Antarctic Reflections – Favourite Moments part 1
After having been back in Scotland for over 2 months it’s time for some reflection on our polar adventure. What better way of doing this by sharing our favourite moments? Here’s what the expeditioners selected as their special memories:
Christy: “My favourite moment was certainly on our science cruise when two humpbacks approached the zodiac and stayed underneath us for what felt like hours. With whale blow on my face and my heart pounding, I could have reached out and touched them. They knew exactly where the boat was and could have easily flipped us, but they just swam under the boat over and over, knowing the awe that the humans above were feeling.”
Iga: “I have two favourite moments: One is my picture from Ushuaia, where I love how smiling I am… The trip gave me a lot of time for personal reflection and allowed me to get some distance to irrelevant stress and Uni life. Although it was taken when we went off the ship, having in mind all the memories made me really happy.”
Iga:”The other one is our polar plunge since I didn’t plan on doing it and it was a symbol of overcoming personal fears, which gave me a lot of strength.”
Antonia: “I chose the salp, since we had so far seen stunningly abundant and huge marine mammals, which however all depend on the barely visible but immensely important zooplankton (such as krill). The salps represent the environmental and ecological changes becoming increasingly prevalent in the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula.”
Lauren: “This photo was taken from Stony Point where we hiked to the top of the dome and took part in five minutes of silence. In these five minutes, it felt as if the world had stopped. There was a heavy silence that was only broken by a sporadic gust of wind, the call of a bird, or the sound of your own breath and heartbeat. There was nothing else that mattered in that moment other than listening to and feeling the world around you. It was an incredible experience, and I will remember that feeling forever.”