Antarctica: See It With Your Own Eyes

I could write pages and pages worth of description and still not be able to communicate how amazingly beautiful Antarctica is. And, more than that, I felt so full of wonder the entire time I was there. Each zodiac ride was different, every landing provided something new to learn about. We have composed a video that, to us, feels way too short (we have over five times more footage of penguins, seals, whales, icebergs, glaciers...) but hopefully lets you take a peek inside the the world of the Seventh Continent.

Its set to the song "The Great Skua" by British Sea Power (a skua is a large marine bird that we saw a lot of in Antarctica).

Video: Antarctica Expedition 2014 

Antarctica: Wildlife

A moulting gentoo

For the rest of our landings, we were entertained by the Antarctic wildlife. We saw three types of penguins: gentoo, adelie, and chinstrap, and by far, the most fun were the gentoo. They were very curious and if you sat still for a long time, they would come up to check you out.

The adelies were the quietest and easiest to scare. We had to be very quiet and give them lots of space to keep them from waddling away. We only saw a few adelies because they don't normally come as far south.

The chinstrap were the last penguin species we saw and they were adorable the way they would hop around in the snow.

A curious gentoo who visited us
after we waited very patiently without moving!

Adelie Penguins

Chinstrap Penguins

The animal that penguins did not want to see was the leopard seal, one of the top predators in Antarctica. The female leopard seal is bigger than the male and she always looks like she's smiling. We saw a few leopard seals on icebergs, but it was most exciting when we saw one swimming. They like to eat penguins, so the penguins quickly got up on shore if they saw a leopard seal swim by (leopard seals are faster than penguins in the water but penguins are faster than seals on land).

A group of Crabeater seals

Two other seals we saw were weddle seals, which are quite large and have cat-like faces and whiskers, and crabeater seals, that are smaller and lighter in colour. They each eat fish and krill (a shrimp-like creature), so the penguins don't worry too much about getting close to them. We also saw fur seals, and learned that they are actually sea lions that were misnamed.

Fur Seal (that's actually a sea lion)

From the deck of the ship and the zodiac boats, we saw three whale species: fin, humpback and minke. I only saw the fin whale once and it was very large. We saw lots of humpbacks from the ship and the zodiacs, and it was really fascinating to see them breach (when they jump out of the water and slam into it again with the sides of their bodies). We also saw them feeding on krill where they kind of roll around flapping their big fins. The most exciting time we saw them was when we were in the zodiac and one starting swimming right towards us with its back fin out of the water.

A Humpback Whale

My favourite whale was the minke whale because they like to follow boats that are moving and jump alongside them. They are more slender and have a rusty colour along their sides.

There are a few other bird species (other than penguins) that we saw flying around the ship or across the water. The most exciting to watch is the albatross, which can have a wingspan of 3.5 m long!

I can now really appreciate how much space these animals are used to having in the wild and it makes me think about how much space we give them at the zoo. I hope their enclosures give them lots of enrichment and that they have as much fun as we have watching them.

Antarctica: The Journey South

Ushuaia is famous for being the city the furthest south in the Americas. It's where the highway that starts in Alaska ends. There is an island further south that you can see on the map, which is a part of Chile, but there are only small towns there, and you need a boat to get around.

But my journey south didn't stop here. After a lot of humming and hawing, and a very fortunate opportunity that arose with a last-minute deal, I booked a ticket aboard an expedition ship sailing for... Antarctica!

The first land we spotted after two days in open water!

Antarctica, the seventh continent, is said to be the only uncharted territory left on Earth. Its harsh conditions and extreme temperatures left it uninhabited by humans (meaning there are no traces of humans having lived there). Its average winter temperature is -60°C! If you consider animals that spend all of their lives on land, the largest animal that lives in Antarctica is an insect that is 3 mm long and spends almost its entire life in the larvae stage. It can be frozen solid and still survive.





Only 2% of Antarctica ISN'T covered in ice. The ice can be 4-5 km thick before you hit earth, and under the layers of ice there are rivers and lakes that no one has ever seen, but scientists have discovered are there. There are currently 7 countries that have claimed a piece of Antarctica as their own, but at the moment no claims are being recognized and Antarctica is a land that is shared.


It took us two days to cross the Drake Passage, which is the body of water you need to sail through to get to Antarctica. As soon as you've passed the latitude line of 60°S, you are in the Antarctic region. On our third day of rocking back and forth, rolling in bed so much that I couldn't sleep, we spotted land and the ship navigated into calmer waters. We spotted whales, seals, and penguins from the deck of the ship.

On the fourth day, we were able to anchor in a bay and climb aboard zodiac boats to set foot on land for the first time.

My first Antarctic landing!

Zipping past icebergs and across a mirrored bay, the view from the boat was breathtaking. Our heads wound around taking in the full panorama of snow-capped mountains and their perfect reflections. The grey sky made it look like another planet and the shore looked like we were entering the polar bear enclosure at the zoo, complete with fake rocks. There was no question about our first landing: we were stepping directly onto continental land, not ice or even snow. The thought of, "I'm standing on Antarctica" was at the front of our minds.

We waddled single-file up a hill to a dome, then spread out to take it all in. Our ship provided perspective for the size of the mountains and other than us, was the only spot of colour in view. Everything was white, grey, and icicle blue.

We celebrated by doing cartwheels, made snow angels, ate snow, and took a group shot. After a half hour, we hiked back down and returned to the ship for breakfast. Everyone ate heartily after two days of seasickness, and the exciting morning activity. It was the first time we'd eaten without struggling against the ship's rolling and we enjoyed being able to carry things in two hands and be served full mugs of tea.




We would be on Antarctica for five days altogether, out of our 10 day expedition, and I hoped every day would be just as exciting!

Ushuaia: A Long Way From Home

Most of my flight to Ushuaia was over water, but as the plane approached, the land started to unfold beneath us, showing off mountains and winding rivers. When we landed, I could see a town in the distance that looked just like Canmore. The airport was even a wooden lodge with a peaked roof! Right away, I felt at home.

After 40 degree weather in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, Ushuaia was a nice change. It's summer here in February, so the temperature was around 15 degrees each day, and I was lucky to have lots of sunshine. The wind that blows in from the water is cool and smells like fish. Many boats come in and out of the harbour each day to bring supplies, fish, and people on cruise ships. Ushuaia is the town the furthest south in the Americas, and they like to call themselves 'The Tip of the World.' It definitely felt that way because all around you is barren (empty) land. Instead of lush green trees, there are lots of greyish bushes, and orange lichen grows on the rocks. It looks very similar to pictures I've seen of the Canadian North in summer.

If you remember back to my post on longitude and latitude lines (click here for a reminder), Ushuaia is 54.8 degrees South of the Equator. That means Ushuaia is roughly as far south from the Equator as Grande Prairie, Alberta is North of it (at 55 degrees North).


Think about that: Ushuaia is the furthest point south that you can go in South America, but in North America, you can go a lot further north and still be on land. There's still Northern Alberta, and then the North-West Territories above it. So even though we might think that Ushuaia would have similar weather to the Canadian North, it's really not far enough away from the Equator for that.







The other neat thing is that the further you are from the Equator, the longer the days are in summer (meaning the more hours of sunlight you have in a day), and the shorter the days are in winter. In Calgary we notice this. It gets dark as early as 5pm in winter time, but in June and July it can stay light until 10pm. The further you are from the Equator also means that the sun rises and sets slower in the sky. (Earlier in my trip, when I've been close to the Equator in countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Malaysia, I couldn't believe how quickly the sun set!) For my first night in Ushuaia, it was clear enough that I enjoyed the most beautiful sunset I'd ever seen...and it lasted for over an hour!

From Ushuaia, I also spent a day hiking in the Tierra del Fuego National Park to see the beautiful scenery and walk as far south as you're allowed in South America. It is where the highway ends that links Alaska to Ushuaia (that's one really long road!).