After breakfast, the ship had come to a stop. We watched and waited with great anticipation as we saw the Zodiac with the guides head out to Half Moon Island, a small island in the South Shetland Islands, that would hopefully be our first landing of the trip.

Nothing is guaranteed in Antarctica – you read stories of groups who turned back during the Drake due to structural damage to the ship, and that was their entire trip. While there is a doctor on crew, any serious illness or injury also requires returning immediately. Where you land is decided by conditions – ice in the water, wind etc. They warn you that there is no guarantee you will land at all. So when we saw a beautiful sunny morning – there was a lot of excitement.

Before you head out on the Zodiac, you are required to put your boots through a decontamination process. You may only land in these rubber boots, and every landing starts and ends with decontaminating them. Antarctica is a very tightly controlled region, and spreading of diseases between islands is a major concern, so this is taken very seriously.

Soon enough we were on a Zodiac. Landings were usually made up of 8 passengers and a driver. The capacity of a Zodiac was higher than this, but it was usually kept at this limit, unless they were trying to get everyone back quickly. With 90 passengers, this means usually 12 groups are required to land everyone.

Conditions were perfect.

As we landed, we saw an old wooden boat buried in the snow. We had been warned about this and told not to get close to it, being a historical artifact.

After landing, there were handshakes all-round for those who had tagged their 7th continent. Well, had they? No one was really sure. The best argument I heard was “if someone says they have been to Ireland, but not Europe, you’d be confused what they meant” – so arguably yes. Either way, off to a good start.

I immediately put my hand into the Southern Ocean, my 5th of the 7 oceans. Just the North Atlantic and Arctic to go.

L-R: Myself, Rivu, Jess and Conall.

Half Moon Island is a beautiful location, with fascinating rock formations, and plenty of snow and ice. One thing it has no shortage of is chinstrap penguins!

Also plenty of gentoo penguins.

There were also some seals on the island:

After about two hours on Half Moon Island, we made our way back to the ship for lunch.

I spent the afternoon walking around the ship, finding the best spots, and watching the South Shetland Islands go by. I was worried about sunburn, so I kept myself well covered.

The views were amazing.

We even saw some humpback whales.

The plan for the afternoon had been a Zodiac cruise around Yankee Harbour, but it was too windy and thus unsafe, so this idea was scrapped after the guides did their recce.

Overall, a great start to the adventure!

Our briefing that evening was even more exciting, though – the plan was a morning landing at Two Hammock Island, followed by a Zodiac cruise at Charlotte Bay. But what got everyone really excited was part three of the plan: landing at Portal Point on the Antarctic Peninsula!