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EXPEDITION UPDATE:
Travel Day!
Saturday, Dec 30
Posted at 1:21 pm EST
by Students on Ice HQ
After a big BBQ 'asado' at Moustaccio earlier this afternoon, many of our students and educators said goodbye to Ushuaia and boarded their Aerolineas flight for Buenos Aires, onward to Miami and home from there. Many of our international students are still in Ushuaia and will be spend one more night here before flying home tomorrow.
Stay tuned for more!
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EXPEDITION UPDATE:
Ushuaia, Argentina
Saturday, Dec 30
Posted at 8:47 am EST
by Students on Ice HQ
Good morning! The adventurers have landed in Ushuaia! They had a full taste of Mother Nature yesterday in what is often referred to as 'The Drake Shake.' Yet, they had a busy day, as you will see from their journals below, and they they had a chance to do something that few ships and very few people will ever do in their lives: they rounded the very famous Cape Horn -- the southern tip of South America!
But by early evening, the seas calmed and the Polar Star left the Drake Passage behind and sailed into the beautifully calm Beagle Channel. The team had a huge celebratory dinner last night; speeches were made, the Captain, Officers and Crew were applauded, travel briefings held, and last minute packing performed.
This morning the group and is touring Ushuaia (for some last minute shopping, no doubt!) and will have lunch at Moustaccio (a famous Argentine restaurant in Ushuaia) and depending on their flight schedule, some will head to the airport around noon today to begin their trip home, and others will spend one more night in Ushuaia before getting their connecting flights north.
It is a perfectly warm, sunny day in Ushuaia... a perfect end to an extraordinary voyage!
Please find below many, many journals - sent to us by Geoff this morning. .
Student (and Chaperone!) Journals
Posted by Sonora Simone Williams
Today is our last day at sea. I don’t know exactly how to feel. I do know that I feel a little seasick. Half of me can’t wait to see my mom. The other half hopes that we turn around and head back to Antarctica. One thing I do know is that I hope I never forget what I have seen and experienced. I have learned so much about the environment and how it treats us. I now know not to mock Mother Nature because these waters are a little too much for me. Tomorrow we return to the real world where I know that I will be over powered with advertisements and car horns. There is no doubt about it; I will miss the calm, quiet air where I can think and sleep peacefully. I absolutely love it here. One day I hope to return but plane so that I can actually fly over this Drake Passage. Today there are a lot of people who dread saying goodbye. I know there are a lot of people who will return and will be so touched and moved by this expedition that they will share it with the people they know. I also know that people will be inspired to keep this wonderful place on earth the same for ever. There is one person that I want to share this experience with, and that person is my mom. I know that she does all she can to give me these opportunities, and I just want to give these opportunities to her. To swim in the waters of Antarctica and to climb up and slide down a glacier with my Mom would just make me so happy.
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Posted by Kelsey Payne
I cannot believe that today is our last day before we once again board plane after plane on our journey home. Let me begin by apologizing to my parents about my severe lack of journal writing. It’s just that when I have free time, writing a journal such as this is not on the top of my list when Antarctica is outside my bedroom window. This entire trip has been perhaps the most incredible experience of my life. Every single day since our first day in Ushuaia has been one amazing opportunity after another. As the trip winds down, I have come to realize that my experiences in Antarctica have changed me for the better. It’s strange how difficult it is to realize the power of nature until one sees a place as beautiful and dangerous as Antarctica, where civilization has remained obsolete. In the past couple of days our focus has shifted mainly to reflection and a discussion on climate change. It’s disturbing to think that our actions could be responsible for the destruction of a place so untouched by nature—one of the last true wildernesses.
Today has been a fun last day, as the Drake Passage continues to get rougher. Although many people are sick in their cabins, it’s awesome to see so many people still up and joking around. I have decided that scopolamine patches are my life savers. Earlier today all the students broke into pod teams and decided to make pledges about what we would do once we got home to help our environment and continue the things we have learned on this trip. There were so many good ideas thrown out so I hope we can all keep our pledges and work to be the generation that will slow down, or even stop, the emission of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
Well, to my family and friends back at home, I will see you in a few days, and I can’t wait to tell you all of my stories about Antarctica.
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Posted by Shaun Fasbinder
Overall, this trip was absolutely amazing. In my opinion, it was worth every penny. Just sitting on the top of the hill on the last day, having a moment of silence for 10 minutes was crazy. I felt like my soul was uplifted from it. That silence that I heard was so unnatural to me, yet that is what is natural. Coming from a big city like Miami, FL, having never heard any silence -- always cars, parties, sirens, and other industrial sounds—made the silence even more. I didn’t have a chance to see the stars here in Antarctica, but I could only imagine how many you could see because there is no light pollution here to block your vision of the stars. If someone were to ask me the stupidest thing that I did lately, it definitely would be driving a boat into a volcano and then going swimming in the cold ocean. Overall, this trip changed my prospective on many things. I realized that global warming was an issue when I was wearing a t-shirt in Antarctica one day!
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Posted by Meghan Kaupp
This morning we had our wake-up call at 8:00 a.m. and then breakfast at 8:30 a.m. After breakfast, we had a little bit of time to relax or do whatever we wanted. At 9:30 a.m. we met in our pod groups to talk about youth commitment and the small things people can do to help save our planet. People have to start small because the small things add up to make bigger things, which hopefully will have an impact on the global warming issue. Our group narrowed down our long list to three things:
- Speak with our teachers and principal about how/what our school can do to raise environmental awareness (curriculum, plan)
- Send a letter/e-mail to local mayor congress person
- Post websites on “Facebook” related to environment awareness.
At 10:00 a.m. we presented these to everyone. I know when I get home I’m going to make changes. Coming home from this trip, I have changed. I am now educated and know what needs to be done because our planet is at stake.
After everyone presented their ideas, we had a little break before we filled out the SOI evaluations. After filling out the evaluations we calculated the carbon we released in the air during this trip. It was overwhelming. When Diz and Geoff get home they send the total number, in tons, of carbon we have released and they plant that enough trees to make up for it. I thought it was a great idea! Following lunch, we started packing our stuff and cleaning our cabins. My roommates and I still have a lot to do. After that we ate lunch in the dining room. After lunch, we watched a movie on Cape Horn. It was very interesting and it was awesome because the movie was filmed right where we were! Then we had a long break to play cards and hang out. The Drake Passage was very rough today. Many people got sick, but thank god I didn’t! After the break, we spotted Cape Horn in the distance.
A short while later, we ate dinner. I am looking forward to tonight. It’s our last night! The trip flew by!
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Posted by Adele Pultan
Today we got to sleep in until 8:00, but 30 minutes didn’t make too much of difference to me. Then after breakfast we went into our pod groups to write our youth commitments. Then we presented what we came up with. They were about ways we were going to raise environmental awareness. Everyone came up with great ideas for ways we can make a difference when we get home. Since the trip is almost over and this is our last full day on the Polar Star, we had to fill out evaluation forms for SOI and People to People. Then Eric and Diz went over the carbon calculator. We calculated the amount of carbon we put into the air from this trip, including and everyone flying.
Then it was time for lunch. Afterwards, we had to pack and clean up our cabins. It is hard enough to fit everything in my suitcase, but with the seas getting rougher as we go through the Drake Passage, it makes it even worse. I have not gotten sea sick yet, and I am one of the few. We then wrote a “letter to yourself,” reflecting on the trip. It was such an incredible experience and sad that we are going to be home and back to the “real world” so soon. We are coming close to Cape Horn, and we are watching the movie “Rounding Cape Horn.” Soon we will be having our farewell dinner and final recap and briefing. I can’t believe that the trip is coming to an end.
Be home soon!
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Posted by Amanda Mui
I can honestly say the only down side of this trip is being sea sick. Beyond that, this trip is the trip of a lifetime. It is beyond words and the greatest experience of my life. Here, we have no sense of time. I can never tell what day it is, and I’ve come to find this place at home. Although we’ve given up many of our luxuries, I honestly don’t miss any of it. Right now, I honestly don’t know what to say because this experience is too big to put into words. This trip is completely different from anything anyone has experienced before. It has inspired me to make a change in the world.
Even though I don’t know what I want to do in the future, I know that this trip has strongly impacted my view on the world. I’ve come to appreciate the small things in life and truly appreciate our world. I wish that everyone in the world would realize how we are affecting our planet and find a way to protect it from farther harm.
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Posted by Ryan Kits
Well, today, sadly, is my last day at sea. We have been cruising across the Drake steadily at a rather brisk 14 knots, and we finally got a taste of what the weather can be like here. We ran into winds coming from the west at about thirty five to forty knots from the north-west. They started whipping up the swells until we were in a force eight, just about force nine gales. It was unbelievable! I loved it, we were seeing sky for two or three seconds, then looking almost straight down at water. As you can imagine, there were a lot of sick people, but the lucky few who were healthy enjoyed an awesome ride. The ship’s bow was plunged underwater a few times, and walls of water were smashing into the bridge. We were getting rocked by twenty to twenty two foot waves, mostly coming in from port side of the ship. Anyways it’s a sad thing to leave the Antarctic, but when I get home I’ll be rarin’ to tell some stories!!
Love you all and see you in a couple days!!
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Posted by Andrew Naab
All I can say is this really stinks! Our trip is drawing to an end, and for some people that may not be a bad thing. Right now we are sailing through the Drake Passage, which now seems to be pretty rough compared to the Drake Passage we had at the beginning of the trip. We are rocking back and forth constantly, going up and down, up and down. It is an on-going process. But luckily by tonight we will be in the protected waters of the Beagle Channel! Which is a good thing for some and for others that means the excitement is coming to an end. Anyway, let me tell you about our day.
Our morning started off with most of us waking up to a wonderful breakfast, which was at eight-thirty and wake-up call was at eight. After breakfast, we had a tad bit of free time. Then nine-fifteen or so we met with our pod groups and discussed the commitments we wrote down yesterday on the big poster paper. We are supposed to narrow down our ten our so commitments to about three to five. These commitments are what we promise to do once we arrive back home to help the environment and help stop global warming! After we narrowed down our choices, we presented them to everyone. We then had some time to ourselves for some packing, napping, and basically anything else you needed to get done. After about an hour of free time, Eric helped us calculate how many tons of carbon we have used since we arrived in Miami. The amount of carbon dioxide I have used is about 5.8 tons including air travel. We then had lunch, and during lunch Olle signed his book for anyone who bought it! He signed mine! After lunch we had more free time. Then at about two forty-five we did an activity called Letter to Self. You can only guess what that means. We wrote letters to ourselves about our experience on this trip. In a year Students on Ice will mail these letters to us that we will have written a year ago. It will be so much fun to read our letters we wrote! After that, we watched a movie called Around Cape Horn. It was a story of a sailor’s experience traveling around Cape Horn. It was one of the most dangerous places for boats to go at the time. Now we have free time, which leads up to now. In about an hour we are doing something with impressions so it should be fun, and later tonight having a farewell dinner and more packing. We will actually lay sights on Cape Horn! We will eventually reach the Beagle Channel and arrive in Ushuaia later tonight!
Well, farewell Antarctica, and I hope our paths cross again!
Go Bengals!
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Posted by Christine Page
Antarctica Alphabet
Adelie Penguin, Beagle Channel, Chinstrap Penguins, Danger Island, Elephant Seals, Fulmars, Giant Petrels, Humpback Whales, IOTTA, Jade Icebergs, Krill, Leopard Seals, Minke Whales, Neko Island, Ozone Layer, Port Lockroy, Quaternary Era, Rock Glaciers, Skuas, Tabular Icebergs, Ushuaia, Vernadsky Station, Weddell Seals, X-Ray (Echolocation), Yellow-Nosed Albatross, Zodiacs
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Posted by John Paydo
It is time to come home! We made it through the Drake Passage with a fantastic ride! Huge swells greeted us as we saw Cape Horn; the southern most tip of South America. We are now getting ready for a celebration of our time together! Thanks for following our expedition. I have learned so much – I hope you have too! Happy New Year to my family and friends! Also, Happy New Year to my students at Mayfield Middle School! See everyone soon!
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Posted by ‘Blondie’
Hello, all back home. The trip has been so much fun, and I can’t believe that it is already coming to an end. We have learned so much and seen so many things that a lot of people might never get to see. Everyone is getting sadder because we might not see them again! This trip has been so much fun, and I am never going to forget about it. One of my favourite things we did was when we were at the top of a hill, planning on being quiet for a minute and then ended up being silent for 10 minutes! It was such a beautiful sight! I am hoping to stay in touch with all of my friends, and I can not wait until we get back to land! I MISS LAND!! Well, other than the fact that this trip has been something that none of us will forget, I can not wait to get home and tell everyone about what I have learned! I can’t wait to see everyone back home and tell you everything, along with all of my sweet pictures!!
See everyone soon!
Miss ya Mom, Grandma, Tim and all the animals to!
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Posted by Steven Hamilton
Hello, Knoxville family and friends. I’m calling from the Drake Passage. We are on the last day on the water. We should go around Cape Horn around 3 PM and then up the Beagle Channel. We will get to Ushuaia at 7 AM tomorrow. The water has been a little rougher than the trip down. Swells are at 6 – 10 feet with a much rougher night, but I slept through it. The scopolamine patch has been my saviour. The sky and the water are the same royal blue out here. I have seen a couple of albatross today again. It is hard to believe the trip is almost over. It has been an amazing adventure. I would expect this to become a more popular tourist sight in the future. About 25,000 to 30,000 tourists visit a year. Maybe I will come back but only with my family. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone soon. This will be my last note. No one can tell me why my entries are not visible on the web site. They publish every note they get so who knows. All my love to my family; home in two days!!
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Posted by Valerie Perez
Today is the last day on sea! I can’t believe it. This trip went by so fast! Well, I just wanted to tell my momma sorry for not writing yesterday! I’m really not feeling good right now. This whole sea sickness really hit me bad this time, but I found the energy to write.
As I’m typing this, I’m looking outside and just enjoying the beautiful bright blue water and how awesome the sea looks with the sun shining down on it! Besides the big waves that are causing me to be sick, the sea looks really beautiful! Only 2 more days till I’m home and get to share this exciting trip! This is my last entry for our Antarctica trip! This trip was so amazing! It was my best trip ever! It was the best way to top my year of 2006!
Love Always, Princess (your 5 Point Star)
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Stay tuned for more updates!
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