Remember how we said the Drake Passage was bumpy and awful on the way to Antarctica? Well we were wrong! It was placid, calm, and smooth as butter. The captain called it a negative 2 on a scale of 1-10. And thetwinsontour are never wrong.

It all started with an early morning wake up call to visit Deception Island in the South Shetland islands. It was supposed to be an extra treat for us after so many ship cruises, and as a way to beat the storm on the way back. Deception Island is a caldera of an active volcano that was a whaling station back when whaling was a thing. There are also supposed to be lots of seals. We had great plans to get on land again and even do a second polar plunge in slightly warmer water without any icebergs in it. But just like its name says, Deception Island was a deception.

Unfortunately, our 5am wakeup call brought only bad news. The wind was at 30 knots, so it was going to be another ship cruise around the caldera. We were tempted to stay in bed, but begrudgingly got up to have a look around. The whole time I couldn’t stop grumbling about darn ship cruises (but maybe not that nicely).

 

Anyways, we went on the deck to get our requisite pictures. It was overcast and cloudy and foggy and misty. So we didn’t take many pictures, but we knew this was our last glimpse of land for a few days. Then when we got cold, we sat in the bar and drank hot chocolate. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned how much I enjoyed the hot chocolate out of the coffee machine. It is quite delightful and delicious, and there are always digestive cookies to dip in the chocolate too. (But perhaps most delightful is when they sneak out some Chips Ahoy cookies in the afternoon before the 4 o’clock sweet, but you have to be quick to catch those. They are the golden unicorn of the Antarctic Expedition snack world.)

We didn’t see any seals or whales or penguins. Plus it’s too far north for icebergs, so we just have gray pictures of grayness. I think it would be a really neat place to see in sunshine and calm winds. We did cruise by some scientific research centers where Spanish and Argentinean scientists research stuff. I think it would probably be a neat place to be a scientist if I was scientific. Anyways, we cruised around the caldera and then back out through the passage to start the journey through the Drake Passage back to Argentina.

 

They warned us The Drake was going to be bad. During our nightly recap meeting, Katja, the expedition leader, told us to be extra careful in the shower and to hold on tight to the bar or better yet don’t shower at all. Also, she always said to save one hand for the ship, as in hold onto the railings. But now she told us to save 2 hands for the ship. But believe me, there were points where I could have used 3 hands for the ship.

So in anticipation of the impending doom, we spent the afternoon sharing pictures in the bar and trying to download some of the group pictures off the computer. However, even that simple activity left my stomach feeling queasy due to the motion of the ship.

We had to put up all of our cameras and fancy stuff off the desk so that they wouldn’t fall and break, but we left out some piles of clothes, apples, and misc stuff on the desk. We went to bed knowing the worst was yet to come. They had said that sometimes, the people with the top bunk prefer to put their mattress on the floor so that they don’t fall out of bed in the middle of the night. It seemed like a good idea, but I think my sister was more worried about me stepping on her head in the middle of the night if I had to get up and go to the bathroom than being tossed out of her bed by a giant wave. It turns out she was right, not about me stepping on her head, but about the perils of sleeping on the floor while passing through the Drake Passage. At some point in the night, the bunk bed ladder fell down. Then the desk chair loaded with 3 heavy life jackets toppled over. Then the entire contents of the desktop, including 2 Granny Smith apples flew off the desk. So, that is the story of how my sister narrowly avoided getting an apple induced concussion. Our room looked like it had been hit by an earthquake and a tornado–there was stuff all over the floor and nothing on the desk.

 

Also, at some point in the night our stack of dirty base layers (that is what you call really warm, really expensive long johns) ended up on top of my head along with several pairs of gloves and hats. Luckily, base layers and gloves don’t cause concussions, and I just threw the ones I could find to the foot of the bed and slept on top the others.

The boat was really moving too much to get out of bed for anything, and when you did get out of bed it was very difficult to walk around, even just the 3 steps to the bathroom were tough. It was really a comical sight. It’s kind of like walking on a moving subway or bus. But more like a runaway subway car on a bumpy track. Maybe like if a runaway subway car was on a wooden roller coaster with lots of vertical drops and goes sideways most of the time. And never stops! It’s just on permanent repeat. Over and over with no chicken exit, and no respite.

Most of the day was spent in bed (like literally 20 hours) . When I wasn’t sleeping, or trying to walk to lunch, I was cursing. There’s something about the nonstop exaggerated motion that makes you just shout out random curse words. A lot of curse words. Especially when you feel your stomach lurch down to your toes. I am positive that my internal organs rearranged themselves and traded positions while I was sliding around in bed. I could feel them jiggling around in there.

I may not have showered for a couple of days due to the motion of the ocean, but I did become an expert at brushing my teeth while sitting on the toilet. Luckily, our bathroom was quite small (I bet you never thought you would hear anyone say that) and the sink was very close to the toilet. It was possible to wash your hands without standing up from the toilet, and also very easy to bend over and spit out toothpaste in the sink. It’s so much safer and more efficient, not to mention less nauseating that way.

So, that’s our life on the ship during rough waters. I know you are asking how rough. Well dear readers let me tell you. Actually, you may want to take a Dramamine before you read this. We had 14 meter waves (45.9318 feet! according to google because we all know how thetwinsontour feel about the darn metric system), so no wonder all of our unsecured belongings ended up on the floor. We had 80 knot winds. That’s hurricane strength winds! We were in a hurricane so I can check that off the to do list (not that it’s actually on there, but now I don’t need to add it). And the boat was rocking back and forth at 30 degree angles. No wonder I had trouble walking down the halls! But were we worried? Not at all. Why not? Well because the captain made an announcement. He came on the intercom and said in his deep voice, “Do not worry. The boat is made for this kind of weather. You are fine” And that was that. I will not mention what vile words I called Captain Ernesto. And, once we were back on solid land, we discovered the man really was an Evil Knievel daredevil, completing impossibly, impossible feats with his eyes closed while dragging thetwinsontour with him. Yes, dear reader, Captain Ernesto was the only captain foolhardy enough to brave The Drake! The other boats waited for calmer waters. thetwinsontour were on the only boat being shaken to bits! It was like playing London Bridge and being shaken up like Salt and Pepper. It was like that song my dad used to sing me– not John Henry the Steel-driving Man– but rather Does your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight? Can you catch it on your tonsils and heave it left and right? And even more agonizing is to have this song going through your head and not having access to the internet to look up the rest of the words! Oh, the agony! The despair! And, do you know what else Captain Ernesto had the nerve to say? This crossing of the Drake ranked a 7 out of 10. A 7???? I was already crawling on the floor around our room! It had to be at least a 12!!! The man has to be wrong!!

 

I am going to share a video on our Facebook page taken by a much braver lady in our group, so be sure to like our Facebook page–thetwinsontour. Don’t worry, the video was taken inside from the bridge where the captain and crew are navigating the ship. They close all the outer decks during bad weather because you would be washed overboard in about 8 seconds if you stepped foot outside during all of this nonsense. I am glad she thought to go and take the video because my idea was to turn on the TV to the ship cam and video it from my bed, but trying to watch it on TV made me nauseous.

 

So after 3 days of rough seas (the last 2 of which were utterly ridiculous rough seas), it was such a surprise to awake to smooth seas as we were pulling into port. I awoke with a smile! I was able to pack my bags without getting the least bit nauseous. And I got to take a shower, and it was glorious! All was right with the world. Well except the fact that the smooth waters heralded the end of our Antarctica Expedition. I would gladly suffer the Drake Shake again for the chance to see more penguins, icebergs, seals, whales, and well any of it. Antarctica is simply magical, and I have so much more that I need to do there like kayak with breaching humpback whales; visit the post office and souvenir shop; pee in a Gatorade bottle with my She Wee while camping under the stars; and so much more that I haven’t even thought of yet. Besides, now that I have the cold weather clothing, it only makes sense to go again. I mean, when am I supposed to wear most of it again? I wouldn’t want my clothes to go unused.

One of the best things about travelling is the people that you meet along the way. Good travel companions can make or break a trip, and this time we had a huge group of amazing ladies to travel with. They were all amazing, and helped to make this an unforgettable trip. It was great to make so many new friends who love to travel as much as we do, and I know we will be seeing a lot of them again in our future.

So that pretty much sums up the rest or our Antarctica Expedition. Now to start planning our next adventure. It won’t be easy to top this, but we shall try!

Love,

thetwinsontour, Antarctic Explorers

After two days of being stuck on the ship doing plan B and C (or was it plan D?) we awoke full of hope, but also trepidation because we were headed to Neko Harbor that we had already been blown out of previously. Nervously we listened to our morning wakeup announcement with bated breath, half afraid to listen. What is Katja going to say? Good Morning. Good Morning. The temperature is 4 degrees Celsius (great Antarctic temperature) and the wind speed is about 30 knots (not good). And all activities are proceeding as scheduled! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! thetwinsontour are going to land again to be one with the penguins!

To further complicate our emotions, we finally made it to the mountaineering list. Yippee! We get to do something! But, if we did the mountaineering, we wouldn’t be able to do the polar plunge wearing the crocs we bought for exactly that purpose. Noooooo! So many hard choices. Decisions are the worst! After much internal debate and anguish and discussion with the expedition leaders, we decided to go for the polar plunge instead of mountaineering. I mean we only spent 2 months shopping for the proper mountaineering boots versus the 5 minutes buying crocs at the grocery store. The choice is obvious, but very difficult nonetheless.

Once we were on land strapping on our snow shoes and looking up at the next mountain over, it was clear we made the right choice. There were penguins all around us, and the mountaineering group was so far up that mountain. We would have been miserable. And did I mention there were penguins? Gentoo penguins everywhere. Penguins are so much fun. I could watch them forever. Wait, who am I kidding? I could stand there and take pictures of them forever as they waddle, fall, and slide right past. It is all so surreal to be in Antarctica wearing snow shoes, surrounded by icebergs, standing in the middle of a penguin covered island watching avalanches. Nothing can really prepare you for this moment. Especially not standing at the Kansas City Zoo watching penguin numbers 87 and 212 swim around in circles through a dirty window while 6 people are trying to get sticky faced Parker (or Jacob, or Mackenzie) to stand still and look at them for a picture. Especially not that.

Anyways, they had marked a path for us to follow around hill. They want everyone to keep to the same path to minimize damage and for safety. There were 3 or 4 areas of heavy penguin concentration, so it was kind of like going from station to station. Needless to say it was amazing. I loved every minute of it. As a matter of fact, it seemed like we were only there a minute.

All too soon it was time to head down to shore for the Polar Plunge. Evidently they had started early because my sister came to get me and I had to stop taking penguin pictures and prepare for the polar plunge. Step one was to remove the snow shoes. As soon as I took them off I found out why we needed to wear them. As soon as I took my first step my foot just kept going and going and going. The next thing I know my right leg was buried in snow all the way up to my thigh. Needless to say, I had a few very graceful moves as I attempted to extricate myself from the frozen quicksand.

Anyways, I am going to skip over the boring yet traumatic story of my sister losing my Go Pro full of penguin videos. Don’t worry it was later found by a friend after we gave up hope of finding it. So at least we are not one of those people who litter electronics in Antarctica. thetwinsontour hate littering.

So we stripped off our clothes down to our swim suits, put on our grocery store crocs, handed our camera off and headed into the icy water. There were bits of icebergs floating behind us, and the water temperature was a balmy -2 degrees Celsius, so icy is a very accurate description. I dipped one croc covered toe into the frigid water, and my body froze instantly turning into an immobile statue. I didn’t think I could go any further, but I persevered and put in a second toe. I heard my mom say, “Girls! That’s just not safe.” But I knew she was wrong because the ship doctor was swimming laps with the penguins, waiting for everyone out in the water wearing her dry suit and the defibrillator was in the zodiac next to her. Always be prepared, that’s our motto!

So, one agonizing step after another, we made it all the way to our upper thighs, and decided that was far enough. We didn’t need to get our swimsuits or hair wet like some of the other people. Didn’t need that at all. Nope. Not at all.

 

Once we got out of the water and wiped the ice off our legs, we were shaking so violently with cold tremors that I didn’t think I’d ever be warm again. I couldn’t grab my clothes off the large chunk of iceberg where they were laying fast enough. I’ve never put on 17 layers of clothes so fast! Even sitting on an iceberg to put on my boots didn’t seem cold.

Then it was back to the boat for lunch where lunchtime conversations centered on penguins (of course) and the glories of snowshoes (which you can apparently can buy at Costco for only $50, and they come with trekking poles! All I can say it’s a good thing we have a Sam’s club card instead of a Costco card or we may find ourselves the owners of a couple pairs of snowshoes.)

Guess what! That is not the end of the day’s excitement! Not even close! We were headed to another area for a zodiac cruise, and a little mountaineering. And guess who got put back on the mountaineering list? Yep, thetwinsontour! Woo hoo! We got to wear harnesses, carry an ice axe (They trusted us with axes!), and we all got roped together. We got a late start, so we didn’t go far at all. I think it only took about 5 minutes to get to the top of our mountain (you can’t mountaineer on a hill, ergo it was a mountain). It took longer to get our snowshoes on and roped together than we spent mountaineering. While some people might see that as a negative, it was almost the perfect amount of time for thetwinsontour! I would have liked to do about 3 or 4 minutes more, but I’m good with what we did. Heck let’s be honest, all I really needed to be happy was to hold my own ice axe. Anyways, thetwinsontour are mountaineers now! Honest to goodness, real life mountaineers.

What a great way to end a great day! Penguins, snowshoeing, polar plunge, and mountaineering! And we got to go on land twice today. I don’t think there’s anything else I could write to top any of today’s excitement, so this is a good place to end.

Goodbye for now!

Love,

thetwinsontour (aka realmountaineers)

 

Today we got to set foot on Antarctica! So this may be one of the best days of my life! Things started off a bit slowly– we had to skip plan A due to 28 knot winds. When you wake up to the intercom saying, ” Good morning, good morning. The wind is currently 28 knots and there is a significant amount of ice. Weather conditions are not great. All activities are postponed until further notice,” you get a sinking feeling in your gut and really wonder why you should even get out of bed for breakfast in 15 minutes. But sometimes things have a way of improving by just moving on to Plan B.

We just motored on down the coast to another harbor and delayed our day. We started with a zodiac cruise, and a whale sighting! I don’t know if I got any pictures of the whale or not, but I sure did try. We cruised around in our zodiac for an hour or so, snapping pictures like crazy. Then it was time to head back to the ship for lunch. We always had regularly scheduled meals.

Then after lunch we had a short zodiac cruise and we got to go on land at Base Brown, an old Argentenian research station. We weren’t allowed to go in any of the buildings, but who wants to go in buildings when there are penguins to photograph and mountains to climb?

They set up trail markers so that we all keep to the same path and for safety so you don’t get too close to the edge. It can be tough to navigate the snow. It isn’t solid–it’s sort of icy yet full of air pockets. Sometimes you put your foot down and it just keeps going and going. There were several times I went nearly knee deep in the snow. It’s very important to try and fill in the holes because a knee deep whole could be a deathtrap for a tiny penguin. I wish I had thought to get a picture of one of those holes.

Being so close to the penguins was AH-MAZING. They were all Gentoo penguins this time. They just waddle right past you on their way to sea or back to their nests. They are so funny to watch because for birds that live in Antarctica in snow and ice they actually aren’t very good at walking on snow and ice. They just walk along a few steps, then they fall on their bellies. Sometimes they will just scoot along on their bellies, and sometimes they will stand back up and try to walk again. Watching penguins fall makes thetwinsontour feel much better about their abilities on ice and snow. It’s like the penguin is the spirit animal of thetwinsontour. Maybe we were penguins in a former life.

Penguins travel on penguin highways when on land. Basically that means they all take pretty much the same route and wear a path in the snow. Just like I used to have to shovel a path in the snow for my Lucy Baby when her arthritis got too bad. The guides tell you not to stand in the penguin highways so that the penguins can get through, but it’s so hard to remember anything when you are in the presence of penguins.

I don’t think I can say this enough: I LOVE PENGUINS!

So, on to other subjects. If your activity is cancelled, like our camping was last night you basically miss your chance (boo). They just move on to the next list of people. For some reason they think it is better to be on a cancelled list, than to never be on a list at all. It makes no sense whatsoever to thetwinsontour, but we still had a tiny glimmer of camping hope. They didn’t have a full set of people scheduled for camping tonight so they drew names so that they could take a full group of 30 people camping. Unfortunately, just like thetwinsontour didn’t win the $1 billion Dollar Mega Millions lottery, we also didn’t win a spot in tonight’s camping activity. We are getting used to disappointment.

The campers only got to stay out for a few hours because the weather took a turn for the worse and they had to come back to the ship around midnight. So even had I won a camping spot, I may not have had time to pee in a Gatorade bottle.

But on the bright side, PENGUINS!

Love,

thetwinsontour

 

Today we awoke to smooth seas! And they opened our port hole windows! You know its going to be a great day when the sun is shining brightly in your room.

We started the morning with a zodiac cruise amongst the icebergs (but not too close in case the icebergs calv or flip over). We saw another kind of penguin too! The chinstrap penguin! Like all penguins, the chinstrap penguin is absolutely adorable.

Being in Antarctica is surreal. I mean, I don’t even remember the last time I got to take a zodiac cruise amongst the icebergs. Maybe that is because there are no icebergs in Kansas. And as far as I know, kohls does not sell Zodiacs. It’s really something out of a SciFi movie because it’s so far out of our normal experience. Words can’t even describe our joyous jubilation of boating in Antarctic waters surrounded by penguins and chunks of ice and breathing the crisp clean air. It’s just amazing!

Antarctica weather is very fickle and can change in an instant. The wind started to pick up towards the end of our zodiac cruise, and then it started to snow and snow and snow. It is too dangerous to be out in a little zodiac if it gets too windy. Unfortunately, our afternoon activities were cancelled. We got a nice ship cruise instead which just basically means that Captain drives very slowly so that we can stand on deck and enjoy the beautiful scenery while watching for whales and penguins.

Our night of camping was also cancelled–Complete and utter devastation. not just for us but also for 28 other people in our Girls Love Travel group. I didn’t get to camp tonight which also means I didn’t get to use my SheWee and pee in a Gatorade bottle that I brought with me all the way from Kansas.

By 8pm (when we should have been leaving to camp) the snow had stopped and the sun came out. It was beautiful weather, but they couldn’t uncancel our cancelled camping expedition. They said that it was a very wet snow and it would have been difficult to set up the sleeping bags in.

So there you have it. All the emotions in one day.

Love,

thetwinsontour