Antarctic sea kayak bootcamp

Well. Bootcamp was a name that the other Expedition passengers gave to our group. Only 20 people could book to have the sea kayak experience. On our first night aboard the ship, we met our Kayak Master and had a meeting to discuss the program, and learn about the hazards and pitfalls of doing this. 4 people dropped out straight away! I was glad we had done some lessons before leaving home (paddling techniques, capsizing, self-rescue etc) but even with that, we felt a sort of nervous apprehension. It was suddenly very real, and a little bit scary.

So the idea is that we hope to get at least ONE kayak session, but it's all weather/condition dependent, so nothing is guaranteed. Antarctic conditions can change in an instant from calm and serene to blowing wind and sleet and big waves. Also, if we kayak then we will surely miss out on a Zodiac cruise and/or a shore landing. But it's all up to us, we will be having regular meetings and can make up our minds each time.

We worked out sizes and tried on drysuits, lifejackets, spray skirts, and got fitted into our double kayaks. The first session was quite exciting. This was our first view from the Mud Room. We had to manoeuvre the kayaks out the door onto the loading platform, and then down next to a Zodiac in the water. The crew helped steady the kayak so we could get in, they made sure we had our spray skirts on properly, and then....OFF WE WENT into the unknown....well actually, we all waited in a group until our leader was ready, and THEN off we went, paddling away, crunching through ice, navigating through ice chunks, bergy bits and icebergs. The scenery was AMAZING - I cried on that first paddle, I was so overcome with emotion. The rugged landscape...the freezing water...the snow, the ice, the huge icebergs, the penguins! Just the most incredible experience I have ever had.

Anyway, it all got crazy after that. We ended up having 7 options to paddle - we went five times in total (on one paddle we decided to do a Zodiac shore landing instead, and another time were just too tired!). The reason for the 'bootcamp' tag was that we had very little time to get ready. Some days we would be enjoying our nice lunch in the dining room and over the PA system...' all kayakers please meet in the library in five minutes'....we would have a quick meeting and discuss conditions, and make sure everyone had a partner for the double kayak, and then basically have 10 minutes in which to get geared up and ready to go...very crazy. But fun! some days we saw minke whales, or penguins swimming ('porpoising' they call it), or leopard seals on an iceberg. The longest paddle was 18 kms - 4.5hours of paddling......you can imagine, we slept well!