Swimming in Antarctica in Magical Realism

The zodiac ride from the mainland to the ship seemed to take forever. We ran up the gangway, stripped off our waterproof gear, and jumped in the shower. Our suite had the only bathtub on the ship and we took full advantage. Bliss bliss bliss utter bliss. Once the water got cold for the second time, we drained the tub and reluctantly got out. I blowdried and put on a fun fringe-y cocktail dress, just because. We had a celebratory drink at the upstairs bar, spirits poured over Antarctic ice and A ordered us a special bottle of champagne for dinner. (On a Russian boat, you don’t clink glasses as it’s considered bad luck, so you just wrap your hand around the glass and touch hands to cheers.)

Had a very nice “gala” dinner on the ship, then headed to the bar for more wine and cocktails. For me the pressure was finally off so I could relax and actually enjoy socializing and celebrating. We had a great group of American, Swiss, and Australian friends around. (Notice how somehow now they are now “friends” rather than creepy strangers I am forced to chat with? But that’s how it was, truly. I am an inveterate introvert but somehow getting in the arena and sweating with someone forms a bond.) We sang, we danced, we went to sleep at a fairly reasonable hour.

The next day I was excited because we were finally getting to go SWIMMING! After days of being surrounded by all this fantastic water, I was finally able to get in it. But first, we had a hike. There were a couple options for the morning, we picked to hiking around Paradise Bay, I didn’t want to get too tired before the swim, but we ended up watching penguins and seals for a while, and then hiking up a big hill.

The best part of the hike was sliding down…so much fun. You just kind of lay on your butt/back, tried to keep your feed up and wheeeeee!

Check it out:

We only had time enough for one hike up/slide down before it was time to get in that beautiful water. Most folks were just doing a quick dip/polar plunge, but I’d shown the expedition director photos of some of my swims and she gave me permission to do a longer swim. People went in quickly, one by one, screaming, and I just kind of stood on the rocks, staring at the water like a loon. Finally it was my turn!

I walked in, the water and air were both around 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit, but in temperatures under 50F/10C I always think in Celsius.):

Rocks were slippery and I was eager to start swimming so as soon as it was deep enough, I did a dive in:

Poof!

I swam out to the zodiac with one of the guides on it, then did a few laps around one of the bigger ice chunks (mini-icebergs?)

The water felt incredible, so clear and cold - when it’s like this I always have a feeling I am swimming in liquid silver or mercury or something. Beautiful and deadly.

These are the moments I live for though. Just me and the water, in the midst of such formidable beauty:

I didn’t want to get out, but I didn’t want to push it and make the team regret letting me swim, so I came out after only about ten minutes.

Got dressed quickly, balancing on the rocks, and returned to the big ship via zodiac, wishing I could swim there instead. We got washed and dressed and went to dinner where somehow I’d become an instant celebrity on the ship. I found it really bizarre that on this boat full of amazing runners, they were so impressed by 10 minutes of ice swimming. But it felt good, so we basked in it for the evening.

The next morning we went out for our last excursion, to Wilhelmina Bay. The nickname is WHALEhelmina Bay, and it definitely lived up to its name! On the zodiac we kept pulling up to pods of sleeping whales and would watch/listen as they breathed and breached periodically. The sounds of sleeping whales…defies words. Just the most peaceful and lovely thing I have ever heard.

It was amazing how close we were to these huge creatures, they could have easily tipped the boats over at any time

We also saw so many amazing ice formations. Photos don’t capture it, by half:

So lovely. Before long the sun was going down so we had to head back to the ship. Returned our gear to the mud room for the last time and took one last photo of Antarctica before the ship departed that night.

The next few days were filled with partying, soaking up views of the open ocean, and going through the Beagle Channel/Drake Passage one last time. The last night was an epic one, and we somehow slept through the wake-up call, woke up naked on top of a pile of our sheets, managed to get washed and dressed and off the boat just in time to head back to Ushuaia. We had a few hours to kill before heading back to Buenos Aires, so we had breakfast and coffee with everyone, said our goodbyes, and took a nice long walk to fill our lungs with that fresh Patagonia air.

When we got on the plane bound for Buenos Aires, our Antarctica trip was done but I still had a journey to the other side of the planet ahead of me.

Last updated June 02, 2015