Chapter 5: The 7th (not really) Continent

The day finally arrived in which we would land on the Antarctic continent itself. Everyone on the ship was excited; so few people venture to this remotest region of the planet. Our morning began with the usual wake up call from the expedition leader, who told us the temperature and weather forecast in his soft, calm voice. After a quick breakfast we organized into our usual "red" and "blue" groups--there were only enough zodiacs for half the passengers at a time, so we took turns. One group would take the zodiacs to land, while the other waited for those same zodiacs to come back to the ship to pick them up for an hour cruising around.

We were the first group to land on the continent that morning. We had already landed on the South Shetland islands and a few other small rock outcroppings, but not the actual landmass itself. Our zodiac pilot got us extremely close to a low lying shore, and then we jumped into the shallow water and trudged up the snow covered embankment. Climbing up some gradual hills, we reached a point where we could enjoy a mesmerizing view of the surrounding landscape. Snow was ubiquitous in all directions, and you could see glaciers near the distant mountains. The sea glittered with icebergs blue big and small. It was hard to believe--we were standing on the edge of a huge landmass, a continent larger than Oceania. Although least explored, Antarctica was still a huge landmass on the Earth!

I remember one of the other passengers near us as we trekked up the tallest hill. "Yes, yes!" he cried triumphantly. We smiled at him, a little surprised. "Is this your seventh continent?!" he exclaimed? "No..." I replied... "I've never been to Australia." He looked surprised and slightly crestfallen. Apparently it is just as big a deal to check off visiting the seventh continent as it is to experience the expedition... for some. My wife and I chuckled to each other. We were thrilled to embark on the expedition for the chance to see unique wildlife and amazing landscapes, for the pure adventure. I guess we had some more traveling to do before we could "check off" all the continents.

Feeling free and euphoric, we slid down the "slide" the expedition guides created for us. We couldn't believe what we were doing. Walking around Antarctica was like visiting the moon. We were exploring a landmass that likely only ~500,000 people have ever set foot on. It was surreal. As we would soon learn, Antarctica is synonymous with adventure.