AUIP’s Julie Allan writes:

I have been to some pretty exotic destinations in my time…Morocco, Poland, Japan and Russia to name a few. But I never ever expected to find myself whale watching, ice camping and polar plunging in Antarctica.

Minke whale entertaining the group

In December, I was lucky enough to visit the highest, driest, windiest and coldest continent on earth with AUIP’s Antarctica program with students studying through Virginia Tech and SUNY-Brockport.

The sun shone our entire time in Antarctica and enabled us to complete all eleven of our scheduled landings to different locations around the continent and subantarctic islands. We visited penguin colonies, historical sites, a research station and spent time iceberg and marine life viewing during Zodiac cruises. On one such cruise our group was entertained for over two hours by a playful minke whale that really seemed to be interacting with our Zodiacs.

A Virginia Tech student personalized the bivvy sack

Another highlight was a night spent camping on the ice. After digging out a hollow in the snow in which to sleep, we set up our bivy sacks and snuggled down. The sun never set which meant when I awoke a couple of times during the night and popped my head out of my bag, I was able to clearly see some nosy penguins wandering around the camp having a good look at everyone!

Students fled the icy water after the polar plunge

Lastly, an Antarctic trip would not be complete without a polar plunge. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective!) we were able to take our plunge on Christmas Day, making for a most memorable Christmas. The plunge is not for the faint-hearted, as demonstrated by only twenty or so brave souls from our ship managing the feat.

Keep reading in the coming weeks for more memories from Antarctica.