Christmas in Antarctica

As I had visited Egypt and thus set foot in Africa, my fifth continent, in 2025, it was time to visit my sixth and seventh continents and check off that bucket list item. I would meet this goal with a visit to Antarctica for Christmas.

The continents are:

1. Asia (born there)
2. Australia (first visited during my university days)
3. Europe (I live there)
4. North America (2023)
5. Africa (2025)
6. South America
7. Antarctica

I found liveaboard trips going to Antarctica and decided upon a journey that also included South Georgia and The Falkland Islands. Of course, I needed to first land on continent #6, South America, to board the ship in Ushuaia, the southernmost town of Argentina. I wrote about some of my Argentina travels in Colours of Salta and Jujuy.

All the land of the world does not fall neatly into the continents I listed above. Europe and Asia are not geologically split into two plates along their political borders. India is on a different plate altogether from China and Central Asia. There was a risk that our stops “in Antarctica” could be on islands that did not fall within the Antarctic continental plate, but could still be within the politically recognised definition of Antarctica. Bad weather could ruin our chances of continental landings.

MV Hondius

My home for the journey was the MV Hondius, a Netherlands-registered expedition ship that holds about 170 guests and another 70 crew. For this trip, she was at capacity. She is owned by an expedition travel provider, Oceanwide, whose guides would run the show.

I had a two-person cabin with portholes, situated on Deck 3 (on the third floor of the ship, starting from 1), the lowest deck for guest accommodation. I shared it with a Canadian named Michael. We had comfortable single beds, a sofa seat in between them as well as separate desks, shelves, lockboxes and more cupboards than we ever used. The bathroom was decently-sized with a shower area, a dry area, a heated rack for towels and a power socket for hair dryers or trimmers. We even had a TV with a good collection of movies that also displayed the program for the day. The provided comforts really helped make the 19-day long voyage manageable.

After checking in to our rooms, the next order of business was the mandatory safety briefing at the Observation Lounge on Deck 5. We were told the rules of the boat, then we put on the life vests located in our rooms and identified the area where we would congregate to board lifeboats upon a call for evacuation. We were also shown the full-body floatation suits that would help to maintain our body temperature if we had to get into cold water. The enclosed lifeboats could take 150 people each, two being enough for the people on board the entire ship.

After completing the mandatory briefings for the day, we went to the dining area on Deck 4. Most breakfasts and lunches were buffets while most dinners were plated, with guests selecting from meal options at lunchtime. I joined Michael at a four-person table. A retired British couple joined us. We would often get to know other guests or expedition staff in this manner.

The bridge is on Deck 7, with views in all directions. It was open to guests unless explicitly prohibited during specific times. The bridge is a good place to spot whales and other sea creatures. It is also a unique spot from where one can look down at flying birds up close. Guest accommodations ranged from Decks 3-7, the ones on the higher floors being more luxurious.

The Drake Passage

The channel of water between the tips of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula that separates the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans is the Drake Passage. It is a relatively narrow channel of water when compared to those two gigantic bodies of water. Strong ocean currents flow through this channel at the surface as well as deep below it, impacting the climate of the entire globe. Having mountainous lands to the north and south also causes strong winds as air flows above the channel. All these factors result in rough seas during the two days it takes to cross the Drake Passage and arrive in the sheltered waters near the Antarctic Peninsula. Several others and I took seasickness pills or wore patches to avoid having to throw up on the journey.

As we had nothing to explore during the journey across the Drake Passage, we had a number of lectures at the Observation Lounge. Jodi, one of the expedition guides who is a historian, talked to us about the British naval officer Robert Falcon Scott’s and the Norwegian Roald Amundsen’s race to the geographic South Pole. Amundsen had lived a decade in the Arctic with the natives of the land, adopting their tried and true methods of clothing and husky dogs for the transportation of goods. He and his men were competent skiers and dog mushers. Amundsen was quoted saying, “adventure is just bad planning”. He and his team reached the South Pole on 14th December 1911 and planted the Norwegian flag. 

Scott had a well-financed naval expedition with various scientific goals besides just reaching the Pole. His team used three distinct methods of transportation: motorised sled-pullers (for the heaviest supplies), horses (for the lighter supplies) and men to pull the loads the last few days toward the Pole. This distribution left his team with three distinct weaknesses, resulting in failures of some manner or the other for each method. Scott also had huskies which he inexplicably did not use. Despite being better funded than Amundsen, Scott had fewer resupply caches and less food in them than Amundsen. His party arrived at the South Pole on 17th January 1912, after Amundsen’s had left. He wrote in his diary, “Great God! This is an awful place.” Scott and his party died trying to return to the men waiting for them at the nearest supply cache. The people I asked and I agreed (but not Jodi) that Scott was far too arrogant and unprepared for the expedition, requiring otherwise unnecessary heroics. 

Rose, a Chinese guide, covered the different possible South Poles in one of her lectures. Scott and Amundsen raced toward the Geographic South Pole, where all the longitude lines meet. The Magnetic South Pole is where the southern arrow of compasses point toward. This keeps moving due to processes within the earth’s interior; at present it is not above on the continent of Antarctica, but out over the ocean. The South Pole of Inaccessibility is the place that is furthest away from all seas in the interior of Antarctica. The United States’ Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station stands at the Geographic South Pole. As the Pole is located on ice that moves 10-11 metres every year, a South Pole marker, updated annually, is used for a more accurate location. We did not get anywhere near these poles, with our southernmost point being at 64°57’ South, barely even at the Antarctic Circle. 

Setting foot on Antarctica

As we awoke on Christmas Eve, we could see Antarctica. Snow-covered land edges jutted out into the water; just inland were steep, rocky hills and mountains. After breakfast, we would make landfall at Orne Harbour in two groups: the first would directly go on land, while the second would cruise the area in inflatable boats called zodiacs, then they would switch.  We kitted up in warm clothing as well as boots and put on our waterproof jackets and pants over them. Ten guests would join a guide in a zodiac. The guides gave us zodiac safety briefings at the start. As zodiac drivers, they had kill cords attached to the inflatable which, if they fell off, would automatically cut the engines.

I was part of the Blue group which went out second. On the zodiac cruise, we spotted penguins swimming in the water, jumping out of it to breathe – a behaviour called “porpoising”. We also saw humpback whales and Antarctic shags (cormorants), as well as floating icebergs. Icebergs with older ice exposed were deep blue in colour. Then we landed at Orne Harbour. I exited the zodiac and was standing on my seventh continent.

The expedition staff had cut a path along a snowy cliff and marked it with flags. At the top, they had marked crosses we were not allowed to pass, for our safety (steep cliffs) as well as that of the birds. I was first from the Blue group to get up the hill. At the ridge was a colony of nesting chinstrap penguins, identifiable by the black “straps” across their white chins. We could also see penguins making the ascent and descent to/from the colony to get food from the sea. Penguins waddle and look clumsy on land, however their walk makes them surprisingly stable on slippery ice and on the shockingly high rock cliffs that they climb and nest upon on a regular basis. The chinstraps would raise their necks skyward and make calls, but they were not among the noisy ones. The strong wind at the ridge made much more of a racket than the penguins did.

The Polar Plunge

Our destination after lunch was called Stony Point at Paradise Harbour. Three Weddell seals were sleeping on the snow; adults being 2.5-3.5m long and weighing 400-600kg. There were also gentoo penguins wandering around at the beach, recognisable by their white “headphones” on their otherwise black heads. The sun was out as we landed and took this all in.

There was a 50m high snow-covered hill that looked like an easy climb, so I went for it. In the sun, the climb got me so hot that I was covered in sweat and had to peel off two layers.

At the top were great views of the landscape all around; I observed ice calving from a glacier and crashing into the sea. We would only hear the thunder-like sounds of the calving and the crashing of the ice into the water a few seconds after we saw it.

Back on the beach, it was time for a polar plunge. Plunging into cold waters was not new to me, so I had no hesitation. I was also glad to wash my sweat off while the sun shone so brightly. Along with many other guests, I took off my clothes and took a dip in the Antarctic waters. The 4°C water was not a challenge. Back on the ship, I checked my phone. It was -10°C in Munich.

At Christmas Eve dinner, staff told us to enjoy the passage through the strait in which Port Lockroy was situated. The light and the patterns on the sky at 9PM to 11PM were fantastic. 

Christmas

On Christmas Day, some people came down to breakfast in Christmas pyjamas. Ruth, a British woman I befriended, even brought over a tiny Christmas tree complete with ornaments and chocolates. 

We had another landing and two more zodiac cruises. There was more of the wildlife we had already seen, but also the first sighting of a leopard seal for most of us. 

This was already turning out to be one of my best vacations. The Antarctic landings on December 24th were my highlights of 2025. We had only finished Day 5 of 19 on the Hondius. There was much more for us to see in South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. 

From the same trip

After Antarctica, I visited South Georgia on Hondius.

On Shackleton’s trail

Before I boarded Hondius, I toured northern Argentina’s canyons and mountains.

Colours of Salta and Jujuy

I concluded the trip with a visit to the Falkland Islands – and saw a 44-year old iceberg at the end of its life en route.

The Falkland Islands and the death of an iceberg

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Lost Christmas