The five senses of Antarctica

If anything can save the world, I’d put my money on beauty. - Douglas Tompkins

Initially, I was hesitant about visiting Antarctica. While I am an independent person and solo travel was nothing new to me, I felt a little nervous about travelling to the bottom of the earth. Perhaps because it was so mysterious. I didn’t know anyone who had done it before, and my only knowledge of it consisted of reading travel blogs and a few pages of a book.
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However, I got word of a great deal, and within seven days, I booked it and was on a plane from Punta Arenas, Chile to St. George Base, Antarctica. That was the beauty (so much beauty!) of it all. It was the most I’d ever spent on a trip and the least amount of time I’d ever had to prepare for one, and it was absolutely fantastic because I had no expectations. I barely did any research beforehand, and it made the trip all the better. Is that not the joy of travel? Being flexible and letting each experience invigorate every one of your senses? Here’s how Antarctica impacted mine.

​Sight

Antarctica was more magical than anything I had ever seen in all my travels. The bluest blues, the whitest whites, the water so clear that I could see the ice floating inside of it and the penguins beneath ready to come out and porpoise.

Not only did the vivid colours take my breath away, but so did the animals. At one point, a humpback whale was so close to our zodiac that we could reach out and touch the barnacles on it if we’d wanted to. These beautiful animals who live in such an unexplored part of the earth astonished me.

We saw four species of penguins (including the rare emperor penguin!), three species of seals, and countless birds. On one of our last excursions, we woke up at 5:30 am to take the zodiacs out during sunrise at Baily Head, featuring a colony of 120,000 penguins walking on highways that reminded me of what commuters in New York City must look like from a bird’s eye view (pun intended).

Hear

At 7:00 am every morning, a cheery song would ring over our speakers to wake us up: “Good morning! Good morning!”

Our expedition leader’s voice greeted us after the tune, his English accent encouraging us out of our slumber. As he told us the plan for that day’s adventure, we got everything ready, including our muck boots, snow pants, and expedition coats.

Even better than our expedition leader’s voice were the animal ones. From gentoo penguins bantering with each other to elephant seals playfully fighting with one another, we were able to identify different species of animals just by their sound by the end of the trip.  

One of the most beautiful sounds, however, was silence. When an animal was spotted, perhaps a gasp would be heard, but then it turned quiet as all the passengers in the zodiac stared in awe, as everything they’d seen in books and on television was now right in front of them.

​Taste

Delicious, nourishing meals were served on the ship three times a day. Besides filling our bellies for the next excursion, this was a great way to get to know the other passengers and staff on board and recall the day’s adventures. Amidst the conversation, there were bound to be whale sightings as the ship glided through the pure water, carefully passing glaciers.

Breaking bread with fellow passengers made us all that much closer as the voyage went on.

Touch

Everything on this adventure touched my heart. It might sound cheesy, but there’s an unspoken life-lasting bond you form with these people who are as crazy as you to travel to the end of the world. One of the spunkiest passengers must have been in her 70s. She would work out with us and even led us through a round of laughter yoga. I hope I have that vitality and joy for life when I am her age. She was so inspiring.

Another passenger gave me a bracelet that reads, “Embrace Challenge.” I felt that I had embraced challenge in the biggest way possible trekking to the end of the earth by myself. I still wear that bracelet every day to remind myself that I cannot grow without stepping outside of my comfort zone.

​Smell

As cute as penguins are, they are also pretty smelly. Instead of having white chests, most of them had a splash of brownish-reddish colour on them. From what? Well, it was from the food they fed to their baby chicks. It’s okay, though; their aroma was nothing compared to their adorableness.

The air smelled amazing. After one of our morning workouts, we went outside and closed our eyes and took a succession of deep breaths. In such an isolated part of the world, I knew these were the cleanest breaths I would ever take. With each inhale, I took in the purity of the air, the joy of the moment, and the wonder of the surroundings. With each exhale, I let go of control, doubt, and pain.

The beauty of this continent and the freedom it gave me is something I will never forget.

Author - Sylvia Rajska

I have six states left to finish all 50 states in the USA, speak two languages, have been to over 40 countries, and I do not see myself stopping anytime soon! You can reach me at [email protected]