14 Day Antarctica Cruise (full experience)

We are officially headed to our seventh and final continent, Antarctica. And we're doing it in the most epic way possible by living on a ship for two weeks as we cruise through one of the most remote places on Earth. I can't wait. But before we get there, we have to cross the infamous drake passage. A 48 hour roller coaster ride of massive waves, relentless swells, and a whole lot of seasickness.

Like, I get seasick in those so fast.

Oh, yay. But it's all worth it when we finally make it to the icy wonderland of Antarctica. We're here because what's on the other side? He's right in front of humpback whales, countless curious penguins, and even a leopard seal on the prowl. Not to mention, we will be sleeping outside in freezing temperatures. And of course, we'll take the ultimate polar plunge into Antarctic waters. So grab a warm drink and get cozy and join us for this epic Antarctic vlogumentary.

When people ask me, where is the coolest place you and Nate have ever been? My answer is still Antarctica. Five years later. I know, it's crazy. So much has changed in our lives since we went on this trip. But not everything. I still have my penguin fuzzy and I still love my Polar latitudes jacket. But we're in a totally new phase of life right now. Speaking of, thank you for your patience with us. Turns out buying a house is a lot more time consuming than we thought it would be. Wow, it is really coming down. So in the meantime, we really hope you enjoy reliving this magical series as much as we did. Except for this time, the entire trip is compiled into one big video. Love ya.

Enjoy.

We have made it to the port, and apparently this is summer in Ushuaia.

I have these, like, really nervous Jennings.

There's 1, 2, 3, 4, potentially five boats here that are going to Antarctica. You have this one, this one. There's one back there, this one, and the hybridian sky. So this is the boat that we're gonna be on for the next two weeks. It's also the smallest boat.

She's a beaut.

Which feels a little scary right now as we're about to embark to Antarctica, but I think it's gonna be a good thing because it means less people on the boat, less people on excursions.

Hello.

Thank you.

Yes. I always get really nervous when we're about to see the place that we're gonna live for a long period of time.

Here we go.

Is this your room?

No.

This is our cabin. Oh, my gosh. It's Huge. And.

Our own private balcony. This huge balcony. This is great. Can you hear me? I could do a cartwheel. Oh, gosh.

This is nuts. Okay, okay.

Okay. Now let me give you a proper room tour. Our room is on the top deck, and that's because we booked very last minute. And the only thing available was one of the few penthouse suites on the ship, which we were not sad about. So let me show you around. This is our big, beautiful bedroom with.

Privacy curtains.

Very shortly, we will be having our abandoned ship drill. So all crew involved in the passenger drill, if you could please proceed to your muster stations.

Yeah. Hurry. In this corner, we have this little vanity area with a big closet and hair dryer. Love that. Over here, bathroom tour. Typical bathroom. Sink with running water, toilet, shower. Surprisingly big for a ship shower. Nice little amenities. Pretty uneventful bathroom tour, which is always a good thing.

Huge closet. Yes. Oh. Oh, this is awkward. The hangers are. Hold on. Frozen slippers. This is a real cruise. Love these things. So two weeks is a long time for us to be in one place. So I'm actually gonna unpack my stuff and use this closet, which is a huge deal. Last but not least, this is our living room. Most important thing in here, of course, is the espresso machine. And everyone on the ship got these really cool parkas and these giant waterproof boots. So I feel like if we forgot something, if all we wore were the clothes on our back with these, I think we would survive.

This means that the captain would like to muster all passengers to their muster station.

It's Only a dream.

4.

We ask you now to collect your life jackets from your cabins. The life jacket is equipped with a whistle and light.

Uh oh.

I undid this, though.

Oh, she doesn't have to use one of these. Might not make it.

We completed the safety briefing, we completed the emergency drill, and we have officially departed for Antarctica. These mountains are the last sight of an inhabited continent that we are going to see for the next two weeks.

Two weeks is a long time. But now it is time.

Give me the good stuff to take.

Motion sickness medicine.

I don't think there's something.

All right. Hope that works.

I think we should have taken that a little earlier. Theoretically, the water should be pretty smooth for the next few hours because we're going to be sailing through the Beagle Channel. It won't be till later tonight that we reach the Drake Passage, where things could get interesting.

Wow. That bird is huge. Our first spot is wildlife. Meegan. Here is a little preview of our next video yes, Earthroamer has come out with another model so, you know, had to go take it on an adventure. This has become a yearly tradition for us and I'm telling you, you're going to love this one. But real quick, I just want to say a huge thank you to Better Help for sponsoring this video and supporting our channel. Real Talk. I had a little bit of an emotional breakdown last week. Had a good cry. It happens. Just so you know, I had convinced myself that I had my epilepsy completely under control and then it wasn't. So yeah, it's been a rough week. I just felt extremely overwhelmed, disappointed. So sad. And the reason I'm sharing all this with you is because I know I'm not the only one going through hard times and I never want it to look like on our channel that we don't have any struggles. So if you're going through something big or small, whether it's a diagnosis or a relationship or comparing yourself to others, just know you're not alone and you're going to get through it. I personally use and love Better Help and could not recommend it enough. Having someone who is professionally trained to help you is such a game changer. But in person, traditional therapy would just never work for the life that Nate and I live traveling all the time. So the fact that better help is 100% online and so easy to get started and use just makes it a no brainer. I don't know if I ever would have started therapy otherwise. Plus, with over 7,000 reviews and a 4.5 star rating on trust Pilot, Better Help is a platform you can trust. So if you haven't yet, please give Better Help a try. You can go to our link betterhelp.com K&N or just click the link in the description below and you'll get 10% off your first month of therapy. Thank thanks for watching. Have a great day.

Good morning everyone. It's a quarter to eight on Sunday 16th February and we're here sailing in the Drake Passage. It's an extremely calm Drake Passage but we do have some rolling of the ship due to residual swells. So do take care you get up this morning. One hand for the ship, one hand for yourself. So force four on the Beaufort Scale which means that we've got a moderate breeze, we've only got two metre swells and it's a grey morning, seven degrees centigrade. Breakfast is starting up in 15 minutes time. We'll see you there.

Good morning from the Drake Passage. We woke up this Morning with no land in sight in any direction. They say the swells are about 2 meters this morning, which in the camera doesn't look like much, but it's enough to make you feel very uncoordinated. There's been several times already where I've gone to take a step and either the ground is closer or further away than I expected. There's a little bit of rain this morning, but other than that, it is an absolutely beautiful first day. Now, we've been saying that Drake, like you should know what we're talking about. But honestly, I didn't know what it was until I started researching this trip. So I thought I'd take just a second to tell you exactly what it is and why it's a little daunting to travelers. The drake is the body of water that sits between the tip of South America and the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Wow, that is a big bird. It is almost 600 miles long and it's the convergence of the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Southern Ocean. So it's the place where all of those currents meet. And when they do meet, it has the potential to become.

A washing machine.

We shouldn't see land again for 48 hours, which means we have a lot of time at sea. So there are some talks going on today about the wildlife that we're going to see and stuff. We're going to use our free time to show you around the rest of the ship, starting with the top deck. This is the sixth floor where our room is. Still getting my seat legs. This floor is mostly cabins, except at the very end.

This is the sun deck. I don't think I'm going to be doing any sunbathing on this trip.

Cool. It's a six and a half floor where it looks like they have all the kayaks and the. What do they call this? The zodiacs. It's called the zodiac.

Okay. It's cold.

So this is the bridge where the captain is. And they told us yesterday that if this sign is red to leave him alone. But if it's green, then you can go inside and it's green. This feels so wrong.

You even have a coffee maker in here? Yeah.

It's one of the critical equipment. Yes, it is working all the time. I feel like I get seasick in those so fast.

Oh, yeah, you're probably right. Thank you for having us.

Oh, yeah.

Moving on. And on the fourth floor there is the club, which has a bar, but most importantly, free coffee, tea and cookies 24 hours a day. Also the fourth floor has the only deck that wraps all the way around. And they told us, if you want some exercise, then 10 laps around equals mile. We're going all the way.

It's windy up here. The sun's coming out.

That's you.

No, keep going.

And the third floor is where we boarded the ship yesterday. So there's a little reception area. And the room behind me is the lounge, which is where we have all the free things. And there's a talk going on in there right now.

That's about it for the third floor. So now let's head down to the second and final floor of tour.

The front of the ship has a small hospital, which hopefully we won't ever see.

Five bags, just in case. All of the hallways are lined with these, which is kind of an awkward transition to the restaurant where lunch is about to start. This is our third meal on the ship, and so far everything has been delicious. The restaurant is open city, so you can sit wherever you want. There are some two person tables. There are some bigger group tables. We decided to sit by ourselves since we're making this video. But later we'll sit at a big table and make some friends.

It's getting colder. All right, we still have the whole afternoon ahead of us. We are going to attend a few of the talks, and we will pick this back up as soon as something interesting happens, which is hopefully sooner rather than later. Go, go, go, go, go, go. Right here.

Oh.

Iceberg right ahead.

We are 38 hours into the Drake Passage and we have just spotted our first iceberg.

I was not expecting it to be so close and so huge. It's like, glowing.

That is crazy.

Wow.

Oh, it's chilly out here. Gotten a lot. Oh, it's snowing. Colder. It feels a lot more like Antarctica.

It looks like we are heading straight towards it right now, which makes me a little uncomfortable.

The wind is legitimately painful. Like I have a headache from where I don't have a hat on.

This is amazing. Not only are we seeing our first iceberg, but we just saw a whale. What do you call it when they blow? We saw a whale spout right in front of it.

Oh, there it is.

I can't feel my face or my hands, but it was totally worth it.

Am I smiling right now? I can't tell.

What an incredible start to the trip. It's like the first iceberg pops up on the horizon out of nowhere, and then all of a sudden, there's a well swimming perfectly in frame right in front of it.

It was magical.

Although I Do feel like the people that work on the boat are probably laughing. They're like, you're gonna see 10 million icebergs this week. And everybody's like, there it is, the first one.

Nate was right. This was just the beginning of the views and the wildlife, but nothing could prepare us for what's to come. The initial excitement is kind of cute to look back on, though. Land ho.

As soon as we walked outside, there's literally just a penguin swimming through the water.

So cute.

Everything is happening so quickly. I can't wait to see more. But after 39 and 12 hours, we have spotted land for the first time. We made incredible time across the Drake Passage. It was supposed to take 48 hours, but we are just cruising past the Shetland Islands, which is our first glimpse of Antarctica.

Oh, wow.

It's already really hot.

Yeah, I'm warm. Let's open the door.

So we just got word that because we made such good time across the day Drake, we are actually going to get to step foot on land for the first time tonight. It wasn't supposed to be till tomorrow, but it's only 7pm here in Antarctica. The sun doesn't set to like, 10 or 11 these days. So we're going out.

You're walking like I always picture a pregnant person to walk my baby.

Here we go.

Let's go.

It's not warm.

We're here.

We've just stepped but on our first Antarctic rocks on Robert Island. They're penguins, they're seals and whale bones.

That is the jawbone of a whale.

We're only here for an hour. It's an hour more than we thought we would be here, so we can see as much as possible.

It is literally using a rock like a pillow.

They're very aware that we're here, but they don't seem to care whatsoever.

So funny. They're so awkward on land, but then as soon as they get in the water, they're so graceful and they just roll around like, ah.

Well, that was the fastest hour of my entire life. Wow is the only word I can think of.

It is a good thing. We have 10 more days.

Good morning, everyone. It's seven o' clock on Tuesday 18th February, and we're here sailing in an extremely calm entrance to the Weddell Sea. Got some fantastic icebergs on the horizon, some large tabulars as well as giant blocks of ice.

Good morning from the Antarctic Islands. That is one thing I never thought I would say. We've spent the last two days cruising across the Drake Passage. So this is our first, first morning waking up with land in sight. And I've set my alarm much earlier than usual so I could just spend an hour before breakfast staring out the window and watching this unfamiliar world go by.

It's incredible. Our ship has just entered the Weddell Sea and we are surrounded by huge ice cream works. What a way to start the morning.

I'm sweating.

We are about to get off the ship for three hours and it is so intimidating trying to decide what to wear in Antarctica. So I've pretty much put on my entire suitcase. Let's go.

Our first stop of the day is at a place called Paulette island, which is famous for its dark history. There was a ship in 1903 called the Antarctic. It was actually crushed in the ice right off the shore of this island. But the reason we're here today is because a colony of Adelie penguins lives on this island. And they are so cute.

So all the penguins that are left on this island are young penguins and they're going through a process called fledging right now, which is where they're losing their fluffy baby feathers and gaining their adult feathers. But it's really funny because they're at this, this weird in between stage where they still have some of their fuzzy feathers left. And so some of them have mohawks or afros and they're all super uncoordinated. We're basically witnessing these penguins in their awkward teenage years.

So after the Antarctic wrecked, 20 men survived the entire winter in this little stone hut behind me. Absolutely insane. Now it's just a place playground for the penguins.

So we are currently attempting to make our way down a mountain that is full of slippery penguin poop. Every year over a hundred thousand penguins come and nest on this island. And so it's kind of like the ground has just been covered in this pinkish gray cream cheese like substance.

It kind of looks like it would be the consistency of mud, but it is so slippery and so stinky. You're just surrounded by Porta Potty smell.

Slightly fishy urine.

Ah, this fresh and running air.

Lovely.

There's an entire flock of penguins sprinting towards us right now.

Trying to take.

As little penguin poop back to our room as possible. We jumped in the Zodiacs to head back to the ship, but while circling around the icebergs, we witnessed something very unexpected.

No way.

Oh.

Oh my gosh.

Did we just get to see that?

That was crazy.

We were watching a giant leopard seal jump up on the ice to try to eat a penguin.

This is crazy.

And they're. They're just out of his reach. But he's trying every way that he can to jump up and grab him. He just keeps trying.

This thing, like, leaps up and then it just slides back down. Oh, they're trying to run away.

That is insane.

This is not something I get to see.

Really.

Oh. Oh. We almost got him. That dog.

Look at you, right? He's literally spinning right under. So he's going to come over here. He's coming up.

He's trying to see the penguins.

That is so nice.

I felt like I was living in a National Geographic TV show. We are currently cruising through the Antarctic Sound, and we just come up on the biggest iceberg that we've seen yet. It's like the size of a small island. Like, if you told me that was land, I would believe you. Honestly, for some reason, this is what I had pictured in my head of what all of Antarctica would look like. I figured when you got to the continent, it was just going to be these huge white walls of ice. I did not expect these. These big brown mountains jutting up out of the ocean.

No matter how many mornings we wake up on the ship, waking up, looking out the window and seeing something like this will never get old.

Wow.

This place is incredible. We've been up for 30 minutes. We woke up right next to an iceberg. I went downstairs to eat breakfast. Couldn't even finish my breakfast because now there's a family of humpback wells between our boat and the iceberg. I've never seen. Oh, well, do something like this normally. I just feel like they're there and then they're gone because they're diving down and doing all that. These are just, like, floating on top, hanging out, blowing. So incredible.

The fact that I'm out in the freezing cold before I finish my coffee says a lot. It's awesome. I'm wide awake.

So last night, our ship made its way back to the entrance of the Weddell Sea. And this morning, we are about to jump on the Zodiacs and go cruising through this massive sea ice in hopes of spotting a few more whales. Just seeing those first two up close to the boat gave me a whole new appreciation for just how massive they are. I can't imagine sitting side by side with one of those in our. In our tiny Zodiac.

We are now in the water with the whales.

They're having their breakfast.

They're so loud.

There's a whole family of those.

This is the coolest.

Did you see a splinter?

I cannot believe my Eyes, please.

No way. We're so close.

This is incredible. I can't take my eyes off him. We just saw his giant tail come out of the water for the first time. Oh, my God.

Wow. The noises that they made, that was special.

It's kind of eerie when something the size of the school bus goes underwater just 50 meters away from your boat.

Because it feels like it. Any second.

They're just showing off. This is incredible. It's like they're dancing for us.

What just happened?

They had the entire Southern Ocean and they chose to spend an hour just hanging out with us, showing off. You just. There's no way to appreciate the size of those beautiful animals through the camera. The only way to do it is to be right up next to in a boat that's half their size. We pulled back to give them space, and they're, like, chasing alongside their boats. They're just having fun, hanging out.

I didn't know you could do this.

Don't stay together.

Spread out, because ice.

We have just purposely run aground on a piece of sea ice. So there's nothing but water, both frozen and solid, between here and the bottom of the ocean that is 1200ft below.

So I feel like this has broken off of something at some point, which means it could break again.

Oh, what a morning. Seriously, if we turn the boat around, drove back to Argentina right now, it was totally worth coming.

Yes. I've been disappointed. That was the most magical boat ride of my life.

Oh, your cheek is so cold.

Your face felt so cold.

It's crazy how mental cold is, because while we were watching the whales, I didn't think about it for a single second. As soon as they were gone, I was like, oh, my fingers hurt so bad. Ah, that was the best.

Tonight we are going to be giving up our big, fluffy, comfy, white, warm bed and our warm room that we've had set to 25 degrees every single day for a bivvy bag placed on the snowy Antarctic ground where we're going to be spending the night in below freezing temperatures or shaking my lens off.

We are about to disembark the ship and we will not be back until tomorrow morning. One of us is a lot more excited about this than the other. Oh, I think this is going to be the best night of my life.

No turning back now.

I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to camp somewhere this beautiful, maybe the most beautiful place I've ever been. And I get to spend the night sleeping here under the Antarctica sky, breathing in the fresh air and the Stench of sill poop. But it's all in the adventure.

How does this spot look?

Home for the night.

Home sweet home.

I can't believe we're doing this.

First step, we have to make ourselves a flat spot to sleep tonight.

Hey, just clear my spot. Thank you for making it work. I think it nice.

Let's test the size.

I think it's great.

Look good, right?

So tonight we were sleeping in a thing called bivvies, which neither one of us have ever slept in before. It's pretty much like a. A windproof, waterproof cocoon. Or kind of like if a. If a sleeping bag and a rain jacket had a baby. This is our home for the night, not a tent. All right, step one. Lay down the car. And they've also given us these. Is this green. Turquoise. Turquoise bags. Inside there is a. What do they call these? Sleep sack. Which is basically like a pillowcase for your body, maybe. Pillowcase, sleeping bag. And last but not least, your sleeping pad so you don't have to sleep directly on top of the snow.

I didn't even know we got one of those.

We're camping in luxury tonight.

Didn't think I'd be doing this. This is a little invention I didn't know existed. We gotta catch air in it. Theoretically, that should pump up your.

Wow.

So much better than those inflatable beds. You know, talking about those. Those couches that they make look so easy to blow up on the commercials. And then when you try it in real life, you're just running around in circles like an.

Oh, that's not very tight.

Okay, that's good.

Oh, that is a hefty sleeping bag. Rated down to 15 below. And I think it's gonna get just below freezing tonight. We should stay plenty. Sleeping pad, sleeping bag. Sleeping sack goes inside of the sleeping bag for a little extra warmth and cleanliness. And now all of this goes inside.

Of the bivvy bag, which looks quite a bit small.

Oh, yeah, look at that. And that is home for the night. Pretty cozy.

I'm really impressed with your skills, Nate. You ready to do mine now?

If you're willing to do this with me, I will gladly set up your pig.

Our camp is officially complete.

Next up, probably the most interesting bathroom tour we've ever done. Or I might need to say toilet tour. Starting with the door lock. Whenever you go use the bathroom, you put the shovels down. And when you're done, you put the shovel back up, and then people don't walk in on you. Hopefully we don't have to go in the middle of the night. It's quite the hike to get there.

These are the toilets. It's actually pretty amazing that we have toilets in the middle of nowhere in Antarctica. And they're actually pretty fancy. So I haven't used one yet, but I've been told that this is how you do it.

What's the seat?

I don't know.

What's the secret to. To this.

Look, There are so many people just right there that can totally see me.

I don't think we had the location of the toilet in mind when we all picked our spot.

How do we get this open?

I don't know.

All right.

Should we go ask?

Yeah, I got to go all the way back up there now. This is hilarious. As if this wasn't funny enough, we can't even figure out how to open it.

I have a really dumb question. How do you open the toilet? Oh, you gotta force it. You just gotta really, like. You just gotta, like. No, I mean, you just need to grow some muscles. That's what it is. Round two.

Success. Okay, Kara, you may continue your toilet.

Okay. Like I was saying, you open the lid. Very important. Next step is you open the can. Step three, you sit on the potty and you use it. I don't really think that. And then after you're done, you put the toilet paper in the trash can. And then in order to flush.

No.

Step four is you pump water into it like this.

And then use this button to flush. And then somebody has the really terrible job of taking the toilet back to the ship tomorrow.

You shut this thing.

And that about wraps it up. You just enjoy the most beautiful view from a toilet you've ever seen. I don't have to use the restroom, but I kind of want to. Just for the experience.

You and. And all your friends watching you.

Will you stand in front of me so nobody sees?

Later. Later. Wait for it to get dark.

Yeah, let's wait till it gets dark. That's a good idea.

Also, as you're making your way back from the bathroom, you have to watch out for these giant holes for two reasons. Number one, you could break an ankle. And number two, the holes are created by seal poop. So the seals poop on the snow. And then it melts. Melts. Big hole like. Like this. And they get bigger. There's. There's another one. This one. I mean, that one's like. Like two feet deep, maybe. So got to watch out for those.

So it turns out that we are not camping alone tonight. We have been joined by 1, 2, 3, 4 huge Weddell seals. And this one lonely penguin is just passed out on top of this rock.

That was a huge chunk of ice falling off of that glacier, literally 500 meters from our tent.

Do you want one of those to cuddle up next to you tonight?

Not really.

Can you imagine waking up and he's just, like, flopping beside you?

That's pretty incredible. Yeah. Are you happy I talked you into it? Yeah. To be fair, I didn't have to do too much convincing.

This is nuts.

This is nuts. So I just feel like there's no way we are going to be able to do this place justice with the camera, but we're gonna try. This is gonna feel a little strange, but just take a second to enjoy this.

I don't think it gets any better.

I think this one's the lady's room. This feels so weird. Come on, just do it.

Nobody cares.

This feels so weird. Okay, don't record me.

Everybody's gonna be looking this way because he said.

Okay. Nothing to see here. Turn around. Can you see my butt?

Just keep your arm right there.

And I can't. I did not want to have to do this in the middle of the night.

Kara had a much better view.

Even though this goes against all of my natural instincts, sleeping bags are supposed to work better if you're only in your thermals. So even though we're in the middle of Antarctica in the snow, we're stripping my pants off. We're stripping down to our laundry. It's so cold. There are so many layers.

It's very tight. Yeah.

Sliding into the ocean. This is crazy. Okay, it is 10:20. We have a 5am Wake up call. So this is us for the next six and a half hours.

I think the coolest part about this might be the sounds that we're falling asleep to. We can hear birds chirping. The glacial ice is cracking. The waves are hitting the rocks. And every once in a while, we can hear the whales out in the distance spouting. It is so magical.

See you in the morning.

504.

We did it.

Feels much colder out here now.

Good morning.

Morning. How'd you sleep? Good? Yeah?

Okay. Goodbye.

It's cold, but it's cold out here. It's so pretty.

Getting out of the sleeping bag has definitely been the worst part.

How you doing?

I'm good.

Our rescue boat has arrived.

We did it.

This as bad as you thought it.

Was going to be? No, it's great.

I was never warm, but I was never cold.

I never Got cold. I felt great. I was just wrapped in my cocoon all night long.

I tossed and turned a little bit, but the only time I actually woke up was at 2:30 when I looked at my watch because it was snowing on my face. I got sleeping with my face exposed and I was like, what's happening? I was like, oh, my gosh. But then I just pulled my bivvy up over my head and went back to sleep.

I could just hear it from my little cocoon, the snow hitting us, and I was so happy that I woke up and got to just, like, experience it.

I was never mad when I woke up because it was just a reminder of what we were doing. That was the best and unforgettable night.

Good morning, everyone. It's 7:30 on Sunday 23rd February and we're here just entering the Herrera Channel with the beautiful landscape of Antarctica surrounding us. Just to let you know that we do have quite windy conditions outside. It's 25 to 30 knots of wind. We're coming into the Errer Channel and heading towards Danko island that we can see ahead of us. And when we get there, there we'll see what the conditions are. It's 1 degree centigrade outside, so a chilly, windy, breezy morning here in Antarctica, but incredibly beautiful as well. Breakfast is starting up in half an hour at 8 o'.

Clock.

We'll see you there.

One thing about traveling in Antarctica is that you have to be flexible. The conditions here are dynamic. They're always changing. So every morning we get a vague schedule of what we hope to do. But things could always change. Kind of like this morning, we were supposed to land on Danko island, but when we got there, the wind was up to 35 knots. There was no way they could safely deploy the Zodiac. So now we're sailing somewhere beautiful in search of a sheltered harbor where hopefully we'll be able to get ashore.

Good morning again, everyone. Stand by for plan C. I'm not.

Sure if you could hear that, but now we're on to plan C. We just got to the bay that we were planning on entering for shelter, but it's completely filled with ice, so we can't get in. So now we're going in search of another island that they know about where hopefully the conditions are better. But whatever, it doesn't matter. This is no matter what you're doing, every day in Antarctica is incredible.

This is just a great excuse to.

Enjoy another cup of coffee.

Okay, okay, okay. Massive change of plans. The weather has gotten a Lot better. But no excursion this morning. As you can tell, I'm. I've dressed slightly differently. We are going to be doing the polar plunge.

Don't make me do it.

Please don't make me do it. I'm so scared. I'm shaking. My heart is literally beating out of my chest. I don't know if I can do it. I'm so scared. I just want to get all my body temperature up before we go.

I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm already calm.

Just. Just look at what's surrounding us right now. Look at the water we're jumping into.

We are pretty much surrounded by glaciers on all sides.

What are you doing? I don't know. I've heard this is supposed to help.

I think it's happening. I need to do some more stuff.

Oh, my gosh. It's freezing. Oh, my God. Again. Oh, my God.

So many people.

This feels so wrong. Normally we're bundled up with all of our layers as we walk down these stairs. And now I'm in a bathrobe. Oh, my God.

Wow. Can I. Can I have one before and after?

This is the best, boss. There's been on the boat all week.

It's happened.

Oh, that's much colder now.

Here we go.

There we go. Is it my turn?

It's your turn.

Hey, here we go. Polar flights in Antarctica.

I can't move my body. Am I wearing pants? I feel like everything just came off.

I can't breathe. Go, Nate.

That's the worst part there, Nate.

Oh, the strap is cold.

What are you gonna do, Nate? I'm just gonna jump.

Go, Nate.

Okay, ready?

It's so hot.

I feel hot.

Is your body on fire?

I have the world's biggest brain freeze.

I'm very proud of you. Thank you.

I'm not even cold. I'm not even cold. Let's do it again.

All right, we just took a super hot shower and got warmed up. It is A about 12:30 and we're gonna head downstairs for lunch.

So lunch is always served buffet style. We've got a very nice salad bar, sandwiches, garlic bread, pastas, risotto, dessert cheese plate, fresh fruit soup, and. What is this? Wow, that looks good.

Yeah. We are attempting not to pack on the what we've named polar pounds because we have three giant meals day and there's not a lot of physical activity. So we try to have a salad for lunch every day.

After lunch, we typically cruise for a couple hours to our next destination. So I always get a hot coffee and Just enjoy the views along the way. But we have learned to never get too far from our camera or warm jacket because you never know what you're going to see outside. Just like yesterday.

They just came over there, the announcements, and said that there are killer whales outside of our ship. I can't get my clothes on fast enough. Oh, sorry. Okay.

Orcas are the one thing we haven't seen yet. No standing on here. Can you see them?

There they are. No, that's. That's not what we came here for.

Just a hump at. There they are.

Wow.

Wow. It's amazing.

Oh, there's four out there now. An orca party.

That was fun. They came and said hello and then.

They left panic mode.

Everyone flooded the deck. Everyone's like half dressed. If you ever want to get me out of bed super quick, Nate, just tell me there are orcas out there.

I've never seen you get dressed that fast.

So this afternoon we were supposed to be going ashore at a place called Nikko island, but kind of like this morning to excursion. This afternoon is up in the air as well. The weather's a lot better, so we're definitely getting in the Zodiacs, but there is a ton of ice, so we're not sure if we're actually going to be able to make the landing. But we are getting off the ship and not in our bathing suits. The piece of the sanitation so we don't take any bacteria on land, assuming that we have the opportunity to step on land.

Penguins. Look, they're just hanging out on top of the water.

Without a seal.

Landing is happening.

We've made a spontaneous landing on this rock.

So due to the ice, we were unable to make it to our planned landing spot. But we have managed to set foot on the continent today. This might not have been the best day to film the day in the Life video since everything's gotten a little messed up. We've had 12 excursions so far, and nine of the 12 have gone as planned. So normally we're either climbing a mountain, hanging out with a ton of penguins, watching wells, touring a research base, stuff like that. But today We've got about 50 meters of rock to play with and a couple penguins.

But we have learned that this is the last time that we'll be stepping on the continent of Antarctica. The rest of the time we'll just be bouncing around to the island. So we're soaking in this little piece of rock.

Heading back to the ship.

I've been enjoyed the kind of spontaneous landing at.

The lounge to discuss what we hope to be doing tomorrow. But as we saw today, our plans change.

Antarctica. Exactly. So that was back on the Antarctica.

Dinner starts every night at 7:30. It's a little fancier. It's four courses. You order off a menu. And tonight I'm going to start with the deep fried crispy calamari. For my soup, I'll go with the maple roasted pumpkin and ginger. And then for the main course, the grilled salmon. And I'll finish it all off with the baked New York style cheesecake. Hence the reason we're gaining the fuller pounds. As you can see, there wasn't a lot of activity today, but a lot of eating.

After dinner, most people filter up to the bar where Randy plays us live music.

And that completes a day in our life on board a cruise ship in Antarctica.

A except for the polar plunge. That is a once in a lifetime thing. Also, if you've never made it to the bloopers portion of our vlogs before, today would be a great day to start because I think my favorite blooper that has ever occurred happened today in this room. Are you okay?

You all right?

You'll be okay.

Hilarious. Also, yes, we did the polar plunge twice. Twice each. One for video and one for photo. So hope you appreciate photos as much as video. I'm kidding. Nate didn't even have to make me go the second time. I was so worked up that I wanted to go a second time. Isn't that crazy? Dark to go will make you do crazy things.

Somehow. This incredible trip is already coming to a close. Closed which means that it is our last morning waking up with views of the Antarctic continent.

We're going to spend the day exploring the South Shetland Islands. And then this evening we will start the long journey back to South America across the Drake Passage.

This is the worst part of any day is being fully dressed and waiting to get off the ship. Reminds me of being a kid and you see it dressed up to go out and see snow and then have to wait on all of your siblings.

Our first stop of the morning is at a place called Walker Bay. And we're here to see these guys.

Oh my gosh.

That is nuts.

Those are elephant seals and they are the largest seals in the world.

They look like a giant pile of rocks.

A very fat, blubbery, jiggly pile of rocks. They're called elephant seals because the males, after they get to be between 8 and 12 years old, they start to get this growth on their nose that almost looks like an elephant's trunk.

They are so massive. Oh, one thing on the move.

No, just readjusting his body. Their nostrils are cracking me up. Like you can't even see that they exist until they go to breathe. And then when they do, they're like the size of baseballs.

And they eat squid. And so that's why there's so many penguins on this little island, that they live in harmony.

Do penguins eat squid?

No, the seals eat squint.

Oh, you mean the seals don't eat the penguins?

The seals don't eat the penguins. They're friends.

It took almost an hour, but we finally got some action.

Even when they're just laying there, they're so funny. They almost have like fingers on the end of their flippers and they can just scratch themselves.

These might be my favorite animals of the trip.

We have just stepped foot on land in Antarctica for the last time. But this is a pretty epic last stop. It is called the city Deception Island. And what makes this place so crazy is that we are actually standing on the rim of an active volcano. And what's even crazier is that our boat is parked in the middle of the crater right now. So if you look at Deception island from a bird's eye view, you can see it's round and one of the small sides has collapsed. And so what's happened is this is an active volcano crater that has been flooded by the ocean.

This is so cool. Last time it erupted was 1969 and it typically erupts every 40 years. So we are a bit overdue, which adds a little excitement to today's excursion.

It's like a never ending fog machine.

So the water in this hole is 49 degrees Celsius. That's what it is.

The water coming from the, the ground at the beach is so hot that it is cooking the krill, which are these little shrimpy like things that the whales eat. Normally they're kind of see through, but they're white like a shrimp you would order at a restaurant. This is where we should have done the polar plunge.

So Deception island was used as a whaling station in the early 1900s. And people actually lived on on this island up until 1960 till the last big eruption. And at that point, most of the infrastructure on the island was destroyed and it was just left here to rot. And it's essentially turned into an open air museum.

So we just climbed halfway of the crater and it is so much bigger than it looked from the beach. All of the water that you see is inside of the crater. There's our ship for scale. And it just keeps going.

We've officially left Antarctica. We are watching the South Shetland Islands disappear into the distance. The swells are already picking up as we've entered the Drake Passage. And now we have 48 hours to south America.

Goodbye, Antarctica.

I can't believe it's already over.

Can't believe we actually were here.

It went by so fast, but at the same time it kind of felt like Antarctica was our new home.

Wow.

We're a little over 24 hours into crossing the Drake Passage and it is quite a bit rougher than it was all the way here. The winds have picked up, the swells are bigger, and every once in a while there's a big wave that'll crash over the front of the boat. I've come up here to the side. This is really the only place on the boat where you kind of have some shelter for the wind while you're outside.

I feel like it doesn't really look like much in the camera, but the boat is really rocking and we've heard it's only supposed to get worse. So we're making as fast as time as possible to hopefully seek shelter in the Beagle Channel.

So the.

The storm did get a little crazy last night. Let me show you what our room looks like this morning. We did put most of the pillows down here to stop the cabinets from banging so we could actually get some sleep. But everything else that you see on the floor flew off the shelves. This coffee cup, actually, everything's just still stay on the floor. All of these papers, this came from up there. This door broke completely off the hinges. And then over here in the bathroom, still wobbly. This is what's left of the vanity kit. This was supposed to go here.

I don't think either one of us really slept, but neither one of us got seasick either, so that's a win. The weather outside is still pretty.

Believe it or not, this is nothing compared to what we experienced last night. They have a way of measuring storms in the ocean and it's called the Beaufort Scale. And last night we experienced a gale force nine, which means winds up to 50 miles an hour and seas that could have reached 20 or 30ft. I was so tempted to get out of bed last night and pick up the camera and show you the craziness. But at the same time, I was trying to go back to sleep as quickly as I could because I was so scared of getting seasick. What a crazy night.

After a relatively slow, smooth sail through the Beagle Channel last night, we made it back to Ushuaia, where the crew threw Cara a little birthday party.

Now, that was one of the more memorable birthday parties I've ever had. Hey, still here. After we disembarked the ship, we made the long journey back to Tennessee. And five years later, when I reflect on this trip, I still just can't believe that it's real. Like, while we were there, I couldn't believe my eyes, but it almost feels that way. Like, even more so when I'm not there. All that stuff that we saw is still there. Like, there's still whales spouting and swimming around, little penguins running around everywhere, shedding their feathers and pooping everywhere. I can still smell the poop. There are all kinds of seals lounging around and swimming and hunting. What I'm trying to say is the magic of Antarctica in my mind just hasn't been faded one bit. What a special place. We're super, super grateful that we got to be some of the lucky people that have gotten to witness Antarctica. And once again, I just really hope that you enjoyed reliving it with us. I have this vision of people streaming this on their TVs, on repeat for, like, their kids, for their pets, for their students, or for yourself. Hope you're having a great day. Love you. Oops.

Real quick, two quick things before you go. First, here's a little sneak peek of next week's video. We have the Earth roamers back out in Utah overlooking Valley of the Gods. It's going to be incredible. Also, our friends over at Polar Latitudes wanted to offer you $1,000 off if you book a cruise to Antarctica. So if you use the code Karen Nate, that's going to give you $1,000 off. Antarctica is the trip of a lifetime. It is expensive. I also think it's totally worth it. If you're going on the trip of a lifetime, you want to make sure you're going with a good company. And we cannot say enough good things about Port Latitudes. So use code Karen Nate for a thousand dollars off. See you next week. I still can't believe we're camped here. This is absolutely nuts.

Oh, gosh. Are you okay?

Are you okay? You jump so high. Are you okay?

Are you kidding me? Okay. Do you have a concussion? It's on the scale of one to ten.

No, it doesn't. I. I hit a soft spot in the ceiling.

Are you sure? How many things am I holding up for?

First step was.

One of the dumber things I've ever done.

Now that you're okay, thinking about how funny it was. I was really nervous, and now. And now it's all getting out and crying. It was so loud.

It was supposed to be like, jump out, spin a circle. We were gonna have all of our clothes back on. It was gonna be a cool transition, but.

All right, let's try that again.

Oh, man.

That was all right. And.

I don't know how we're gonna be able to do this. Seriously, while we got this, you can. You laughed it, baby. Last.

All right. And now it's time to put all of our warm clothes back on.

I was holding my last brow wash.

I think I was smiling the whole time. That was funny.

Hey.