Antarctica - Adventure Travel with Sherry Ott - Part 2

A sleeping bag on the ice as “bed number 75” might be the most unexpected invitation we’ve ever heard, but it kicks off a real conversation about what it’s like to travel to Antarctica and how to plan it well. We talk with an experienced traveler who’s been three times, including a trip to the Antarctic Peninsula with her dad and a rare, explorer-style route to the Ross Sea that only a tiny number of tourists ever see.

We get practical about Antarctica expedition cruise logistics: where ships depart (hello, Ushuaia), why the Drake Passage earns the nickname “Drake Shake,” and what actually helps if you’re prone to seasickness. We also dig into the choices that change your trip the most, like ship size, how zodiac landings work, and why smaller vessels can mean more time on shore. Along the way, we explore research bases, the surprising “international village” feel of Antarctica, and why the continent feels like the closest thing to leaving Earth.

Wildlife is the heartbeat of the planning. We compare seasons for nesting penguins, fluffy chicks, and whale sightings, plus detours that can be even wilder than Antarctica itself, like South Georgia, the Falkland Islands, and remote sub-Antarctic islands. We also cover conservation and biosecurity rules, including decontamination protocols and newer restrictions designed to protect fragile colonies.

If you’re searching “best time to visit Antarctica,” “Antarctica cruise tips,” or “Ross Sea expedition,” this one will help you decide what’s worth the cost and the long sea days. Subscribe, share this with your favorite travel planner, and leave us a review if you want more deep-dive destination episodes.

You can find Sherry here:

OttsWorld Travel Blog

Instagram

Sherry's Tours

Sherry's Consulting Page

Here are some of the things we spoke about regarding Alaska and Antarctica:

24 Things to Do in Anchorage in Winter or Summer

29 Things to Do in Fairbanks Alaska Summer and Winter

Antarctica Cruise Motion Sickness: Remedies to Help Survive the Drake Passage

How to Travel to Antarctica: The Ultimate Guide

New Zealand Subantarctic Islands: How to Visit the Snares, Auckland, Campbell and Macquarie

Travels with my Father

Map of  Antarctica 

Transcript

Welcome And The Antarctica Question

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Hi, welcome to our podcast, Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen. And I am Carol. And we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure.

SPEAKER_05 0:26

Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Now we'll jump into Antarctica. Okay. So when's the first time you went to Antarctica? And what prompted you to vingo?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

That's that's a story in and of itself. It is a beautiful story, and it kind of goes back to my blogging and being kind of one of the original bloggers that we talked about a little bit earlier. So what happened was I was I did a trip, a hiking trip with my father. He was 73, 74 at the time, I think. Whoa. Yeah. And we went to we went to Nepal together and hiked the Annapurna Circuit, he and I. And in the Annapurna Circuit, it's a circular circuit, the high point is in the middle, which is kind of weird, where you go up and over Thorong Law Pass. It's close to 18,000 feet, around 17, 17 to 18.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

So you did that and you couldn't not kill a Manjaro. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Yeah, I know. Well, altitude sickness, you never know when it's gonna strike. It really has more to do with how fast or slow you

A Nepal Trek Sparks A Dream

SPEAKER_00 1:40

go and how you where you sleep and stuff like that, right? More than anything. It doesn't have to do with your fitness level. It doesn't have to do with it can be anything, right? Kind of bare metric for shirt. So so we did that. And the day that we went over Thorang La Pass, it was really hard. It was our longest, hardest day. I was so proud of my dad for making it. I didn't think he was going to. Our guides were literally like helping him walk at the end because it was such a long day. And we woke up the next morning, ready to hike again. And I said to my dad that morning, I'm like, Dad, we did it. I can't believe we did it. What's next? What in the world are we gonna come up with next? And he's like, I don't know, maybe we should go to Antarctica. And I wrote about this um in my blog. And you know, I'm like, oh yeah, sure, let's go to Antarctica. Sure. I think he was 73 or 74 at that time. And that was 2009. So then, you know, I'm doing my blogging thing, I'm on social media, and Twitter was really big back then, and I used it a lot, and I had a lot of followers. And because I was nomadic for 11 years, I every Thanksgiving I would write a blog post about being thankful for beds and all the people who had put me up and throughout the year, and then I would count how many different beds I had slept in in a year being nomadic. And and then I would average it out, and it was like it basically always averaged out to I was moving about every three days into a different bed. Oh my goodness. Wow. Um that's tough. That was the average, but yeah, anyway. So I put out this giving thanks for beds. That's what it was always called. And I had someone comment on the blog post that said, Would you like? I think I had slept in like let's say 74 beds that year. And they said, Would you like this to be your bed number 75? And they sent me a picture of a sleeping bag on Antarctica. And they said, We've been following your blog. We know that you want to take your dad to Antarctica. Can we talk? Oh my gosh! Yes, yeah. So, and this was real once again, really early on, before like we had influencers and you were we were called influencers or whatever. Like this was a company that was sitting on that cutting edge going, Hey, here's someone

Blogging Leads To A Surprise Invite

SPEAKER_00 4:20

here with an audience, and we can send her and you know, she'll write about it and cover it, and you know, all this stuff. So basically, that's how I got to Antarctica the first time in 2012. So that was like four years later. My dad then was 77, and he and I went to Antarctica the first time, and we we worked with um, you know, this cruise company that sent us, as well as G Adventures. They had a ship, and that's and I kind of did work for both of them, and my dad and I did a webinar for them and everything after the fact. And anyway, so I wrote about this whole really kind of touching story about taking my dad to Antarctica, and we left from Ushuaia, which is that's the place most people leave from, let's put it that way. And we did like an 11 or 12 day trip down to the Antarctic Peninsula and back, so through the Drake Passage to Was it Drake Lake or Drake Shake?

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Isn't that what I on the way down?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Right. On the way down, it was pretty rough. I was sick pretty much. My dad was fine, he was like out on the deck. I was like in my room, throwing up. Then on the way back, though, it was completely fine. It was a lake, yeah. So, you know, you you get what you get, and it was that's the only way to get there is by boat. Planes don't go there, but it is the main way, it's like the 99% way to get there. Okay, there are companies that there are plenty of companies that offer fly there. You basically fly onto an island off of kind of Antarctica a little bit, and then from there you get on an expedition ship. And because the only way you're gonna get around Antarctica, the only way to see Antarctica is by ship, really. Okay, like that's how normal tourism happens down there, and everyone just goes and you know, the expedition ships have a whole schedule and they land at certain places and depending on weather and all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

And is everything just all ice, or do you actually see like Earth? Oh no, you see Earth.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Definitely, definitely. And once again, it's gonna depend on time of year and where you're going in Antarctica. The peninsula, the Arctic Peninsula, is is a part of Antarctica, for sure. Like that's part of the mainland kind of thing, but it it is the easiest to get to, it's the quickest to get to, the easiest to get to. So it's two days through the Drake Passage, and you can get to Antarctica. So that's why it is the most visited by far. That's where all the expedition ships are going. Ushuaia down to the Antarctic peninsula. Some of them at right times a year, once the ice is clear, some of the uh expedition cruises will go down as far and like cross over the Arctic Circle, just across over it or the Antarctic Circle, sorry, just to cross over it and then turn around and come back because that's only accessible at certain times of the year from South America, but it's different from other areas.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

How long does it take to get to to Antarctica? Did you say two days through the passage? Through the passage, yep. Yeah. Because I know for me I get seasick and um I'm from LA and we'd go to Catalina Island, and it's what, like maybe an hour or so? And I just knew in my mind I'd bring my pillows, I'd put my head down before it took off, I would go to sleep, and then I'd wake up after, or I was sick for like a day. And that was my

Getting There And Handling Seasickness

SPEAKER_03 7:55

so I think I'd have to sleep for two days.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

No, you'd want to see it too. You just I mean, yeah, there are things to see. It's really interesting. I wish I wasn't sick, but also I would tell anyone it is worth it. Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

Like what about the little pressure point bracelets that do they work? A whole article about all this stuff.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

So I've used everything. Like the little things behind the ear or whatever. The the patches, the scope, scopamine or sculpamine, I think it's called, require a prescription. I used those. They're normally pretty effective for people, but I hate them. I hated it because it gave me a super dry mouth and weird dreams. And I I didn't like the side effects of it. Some people don't mind it. Yeah. I hated it. So then I tried drumamine. Drumamine normally it was okay, but in really rough seas, it didn't work for me. Then there's a uh seasickness pill from the UK that I love called Sturgeon, I think it is, or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

That I find it to be better for me than draw. I mean, you have to find what works for you. So you experiment a lot.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

And so I found that to be good. And then I tried, then there's different things for the wrist. So there's there's just the little like sweatbands that have like a little point kind of thing. That's all I have. Yeah. I tried those, they were nothing for me. However, there is a product called Relief Band that I used this last trip that I took. And it is actually, it's a band that you also put on, and it is sending like electric pulses through it's kind of like a TENS machine in a way. Yeah. That's what it reminds me of. And you can turn it up or down and it's sending electric pulses to your brain, and it's basically telling your brain somehow. I don't know, all the same. Right. Oh, I get it. Not be nauseous. Wow. That you're not nauseous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

You know, I I remove my allergies digitally, and it the same thing is it applies, it's the same thing, and my allergies go away.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

I need to know about that.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

It's very cool.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

I'm allergic to fats.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

Yeah, I'll tell you. Oh, you are.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

I know, ironically.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

Oh, it can make you, you know, it's funny. I just started riding horses. I'm actually going to Georgia in October to move horses for nine days. I used to ride horses, but it's been years. And I just went and uh horses came up. So he removed, he's like, it's removed now. So it can be. Oh my god, we have to talk about this later. Okay, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

We'll connect after this. Yes. Well, okay, so the relief band is really cool. Like it's used for you know, motion sick, any kind of motion sickness, it's just for like pregnancy and all that stuff, right? Any kind of nausea. And I have to say it worked pretty well.

SPEAKER_04 10:37

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Um, I would use that in conjunction with the the pill that I took every day, the sturgeon or whatever. Right. And I was pretty good on this last trip. Um, I think I got sick maybe once, but it wasn't it wasn't nearly as bad. The other thing that you start to figure out, and I've tested this now a couple of times in theory, you get your sea legs. It actually happens. Like I it took about three or four days, but I had them. And then it didn't really matter. Like I still wore the little relief band and I would turn it up if it was really rough or something, but it wasn't bad.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

So you have to really try different things and see what works for you. And all every one of these ships have a ship's doctor, and they have all this stuff on it too. So you can get your sculpamine patch or whatever prescribed. And then if that doesn't work, go to the doctor on the ship and be like, what else do you got? And they'll have other stuff for you to try. Trust me. Sure, they've got everything. They do. They do.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Well, that's good to know. No, yeah,

Why Antarctica Feels Like Space

SPEAKER_03 11:45

it sounds like an amazing. It's funny, just looking at this map right here, and it it won't let me pull out.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

So it's yeah, that's what I'm getting too.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Yeah, I know. And it's like half of this this little map here is white and it says Antarctica. And then on the top, it just says Argentina, South Africa, Australia. I just see just a little bit. And and and what's so amazing is the size difference. That's why I want to peel back, but it just I guess I'm at the bottom now, so I can't world map. Um, but how how large it is. It's it's ginormous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

And one of my I always say, you know, people always ask me, oh, what's your favorite place you've ever been? And I'm like, I always give them like five because it's really hard. But Antarctica is always on it, always, because it is the most, especially if you like remote places. For me, it's the closest you're ever gonna get to like leaving this planet. It's so different. It's a it's a whole piece of land and ice that no one really owns. You know, it's not there's no government there. Now, granted, there's a whole Antarctica treaty kind of thing where everyone shares it, which is complicated and really interesting once you start getting into it, but it's not a country, it's not owned by anyone. There's way, way, way more wildlife than people. I mean, you're just in a really you're just visiting their visiting their world. Like when you go and see a penguin colony of 60,000 penguins just out in front of you, it is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

Is that like something's kind of like being in the ocean, huh?

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Right? Because you're going in the ocean, like no one really owns, you know, like not a country, there's not a lot of people in the ocean.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yeah, until someone finds some some resources there, they would do.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Do people only go there from South America or do people go from Australia and

Peninsula Versus Ross Sea Routes

SPEAKER_01 13:45

South Africa?

SPEAKER_00 13:46

From all those places, you can even go from South Africa. So, so the first time I went, 2012, was kind of just a short one down from Ushuaia, down to the Antarctic Peninsula and back. And I fell in love with it. The second time I went was probably my favorite time because it was so unusual. You can go from New Zealand, and in fact, all of the explorers, the ones who just who got to the North Pole, everyone, Cook, Scott, uh Edmonton, uh Shackleton, all these guys left. Shackleton's my neighbor. They left from New Zealand. So there's a there's a company called Heritage Expeditions that is a family-based uh small expedition cruise company out of New Zealand. They're from New Zealand. It's probably one of I might be going out on a limb here, but I think it's the only family-owned cruise company there is left out there. You know, it used to be that, but now they're all bigger. So I fell in love with them immediately because they were just like it just and they specialize in the sub-Antarctic Islands off of New Zealand and in Australia, and uh going through the southern ocean to the Ross Sea, which is I think it's a that would be considered the eastern side of Antarctica. But that it is the way of the explorers. We took that same route, it's much, much further, somewhere in the middle of like eight days of trying to get there, right? You cross over the art, the Antarctic circle in the ocean, super cool, so fun. And then it's still another like three days before you get to Antarctica that way. So that was like a 28-day cruise. It's long, really long. And and that's where you do get your sea legs. I did eventually, yeah. Uh, but it's so interesting because that's a different side of Antarctica that most people don't get to see. So back when I did that, I want to say that was like 2017, maybe. And at that time, and I think the numbers are pretty similar still. At that time, I think it's like 50,000 people, it's probably much more now. Uh, tourists take uh or go to Antarctica a year from Ushuaia down to that Antarctic peninsula, but only 500 people go from New Zealand to the Ross Sea. So I was, and those 500 people were basically two shipfuls that uh heritage expedition take.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Is that pricey to be to do that? Is it exciting? Yeah, it is it's a big trip and it's it's a huge trip.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Yeah, it's it's hard. You know, the the more remote you go anywhere in the world, the more expensive it is because it's the risk factor is higher, it's harder to get help, it's harder to get food, it's harder to get everything, right? So the price goes up. I run a tour in Patagonia and it's my most expensive tour, but it's because we're in super remote Patagonia. Like I can't make it cheaper. Yeah, that's just what I find. So even Alaska, lots of the uh like remote Alaska stuff is expensive, or and same with Antarctica. So I want to say it was around, it was a 28-day cruise. It was around like a thousand dollars a day, basically. So it was upwards of like $28,000, $30,000. Yeah. Wow. And fed, you know, everything is taken care of in that sense. But it was it was amazing. And it was my first time in the southern ocean, which is very different. It was my first time ever going to some of these islands that I had never heard of, called the Sub Antarctic Islands. We've all heard of South Georgia, probably, and the Falkland Islands, which is more on the South America side. But if you leave from uh New Zealand, you're gonna encounter the sub Antarctic Islands. And sub-Antarctic islands are really like there's no one on them. There's one research base at Macquarie Island, and that's it. But otherwise, that's also where you're gonna find the super rare Snares penguin. It's one of the, I don't know, 12 or so species of penguins. You will only find it on Snares Island. There are no humans allowed there. It's fascinating. These islands are beautiful. They they have this what they call megafauna that bloom. It's where all the albatross mate.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Um, it's these sub-Antarctic islands are really close to New Zealand. Am I finding this clear? Close enough.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Like let's say at a half on a ship to get to the first one, and then you know, so they're like a day and a half to two days away from New Zealand from the South Island. I think we left from Invercargill, that southernmost kind of point of the South Island. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

And is that alone? I'm sorry, is that alone pretty fascinating without even going to Antarctica? Or like, you know, that's cool, but like, okay. Yes, if you don't want to take the whole trek down there to Antarctica.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah, if you don't want to do the whole 20 days, so heritage also specializes in just going to these sub-Antarctic islands. So before normally January and February is are the only two months where you can actually get down to the Ross Sea, like go all the way to it to Antarctica down there because the ice opens up. But before that, so say December, maybe even November, for sure, December, they're doing trips back and forth to the sub Antarctic islands. So if you're a birder or anything like that, or you just really love remote areas, it is amazing. Plus, one of those places where you stop on the subantarctics is Macquarie Island, which is actually Australia, but that is like a that is like South Georgia, basically. You're gonna see elephant seals, you're gonna see king penguins, you're gonna see all kinds of penguins, you're gonna see macaroni penguins, you're gonna see sea lions, you're gonna, I mean, you will see it all, even just there. So you don't have to go all the way to Antarctica if you do want to see some really cool penguins and like the elephant seals fighting and all that stuff, you can do that in the sub-Antarctics.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

Didn't even know there were all these types of penguins. I'm looking them up. I'm like, wait, oh my gosh, I love macaroni. What the heck does this look? Well, this is so funny. The snare one looks like a cartoon from Pixar Disney, whatever that my kids used to watch. And this guy, and I love the all the yellow, they're awesome.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

That's an awesome my favorite are the chin straps.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

They have a little bit of check that one out. This is fun. I never really looked at all the types, super pretty, the chin strap, and they look just like the yeah, they do have a black little chin strap. There you go. I love them.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Um, I love penguins so they're so fascinating. Right. I mean, I really do love the the uh emperor penguin, right? The emperor ones are the biggest. I've never actually been able to see them. That's probably my only one that I haven't seen. The king penguins are definitely like practically like up to my elbow. Um, they're big.

unknown 21:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

You just don't get that funny.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

It's almost like because I I'm watching right now um for the bald eagle babies and they're hatching, you know, and and uh so um I'm from Southern California, so the uh Big Bear um has them always and the camera's going on, so you can watch it 24-7, but you see it on the camera and you're like, oh, it's like a you know, like this size, and you're like, no, it's this size. Like, you know, the nest itself is over six feet in diameter, so it's kind of like like these. You just kind of think it's like a little, little, little cute thing. Like my 10 pound dog. Yes, exactly. Oh, I had a quick question on the Antarctica circle.

Sub Antarctic Islands And Wildlife Wonders

SPEAKER_03 21:50

What do you notice when you're crossing over it? I know when my kids and I were going from South Korea to Bali and we were flying through the equator, and the plane was like Oh, it's going like crazy. I don't know if it just happened.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

It on the way back, it didn't do that. No, I didn't really notice anything. I will say that. But it was really cute because on the ship they had a special because we were already like three days at sea at that point.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

And so they had a really special celebration. They had this whole like oath that you took to protect Antarctica. And you're crossing over your one of very few people who are actually crossing over the Antarctica circle or Antarctic Circle. And they would give you what they called the mark of the penguin, which was this little stamp that they would stamp on your forehead that was a penguin. It was super cute, but it was really, it was really emotional too, I gotta say. Where most of the people go. When I went, sadly, McMurdo was iced in and we couldn't get in, which was a bomber. Uh but we did go to some other bases. So you make stops to either like go and see wildlife, you know, like penguin colonies and so on, maybe to hike, maybe you stop to go visit a research base. Different countries down there have research bases. Um, one of my favorites when I went with my dad is we stopped at the Ukrainian uh research base down there, and they had a bar and we did like vodka shots with these Ukrainian guys. It was great, it was so much fun. But you could go in there and see how they lived and how they overwintered. And we stopped at the Italian base when I was in the Ross Sea. That was really interesting. They're big bases, and you get to learn how these people live down there. Plus, it's just kind of a really cool international experience, right? You can shop. I mean, they always have stuff you can buy. Yeah, it's it's really kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

That was for an idea going into like the space station or something, it's just kind of like for research and this exactly they can play and you get to see how they live, and it's just it's it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

So it's it's not just looking at penguins or whatever, right? Like it's it's way more than that. Um, the other things that were cool about going on the Ross Sea was that, like I said, only 500 people go, right? So we had very long periods of time where we could stay on land, and you know, there weren't other ships that had to like get in or anything like that. Like we were the only ones. So like you would just sit there in this colony of penguins and watch them. And I would just literally, this was a time where you could do this, you can't do this anymore. I would sit on the ground and just like and they would like walk around me. It was crazy. Um, you can't now you can't sit on the ground anymore. Um uh because they've had bird flu down there that has wiped out giant populations that have been really bad. Yeah. So now you can't even so then I went, was that last year? Two years ago, year and a half ago, I went again for a third time. Um, and this time I went from not from Ushuaia, but we left actually, it was the first ship of the season, so it was the mid to end of October. It was crazy. And we went from, I can't remember the name of the port in Argentina, and we went out to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and then down to the peninsula. And that was like 22 days or something like that. But that was a different route that I had taken before, and it was really cool because it was um, like I said, it was the first ship kind of to get through, but also it meant that we couldn't get through some of the ice in some areas. But the good parts about it was it got you to South Georgia, which is super really cool. Full like I've never seen so many animals. You see more animals on South Georgia than you actually do on Antarctica. It is insane. Like I've never even heard of this place. I know.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Is it a country or is it just part of part of South America?

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Who does it belong to? I'm trying to think. Oh, there it is. I see it now on the country. I want to say is it and the South Sandwich Islands. I know I was just saying the thing. Yeah, that's the UK, I'm pretty sure. Technically, yeah. Well, the Falklands are the UK, or were they? Gosh, now I'm trying to remember.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Yeah. Well, it says um is an archipel in the Tales Mary of the Pagonia Shelf. Uh that's all I see in the first time.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

But South Georgia is also, if you I'm someone who loves the story of Ernest Shackleton and his voyage, and that's where he was finally rescued. In fact, we stopped at the place where he came over the mountain, him and his crew of two other people, and were rescued. The story is amazing. It is, it was so cool. I love Shackleton. And we also stopped at where he was buried. So we went to the cemetery. It was it was really, really cool. But I remember the book. I I know I heard read it, something to that effect, but yeah. There's a really good documentary that was put out, I want to say about a year ago, about Shackleton because they they found the ship that had sunk, the original ship that sank, and then they they brought it up and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

So actually, I remember how I know the story is that for business, like I well, I do a Girl Scout camp. So every year I take Girl Scouts backpacking for 10 days, but we have to do um 60 hours of learning, and so we'll have corporate like there's corporate people involved, so they'll do research and then they'll present it. And they present his trip and his whole thing. So we got like a day of learning all of his

Research Bases And Remote Adventures

SPEAKER_03 28:55

stuff, and it was so fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

He's such a great leader, it was yeah, it's really fascinating about leading. Um that's amazing. But that's the cool thing about going to South Georgia, it's tons of animals. If you go early in the season, like that October time frame, and you go to South Georgia, you will get to see the giant elephant seals fighting, the males fighting. And if I don't know if you've ever seen that, it is gruesome and bloody and just crazy that you're big are these elephant seals?

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Are they like like the seals you see like in California or something?

SPEAKER_00 29:30

No, they're huge. Okay. Wow. Um, I don't know, half ton. I have no idea. Okay. But they're big, they're like an elephant, kind of. Okay. That big okay. I mean okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

They're they look like the ones that oh, you mean an elephant? Because I was thinking the ones like in San Francisco, we have a ton of pretty elephant.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Um these are the elephant seals. They're way bigger.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

Okay, got it.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

And they've got a very different shaped face, and then they they fight by like hitting each other because they don't have arms, right? Like it is insane. And that is also let me see. Their nose, their faces look very um archaic, like a trunk, yeah, like an elephant trunk. That's why they got their name.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Yeah. Like they are gonna, they're gonna do some damage.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Oh, yeah. We always had

Biosecurity Rules And Tourism Limits

SPEAKER_00 30:20

to be really careful, even walking around, right? So yeah, but on that trip, they have new regulations about like you can't put anything on the ground except your boots.

SPEAKER_04 30:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

So, like, even if you had a backpack, like I always take my backpack with all my camera gear on land, I would have to get that out, and I couldn't set it anywhere. Like I had to hold it and try to get stuff out. And you can't sit down, you can't put a knee down, you can't like anything because of all the regulations on the bird flu. And then when you get on and off, this has always been this way. When you get on and off the ship, you're doing like a special decontamination protocol every time you get you come back onto the ship. So that's all, you know, very real, protecting that area down there. It's you know, conservation is at the heart of Antarctica, so they they really take that seriously. And then I even tell people like, try not to bring stuff or bring gear with a lot of Velcro because Velcro, it's like seeds can stick in it, and then it's just you have to go through all this stuff for decontamination, and it's just it's harder. Velcro is a pain.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

That makes sense. Is there any like people like trying to get people not to go into Antarctica or just really more of like to educate, just so it doesn't get, I don't know, destroyed with tourism?

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Well, the the even though, like I said, it no country owns it, there is a group of countries that have to work together, and there's a tourism arm of that that works together to put together all the regulations. So the way that they regulate is by regulating the amount of ships that are allowed to kind of come down and how they do landings and stuff like that. Still, the numbers have been going up and up of people visiting for sure. But yeah, so they're controlling it basically by the ships that have the permission to go down there and land and stuff like that. Okay, basically. The whole idea is you take these expedition ships down there, they're normally smaller, they're not like a big cruise ship, so don't think they are, because these have to be like ice strength, you know, ice-breaking, many of them. So, you know, so they're they're not big. They're normally the biggest ones might hold 300 people, but like all the ones that I went on, I went on like old Russian research ships that hold like a hundred people, not even. Oh my gosh. Okay. And that's the best. The one that I went to the Ross Sea in, I think we only had 40 people on it. It was small, but it was a little Russian icebreaker that was very basic. The other thing they do is they regulate how many people can be on land for each landing. So normally that's like less than like you can't have more than 50 people or something like that on land on a landing. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Do you stay overnight everywhere or do you stay in the boat the whole time?

SPEAKER_00 33:21

You're staying in the boat. You're just you're you're just taking a zodiac raft to the landing to shore. You get off, you can walk around for a little bit, and then you have to get back on the zodiac, and then you come back to the ship, and and everything else takes place on the ship. Sometimes you also do what they call zodiac cruises. So maybe you don't land on, maybe you don't do a landing, but you just cruise around like the icebergs, and you see the seals and the, you know, you still see the animals, but you're not walking, you're on the on the zodiac.

SPEAKER_03 33:53

Do you have to like decontaminate before you walk, even?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

I'm assuming, maybe. Uh well, no, everything is done kind of like when you come back. So you have a first initial decontamination before anyone does anything. You do that like while you're in the Drake passage.

SPEAKER_04 34:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

And um, and then then you go off onto shore. You've already been decontaminated. And then you when you come back every time because you've been walking around, then you go through that again. Okay. So it's always when you come back onto the ship.

SPEAKER_05 34:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Okay. Typically. So if you go on these bigger ships, the one thing to think about when you're making those choices on what what company do I go with, etc., yeah, is if you go on a bigger ship, like I said, there's limits of how many people can be on land at the same time. So normally a ship will get into kind of a landing area where they've got their license and permission to be for that day. They have like four hours that they can be there before they have to haul out and go to their next spot overnight or whatever. And in those four hours, they've got to get, let's say, 200 people off the ship and onto this landing. But it's there's only so many people that can be on land at the same time. Oh, so you can't. So they have so your time is shorter, basically. So let's say you have four hours that the ship can be there, but you can only be on land for like say two hours, maybe an hour and a half, because they've got to funnel people back and forth and get the other people out. Whereas when I went on that small ship, we could all go and then stay out there four hours. Oh, okay. Awesome. So so those are some things you want to think about when you're trying to pick cruise lines. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

Um that one's more expensive, tends to be better because you're gonna get more time out there.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Yeah, well, except a lot of these small ships, smaller ships, are not the fancy ships, so they're cheaper. Because most people want to be like I don't want to say in luxury, but they want to be like have a really comfortable that they go in. Yeah,

Best Time To Visit Antarctica

SPEAKER_00 36:05

which I don't care. Like to me, the real research vessels are just my speed. I love them, they're small, they're basic. And you have your own little room. Yeah, yeah. Okay, that's cool. Yeah, you have your own little cabin.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

And then how cold is it out there?

SPEAKER_00 36:20

In Antarctica?

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Yeah, and is it the same all year round because of where it is?

SPEAKER_00 36:24

It's very different, it's very different. So, like I've gone in when I went in October, it was much colder, but I enjoyed that because also it was the beginning of the season, and we were like the first people doing these landings, which meant there were even times where we had to get on snowshoes and do that because there was still so much snow, but it was pristine. It was pristine because hundreds of people, 50,000 people hadn't walked on it. You know what I mean? So when you're the first ship, that's pretty nice, especially from a photography standpoint. I really liked going in October um time frame. I thought it was great. I've also been there though in like January and February. Those are pleasant. I mean, you're gonna run into a storm here and there that will be colder, windy, whatever. But I would say most of the time, like when my dad and I went, we went in December, and it was warmer in Antarctica than it was where he lives in South Dakota.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

Well, isn't it the seasons flipped? Yeah, yeah. Uh so it's there's summer.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

So there's summer, but I mean it's still chilly. I mean, their summer never really warms up, right? But it's it's not that cold.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Yeah, like it's what what temperature are we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 37:44

Uh lots of times it was like in the 30s. Oh, that's nice. That's summer. That's like hot. Yeah, December, January in there. Yeah. Oh, do you can do a polar plunge, you can do all that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

Yeah, I I have a client who went to every uh continent, and what that was his last one, and there was some sort of dip um that I think it may be even assisted where you go in and they pull you right out or something to that effect. Yeah. So you can say you've done it. Um I've done it. Yeah, you did it. Yeah. And what's the water temp?

SPEAKER_00 38:21

Uh, when I did it, it wasn't horrible. It was cold though. Um, I don't even know. That was the first time when I went down with my dad. And we didn't do it off the ship. We actually ran in from the beach, which was mentally way harder. Um, because you had to run all the way into the water and then like dunk under and then just run back.

SPEAKER_03 38:44

That makes me feel like when I in the summertime in um desolation wilderness and near Lake Tahoe. I mean, Tahoe is cold all year round. And um, I take my Girl Scouts um backpacking. And then we always, when we, you know, set up camp, um, because we go for six days, um, and you know, it's hot during the day and they want to jump in. And

Polar Plunge Kayaking And Whale Season

SPEAKER_03 39:05

I'm like, I'm a lifeguard, so I jump in with them. I have to, and it's free, it's ice, it is ice in the summer, so I can only imagine. And then your body sort of freezes, and then you're like, okay, well, let's go swim the whole thing now. I'm I'm in, let's go. Yep, I'm in now. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

For inflammation, right? Yeah, it's like a it's it's actually really good for you, but yeah, you can't stay in long at all in Antarctica because I also did kayaking and stuff, and when we kayed in Antarctica, we had full-on like dry suits.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

Okay, I could see that like the kayak just stops and you're like frozen in the like I guess we need one of those those uh ships that plowed.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Yeah, the icebreakers, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

Icebreakers, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

It was oh, the kayaking is so fun there though, because you do go through all these different pieces of like ice and slush and and then the the penguins that are in the water, they're like literally because they much like dolphins or something, you know, like they dive, so they just like they pop up out of the water and back in. And you can be, you know, when you're in a kayak, you're at water level, right? Right, and then like one of them will just jump up next to you and you're like, holy heck!

SPEAKER_03 40:22

Wow, that's special. That seems really neat. I mean, even just a dolphin or a fish, but having a penguin, that would be really cool.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

I did you see the whales too? Yep. So you see more whales when you go later in the season, January, February, March, you see a lot of whales, I think. Oh, but early in the season, you don't see as many. So I always say it kind of depends on what you want to see. Right. Uh, based, you know, on like what time of year, which which time of the season do you go? Right. Um and a lot of that also depends on so, like, you know, in the beginning of the season, you've got the penguins that are coming on shore and making their nests and finding their mates. So that's that's the first part. That's like October, November, and they're finding their mates and it's really cute. It's yeah, and they're building their nests, and and then in December they've laid the eggs and now they're protecting the eggs on the nest, basically. And is it the male that does that or the female? Both they they share.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

Okay, yeah, isn't that funny that they all do it at the same time? Like people, we have babies all year round that animals have like these mating seasons, yes, because of the because of the

Penguin Life Cycle And Predators

SPEAKER_01 41:40

the cold, because of the what do I want to say?

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Because of nature down there, the conditions, yeah. Yeah, it won't work and they have to do it during the summer because otherwise they'd never survive. And in the winter, they all leave the ice and they're lots of them go into you know the ocean and hunt and so on. So the the kids, the babies have to be like created, born, you know, all the feathers, what is that fledgling or whatever the yeah, fledging or fledgling? Yeah, they have to be molted and then because they can't, because those babies can't get into water and swim until they've molted. So then, you know, and then they can get in the water and swim, and then they're off for the winter, basically. So, so when you go in like January, then you've got all the fluffy little chicks running around, and it's like mass chaos, and the parents are feeding the chicks and they're all fat and fluffy, and cute. Um, it's so fun to watch. Yeah. So it you know, it really kind of depends on what you want to see. Do they have predators? Yeah, they do. So they have predators at different stages too. So, like the if they're sitting on the eggs, there's a whole bunch of skew birds, they're great big that come and just take the eggs. So the they might not even hatch. Yeah, and then once they hatch, if they're when they're really small yet, the skewers are still a potential problem. Um, but then once they get in the water, it's the leopard seals will kill them in a second.

unknown 43:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

Can you imagine? We are so lucky. We have our houses, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:24

Yeah, that's what I'm like.

SPEAKER_03 43:25

Yeah, of course, that's why we don't have to have season because yeah, women's protected.

Picking The Right Ship And Trip Length

SPEAKER_00 43:30

Yeah, who makes it? Yeah. Yeah. So lots to think about when you're thinking about uh cruise to Antarctica, you know, time of year, length, type of ship, where do you want to leave from? What do you really want to see? Seasickness, I suppose, but don't let that stop you ever.

SPEAKER_03 43:48

I am one who gets sick, but I would do it for sure. How many times have you been there now? Three. Three people. Okay, three times. When was the last time you went? Uh it was October of 2024.

SPEAKER_00 44:04

Oh, recently. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

Okay. Yeah. Oh, what was was that uh so that was your second trip was your favorites, what was the big one?

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Yeah, that was the Ross Sea because it was just so different. It was so different. But this one came in a close second because South Georgia and the Falklands were really interesting. I really liked that beginning of the season stuff because of the pristine of Antarctica, even though you couldn't get as deep into Antarctica because of ice, it hadn't melted yet. What we did get to was just so beautiful. And how long did you go for? And what was the start of the season? What month again? Uh it was like I think we left for the Falklands around October 15th or something. Okay. Well, I want to say was around 22 days.

unknown 44:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

So pretty something like that. The long one when I did the Ross C, that was 28 days. And then the short one, you know, cheapest option, shortest option is, you know, around 12 days typically.

SPEAKER_03 45:04

Okay. Okay. And recommended, you'd say probably it sounds like the 22 to 28 day mark would be where you get a chance to see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Yeah. Well, and you get to see so much more. Yeah. And I don't know. I never get bored. I love being on the ship. I love, you know, your downtime when you're when the ship is moving and you're not landing and doing all this other stuff. You're you have lectures from experts about all the stuff and the history. And I mean, it's just it's an educational, you know, you're gonna learn about all the explorers and what they went through. You're gonna learn about ice caps and like all of that, global warming, and you're gonna have expert scientists that are there researching, you know, that are experts in leopard seals or whatever, or in whales, or you know, and it's just super cool.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

Oh my gosh. So, and that's sort of every time there's downtime, there's a lecture, and it may be various people, it's just who's ever on that ship were going to do research.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Yeah, so the crews, the the the crew, the people who are well, there's the ship crew, people who make the ship run, and all the engineers, and there's the expedition team. And the expedition team is the like the customer-facing teams that are the experts in different things, and they're the ones giving the lectures, yeah, and they're the ones that are driving the zodiacs and and taking you on shore, and like they're your they're your leaders, is what I would say. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 46:41

Oh, so cool. I'm glad you put that last little tidbit because it's like, oh I I love learning too.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

That's yeah, that's what you do. It's great. And it's super comfortable, you know, it's not fancy ships, so you just like you know, walk around in

Onboard Experts And What You Learn

SPEAKER_00 46:55

your slippers and it's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

All right. So I just said we have some rapid fire questions. A lot of them have to do usually with like the culture of the one location, but this is a little bit different today. So I have more generic questions, more about like what you like to do. So when you're in probably both places, probably more Alaska. What is your like favorite food? And what do you eat for like breakfast food? What's your favorite breakfast food?

SPEAKER_04 47:22

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Weirdly, they have really good cinnamon rolls. I like cinnamon rolls. Okay, that's good. Yeah, nice hot. Yeah, they do. It's hearty, hearty breakfast is what I would say. Uh, but there's a couple places up in Fairbanks where you can go that just has amazing homemade cinnamon rolls.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

Oh, that's so funny because I feel like in the country here, too. It's like in the mountains, sometimes there's a couple places that have like the best cinnamon rolls. Okay, and then are you a coffee or tea person? Coffee. Coffee, okay. And then in in the any of these places, are there any specific like holiday events that would draw you there? Like, I want to go back again to celebrate something.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Yeah. Um, maybe not in Antarctica necessarily, except uh Antarctica would maybe be the December 21st, the longest day kind of thing where the sun never sets. I was there during that. That was cool. Um, but it's not really a festival or anything. But Alaska, gosh, yes. I mean, first of all, in well, in the winter you've got the ididerod and all the fanfare and stuff that goes around that. Yes. Um, the one festival that I've always wanted to go to and have not gone to yet is in December in Alaska in a in this little town of Tawquitna. What's it called? Wild Man, Wild, Wild Man, Wild Women, I can't remember, but it's this festival, it's kind of like a bachelor festival. Uh it's a it's hard to describe, but it's hilarious. And then they have this wild women competition where they have to like chop wood and do all this stuff. So anyway, it's very cute. And then there's a bachelor auction at the end, it raises

Rapid Fire Alaska Food And Festivals

SPEAKER_00 49:05

a bunch of money and it's they make a bachelor catalog every year. It's really cute.

SPEAKER_03 49:10

That was in a movie with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. Um, yeah, and she was in Alaska, and it the the auction, there was an auction, and the guy was like the he was like multiple things, like the sheriff, the teacher. Yes, yeah. Oh, that's horses.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

I wonder if it was based on that. I don't know, it might have been actually. It's been around for a long time, so I've never been able to go to that yet. Uh other things going on in Alaska. What was I just thinking of? Oh, there's the ice carving festival up in uh Fairbanks that's always really good. That's normally starts in February, goes into March, so it's really popular. They have all the it's so cool to see the people work. Chainsaw, yeah. Yeah, it's yeah, it's amazing. Uh I'm trying to think of summer. Oh, and then in see, I know a lot of the winter ones in Anchorage. What's that called again? Oh, that's gonna drive me crazy. Not muskrat. There's also a winter festival that they do in Anchorage that's super fun too. Like they've got, you know, carnival things and ice sculpture and dog races, not the ididerod, but smaller dog races, and they'll bring in all the Native American stuff too, which is really cool. And they have these like fur traders, like actual this is for real. Like they have all these people bringing in furs and then they're auctioned off live. And wow, it you know, once again, it's just that really interesting culture that we don't get exposed to in the lower 48, really. Okay, right.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

It's probably like we were like back in the 1800s or something. So it's like we're back in time.

SPEAKER_00 50:51

Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

And then how about the um how about safety? Like it would you say like it feels like the same of America, or you feel like, oh my gosh, so much more safe in Alaska in the non-supertourist areas like that. Well, what are we talking? Uh like you're traveling by yourself, like walking

Alaska Safety Moose Encounters

SPEAKER_01 51:10

in like in a um at night by yourself? Um, I would say yeah, it's very safe.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

I wouldn't worry about that in Anchorage or Fairbanks. Um, Anchorage does have a bit of a homeless population, so you'd want to be careful. Is it cold? Yeah, it's not a good place to be homeless, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

Do they do fires like where everyone huddles around or something?

SPEAKER_00 51:35

Hopefully, they have some shelters. Shelters, definitely. Um, but safety, you know, as far as like I'm not worried that people are gonna steal my stuff or whatever, or like worried more than normal, I would say, you know, yeah, that kind of stuff. Um, the thing with safety when it comes to Alaska is the other stuff that we don't think about. Animals, yes. So moose end up regularly in Anchorage, like downtown, and you know, people approach it and it's that's not good. Like you got to know what to do. I was charged by moose once, it was terrifying. I was out on a bike path and ran into one, absolutely terrifying. Uh you know, so you have that stuff to worry about, and then if you're doing more like wilderness-y or out, you know, out of the city stuff, you always have to do be aware of bears, moose, all that stuff. So it's that's where this when I think of safety in Alaska, that's what I think. That's what I worry much more about than people. Okay, so you should really ask, get some education.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

You're charged by a moose and just let that go. Like, what did you do? And how the heck, what was that?

SPEAKER_00 52:46

Oh my god, that was terrifying. I was on there's a there's a really great um coastal trail uh out of Anchorage that goes for like 13 or 15 miles that you can walk or bike on. And it was winter, and for some reason there were a bunch of moose in town, and they had warned me about it. But I got a I rented a fat bike to go biking because it was winter, and I would do this, yeah. And um, I went out on that trail and I kind of got a little bit out of the city and I was on the trail, but I came around a corner and there was a moose there, and I stopped, and then I'm like, I don't know what to do. And I was on the bike, and I just kind of stood there and I couldn't, I must have got off the bike. I did, uh, but I kept the bike between me and him. Yeah. And I thought, well, what do I do? Do I turn around? Can I just go around him? Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

Was it a narrow path?

SPEAKER_00 53:41

Like where you're kind of like it was like a bike path, yeah. Yeah, okay, that's what I figured. And and I waited for a long time and it just was kind of looking at me, and then I kind of started like walking like I was gonna walk around it, yeah. And it didn't like that. So it like star it did a fake charge basically. It started running towards me and then pulled up. And yeah, yeah, you're like, oh no, were you on your bike going or were you stopped or walking? Uh well, no, I I was on my bike when I encountered it, and then I know, but when he charged you, when he charged it. Oh no, I was I was off my bike then. Okay, okay. Like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 54:21

He felt and then were you able to go around him, or you just went back?

SPEAKER_00 54:25

I did end up being able to go around him. Okay, yeah. And the weird thing, and I always tell everyone this, no one believes me, but it's true. There are more people killed by moose than bear in Alaska. Moose are dangerous, and by like their horns, like they get you that way. They normally kick, so they kick out front. Uh-huh. That's why they say if you see a moose, you're supposed to like go behind a tree because they can't like kick around a tree.

SPEAKER_01 54:53

Oh, good to know. Okay. That's where I've seen them before. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:57

Right, exactly. See a moose, grab a tree.

SPEAKER_01 54:59

Yeah, I have a like lumpy moose and elk and deer almost all in the same thing, but no, moose are so much bigger.

SPEAKER_00 55:06

Oh, they're big.

SPEAKER_01 55:07

They're like bigger than a horse.

SPEAKER_00 55:10

They're like a horse.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

Yeah, that's my figure, like a horse, except uh thicker, I think, just more thick. Yeah, and then like a draft horse.

SPEAKER_00 55:19

Yeah. And they've got giant, you know.

SPEAKER_03 55:22

Right. That's where you got like the horse, and then this going like, yeah.

Alaska Surfing And Farewell

SPEAKER_01 55:30

Is there any surfing in Alaska that you hear about? Because I know people will surf in anything. Do you ever hear about that?

SPEAKER_04 55:36

True.

SPEAKER_00 55:39

I yes, there is. Um, there's some like tidal bore surfing. What is title? Tidal bore. So the tidal bore, like the the tournigan arm is a oops, I have a visitor coming. Okay, all right. But I'll just say the tournament arm is like a tidal uh waterway. And so as the tide comes in, then people will surf that occasionally. Okay, very good. I see it. Tidal bore, like that.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. All right.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Okay, well that you guys have been a great conversation. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for all this. Yes, we have to follow up again. This was great. Thank you. Bye.

Follow Rate Review And Connect

SPEAKER_01 56:24

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app? And if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review.

SPEAKER_05 56:36

Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at Where Next Podcast. Thanks again.