Tuesday 18th November
Whilst at lunch we arrived at Pettermann Island - this will be our first landing site, so the first opportunity to set foot onto the Antarctic land. A lifelong dream about to be realised.
The expedition team go ashore first to make sure it is safe for us and more importantly the wildlife. We go over in groups and there is maximum 100 people allowed to be on land at a time.
Each group is named after Antarctica wildlife. I am in the Black-Browed Albatross group. We saw some crossing the Drake Passage. This is what they look like.
Spent some time in my cabin preparing to land, not just physically kitting up, but mentally and emotionally. I was actually feeling warm, so took a layer off.
Our group was going at 3:40 and when it is your turn they call your animal over the tannoy and you head down to deck 3 -expedition launch area.
I got all my equipment on without any bother. I remember when I did Kilimanjaro I was always struggling and getting frustrated with myself. The 5 stone loss has definitely made this so much easier.
Then the call came 'Black-Browed Albatross to the tender pit' woohoo
I headed straight down, joined the queue then you get scanned out. You walk through a sanitiser so your boots are sterilised. Then climb aboard a zodiac.
Short hop over to the island and landing was on slippery rocks and uphill, so a bit tricky but ok. Once at the top of the steps the crew had calved into the ice we gathered for a briefing. At this point the enormity hit me and I burst out crying, like proper sobbing. Marcello from the expedition team came over and gave me such a big hug and said how special that moment was to witness.
Penguin rookeries everywhere. Wow! Vast majority were Gentoo penguins with a couple of Adelie that had snuck in.
We got to hike a circuit to see a number of the rookeries and to a vantage point for the views.
Penguins were building and tidying their nests and when the next door neighbour wasn't looking nicking stones from theirs 😂🐧
Enjoy the pictures, they don't do it any justice at all. Breathtaking.
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