- There are icebergs drifting past us, giant snowy mountains
and whales everywhere. Welcome to Antarctica. (upbeat music) I am headed to Antarctica, my number one travel
bucket list destination but the adventure of Antarctica begins long before you get there. First you have to get
to Ushuaia, Argentina. It's definitely an adventure hub. There are a lot of really
cool things you can do launching from this city and it's known as the
gateway to Antarctica. In Ushuaia I boarded the Seaborn Venture, thanks to Seaborn who's
hosting me for this trip. I've always heard that
their Antarctic experiences are incredible. But before you get to Antarctica, you have to cross the Drake passage. The Drake passage is the body of water between the southernmost
tip of South America and the South Shetland
islands of Antarctica. And it's known to have the
roughest seas in the world. And the stretch we're gonna be
crossing is nearly 600 miles. We're about 13 hours into
crossing the Drake passage. I think we hit it around
2:00 AM last night because I woke up to things in my room starting to slide back and forth. But so far so good. From what I understand, we're having a really easy Drake crossing so I've been able to
enjoy it a little bit. I was just out on the
bow watching albatross soar around the ship, which is incredible. These birds have wingspans up to 12 feet and for some reason they like
following the wake of the ship so they're actually hanging
around us, which is very cool. After two days of sailing
across the Drake passage seeing the Antarctic continent emerge on the horizon was so exciting and I was kind of surprised
by how dramatic it was. In some ways, it felt like
we'd arrived at another planet and the expedition team wasted no time getting us out on shore. So the way this works is
the ship hangs out offshore of a landing site and then expedition leaders
bring passengers to shore in zodiac boats and
the tentative itinerary of the sailing is to travel
along the Antarctic peninsula making shore landings every day dependent on weather conditions. The thing I was most
excited about for this trip was the wildlife, especially penguins because Antarctica is home to some of the largest penguin colonies in the world, and it did not disappoint. Every single shore landing had penguins. We saw all different types. We saw chin strap penguins,
which are named for the obvious. We saw Adelie penguins and
then the most common penguin we saw was the gentoo. And there were so many special moments, like one landing was
at this incredible spot called Brown Bluff
where these snowy cliffs hung over a beach and there
were penguins everywhere and this young gentoo penguin was napping with a tuft of feathers in its beak. I didn't realize penguins napped like this and it's one of the most
precious things I've ever seen. We also saw lots of
chicks, even some twins. I was giddy getting this
shot, and do you see this? This is a baby penguin butt
with this little nubby tail. I mean, it was all just magical. Something I didn't realize is that while adult penguins swim, it's important for babies to stay dry because their feathers aren't waterproof, and that's one of the
biggest survival challenges for parents especially when
they get an unusually wet season because they not only
need to find a dry place to build their nest, but
once the baby is born they need to keep it
covered from rain and snow. Penguins are really social animals and it's fascinating to watch
them interact with each other, but as cut as they are as babies they go through a really
awkward phase growing up. I mean, you think you had some bad looks in your teenage years? Look at this guy. And then you have this one whose parent is trying to groom it and
it's running away like, stop, you're embarrassing me. They also create what's
known as penguin highways which are dedicated trails that you can see them
all walking on in a line. I just made it back to the ship. These landings are so amazing. It is incredible to see so much wildlife in such a remote wilderness. To protect all of this
wildlife and the environment, there are a lot of rules we have to follow to be able to do these shore landings. We have to be really careful about what we wear and
what we bring on shore. And once we're on land,
we can't set anything down and before we go out we walk
through these disinfecting tubs and this is to make sure that
we're not spreading disease from bird colony to bird colony or throughout the wildlife
or the environment. Very cool experience, and
I'm just so happy to be here. (bright music) The most magical thing
is happening right now. We're sailing in this area
where we're surrounded by giant icebergs and mountains and its snowing the lightest
fluffiest snowflakes and we're surrounded by whales. They're in every direction. I couldn't have dreamed up
a more beautiful setting. With such incredible conditions around us, the expedition team prepared the zodiacs and got us out on the water, and this afternoon was
probably my favorite of the entire trip. We sat on this water that
was like glass in the fog, in the snow while humpback
whales surfaced all around us. This was the most ethereal
experience of my life. The camera can't even do it justice. (upbeat music) Something very cool and unique
about the Seaborn Venture is it has two custom expedition submarines and guests can sign up to go
on a submarine experience. I didn't even realize
technology was here yet. And these submarines can
dive nearly a thousand feet giving you the opportunity
to see wildlife, plant life in depths of the ocean where
very few humans have ever been. (upbeat music) Another excursion available
on this sailing is kayaking. Early one morning I went
out with the expedition team to kayak among icebergs. And before this trip, I'd never considered cold
weather climates for kayaking but it was such a cool experience. Oh my God. Look at that. It's another beautiful day in Antarctica and today we're doing
something a little different. We're stopping in Port Lockroy which has the world's
southern most post office and apparently there's
a little gift shop there where you can buy postcards
and postage and mail letters. Port Lockroy is a former
British military base and it's also nicknamed
the Penguin Post Office because it's home to a
gentoo penguin colony that has made the place their own. I just loved seeing them all in front of this house with the red door. Some of the photos I got here felt like they could be a
penguin family holiday card. (bright music) This afternoon we're sailing
through the Lemaire channel which is known to be absolutely beautiful because it's a very narrow channel with steep snowy cliffs on either side. The Lamaire channel is
nearly seven miles long, and as if it wasn't
special enough on its own, a lone orca showed up and
swam alongside the ship as we sailed through. (exciting music) Something that's been
so handy on this trip is the suites on the
ship have drying closets so when I get back from excursions I can hang all of my wet stuff up in here like my gloves and beanie. Turn the radiator on here in the back and everything gets so toasty and dry. The Seaborn Venture is
a luxury expedition ship designed for diverse polar environments and you can see this reflected throughout. The interior design is so beautiful. There are maps and explorer theme touches all around the ship. There's the bow lounge that has screens with navigational charts and weather forecasts
and the ship's location. This is one of my favorite
spots on the ship. It's also a great place
to watch for wildlife. There are mudrooms where every passenger gets a personal locker
to keep excursion boots and other gear. There's a gorgeous sauna, which
was amazing for warming up after returning from shore. There are lots of heated whirl
pools and a swimming pool which are perfect for taking
in the scenery while sailing. And of course, there
are so many restaurants and dining options to choose from. I think my favorite was Sushi in the Club but you will never go hungry on this ship. And the suites are super spacious with balconies walk-in closets
and full-size bathrooms. Today in Antarctica, we are
sailing into an active volcano. We've made it to Deception Island which is the Caldera of the volcano. I believe it lasts erupted in 1970 and they do monitor it
to see how active it is and apparently it's low risk right now. However, the ship has informed us that there is an emergency plan in place if the volcano erupts today. (upbeat music) We're now headed back to Ushuaia and I'm so happy to have had
such a wonderful experience on this trip and so sad
it's coming to an end. Thanks for coming along
with me on this one. I've had so many moments on this voyage that surpassed my dreams. In a way, Antarctica
always felt untouchable. I didn't grow up ever
thinking I would come here and now that I've made it to my number one bucket list destination. What's next? (upbeat reverb music)
