Sorry, this is long overdue! Antarctica had a profound impact on us, and here is a movie we made with some help from a few really talented & generous people: Dan Jobson for some serious magic on the overall movie, Alex Reid for the above poster that made us feel like we come straight out of Tintin, Ben Shaw and Ben Talbot-Dunn for the original soundtrack which makes us teary every time, Bob Brown Foundation/Sea Shepherd Global for additional footage to share with you some of their tireless work against krill fishing, and even the incredible images from the iconic Art Brewer so we could illustrate to you the history of surfing in the frozen continent. We hope you enjoy it.

A few words, in case you don’t feel like watching the movie.

Where to start, and how to avoid cliches. Antarctica was all that we hoped for, and much more. It is hard to put the feelings into words. It really didn’t feel like we were on planet earth, and the experience and level of intensity at times pushed our minds into uncharted territories!

We quickly learned that sailing & navigating these waters isn’t easy, especially since some of the areas we were aiming for is uncharted. It required some calculated risks, which our captain was willing to take as we watched him in awe. Once we hit the bottom really hard, only to get dragged along the reef and thrown from side to side, the boat making the most horrendous noises. Having a steel boat with a lifting keel helped.

We worked hard to read the weather & nautical charts in order to give ourselves the best chance of finding rideable waves. It wasn’t easy and required patience. We managed to surf a few places where the line up was busy with Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins. They were either swimming all around us, or witnessing our attempts from nearby rocks. In such places, surfing two-foot waves is almost better than your first Christmas!

We didn’t find world class waves, but the feeling of paddling & gliding freely with such a backdrop, under the eyes of elephant seals, was exceptional. It was made a little extra special as it isn’t that common; no females have surfed the continent before and only a couple of expeditions had surfed there previously. Paddling back to the boat half-frozen and hanging our thick wetsuits to dry in our tiny sleeping area was quite a sight, but never got on our nerves. It just created more opportunities for laughter. 

In spite of the challenges we loved every bit of it, and we all loved each other’s company despite being in a fairly inhospitable environment, with zero personal space for 4 weeks. We went from being total strangers to great friends knowing just about everything about each other. Thank you Rachel, Joe, Alex, Patrick, Zeek, Javier and Pili for being the best surf and sailing buddies!

Snow fell, wind blew, fog was often present, but the sun made some glorious appearances too. We witnessed a serious amount of wildlife; mostly penguins, whales, leopard and elephant seals, porpoises, albatross and giant petrels.

Icebergs are indescribable… we’ll try ‘ethereal, majestic and intriguing’… and everywhere! Sadly, it was reported by various scientists from the research bases we visited, that it was the worst they have seen. The ice cap is breaking off rapidly.

Sailing past Cape Horn and across the Drake passage can be tough but seemed to be the only good way to travel far with minimum impact on our surroundings. We did get thrown around and felt as bad as it gets for days at a time. A few kgs were lost.

Things got genuinely tricky on the way back to Ushuaia. Such boats and places require the use of the engine, either to help when the winds are unfavourable, when the currents are too strong, or when tight manoeuvres are required. Our engine didn’t really cooperate, and our ridiculously talented captain managed to weld, drill and improvise ways to keep us going through the struggles…not just once but on 7 occasions. Rather than the usual 4 to 5 days, it took us 9 days to cross back to Patagonia, with a fair amount of uncertainty in these high seas. At one point we were so low on water that we were boiling pasta using the very salty ocean water, certainly not helping our thirst for more water. Secretly we often wondered if it was time for Mayday, but we all managed to stay calm and there were some big cheers and hugs at the dock. Our captain and crew was the best! 

Prior to the trip we reached out to Bob Brown Foundation to see if we could contribute or help in any way with their Antarctic campaigns. We are now in the process of compiling some imagery and observations that will hopefully help in some way. We learned a lot about a number of threats to the continent, from microplastic pollution to melting ice, as well as a booming tourism industry. We can honestly say that parts of Antarctica looked like a circus at times. Numerous large cruise ships (with gym, pool, disco and even mini submarines onboard) visit certain areas, offloading hundreds of visitors at a time for a variety of activities, without ever turning their engines off for 10 days at a time. We were part of that circus in some ways, and feel quite confused and guilty about it all.

And some exciting news – we got married (most of you know it by now!!). Amidst a beach clean up and under the inquisitive eye of a King Penguin, Ben got down on one knee. Luckily Zeek, our Argentinian captain, had the right to marry us in these international waters. The ceremony and the celebration was overflowing with laughter and emotions. As Zeek said “You made us cry you bastards!”. Everybody played a role, improvising bow ties out of beach garbage, Laura’s veil out of a dirty laundry bag, and a bouquet from paper! Our trip is now turning into our honeymoon, and we couldn’t be happier!

Antarctica is a giant scientific laboratory with many countries working on a wide range of important issues, from general pollution to global warming impacts and of course marine life. Being fairly isolated and only a small boat, we were invited to visit two bases – the Spanish and Bulgarian bases on Livingstone Island. To celebrate our marriage a little more, the Bulgarian scientific base crew used it as an excuse to turn their workshop into a disco… and it was on. We are still shaking our heads in disbelief when thinking about the great party in such an unlikely setting. Oh and we even got to have a hot shower, something we couldn’t indulge in too often on the boat! 🙂

Well that’s it for now, but we’ll share a few more things in the next few weeks. It had a real impact on us. As a friend that helped us achieve our goal, once said: “Antarctica, a mind blowing, life changing, soul enhancing trip of a lifetime. Antarctica never leaves you, it becomes part of you.” We completely agree. 

Cheers.

Laura & Ben