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Vlog: My 18 Mind-Blowing Days At The Edge Of the World: Antarctica
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Jan 28, 2025
Join me on my 18-night life-changing experience on an expedition cruise to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula where I share the twist and turns I faced travelling to this unpredictable and remote part of the world. I will take you on every single landing and adventure to show you literally hundreds of thousands of penguins, seals, whales, birds and ice covered landscapes. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
I'm standing here on the seventh
0:01
continent Antarctica actually at the end
0:04
of what has been an incredible trip that
0:06
has just been cut short more on that
0:08
later I cruised with silver Endeavor
0:11
it's my third trip to Antarctica and
0:13
there was 183 of us on board the turn I
0:16
chose included the Forkland Island South
0:17
Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula so I
0:20
why don't you join me with the triple
0:21
started in the Forkland so I'm standing
0:25
here or walking here in a very wind
0:27
swept new island in the Forkland the
0:29
first stop we headed off here at uh 7:20
0:34
a.m. it was about a kilometer or so walk
0:37
back up there where there is a I guess
0:39
it's a rery packed full of uh rockhopper
0:43
penguins Albatross uh really quite
0:46
magnificent good kind of induction as we
0:48
build up to more and more Wildlife I was
0:50
lucky to be one of the first uh to get
0:53
um out and up so I actually get some
0:55
pretty good views of the Penguins
1:01
well it's rather windy up here and you
1:03
may have notice that I am a little bit
1:05
sweaty um I've been hiking I think
1:07
coming up for about 2 miles now we're in
1:08
a place called West Point other part of
1:10
the Forkland and I'm really hoping this
1:13
walk is worth it so we uh came to this
1:16
very beautiful Bay um and then sett off
1:18
on the walk it's about 2 miles to the
1:20
penguin Colony here we go I think we're
1:23
getting nearby again it's rockhopper
1:26
penguins and there's about 14,000
1:28
breeding pairs of Albatross here
1:30
apparently uh it's always interesting
1:32
cuz you have all these Albatross and the
1:33
rockhopper penguins all just mixed up
1:36
together but they basically all around
1:38
these Cliffs here so now uh there's a
1:42
rather nice little surprise because at
1:44
The Farmhouse people who sort of manage
1:47
the sort of NATO Reserve they've laid on
1:49
an afternoon tea for us and you know
1:52
that I love my afternoon tea so I'm
1:53
heading off got 2 miles to The Farmhouse
1:55
to hopefully enjoy some nice afternoon
1:58
tea we've Saed
2:00
143 nautical miles to come to this place
2:03
one of the clues is that title of the
2:06
red there Thatcher Drive along with this
2:10
uh bus that you'll see here of uh of Mrs
2:13
thater here so uh so obviously Mr Sater
2:18
is somewhat of a hero here in uh the
2:21
Forkland and in Port Stanley there's
2:24
lots of signs of her around so we did a
2:27
very unusual thing for an expedition is
2:30
because this is more of a tourist place
2:32
instead of doing Expedition type stuff
2:34
where actually there was options of a
2:36
number of Tours like a battlefields tour
2:39
couple of
2:40
hikes car going past very disrupting
2:43
what I'm saying so there was a couple of
2:45
kind of Tours like that um I decided
2:48
since I've been here before to skip that
2:51
and actually come and have a stroll
2:52
around like this the memorial here to
2:55
the war in 1982 with uh 10 uh plaques
3:00
with the people that actually died from
3:01
the British side uh as such it's a
3:04
rather beautiful uh
3:06
Memorial this is South Georgia it is
3:10
extremely windy it's about 60 to 70 mph
3:13
winds so we have been chased by a storm
3:17
down here we actually got to South
3:19
Georgia faster than planned almost a day
3:22
faster in fact and the plan was we were
3:25
going to try and do some Landings
3:26
particularly in s plane which is the
3:28
famous but it was just too windy and
3:31
dangerous to go out so we tried another
3:32
spot again too windy so we're Sheltering
3:34
in this Bay here it's gorgeous Bay with
3:36
these uh incredible uh glaciers and
3:41
stuff around it's really cold out here
3:43
um and hopefully tomorrow morning the
3:45
wind will die down it's now around 14
3:48
hours since I last recorded that and
3:52
just shows you how dramatically things
3:53
change here uh once you head down into
3:56
Antarctica so it's now the morning as
3:58
you can see it's blue skies no wind it's
4:02
quite warm in relative terms now I think
4:05
it's about 6° C or so so the good news
4:08
is we're going to be heading out on two
4:10
amazing uh Landings uh so let's go and
4:14
join me uh on the first one you probably
4:17
hear behind me lots of excited chitter
4:19
chatter amongst the sounds of the waves
4:23
and the Animals scoring away so we're
4:26
now here on uh we done Landing in
4:30
possession Bay uh there are quite a big
4:34
colony of King Penguins there's some uh
4:37
F seals some elephant seals and uh it's
4:41
just great kind of getting up close of
4:43
course we're supposed to keep a distance
4:44
from the the various animals it's the
4:48
the Penguins especially are particularly
4:49
inquisitive so they do tend to kind of
4:51
come kind of close but it's uh this is a
4:54
magnificent place because you've got
4:55
these beautiful glaciers youve got a bit
4:57
of a hill up there that we climbed up to
4:59
uh for a bit of a Viewpoint uh not so
5:01
cold it's about six degrees uh winds
5:03
building up so hopefully it doesn't
5:04
build up too much so we can actually
5:06
make the next stop when people think of
5:09
South Georgia they think of where I am
5:12
now really sort to be plain it's
5:14
probably the most famous of all the
5:16
places now it's extremely windy so I'm
5:19
hoping you can hear this as I'm cupping
5:21
the microphone in my hand I hope this
5:23
kind of works but it is an incredible
5:26
plane as you can see it's very open
5:28
which is also why the wind comes kind of
5:29
gusting through here it has around
5:32
60,000 breeding pairs of King Penguins
5:36
apparently the second biggest Colony on
5:39
South Georgia a lot of elephant seals on
5:41
the beach um and you can see the massive
5:44
change from just this morning where we
5:45
had blue skies where it's changed really
5:47
fast again the penguins are incredibly
5:49
inquisitive they keep kind of coming up
5:51
to people to see what's going on so I'm
5:54
really glad we made it here because this
5:55
is kind of like an iconic place to come
5:57
and visit uh but magnificent just seeing
5:59
these uh rows and rows and clumps and
6:02
clumps of these King Penguins all over
6:04
the place is just uh
6:08
brilliant well in the everchanging
6:11
weather situation in deltaa today it's
6:13
very cloudy it's very rainy but no wind
6:15
so behind me is a clue to where we are
6:18
today this is actually a call into
6:20
probably the most important kind of
6:23
historical commercial part of South
6:25
Georgia it's grit viin Carl Anton Larson
6:29
who was a Norwegian uh sealer and Whaler
6:33
in 1904 created a wailing station here
6:35
in griten and it was to get oil oil was
6:39
used that time for Street lamps for
6:41
Cosmetics this actual site only closed
6:44
in
6:44
1966 of the mid 60s uh because the
6:48
demand for well o plummeted or so
6:50
there's more kind of sense of ecology
6:52
and conservation so according to the
6:56
small Museum that's here around about
6:58
400 men would work here in the season
7:00
down to 90 in Winter and
7:04
175,000 whales were killed in the waters
7:07
around South Georgia when the Wailing
7:08
industry was uh operating here
7:12
175,000 it's mindboggling also here in
7:15
GFI is where the south Georgia
7:17
government uh has a scientific base has
7:20
some of the admin here and there's a
7:21
museum and a shop gfig is also renowned
7:25
because this is the resting place of
7:27
Ernest Shackleton his great is actually
7:30
here he actually died uh right here in
7:32
gr Vick when he was heading off on
7:34
another Expedition and his wife wanted
7:36
his body birus and there was a ceremony
7:38
toasting the boss cuz that's what
7:40
everyone used to call him so it was
7:41
quite remarkable seeing his actual grave
7:44
so near and yet so far so behind me is
7:48
gold Harbor it's very windy which is why
7:50
I'm cupping the microphone here but it's
7:51
just too uh choppy too windy to land
7:53
which is a Pity because it's our last
7:55
chance of Landing here in South Georgia
7:57
so we are going to hang around see if
7:58
the wind dies down which is unlikely and
8:00
then do some Scenic cruising through
8:02
some FS so we arrived at uh dry galski F
8:07
and it was uh completely foggy overcast
8:11
and uh not at all great so we hung out
8:13
for quite a few hours and then suddenly
8:16
at about 4:00 in the afternoon it all
8:17
lifted and it uh it just cleared up it's
8:21
pry cold out here I'm on Deck 6
8:23
hopefully you can hear me it's very
8:25
windy it's very cold but it's gorgeous
8:27
glaciers so to well with hang around the
8:30
day hoping that this would kind of uh
8:32
kind of pass quite
8:37
magnificent so it's 2 days 682 mil and
8:41
choppy Seas since I last spoke to in now
8:44
here probably one of the most
8:47
significant historical parts of uh
8:50
Antarctica which is Elephant Island so
8:52
just behind me is is a place called
8:54
Point wild this is where Shackleton left
8:57
his men 20 yard of his his men for 4 and
9:00
a half months while he sailed the way to
9:02
South Georgia where we've come from to
9:03
try and find help so they had to sit
9:05
there for 4 and a half months over
9:06
winter we're going to head into this
9:09
very beautiful uh Glacier covered area
9:12
where they had to um basically survive
9:14
for four and a half months they ate
9:16
Penguins all the time and that's really
9:17
important because penguins are a big
9:19
Source also of vitamin C I discovered so
9:21
they didn't get things like scurvy also
9:23
here is a sculpture bust to the captain
9:27
that actually brought the ship down here
9:29
to rescue the men later on this
9:31
afternoon we're going to be heading to
9:32
another spot on Elephant Island
9:34
hopefully it'll be calm enough where we
9:36
can do some zodiac cruising I probably
9:38
look rather cold cuz basically I am so
9:40
I'm just back from what you can see
9:43
behind us is Cape Lookout so Cape
9:46
Lookout is u in the South part of uh
9:50
Elephant Island there are chinstrap
9:52
Penguins they again to Penguins we saw a
9:54
couple of seals there uh a couple of
9:57
birds and we did a zodiac ride around
9:59
here it was really chilly it's about a -
10:02
2 Celsius but obviously when you're out
10:03
there with the wind it's it's more
10:05
chilly even with loads of layers it's
10:07
more your face it gets cold when you see
10:09
brochures for Antarctica it's often this
10:12
kind of scene that they show you which
10:14
is blue
10:16
skies loads of ice loads of snow and of
10:19
course loads of wildlife so we are here
10:22
in this picture perfect place which is
10:24
called Robert point we're a little bit
10:26
further south in the South chatton
10:28
Island it was an early started I hit out
10:29
at 7:00 a.m. uh so actually the third
10:31
group got and we started with actually a
10:34
zodiac cruise around the bay here very
10:36
beautiful but what was important about
10:38
that is I had five sightings of humac
10:42
whales uh probably about three different
10:44
whales and that was really magnificent
10:46
then we've come on land for about an
10:48
hour or so here what's interesting about
10:50
the spot is you obviously have elephants
10:51
heels on the Shor line as you often do
10:55
and then you have fairly large colonies
10:56
of gentu and then strap penguins and
11:00
what's interesting Is the Gen 2 are sort
11:01
of more near the shoreline and the
11:03
chinstraps are right up on top of the
11:05
hills and it's interesting see just go
11:07
so far they're so far away from the
11:09
water's edge so this is a very beautiful
11:10
spot here we've got about an hour or so
11:12
here then we're heading off further
11:14
south down the sou shetlands to another
11:16
site which is very infrequently called
11:18
on because normally the weather prevents
11:20
you to uh so hopefully you make that and
11:23
I will see you um there hopefully we
11:27
traveled about 4 two nautical miles took
11:31
about 4 hours or so to get here because
11:34
in this area you can only go two knots
11:36
because of the risk of whales and
11:39
damaging and disrupting whales and we
11:42
have landed in Deception Island however
11:44
not where people normally go into
11:46
Deception Island when I've been here
11:47
before in Deception Island we've
11:49
actually gone to like a Caldera where a
11:51
volcano was and that's where used to be
11:53
wailing ships uh in the day there but we
11:56
were able to because of the weather land
11:58
in a place called
11:59
uh Bailey head and the ex team were
12:03
incredibly excited to get here because
12:05
this is where the biggest colony of chin
12:10
strap penguins are there's at least
12:14
100,000 uh chinstrap Penguins here at
12:17
least 45,000 breeding peirs and the
12:19
noise is unbelievable so once you head
12:22
over that way which behind there the
12:25
hills are just full of penguins now
12:28
what's incredible is the the beach is
12:31
back there and they then travel all the
12:33
way from the beach up these huge hills
12:36
it's just insane how far they go and the
12:39
noise they make is cold so when they
12:41
come back from feeding they're able to
12:42
find their partner or their chicks once
12:44
the chicks eventually born so each one
12:47
has an
12:47
individual sound a lot of people have
12:50
asked me is it smelly it's actually not
12:52
smelly now it could be because we're in
12:54
the beginning of the Season uh there's
12:56
lots of snow the Penguins haven't been
12:58
here that long uh but they are just
13:00
incredible uh creatures it is a chil
13:03
minus 2 de C but we are in the Antarctic
13:08
Peninsula probably with what most people
13:11
associate Antarctica with which is these
13:13
soaring massive big mountains they're
13:16
covered in snow they're covered in
13:18
glaciers they're covered in ice blue
13:20
skies sea ice breaking up in the sea
13:23
around us it is absolutely magnificent
13:25
this is one of the most famous places to
13:28
come and visit in an Arctica for its
13:30
Scenic Beauty it's called filamina Bay
13:33
now when we arrived here this morning
13:34
after having picked through the sea Ice
13:37
uh we went out on excursions when we
13:39
went out you didn't even see these
13:40
mountains cuz they were covered in
13:42
clouds the clouds have now lifted on the
13:45
ZX we sailed between the sea ice which
13:47
is breaking up which are the very flat
13:49
pieces of ice and the various icebergs
13:52
that have broken off from things like
13:54
the glaciers so the SE is very
13:56
interesting it's very flat so this whole
13:57
Bay in winter is completely solid and it
14:01
now breaks up um but these very flat
14:04
pieces of ice they're probably about a
14:05
meter or so thick but they can be as
14:08
thick as 2 m and apparently you can land
14:10
a plane on here when they are 2 m thick
14:13
I'm not sure I want to kind of land on
14:16
those but apparently that is what you
14:18
can do when we were out today on the
14:20
Zodiac we had one of those kind of
14:22
classic Expedition little surprises uh
14:25
where there was a zodiac hiding amongst
14:28
the the various icebergs where they had
14:32
uh a glue Vine they had a hot chocolate
14:34
which you could have either with or
14:35
without bailees that's always quite fun
14:37
when you're doing these little
14:38
Expeditions out on zodiac when they have
14:40
those little treats so this is Vina Bay
14:42
we're heading off to another iconic site
14:45
this afternoon nearby in this area uh
14:48
and hopefully we're going to make it
14:48
because this sea ice is still quite
14:50
thick for this time of year so it all
14:52
hinders whether we can dodge the ice um
14:54
so hopefully I will see you over in
14:56
Daner Island well we did make it to uh
15:00
Daner Island although it to take longer
15:02
than planned because of all the ice that
15:04
we had to fight through it's incredibly
15:06
beautiful spot here uh just a remind
15:08
also that you do need to be pretty agile
15:11
and active because there was quite a
15:14
steep Landing had to climber up sort of
15:16
bit of an ice shelf and it's been a
15:18
really long trik now I already come up
15:20
so far to the first level there's
15:22
another level way up there and dots that
15:24
all around here are gent to Penguins as
15:27
of yet I still have actually stepped on
15:30
the continent of Antarctica on this trip
15:32
because Dana island is where we are now
15:35
and actually behind me over there over
15:38
my shoulder there is the mainland so we
15:41
haven't actually stepped on the mainland
15:42
yet so apparently hopefully we're going
15:44
to do that tomorrow because obviously be
15:46
Petty to come all the way down here and
15:47
I'd actually have stepped on the
15:49
continent so fingers crossed for
15:52
tomorrow rather good surprise when we
15:54
were heading back from Dano Island we
15:56
had an hour zodiac cruising and we spent
15:58
that whole hour basically he is watching
16:00
humpback whales it looks like there's
16:01
two different whales based on their
16:04
tails but they're really close to the
16:06
Zodiac and they're basically feeding uh
16:08
up and down up and down it was fantastic
16:10
got to see them I go up and down maybe
16:13
10 times at least that was rather a good
16:16
surprise I mean considering it's not
16:17
really Peak whale season we've been
16:18
incredibly fortunate with whales that's
16:20
very
16:21
exciting one of the mistakes you can
16:23
make when you come to anarctica is spend
16:26
all your time taking pictures and
16:27
forgetting that sometimes you just need
16:28
to stand and look and cir it all in NEC
16:32
har is a really good example of that
16:34
there is This Magnificent glacia behind
16:36
me here then there's a sprawling colony
16:40
of gentu penguins now NECA Harbor was
16:44
like many places in this area was
16:46
originally discovered found by gash the
16:50
Belgian Explorer he named it Nico after
16:52
a waling ship that used to operate in
16:54
this area so it's very atmospheric today
16:57
it's snowing we're M out there U I'm
17:01
actually first on the first group out
17:02
here at 7:30 so it's really great
17:04
because we're already seeing pristine
17:06
stuff not people around they're all
17:08
behind me but it's just s important to
17:10
just sit quietly and look listen to the
17:15
sound and the silence that's one of the
17:17
things that's amazing about anartica is
17:18
just the Silence of the
17:22
place don't if you can hear the
17:25
silence again Nico Island sort of proves
17:29
the point about the importance of being
17:31
relatively fit and active it's quite a
17:34
big hill that we're climbing up here and
17:36
I'm
17:37
only halfway up to the first level
17:40
there's another level way up there um
17:43
some people I know have already turned
17:44
back um because they're just worried
17:46
about the steepness of it and the kind
17:48
of the ice Etc um so I probably s a bit
17:51
out of breath um but if you can climb up
17:55
to get these views it is quite uh quite
17:58
incredible
17:59
a few people have asked me knowing that
18:01
this is my third time in Antarctica if I
18:03
become a bit blaz to it and absolutely
18:06
not every experience in Antarctica is
18:09
different to the time before uh every
18:12
single cruise coming to Antarctica is
18:14
different because it's driven by Nature
18:17
it's driven by Ice it's driven by what's
18:18
happening so I've been for example to
18:20
niika Harbor uh every trip and this
18:23
experience is completely different to
18:25
the others although the scene is
18:26
basically the same like it's snowing
18:28
it's there's more ice and it just every
18:32
time it's just different uh so the
18:35
answer is no I mean even the Expedition
18:37
team make the point that they know that
18:39
the next Cruise will be completely
18:41
different to this Cruise they'll call in
18:42
different places do different things
18:43
it's always very
18:45
different this is calville which
18:48
apparently is the Antarctic pin's
18:50
largest G to Colony I do feel every we
18:54
go it's the biggest this or whatever I
18:56
guess that's why they choose these
18:57
places cuz obviously they are
18:58
significant now this is a very stunning
19:00
place it's sort of like a a sort of um
19:02
Iceberg graveyard where I guess icebergs
19:04
are stuck because of the currents it's
19:06
also a very Bittersweet afternoon
19:09
because we had told us before we headed
19:10
out that we're cutting short our trip
19:14
and the waves and the wind projected for
19:17
Drake Passage are quite severe for the
19:20
Thursday Friday we J to cross so
19:21
actually tonight once everyone heads
19:23
back we are going to be heading off uh
19:25
to cross the Drake Passage to try and
19:27
avoid the worst of storms as you
19:29
probably learned from everything that
19:31
I've been talking about is you need to
19:32
if you come to Antartica be ready for
19:34
everything to change in fact when I've
19:36
been said article before I think every
19:38
single time we've left slightly early to
19:40
try and avoid Drake Passage issues which
19:42
I guess a lot of people be pleased about
19:44
missing we have actually visited the
19:46
most incredible places have the most
19:48
incredible experience so don't feel that
19:49
I'm missing out but you just need to be
19:51
ready for that um experience so after
19:55
three nights and 2 days Crossing Drake
19:57
Passage we're here in Port Williams
19:59
where this trip ends so the shps there
20:01
behind where we have a day in Port
20:02
Williams where they've laid on various
20:04
hikes and bird watching and town tours
20:07
and so on the direct did prove to be a
20:10
little bit on the bumpy side
20:10
particularly on the second day so uh
20:12
it's probably just as well we got here a
20:14
little bit early and then tomorrow we
20:15
talk in the chter flights up to Santiago
20:17
and the end of the trip I've had an
20:18
incredible time it's been absolutely
20:20
amazing as you've seen what we've seen
20:22
now if you join me over in some of the
20:24
videos I'll talk a little bit more about
20:25
Expedition cruising some of the things I
20:26
learned and also how silver sea Stacks
20:28
up versus other Expedition lines see you
20:31
over there
#Beaches & Islands
#Ecotourism