Penguins in Antarctica from a previous program – check back for Maya’s photos from 2017!
Maya Johnson, AUIP’s Antarctica student blogger, writes via satellite wifi from aboard the Akademik Ioffe: Happy Holidays! Today is Christmas, so we have a brief break from our daily excursions. This morning we went to do a polar plunge into the Antarctic water and we won’t go to our next Zodiac excursion until later. On the ship, I only have access to text-only email shared between five other people, so here’s a quick synopsis of our time over the past week!
When we arrived in Ushuaia late last week we were all burnt out from twenty hours of flying. I don’t think any of us quite knew what to expect from Ushuaia, but we were all blown away by its unique landscape and culture. During the two days on land before embarking on our ship expedition, we had a lot of time to explore Ushuaia, try Argentinian crab, and learn more about the history of the city.
From Ushuaia en route to Antarctica, we first had to spend about two or so days crossing through the Drake Passage. The Drake Passage is the water that separates Argentina and Antarctica and can be some of the harshest waters in the world–we would definitely all agree with this statement. With motion sickness patches and Dramamine at the ready, we all attempted to “Drake-proof” ourselves from the turbulent waters. We adjusted to life on the ship, and with a fantastic crew we’ve all been more than comfortable here on the Akademik Ioffe. Nonetheless, we were all excited to start leaving the ship and exploring Antarctica. A normal day for us consists of breakfast at eight o’clock followed by two excursions throughout the day, with some napping in between. Each location we went to was known for something in particular. Some days we went hiking to see penguins and other animals. Other days we went on boat tours to go whale watching or to get a closer look at the massive icebergs. Although we’re all exhausted from our daily excursions and academic activities, many of us are sad to go back to Ushuaia because that means our trip is finally coming to an end. Today we have one more excursion in the afternoon and then we’ll be starting our adventure back through the Drake Passage later tonight. Happy Holidays from all of us here in Antarctica!
