The Antarctic Plunge

Right after breakfast, the captain maneuvered our ship through a narrow passage called Neptune’s Bellows, which is the only entrance to horseshoe-shaped Deception Island.


Deception Island is an old volcano that collapsed on itself and filled with water, creating a caldera. The name comes from the fact that it looks like an island but is actually the rim of an active volcano. This island is different from the other islands we’ve visited – it has black sand (from the most recent eruption in the late 1960s) and remnants from buildings that existed before that eruption. Both Britain and Chile had scientific bases set up on the island, and the ruins of those buildings still stand as a stark reminder that Nature always wins when the challenge is Human versus Nature.



Our Zodiac arrived on Deception Island when a small Weddell seal did. We watched it slither up onto the beach and play a bit. Much more graceful than when they just lay there resting on land.


The highlight of today was jumping into the water. For most of the trip, the water has ranged from 0 to 2 degrees Celsius. That is VERY cold! But there is a section of beach on Deception Island that has warm sand (and steam, as you can see in the seal picture above), due to the molten activity that still exists underground. The top inch of water, therefore, is quite warm. Once you get a foot into the water, it reverts back to cold – around 40 degrees F. Julio, our expedition leader, advised us that if we wished to take a polar plunge, this is the safest place to do it. He and the crew prepared towels for us and thought of all the details. I joked that all week I had been eating well on the ship to add an extra layer of blubber so I could ensure I wouldn’t have any chance of getting hypothermia.

Many people brought swimsuits, but I didn’t even think I might jump in the water. I did bring workout clothes because there is a fitness center onboard the ship. Our trip is over half over, and I have yet to use my workout clothes. So I decided to give my clothes a workout this morning. I wore my sports bra, tank top, and soccer shorts under my Antarctica clothes.

We walked around Deception Island for ~2 hours and looked at the old buildings, hiked up to a lookout point called Neptune’s Window, a narrow break in the volcano’s wall that allowed us to look out to sea.



At 11am, people started stripping down to swimsuits to take the plunge. I think over 20 people ultimately jumped into the cold water, and I'm pretty sure none of us lasted longer than 10 seconds. I ran into the water, dove head first, and turned around to run back out. It was so cold that my body froze momentarily and my chest constricted.



I ran for the towels, put one on my head and one on my body. I knew it would take too long to get dressed, so I threw on a fleece top, grabbed all my gear (boots, clothes, backpack) and boarded the Zodiac to come back to the ship. Upon arrival in the mudroom, Alessandra gave all the swimmers a small cup of hot cocoa that was spiked with a dash of peppermint schnapps (non-swimmers couldn’t have any). Then, I hopped in the warm shower and headed into the sauna (not too hot) to defrost. It was fantastic, and within 15 minutes I felt normal again.

We headed toward Half Moon Island and encountered some large waves. When we arrived at Half Moon Island, Julio made the decision that we could not land there. He was concerned that it was too risky to get all the Zodiacs on the beach and back to the ship. One of the crew said “Any idiot can get a Zodiac onto the beach; but the real test is getting the Zodiac off the beach and safely back to the ship.”

The bad news is that our final landing was canceled. The good news is that within an hour we saw a humpback whale, which we wouldn’t have seen if we were landed at Half Moon Bay. I saw another humpback whale at dinner. I was just looking out the window because staring at the horizon helps calm any seasickness, and I first saw the blow spray, then saw the whale. I jumped to the window to see if I could see the whale again, but it had been so close to the front of our ship that I believe it went to the side or under our ship, disappearing from my view. You can’t tell that any of my pictures are humpback whales (only splashes and a bit of a back or fin), but one of my fellow passengers took some great ones and shared with me. These are Gerry Morris’ photos, which I assembled into this short video:


By dinner, we were back in Drake Passage and our outside decks were closed. I was so sick our first time in Drake that I have no idea how large the waves were. This time, I watched the waves from a window and could see their immensity. Truly, our 6334-ton ship is no match for these powerful waves. During dinner, our ship rocked so far to the right that the whole dining room crashed to the right. The tables and chairs are bolted down throughout the ship, but I nearly fell off my chair (I had a broad-shouldered girl sitting next to me and I would surely have fallen had she not been sitting there). Everything that was on our table moved to the right (utensils, plates, drinks) and many of them fell on the ground. Food that was about to be served went crashing to the ground in the dining room. I can’t describe it well but it was quite a mess.

I didn’t want to test the strength of my magic patch, so I headed to bed. When I’m in bed with the magic patch, I enjoy the rocking and rolling of the waves, and I slept really well.