New Year in Antarctica with "Travel Club Special". Anastasia's story.
What travel destinations come to mind when planning your next trip for the New Year? In most cases, those that are well known, traveled far and wide, trampled under the feet of millions of tourists. And if you want something different, unusual?
Antarctica! Celebrate the New Year at the edge of the Earth, walk along the coast, where, perhaps, no human has set foot for 100 years, see ten-thousand colonies of penguins sleeping on ice floes of sea leopards, visit polar stations. Few people can boast of such a holiday.
We (the Russian group) met the New Year itself twice - the first time at 17:00 Argentine time (on board we lived according to it), and in Moscow it was just 00:00, we raised glasses together for everyone who was on the shore and at home . And already at midnight on board time, we all went out on the open deck with champagne and songs, and at exactly 00:00 our ship hummed - instead of chimes. After congratulations from the captain and expedition leader, we went down to the bar and continued the fun.
Lucky were those who were able to stop in time, because on January 1 we were woken up at 6 am - we were informed by loudspeaker that 5 whales were swimming around our ship. We were at anchor, and they were not going to sail away, so everyone was able to photograph them.
From this moment the most interesting began. Every day we landed twice a day, walked with the penguins, climbed the mountains, ski poles were very handy. The air temperature was about 5 degrees Celsius - the peak of the season. And the water temperature is 0 - 1, so the bathing took place - such warm water! To swim, you had to take a queue - there were a lot of people who wanted to. True, it’s difficult to call it swimming - it’s more like a jump, then the realization that “I did it” and running back. I could not swim, now, sitting in the Moscow summer, I am very sorry.
A cruise to Antarctica is not a standard cruise aboard a mega-liner, it is not a relaxed walk where the coast of Antarctica can only be seen through a window or from open decks. But it was our New Year's cruise that also included additional activities: camping, kayaking, rock climbing and skiing. Camping is a night on the coast of Antarctica. During our cruise, 60 volunteers gathered, someone was lucky, and he got a sleeping bag in which you can spend the night even without a tent. These bags are not distributed in any way, whoever came first and wanted it got it. A lot of people were also engaged in kayaking, we all landed on the shore and cruised on zodiacs (motorized rubber boats), and kayakers traveled along their route. Skiers are brave guys, we landed them in the morning on one side of the island, and picked them up in the afternoon on the other side.
Our Russian group was accompanied by two members of the Special Travel Club. All programs, briefings, menus were in Russian, loudspeaker announcements were also duplicated, even the newspaper with the news was in Russian. During sea crossings, they watched films and listened to lectures in Russian. In recent days, a charity auction was held and a skit concert organized by the crew was shown - we could not believe that the girl Pia from the reception sang better than Gloria Gaynor. It was funny to see how our waiters dance the samba, but it's very nice that they are trying so hard for us. One day there was a barbecue on the open deck and a "creative hats" contest.
Men were especially inventive, the victory went to a tourist with a box on his head, in which a palm tree grew and a penguin lived. In the competition for the best photo, our Russian group, unfortunately, did not win either. But on board we felt at home, because the captain was Russian - Oleg Klaptenko. The captain dined with the passengers twice: welcome and farewell dinners.
Several passengers celebrated their birthdays on board, including Olya from our group. These days at dinner, all the waiters with a song took out a cake with candles. And if your new friends have a birthday on board, you can buy a gift in the gift shop.
Our ship, the Ocean Dimon, was very spacious: a restaurant, a bar, a gym, a library, and a spa. The policy of an open captain's bridge - you can feel like a captain. And in a spacious cabin you can feel at home, with the only exception that the ocean splashes outside the window, and the mysterious Antarctica awaits outside the door...
Now in my passport I have another rare stamp “about visiting Antarctica” and a commemorative certificate that I was there. Photographs were also left as a souvenir, but the most important thing is unforgettable impressions and a slightly different me. Because I'm sure such trips change us a little, of course, for the better : )
