If First You Don't Succeed

OK, so I am one of those people who truly enjoys international travel and, as a result of my work in disaster management, I have been blessed to have the opportunity to do a great deal. However, like so many, I was missing the Seventh Continent – the Antarctic!  I have tried to make it a rule to say yes to any opportunity to travel, especially when the trip is being paid for by work. However, the one time I used logic on whether or not to travel, it was in considering travel to the Antarctic with the Planetary Studies Foundation. The regret of my life was that I let other issues take precedent over the opportunity. My work involves disaster management, so I’ve had the opportunity to travel to far off places such as Mongolia (nomadic yurts are unreal experience), Nepal (just prior to their massive earthquake), and the Philippines (a category 5 typhoon hit while I was there).  I was truly jealous of the PSF treks south and have regretted my decision ever since)

About two years ago, my wife and I decided it was time to visit our seventh continent and headed south to Buenos Aires.   We went further south to Ushuaia, on the southernmost tip of the continent. A couple more days on a small ship would get us to the Antarctic Peninsula, and all of the wonders we had been told about – so we thought!  We made it out of the Beagle channel onto the Drake Passage when a once-in-a-decade storm hit. Twenty-five foot waves and 50 mile an hour winds set the ship in dangerous motion, making it impossible to even walk on board. We were immediately directed back into Beagle Channel, where we sailed around for three days waiting for the massive storm to subside. Of course, it didn’t!   They told us to go home, and home we all went, all the way back to Chicago to face questions about our “wonderful” trip.   

Never being ones to give up, we booked a trip one year later in January of 2025 to try it yet again. On this trip, we saw a familiar face that had been on our ill-faded last trip, and it turned out this was her 7th try to get to the Antarctic. We promised that if she was the curse, she was definitely going overboard!

Our adventure was awesome and incredible, full of sea creatures, and including dozens of whales, many types of seals as well as many types of thousands of penguins. Of course, I would recommend that journey to any who are able to take it at some point.

The icebergs were beyond belief, beautiful! Especially the dark blue glaciers, created by incredible compression over hundreds of years of formation. We were amazed when picking up some ice broken off from an iceberg that it seemed to be “popping. It is actually called popcorn ice since when originally formed, gases from the atmosphere were trapped in the ice. As it melts, the compressed bubbles pop.

Once on the Antarctic Peninsula, each day we spent time at one location and then at night moved to another. Every day we would take the Zodiac boats out in the waters to seek out the incredible array of birds and sea creatures. Each day we would then take the Zodiac on a second trip and make a landing at a location where we could disembark and walk across the Antarctic ice.

It was there that we had our continuous interactions with penguins, usually gentoo or chinstrap!   We were not allowed to approach close to them, but that didn’t stop them from wanting to be near us!

However, there are a few things about penguins you may not know:

1. Everywhere we landed, there were not thousands, but tens of thousands of penguins.

2. Penguins are incredibly loud when trumpeting, and not at all melodious

3. No way around it, but penguins just plain STINK!

4. Penguins squirt poop (very far) – and it’s very pink from all of the Krill that they eat.

5. They are incredibly awkward and fall down a lot.

6. They don’t gracefully let themselves into the water, they hurl themselves off of the ice into the water.

On the other side of the coin, the furry, downy nestlings are adorable.  Every day the penguins travel high on the icebergs to get to their nests and spend the other half the day getting down to the water to go out and hunt for food.  They are awesome as they “fly” through the air and water while swimming

I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite animals of all are whales – Humpback, Orca, Minke, others. There were so many whales and right next to the boats.  Again, all inspiring!

The number of visitors and boats that can visit the and Antarctic Peninsula is strictly controlled by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO).   The entire time we were on the Peninsula, we only saw one other ship. The number of people who can step foot on the glaciers is also strictly controlled, so as not to cause any environmental damage. A real risk is bringing disease to the wildlife!  When leaving the Kodiak to go ashore, we were sprayed and treated with an antiseptic, an exercise repeated when we got back on the ship. There is a great deal of fear of bringing some type of bird flu or bird disease that would be devastating to the wildlife. 

I have to admit that I did I look down every step I took in case I would see fusion crust on a stone beneath my feet. Sadly, I did not see any, and it was probably a good thing since we’re not supposed to remove anything. I would’ve been sorely tempted.

Meteorites and meteoritics continue to be my passion, and my collection continues to grow – but sadly not from my Antarctic Experience!  Best of travels to you all.

Read the full Fall 2025 newsletter here.