Prepping for our Antarctica cruise
This is not your typical cruise.
My husband Drew and I have never been on a cruise before. All you can eat buffets three times a day don’t appeal much to us. However, it appears that between sightings of penguins and seals, we will be eating in such a style on our first cruise come February…
…in Antarctica!
Getting there will involve flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina, then taking a shorter flight to the port city of Ushuaia which is widely lauded as “the southernmost city in the world.” (A smaller settlement south of it, Puerto Williams, has legit dibs to the title, but we won’t quibble.) The following day, we will board a ship with 130 or so other intrepid souls. In all, the cruise will span a couple of weeks.
We’d planned to do this two years ago but plans were derailed by COVID. Now that it’s almost upon us, it’s become real and exciting.
As I am discovering, prepping for Antarctica is going to be more involved than packing for your typical vacation. Primarily, I am having to purchase some serious cold weather gear rated for, metaphorically-speaking, a 24-hour stint in a grocery food store freezer. With an ice block on my head and extremities.
Meanwhile, Drew, who was a sled dog race vet for a decade and still relishes memories of the time they were stuck in a tent during a whiteout and eventually had to be rescued by helicopter, has most of the gear he needs. He says frigid weather that has sustained icebergs and glaciers for centuries is no big deal.
Besides, it will be summer in Antarctica. Not exactly flip-flop weather, but no need to break out the “extreme” gear. Yesterday, I made an inventory of the cruise line’s suggested packing list and started chipping away at it. I went online and bought:
2 merino wool base layer pairs of pants
4 pairs of wool socks (comes with the base layers above)
Waterproof and thermal insulated gloves
Waterproof and thermal insulated mittens
An Eddie Bauer fleece full-zip hooded jacket
Columbia Arctic Omni Heat waterproof pants
The cruise company will provide a parka. There will be more items to consider buying, such as an insulated surfing poncho for changing out of our wet swimsuits after the Polar Plunge.
If I do it. Still on the fence about this.
My husband has always been fascinated with South Pole exploration, particularly Sir Ernest Shackleton’s voyage in 1914 on a three-mast ship called The Endurance which got stuck in the ice and eventually sank in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean the following year. All the humans survived, but unfortunately not the dogs nor the lone male cat named Mrs. Chippy.
So when the opportunity to go on a continuing education seminar on board an Antarctica cruise aligned with his schedule, Drew invited me to sign up, too. The pandemic delayed it for a year, and here we are now, getting ready to go.
If you want updates as we lead up to this exciting adventure, feel free to follow me.
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