Exploring Antarctica aboard Roald Amundsen, Part 1

Today is Tuesday, November 1st, 2022, and we're spending two days on the Drake Passage. We left Ushuaia yesterday, or the vicinity of Ushuaia, southernmost city in the world, and now we're headed to Antarctica due south. And the Drake Passage is all too familiar for its rough seas because three oceans meet here, the Southern Sea, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, and it really makes it rough. So nothing going on except relaxing, eating, playing a little cards, and waiting to get to Antarctica by tomorrow. As you can see how rough it is, we're really bouncing around. It's Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022, and we've just come into the outlying islands of Antarctica, and I'm going to go outside to get some video, but the wind's blowing so hard you'll not hear anything but just static through the voice, so that's why I'm telling you what we're doing right here. Flight to the continent, but it's beautiful. The sun is shining. Trying to get a little video. You won't hear much from the wind. So over the underwear. That comes next. Get the sleeves down as best you can so we have that. Then we put on our waterproof pants. Go over these pants. If I can get my leg up. It's called old age. It calls bad back. You put these on. This is to keep your pants dry because we're in the zodiac and the water will splash up. Get this down. Then we put on our coat. Our coat goes on. And we zip that up as best we can. Okay, now we have that on. Then we put on our outer Hertha Gruden jacket, which is water resistant with the hood, of course, so that the hood is ready. Okay, then we have our muck boots that go on. We'll be putting our feet in there, and these pants will go over the boots so the water doesn't get in them. Then we put on our cap. Make sure our ears stay warm. Whoops, one thing we forgot. The neck gaiter. You got to have a neck gaiter, and this can be pulled up, and then you put on your, what did I do with my hat? I lost my hat. Right there, Nope. Anyway, then you put on your cap and your boots. What did I do with my cap? It's right over there by the gloves. Here it is. That gaiter comes up, this comes up, and of course, you must have some gloves. Anyway, you get the point. This glove's not going on well, so this is what we look like when we go out. Your hood needs to come up. Well, I only have to pull it up if it gets real windy, and I got two hoods. And the penguins think we're big penguins with odd colored skin. So this is what we look like when we leave, and the temperature when we go out is going to be 32 degrees freezing. Wind chill could be between 32 and zero. So, see you on the other side. All right, we're on the island of Half Moon. You can see we've already got some gentoo penguins here. It's Wednesday, November 2nd. There's our mothership. There's our staff that helps us load and unload. There is Susie waving, and Tom. He kind of waves a little bit. There's Ann. Where'd Ann go? Over here. Ann's over there. I made it. Okay, I'm going to get a few of these penguins in here. We will be seeing them. Here goes Master Rick, pulling his weight up. Oh yeah, smart alligator. Come on, get over by the top, honey. No, just close. On the top are eaglets. I believe they are chinstrap penguins. So, more later. All right, here we are with a little hill that we can see across the water toward the back side of the island to another island that's here. It still is sleeting a little bit here. It's probably a little bit below freezing. The snow we're walking in is pretty deep. What's unique is the blue ice that you get here. I think you can see it. Look, you see that there's blue underneath the ice, and it shows that way in the glaciers as well. More to see.