40 Below: An Antarctic Birthday Quest #11 (Last Days)

Thursday March 16

The Beagle Channel and Arrival in Ushuaia

I woke up feeling sad and panicky that this was the last day of the trip. I thought through all the meals I would have that day, visualizing how I could maximize the opportunities for connecting with people I really liked before we go back to real life and the magic bubble of this trip bursts.

We had quite a few activities and lectures on the last day about climate change, citizen science recaps, and final submissions for the photography contest. Then in the afternoon we had an auction to raise money for the South Georgia Heritage Trust, HappyWhale.com, and a general crew fund. 

Some of the more creative items that were auctioned off:

1. The chance to make one of the daily announcements over the PA system, affectionately known as a “bing-bong”
2. Naming rights for an as-yet unidentified humpback whale that our ship spotted in the Gerlache Strait on HappyWhale.com (I bid on this so I could have my nephew help me pick the name for it, but the bidding went to $500 so I had to bow out)
3. A board of different kinds of knots that the engineering crew made by hand, signed by the entire crew of the ship
4. A statue of two penguins wearing Wellys
5. The flag flown over the ship for the entirety of our voyage
6. A gorgeous map of our expedition course embellished with hand-drawn pencil and watercolor illustrations of different animals we saw, done by the expedition leader who also holds an MFA in Wildlife Illustrations (this ended up being sold for thousands of dollars and similar pieces for different voyages have gone for as high as $20k).

After the auction we had the photography contest. A picture of me (taken by someone else) about to hit freezing water when I did the polar plunge almost won in the “Fun” category, but sadly the image was beaten out by a picture with a penguin. No one beats a penguin. Given that some people were outside shooting from first light until well after dark, every day, rain or shine, unless the decks were closed due to weather, I’m surprised we didn’t have a lot more entries. But there were many astonishingly good ones. I think many were worried about copyright issues with sharing their photos as well. (Don't steal mine either, please and thank you.) 

Then it was time for our final dinner. The room was abuzz with warmth and laughter and memories, and shedding of tears. Polar expeditions, Arctic or Antarctic, are a very special niche within the travel industry. And only very special people are attracted to it, and for a special few among those people, they fall irrevocably in love with it and will have no other. I believe that I was on a boat with a staff full of Polar devotees, some of them newly under the spell, some having succumbed long ago. They found it and it found them, and they will keep coming back as long as they are able. There was an 84 year old woman on board from the UK who has been to Antarctica 4 times, but her favorite place in the world, she says, is South Georgia Island.

I went to bed after a few more songs and some dancing with our Australian Assistant Expedition leader at the mic instead of the other one, to cap off a day of celebrations and remembrances, and to try and stave off the sadness of leaving.

Friday, March 17th

Disembarkation Day

We were awakened to the sound of our final “bing bong” this morning, bidding us to our final breakfast, reminding us to put our bags outside our doors, and to get our passports. Atbreakfast, I sat with Naranja and Yucca, Pomegranate, and the 84 year old woman accompanied by her niece and we all had trouble summing up our experiences. We ate together hoping we’d all see each other again, making plans, trading promises to visit and final recommendations for other travel destinations, and bid goodbye. The staff started loading us on to buses to airports, hotels, or downtown. I went back to the hotel we started at and spent the day there before another grueling 16 hours of transit to Mexico where I will meet up with some friends who are already there celebrating another 40th birthday.

Concluding thoughts:

The scale of this trip is the thing I am thinking about the most. Almost all of my large decisions over the last several years contained considerations for it, even before I left to go on the trip it changed my life. It is nice to be able to just enjoy the fruits of a good investment going forward. I have plenty of places I can mentally return to when things get overwhelming and stressful, as I’m sure they will again before very long. I am glad this is what I picked to celebrate 40 years of life. It does feel as though things are shifting and changing into a new era. But this was the right time to take a big risk, make a big investment, and create a big space to think about where I’ve come from, and where I hope to go.

I am struck by the importance of community on a trip like this. I went by myself, but I never felt alone. And the stunning beauty, the wildlife, just the life we all witnessed together was made stronger, more indelible by the fact that it was witness together. The first thing you want to know is if someone else saw the whale blow, or saw the leopard seal pop its head up, and the second thing is you want to take a picture of it to share with people who aren’t there. Sharing helps clarify to ourselves whatever it was we saw or felt. It will be impossible to fully share this experience with those closest to me, and that makes me a little sad. But I will also treasure that this time was, in the end, just me, Creation, God, silence, great beauty, and all the things I needed a good reconnection with before launching into the next decade.