Sea Kayaking in Antarctica!

I had never been sea kayaking before. Never. So when I was asked if I wanted to go sea kayaking on my trip to Antarctica my heart skipped a beat.

If you’ve followed me on my previous adventures you’ll know I have a habit of wanting to do something even more if common sense says you shouldn’t and so I said yes.

I reassessed the situation I was in. One week ago I hadn’t planned anything and now I was going on a trip to the final destination, the 7th continent. And I was going sea kayaking there. Less than 2 weeks later!

I especially remember one night @ Danco. It was after dinner. It was a completely blue sky and the sea was mirror calm. It was absolutely peaceful and that trip alone obliterated any holdbacks I might have previously had about sea kayaking.

I took a last minute 2hour class in Denmark where I got to wear a drysuit and I learned the simple basics of kayaking. Alright. Let’s go do this thing!

Fast forward and I’m sitting in a Zodiac (fast moving speed boat), kayaks on tow, watching the safety of the cruise ship disappear behind me. 

The rational part of my brain fought a losing battle to convince my emotional side that this kayak would not just straight out reject me, like an untrained horse, kick me off and drop me into the icy waters. At that moment, I remembered that I never quite learned how to get back into a kayak. I imagined myself in the water. Snap out of it!

A few minutes later, which seemed like an eternity, I was in the kayak. And so was my kayak mate, Ryan. This was a two-man kayak you see. 

Ryan. Ryan thought It was really fun to rock the boat while we were in it.

– “Trust me – it’s not gonna tip over”

– “Fuck you very much, Ryan”

For those of you wondering, Ryan and I are good friends and he actually visited me in Copenhagen a few weeks ago. Kayaking together is a bonding experience.

The rational part of my brain fought a losing battle to convince my emotional side that this kayak would not just straight out reject me, like an untrained horse, kick me off and drop me into the icy waters.

In total, we went out with our kayaks 4 times. The first time it was a bit windy but the final 3 times it was mirror calm.

We visited:

• Portal Point
• Danco Island
• Cuverville Island
• Port Lockroy (UK base)

I especially remember one night @ Danco. It was after dinner. It was a completely blue sky and the sea was mirror calm. It was absolutely peaceful and that trip alone obliterated any holdbacks I might have previously had about sea kayaking,

The team at Sea Spirit made a good job out of savoring the moments so that they could be cherished later. There’s even drone footage around 2 minutes in. Please enjoy!