Homewards bound
12 January 2025 – Ushuaia
Welcome to the final blog post of the trip! It could be said I have the worst day to write the blog, the day we leave, but at least we can reminisce the whole trip. This was a tough day for all the students, everyone has had such an amazing time and gained so much from the trip and it’s quite emotional to say goodbye.
The day started with breakfast, before final packing and leaving the ship at 8:35am. The smiles and waves from the crew as we walked down the gangway was a lovely goodbye but made it even more tough to leave. We had a little stop in Ushuaia to get a group photo and our passport’s stamped with Antarctica. We bid farewell to our trip leader, Sonja, as she headed off to Chile for more fieldwork! It is quite odd to think the next time we will all be together is back in St Andrews, where normal life will continue.
As we approached the airport we were reminded that another group of lucky travellers were arriving to start their trip down to Antarctica, with their unknowing faces, unsure of what was to come. We all wished we could go back two weeks to when we arrived in Ushuaia or shake them and tell them how incredible this is going to be and to enjoy every second! Instead we sat waiting for our flight reminiscing about all the memories we would take away, sharing our favourite moments with each other. Our first day in Antarctica, waking up in Paradise Bay, was a popular one, with witnessing sea ice developing and emperor penguins off Cape Gage being high up there too.
After a short 3 hour flight we arrived into Buenos Aires, a staggering 30 degree Celsius, a bit of a shock to the system after two weeks at sea with temperatures below 5 degrees! The rest of the day was spent adjusting back to life on land, soaring temperatures and having to figure out where and what to eat (turns out having a buffet every day is a very easy way to live). With many tired faces around, the group was split, those who went to bed early to prepare for long days of travel to come, and those who couldn’t resist a cool rooftop bar! And the final day drew to a close…
Thank you for tuning in to the blogs, I hope you have enjoyed reading about our trip. However sad we are to be leaving, it just shows how much we have enjoyed it all. I hope the blogs have shown how much we have all learnt from this experience. It has truly been life changing! A huge thank you to Sonja and Mike for making this experience possible for us and allowing us to make the most of every second.
Bon voyage, farewell Antarctica!
written by Holly
I've loved reading this blog! It sounds like such an exciting and rewarding experience! I'm curious as to how students are selected to go on this trip. Is there a group of teachers/professors that decide the group? Can members be from any discipline or only from Biology? Is it inclusive across biology or are members required to have taken paths through marine biology and conservation. Do students on Joint degrees get this opportunity? Would love so information on this because I'm a first year student (Joint Honours: Biology and Earth Science) and would love to go on this trip!