Category: ANTARCTICA

In case you are not the type of person who travels often, I will share my return flights adventures with you.

If you read the previous post, you know I flew from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires, and was about to fly from Buenos Aires to Dallas. Lucky me, I had the extra security designation on my boarding pass. In Argentina, they do a second security screening at the gate right before you board- searching every piece of luggage everyone is bringing on board by hand- kind of like if you bring a backpack to an amusement park or a sports stadium. The extra security screening means I had to remove my shoes for inspection and get the explosive residue testing on my hands, shoes, and all of my pockets. On the plus side, the Argentine security officer loved my necklace of all of the students and staff! We had quite a conversation about that, as the explosive detection computer was having some problems (the last before me got the explosives found alarm to go off, and mine just wasn’t reading at all).

Once onboard, it was a battle for overhead bin space for my carryon. Then, it was settling in for a 10 1/2 hour flight in a roughly 4 square foot space.

We got dinner on the flight- a choice of beef or pasta. Then it was time to check out the movies and try to fall asleep. Since there are only so many ways you can contort your body in that tiny space, so sleep is difficult. I had the window, which is what I prefer, as then I can lean against it with my travel pillow for an additional shape to fit my body into. About an hour before we were to land, we were served a ‘snack,’ which is actually a cold breakfast sandwich and a granola bar. Much bigger than your standard bag of pretzels, so that is appreciated.

Here’s where things get complicated. When entering into the US from a foreign country, you must go through customs. We were supposedly in a line that would take 14 minutes to clear customs, but I think the person who put that time in was dyslexic. It took me 41 minutes to get through customs. It has changed from when I was younger (although I’m sure it still depends on the airport). You walk up to a screen and it takes your picture. If it recognizes you, you get the green light and go on to collect your bags from baggage claim (even if you aren’t staying in this city). I don’t know what happens if the system doesn’t recognize you, but there is a security agent waiting at the lane you are in to assist with that.

After you collect your bags, you now go through the customs declaration process. If you brought in plants, fruit, vegetables, meat, really expensive goods, etc. then you need to declare these with the agent. If not, you go through ‘nothing to declare.’

Now you get to hand back your checked bags so that they can make it on your next flight. Now it’s on to security again, repeating the airport security process you did for every plane trip you’ve ever taken from the US. I happen to be TSA pre-check, and at Dallas-Fort Worth, the pre-check line took 20 minutes, and was wrapped around the corner from the security, into the ticketing area for American Airlines.

From the moment my plane touched down until the moment I made it to my gate for my flight to Milwaukee was an hour and sixteen minutes, in case you ever need to plan. And that was with the help of the tram I took from terminal D to terminal A in this airport.

And now I am sitting on my final plane with a flat tire. But my bags are on board, I’m on the plane, too, and I know I’ll get home eventually. I just wanted to share the nitty gritty of travel, as so often it looks glamorous. There’s always something that adds to the stress, but that’s what makes travel so good for people- it’s a reminder to be resilient and flexible. There are things that aren’t always in your control, but you just have to roll with it and do the best you can. People who tend to get very stressed in these situations tend to think that they are the only ones experiencing the trouble. I have experienced countless times over when a plane comes in late and someone is practically leaping over everyone to get out because they have a plane to catch. 9 times out of 10 the people in front of the impatient person are also trying to make connections, too. A little kindness and patience go a long way in traveling.

It is so weird to see so many people again. I got used to hanging out with the same 102 passengers and the 30 or so crew I interacted with. It feels like we just broke up a band or something. We all got to know each other so well in the last 2 weeks- taking pictures for each other, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, sharing unbelievable experiences…and now we all go our separate ways.

We started the morning with our last wake up call at 6:30. After eating breakfast, we disembarked and went to explore Ushuaia. E we went to the Maritime Museum, which is actually 5 museums in one building (that used to be the prison). It was fun to wander around and learn about Argentine military, prisons, and art.

After that, we were dropped off at a local hotel that had a hospitality room for us to enjoy food, chat with our friends, and serve as a base camp for those who wanted to explore Ushuaia on foot. Knowing I was going to spend 18 hours on a plane, not counting layover time, I opted to walk around. I loved strolling the streets of Ushuaia, with its beautiful mountains and cute buildings. Some of the travelers in our group thought it looked like Switzerland, but I compared it to the town of Banff in Canada (mainly because I’ve never been to Switzerland)!

I went back to the hospitality room for food, as I’m now programmed to need to eat every two hours it seems. As I was finishing up, one of my new friends asked if I was interested in going for a walk with her. Again thinking of the hours I’d be in that tiny plane seat, I decided I didn’t mind another walking excursion. This time, I went in search of the “End of the World” sign, and then we walked along the water. We found a very cool convention center, and what we think was an emergency services station. We also stopped in the Hard Rock Cafe, as this town seemed like an interesting spot for that restaurant.

And then, before we knew it, it was time to board the bus to the airport. The takeoff (and landing) in Ushuaia is so gorgeous- flying between mountains in the lowest section of the Andes. It is always a bit turbulent, though, because of the heavy winds in this area, and I’m sure the mountains create some interesting air flow as well.

Once we landed in Buenos Aires, we had to collect our checked bag and check it with our homeward bound airline. Then we scanned our ticket for entry into the security area. Security happened next- Argentina requires you to remove jewelry, belts, and anything metal. They also require you to pull out your phone, computer, and tablet. Shoes stay on, however. After that, it was time for immigration. I stood in the line for quite awhile and met a woman from Michigan who had been on a ship bound for Antarctica, but it had trouble so they never made it to Antarctica. She left from Cape Town, South Africa and spent 20 days on the ship that limped along to Ushuaia. She said they were all pretty grumpy for most of the trip. She also said this was the 4th time that she had tried to get to Antarctica. The first time she had to back out because of a medical situation. The second time Covid shutdowns prevented her trip. The third time her trip got canceled because the crew of the ship she was going on got Covid. And now a broken engine. Talk about a lot of disappointment. I felt so bad for her.

After we had been in line for about 15 minutes, an Argentine officer came and told us that Americans can go scan their passports at the kiosks on the side for an easier and quicker time. We were in and out of there in a breeze. It was a simple scan of the passport, scan the boarding pass, take a picture, and scan your thumb. Then you proceed to the exit of the security area where a camera takes your picture again. I’ve also observed that there is additional bag screening at the gate when the airplane is boarding!

I am now awaiting my flight to Dallas/Fort Worth. It looks like it is about 10 hours, so I’m going to start making laps around the gate to stretch my legs. Hopefully next time I blog, I’ll be back on American soil!

It’s the last full day on the ship, and it is so tough to say goodbye to the incredible people on this expedition. The National Geographic naturalists have been incredible- learning from scientists who have ongoing research projects on seals, ice, and underwater marine life, just to name a few, has been an unbelievable learning experience. Getting camera setting tips from National Geographic photographers is a wonderful learning experience! I knew when I left home for this journey that it would be the experience of a lifetime, but I never realized exactly how deep this adventure would go!

I think one of the greatest things about this journey will be how it is not over yet. I am collaborating with teachers all over the US and the world in a variety of subject matters- from high school physics, to 5th grade classrooms, to other music teachers. I have activities planned for my own teaching, and I did data collection for other teachers. This is truly a global project and I’m grateful to be a part of all of it.

Today featured more presentations from our naturalists, including a discussion on “Protecting the World’s Most Important Ocean” (how important the Southern Ocean is), “Photographing When it Hurts” (taking photographs in less than ideal situations), “Threats to Seabirds and the Marine Ecosystem” and “Natural History Behind the Scenes”

After lunch, we passed Cape Horn. It was beautiful to see those jagged cliffs coming into view – I never really knew how beautiful this area of South America is. It’s definitely a bit disappointing to see land again, but then I remember that a return to land means I’m that much closer to being reunited with my family!

Tonight we got a treat- it was a dance party with the band “Shackletunes,” which is composed of waitstaff, stewards, and crew. It was quite the international event. What better example of how music brings people together than to have all of these people forming this band just for fun and playing for the guests! And, everyone- guests and staff- danced all night long. It was a wonderful celebration to end the night!

Tomorrow we get the opportunity to explore Ushuaia for a few hours before the charter plane takes us back to Buenos Aires, and ultimately home. I doubt I’ll have a chance to blog, but I won’t rule out trying to do so in an airport.

Thank you all for coming along with me on this journey! Those of you who are teachers- consider applying so that you can have your own expedition. The deadline for the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship has ended for this year, but that just gives you a longer amount of time to turn your classroom into its best explorer incubator in preparation for a great application ahead. And if you need any help in that regard, contact me. I’m happy to help.

I will be continuing to blog here as the lessons and projects that come from this experience are developed and executed with the students I teach. Feel free to continue to follow along, but I won’t be posting the links on social media every time I post a new blog entry.

Nothing to see in any direction except the big ocean….I am again traveling in the spot where the Pacific Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. The reason why the Drake Passage gets such a bad reputation is because the winds around this area aren’t slowed by land as they spin around our globe in this area.

What is incredible about passing through the Drake is the number of birds who join us for the journey- these birds (albatross and petrels) have special modifications so that they can survive without land. They fly all day long without any spot to stop and rest.

Since we were on the ship in the middle of the ocean, I do not have incredible views to share with you. However, I can tell you our day was still jam-packed with adventure. We started off the morning with a talk on the plankton of Antarctica. I really appreciated this talk because I knew of some of these species from my time on the NOAA ship a few months ago. It was really cool to see the differences in some of the plankton here vs off the coast of Oregon & California!

Following that presentation, we had the mandatory disembarkation briefing, where we got instructions on how to return our rented gear, when our luggage needs to be ready to be offloaded, and other logistical things like that. After that, we got to learn about the history of Antarctica – all the way back to when it was a temperate region closer to the equator.

After lunch, we got to experience a tour of the garbage area of the ship. Jacqueline and I had learned a lot about Lindblad Expeditions’ commitment to being sustainable and eco-friendly, so it was fascinating to see how the crew has to sort out all of the garbage. Some things get incinerated, and a lot of it gets compacted.

We were then treated to a presentation on the history of whaling. After that was done, it was tea time. Today’s tea time was special because the crew held it in the laundry room of the ship, and opened up the whole area for tours. We got to see the laundry room, the engine control room, the azipod controls, and the garage where they keep the zodiacs and kayaks. I was incredibly impressed by how pristine all of these areas were- it looked like our ship was brand new!

Once done with our tea time tours, we had a fascinating presentation on Extreme Ice Surveying, which one of our naturalists aboard is involved with. He showed us time lapse videos of the receding and advancing of Antarctic glaciers. From there, we went into our recap meeting, where we got to learn about why this ship is so smooth in rough waters (the stabilization system and the hull), the history of the Antarctic treaty, and understanding survival of the fittest in terms of Antarctic animals. We also learned that one of our shipmates is leading the naming of a whale we saw on the trip through Happy Whale. Happy Whale is a citizen science program in which people who get pictures of a whale’s flukes can upload them to the Happy Whale website and help track the whale throughout its life. Our naturalists submitted fluke photos of the first whale we saw this trip, and found out it was not named yet. We thought it would be fun to all chip in and name it in honor of this expedition, and one of the guests on the ship is organizing it. We voted on the name and everything! What a cool remembrance of our whale siting!

After another delightful dinner, I’m writing this blog post and then going to bed. Tomorrow will be my last full day on the ship before entering the airport adventures coming up. And, fyi- my daughters have been sending me the weather the last few days, and southeastern Wisconsin is colder than I ever was in Antarctica! Good thing I’ve got all of this warm weather gear for when I get home!!!

Today was our last day in the Antarctic Peninsula before heading back in the direction of home. It was hard not to feel a bit gloomy about that, but the two stops we made today made it difficult to stay sad for long. We started off at Paradise Harbour, which featured palm trees and sand beaches. Just kidding. Maybe that’s just what I have thought of as Paradise before hitting this landing.

Paradise Harbour had dramatic cliffs with Antarctic birds nesting off the sides of those cliffs. It sounded like the aviary at the zoo with constant commotion. These birds were so active, that one of the zodiac cruises got ‘poop-bombed,’ as they told me- one whole side of the zodiac (4-5 people) got bird poop on themselves and their gear! Sounds like a very immersive experience that I’m ok missing out on.

Paradise Harbour is home to the Argentine research station named Brown Base. The steps out front were shoveled, but the only inhabitants looked to be a large quantity of penguins.

I’ve really grown accustomed to hitting the hot chocolate zodiac each time we are out exploring- the hotel manager of the ship and his crew always have hot chocolate for us, and they dress up as Vikings, or today they were dressed as Santa Clauses. They play music and keep the chocolate coming.

While we were out on our zodiac cruise, we found this Weddell Seal. He was rolling around, lifting his tail, making eye contact with us. To quote the naturalist piloting our zodiac “That was a great seal encounter!”

We went back on the ship for lunch, before entering Neko Harbor. For this stop, we had our very last Antarctic landing- we got to climb up the highest incline yet. I did not go up to the top, as I saw the fog/snow was obscuring the top view and I was enjoying watching the penguins. While we were there, we heard a massive glacier calving, but it was not visible to me or to those who went to the very top (they said the view was pretty foggy, so I was glad I assessed that situation correctly). It was snowing by this time- big, thick flakes, and so I headed back down to beach level. I enjoyed seeing the penguins traveling on their penguin highways. They really are comical creatures to watch.

After our landing, we got our final zodiac tour. It was snowing pretty heavily now, but the water was so calm. It made for such gorgeous pictures with the glaciers and icebergs reflecting off of the water. What a dramatic last experience in Antarctica!

Throughout the day, we’ve been watching Humpback whales traveling with the ship. In fact, even as I am writing this blog, our ship is spinning in circles as we watch Humpbacks on all sides of us. It seems like they are waving us off from our journey. We just got to watch a mother Humpback whale and a baby Humpback whale feeding for over an hour!

I got to write the Daily Expedition Report for today. This report gets emailed out to all of the guests and their chosen family members. It was really fun to write, and hopefully people are receiving this, as mine keeps ending up in my junk emails.

Alright, tomorrow is the Drake…. Here’s hoping for the Drake Lake on the way back. I will spend the next 4 days working my way home, and will update along the way! Farewell, Antarctica…I am really going to miss you!

I’ve started writing down single words each day that summarize how I feel about each stop we make. I can’t wait to put them into a word cloud and see how it all shakes out. This place is awe-inspiring, and just the thought of walking where there are no footprints ahead of you is such an unbelievable experience. Then I like to think about how quickly our footprints will disappear with the wind and snow- like we were never there.

Today we had my favorite landing so far (although if you asked me about the previous landings, I probably would say the same thing!). We cruised through an area called the Lemaire Channel, which was unbelievable. The mountains on either side of the ship made a person feel so tiny and insignificant. The icebergs we saw were bigger than houses and the truest glacier blue yet. They have been carved into incredible pieces of artwork by wind and the ocean. After cruising through this magical dream land, we got to our landing spot. There were choices as far as what we could do, and I chose the long hike. We hiked up the side of a hill (I’d call it a mountain, but it was pretty flat compared to the mountains all around us). At the top of the hill was a cairn. Sailors in the past would leave messages in the cairn in order to let others know that they had made it to this spot and where they were headed next, in case anyone was looking for them. The view from the top of this point took my breath away. It was a 360 degree panorama of pure, raw Antarctic beauty. I have incredible pictures, but I can guarantee that none of them do the view justice.

After this amazing excursion, it was off to our next site. For this landing, I chose to do a guided photo walk. Most of my pictures are on my camera, but I did do some with my phone as well. In Antarctica, the only thing that can touch the ground are your feet and your hiking pole tips. You may never crouch, sit, or say anything down on the ground, so changing camera lenses is very cumbersome. To get around this, I bring my telephoto lens on my camera, and use my iPhone for the other pictures. This stop was particularly beautiful due to the fact it was snowing. Since we were on a photo walk with National Geographic photographers, they taught us how to play around with our camera shutter speeds to capture the snow in the pictures. It was fun, and I look forward to analyzing what I shot on that walk!

Now we turned the ship around and went through the Lemaire Channel again. Our ship is one of the few that can go through this tight channel, and I spent some time on the bridge watching the officers navigate it by hand. It is not done with autopilot! We got treated to seeing many humpbacks on our return trek.

My roommate and I were invited to the special dinner tonight (all guests get this experience, but we are divided into small groups for each night). The menu was a culinary tour of explorer Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica. It was so delicious and such a fun event.

While we were at dinner, our ship arrived at Palmer Station, an American research base. I was geeking out about being able to see this! One of our naturalists is working on a project at Palmer, so the ship stopped here so he could check on his project.

Tomorrow is our last day in Antarctica before we start the long journey north. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us tomorrow!

I am really running out of adjectives to describe Antarctica. I guess the best way to describe it is beyond your wildest dreams. I spent months watching every documentary that my library system had, along with every YouTubers’ videos, and read every book on the area I could get my hands on. Although I love surprises, I needed to know as much as possible about what I was going to see in order to prepare the students I teach for what I thought I might experience. Even armed with all of that knowledge, I am still in awe of what I see each day. The fact that this trip takes place over Thanksgiving is pretty fitting because I’ve spent the entire expedition filled with gratitude to the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship program for allowing me to have this opportunity. I am also very grateful that I have such a supportive family that supported me in the months leading up to this, as well as the voyage itself. And then there’s my school- without my principal’s support in letting me go, the students being willing to experience new things in class, great friends of mine subbing for me while the students prepare for our quickly-approaching Christmas concert, and fantastic colleagues supporting the crazy ideas I come up with to involve the students in, none of this would be possible. That’s sometimes the weird thing about participating in programs like this – I get to do amazing things, but there are so many people doing work behind the scenes to help make it successful. This is why I work so hard to include everyone in the experience that I can. It’s my responsibility to make sure they all get a chance to be involved in each experience!

So, today we got to visit two more Antarctic landings. The first one involved our ship driving right up onto sea ice. We had what one of the naturalists called a ‘biblical moment,’ as we were walking on water. We got to snowshoe all the way around this sea ice. The views were unbelievable, and my Wisconsin was showing, as I had to take off both of my coats during this adventure. I pulled out my portable weather station (because I’m a weather nerd!!!), and it was reading that it was 60 degrees (after having it monitoring for over 10 minutes!). When I got back to a naturalist, I asked her about this, as it was snowing, and that doesn’t happen when it’s 60 degrees out. After she translated my Fahrenheit reading to what the rest of the world uses, she radioed the ship bridge and they said it was 2 degrees Celsius. I’m guessing my body heat after snowshoeing for the last hour was radiating enough heat for my weather station to pick that up. I know the weather station works, as I’ve used it back home and compared the readings. Crazy, huh?

After the first stop in Wilhelmina Bay, we moved on to Cuverville Island. As we transited, the Captain paused the journey for a bit as we watched a lot of killer whales swimming on all sides of the ship. For this moment, you’re stuck with a picture of my picture on my camera:

When we reached Cuverville Island, we got to hike around, with the option to climb the cliff for an outstanding view of the icebergs and penguin colonies. Cuverville Island is home to the biggest Gentoo Penguin colony, so we got to really watch the gentoos and their mating and nesting habits. The penguins made me laugh when they fight, as they use their wings to flap at each other. You can hear the sounds of that combined with the squawking of the disagreement. I made videos and sound recordings of that, and I can’t wait to share those with the students- they’re definitely going to laugh!

I did do the optional climb, and it was steep and slippery, but the view was breathtaking. There was a fog over half of the mountains, which created a very moody effect. It was so worth all the work to get up there.

After the climb, we got a zodiac cruise of the icebergs around our ship. On the cruise, we got to see a Weddell Seal. These icebergs on this cruise were my absolute favorite. Their shapes were all eroded in some way by water or wind, and it made every iceberg look like a delicate sculpture, despite the size of the icebergs being so massive!

We got to stop at the “Viking Zodiac” for hot chocolate! Checking out the icebergs with a nice cup of hot chocolate in my hands was such a fantastic moment!

After we got back to the ship, had our daily recap, and enjoyed our preview of tomorrow’s expedition plan, we went up to celebrate Thanksgiving prepared by the Swedish, Mexican, and Filipino cook staff (they all found it funny to share that with us). It was super fun to celebrate an American holiday in an international way.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and food! ❤️ I wore my dance mom shirt from Kay’s Academy of Dance as I thought of my family all day today.

Today started with another wonderful Antarctic adventure. We are finishing up the East side of the Antarctic peninsula, before heading to the West side of the peninsula. I signed up for a Contemplation Cruise- we got into a zodiac and cruised around the giant icebergs. These icebergs are bigger than an IKEA store, according to our naturalist guide.

We got to a nice tranquil spot, stopped the zodiac and then had the opportunity to draw or paint with watercolors in a sketchbook. This did prove difficult, as it is very windy, but we all managed to create some pretty great art. We watched penguins enter and leave the water. We watched our ship reposition a few times due to the strong winds. It was really a great outing.

After this outing, we headed back out through Iceberg Alley. Sometimes it was foggy, other times it was really windy. And then we started to hit the roughest seas we’ve seen. Currently the winds are gusting up to 50 knots, with 12 foot seas. It’s going to be a rough travel night, but we’re told it will get better after 10 pm tonight.

In other non-Antarctic scenery news, I got to present about the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship and the students I teach. The wooden coins were a hit! I can’t wait to see how many people scan the QR code and add their song that reminds them of home.

Tomorrow we will have two different landings, so I can’t wait to see where we go next!