Polar Plunge

Weddel Sea, Eastern Side of Antarctic Peninsula

I took a polar plunge (2/12) and now i'm a polar bear, or penguin, depending on who you ask. Saturday the ship landed at Brown Bluff, in the Artic Channel, where ppl got of to walk on a glacier, take a nice walk with 2 kinds of penguins, and see leopard seals. Some were fortunate enough to see a leopard seal eat a penguin (penguin not so fortunate).

The afternoon was absolutely fantastic. We cruised through the Weddel Sea on the eastern side of the Antarctic Pensinsula. There are thousands of "tabular icebergs," essentially huge table like icebergs that are enormous, many lengths of the ship and double the height. It was a bright, sunny, and clear day for the Antarctic and you could see the glorious blue base of each giant iceberg, the bases often far larger and certainly more detailed and intricate than what floats above the sea. Our captain took us right up to one of these giant icebergs and our bow touched it.

We also got to follow 3 separate pairs of whales - 1 Minke Whale pair and 2 Humpback Whale pairs. Awesome. Most of the time only their blowholes are out and they kind of lurk just beneath the surface. But there would be good chunks of time where they would come out and play look at our ship, and swim in tandem. Because the water was so clear you could even see them swim beneath the water. Occasionally they would come out of the water so they could flap their back tail and do a deep dive for food. Really awesome sight to see. Basically the weather was so cooperative and the scenery could not have been better.

Lisa, our fearless leader, announced that at 430 anyone who wanted to, could take a polar plunge off the side of the ship. About 20 of us idiots decided to. It was amazing. So refreshing. I stepped off the side of a dingy tied to the boat and jumped. My initial reaction was not about how cold the water was, but how salty! Then I thought it was cold. I quickly climed up a ladder, back into the dingy where Lisa gave me a towel and then scurried into the hull of the ship. Here's where the insanity part comes into play: i went again. This time there were only 5 of us who were crazy enough to do this. It was colder the second time around. Basically, you lose your first breath, but then it's all fine and you just get out. After the second plunge, we raced to the sauna to warm back up. Only my toes were cold after the second plunge...but they were very cold. Good times. If I get another chance, I would do it all again.

As soon as someone gives me a picture of my plunge, I'll post it here. Ditto for the tabular bergs and whales.