Let’s talk about the weather

After two days at sea in the Drake Passage, we reached Antarctica again yesterday and kicked off the trip with an adventure-packed day: We started the day with a landing on Peterman Island, a tiny little island on the west coast of the Antarctic Pensinsula, at the south end of the stunning Lemaire Channel.

I didn’t get to go ashore, though: We decided it would be a good day to squeeze some additional boat driving and guiding training in for me. Training conditions were perfect: Antarctica had decided to gift us with lots of wind and swell, and chucked in a generous amount of snow for good measure. After all our boats that took our guests to the landing site had taken off, we started to practice manoeuvering in challenging conditions. We finished up and put our boat on the hook before our guests returned from the landing site, and while we enjoyed our lunch, the Captain moved the ship a bit further up north and took us to Salpetrière Bay, just opposite of Port Charcot.

When we got there, we lowered our kayaks and the zodiacs back into the water for a round of scenic cruising around the dozens of icebergs grounded in the shallow waters, offering a stunning display of beauty. Cruising conditions were perfect: Antarcica had changed her mind about the weather and now gifted us with a bright blue sky, sunshine and a mirror-like water surface, moved not even by the slightest of winds. We were thrilled to be able to show our guests what icebergs look and sound like when they melt in the sun, runoff water glistening on their surface as they snap, crackle and pop in the icy waters like a giant bowl of Rice Crispies.

Just as we were in the middle of our last round of cruising and kayaking operations, the weather changed again. Within minutes, Antarctica had had enough of us, and kindly asked us to leave her waters by thrashing us with heavy wind and snowfall, taking away all vision and giving our kayakers Popeye-sized arms as they had to battle the wind to get back on board. Everyone returned to the ship in a hurry, all kayaks and boats were hauled in as quickly as possible. When the penultimate boat went onto the hook, it was still snowing, but the wind had calmed down as suddenly as it had picked up – and by the time the last boat went up, the sun had come out again, an obvious sign that Antarctica was pleased with herself at chasing us all out of her water in record time.

If you think that the weather changes fast where you live…. you’ve probably not been to Antarctica.