the signature yellow Quark Expedition parkas that are ours to keep after the journey. They also supply rubber boots to keep our feet warm and dry and we were surprised how comfortable they ended up being.
3 Layers and Waterproof pants over rubber boots
We are called out to the disembarkation station by floor where we load onto zodiacs eight to ten people at a time.
Each day is different. Some days we land on islands filled with thousands of penguins or visit an old whaling station. Other times we spend and entire three hours on zodiacs surrounded by whales, seals and giant icebergs. We stopped at a British research station one day and sent post cards home from the only post office in Antarctica and we visited a museum left as it was at the turn of the century giving us a peek into every day life for the early explorers.
You are never bored on an Antarctica Expedition.
Just another day in Antarctica
Wake up calls are early, especially for the kayakers. We met each morning at 6:50 am to discuss what we’d be paddling through each day. Breakfast is served at 7:00 am and by 8:30 we are all out on the zodiacs or kayaks taking part in our morning excursions.
After a few hours on shore, we head back to the ship for a buffet lunch. Some days were so perfect that we ended up bar-b-queuing outside in the lido deck. The relaxation doesn’t last long though because as we’re feasting on our meals, the captain is moving the ship to our next location. By 2:00 pm we are back in the zodiacs exploring the next exciting location.
Each excursion is unique and exciting. Some days we are checking out iceberg graveyards and others we are hiking high on a hill overlooking the Antarctic Peninsula.
After a full day outside, we all meet at the bar for a quick drink to exchange stories about out day. Everyone is abuzz with the things that they saw and everyone can’t wait to share what they did each day.
By 6:30 we meet for our daily briefing. The expedition staffs excitement is contagious. We know that they have seen everything many times before, but they never seem to tire of it. They take turns talking about their field of expertise explaining everything that we saw. We go through the biology right down to the krill, the history of the locations, the birds and the marine mammals and the photographic opportunities.
Expedition leader Shane Evoy then puts up a map of our route and where we’ve been and then discusses what we can expect the next day. It’s an interactive presentaion. People ask questions and share stories and it’s a good time to unwind and digest what you experienced each day.
After our briefing it’s off to dinner and as the days pass more and more people start to stay up for some mingling in the bar. Many people head straight to their cabins as some took a few days to recover from the Drake Passage crossing and others are exhausted from all that fresh air each day.
A small few stay up and get to know one another over drinks and you can guess what group Dave and I belong to. Not that the party ever got out of control, the bar closes at 11:00 each night and it’s a good thing too. That 6:00 am wake up call comes early.
The Quark Expeditions Library
You don’t have to sit in the bar and party each night, there is a great library on board and you can borrow any book that you want. You can also sit by the grand piano sipping a scotch or specialty coffee to peruse the amazing assortment of Antarctica books.
If you want to spend time in your cabin, you can sing out a movie or watch a documentary on Antarctica screened on the cabin TV’s each night.
We never did read that book that we planned on checking out or watch the movie that we signed out from the library. We were too busy having fun. I don’t recall ever being so busy on vacation. We were running on pure adrenaline the entire voyage.
Dave primed for photo opportunities in Antarctica
We didn’t’ settle down and relax until our re-crossing of the Drake Passage. It was then that we finally found ourselves laying flat and trying to relax for hours on end. We had one of the worst Drake crossings of the season according to the expedition team and most of the ship, staff included was down for the count. Lectures were cancelled, party nights were postponed and many a meal was missed over the course of 30 hours.
But that is another story…
Check out Quark Expeditions for planning your own Antarctic Expedition. Mention ThePlanetD and receive 5% off your booking - 5% can be redeemed on any voyage and be combinable with any of Quark’s promotions.
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I’m salivating you guys! Another really awesome post from theplanetd – totally set on someday doing this. Wow!
Thanks Vago, hopefully you’ll get the chance to go to Antarctica. It was our dream trip of a lifetime and it definitely didn’t disappoint.
Wow, loved the photos of the glaciers. So stunning. Recently I’ve considered putting Antartica on my travel map and your post was an inspiring read!
Hi Christine, yes, you really should add Antarctica to your list. It is spectacular. Hopefully you’ll get there one day soon.
It seems like the staff is really knowledgeable – definitely a plus on a tour like that. I’m sure it really enriches the experience to dive into the science behind what you’re seeing.
The staff was very knowledgeable indeed. They knew everything about everything. What we loved was their passion for the wildlife and the land. You could ask them anything and they could tell you in depth about what you were looking at. These are definitely not your regular guides, but experts in their field.
Wow the room is so much nicer than I thought it would be! I have a feeling I wouldn’t be able to sleep the entire time, because I would be WAY too excited for the daily adventures!!!
The rooms were quite nice. Antarctica isn’t your typical cruise so we expected something more industrial, but it was quite stylish. And you are right, it was very exciting to wake up each day. We slept a lot on the re-crossing of the Drake Passage to make up for the busyadventure.
I think a visit to Antarctica would be a good adventure. Its an amazing world, people here in Australia are already planning a visits to Antarctica. It will be a new experience.
You guys are looking pretty hot in your Antarctica gear
It would be so cool to kayak around the ice like that! Did Dave bring those two big cameras on all the excursions? Were there any issues with moisture getting in them?
Hi Christy, no Dave didn’t bring the big cameras kayaking. We each had a waterproof Olympus Tough Camera and our go pro cameras. We still have to edit our kayaking footage when we get back from Mexico. For other excursions on the zodiacs and land he used his cameras and he made sure to keep them covered with a rain sleeve. Some people did have their cameras die on them as the Antarctic does have pretty harsh conditions, but we kept all of ours covered including my Lumix and we put them in giant zip lock bags before re-entering the boat along with a few silicon gels. They held up great! One guy did bring his large DSLR kayaking and ended up dumping his kayaking in the water along with himself and his camera. Needless to say, his camera didn’t make it.
Great review guys, we are just about to book a trip on the Ocean Diamond and can’t wait! Good tip on the cameras, I would hate for ours to break…did you use anything aside from the zip lock bags for your cameras? Aside from a normal camera bag?
Keep up the good work!
Hi Barry, we used waterproof and resistant camera bags as well as optex rain covers to cover our cameras and lenses when outside. After our excursions we put all our gear into extra large zip lock bags (I’m talking extra large-everything fit into one) with silicone gels before we even entered the ship. That way no moisture could get into the cameras. Here’s our gear list. http://theplanetd.com/camera-gear-for-antarctica/ Have a great trip. I can’t wat to hear what the ocean diamond is like.
This is fantastic advice guys! Thanks so much for replying, better to be safe than sorry with the equipment! The list is really useful and I’ll share it with our friends who are also coming with us! Thanks again guys!
Any time Barry. Have a great time!
Great post. Looks so amazing!!
After our chat this afternoon I had the itch to see this. Awesome!
I’ve been dreaming of visiting Antarctica for a while, and at some point I surely will.
Thanks for sharing!
After crossing the Galapagos, Amazon, Churchill and hopefully Kenya/Tanzania off our list in the span of a year, this is definitely on our must-do list for 2013! Great photos and story…
Great review of the cruise. We are booked on the Sea Spirit for their December departure to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica and after reading this we are getting more excited about the trip than ever. If there was one piece of advice to people going what would it be?
Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Have a great time. We hear that South Georgia is the best place in all of the Antarctic area. Have a great trip!
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