A Journey to Antarctica

[x_section style=”margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; padding: 45px 0px 0px 0px; “][x_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” bg_color=”” style=”margin: 0px auto 0px auto; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; “][x_column bg_color=”” type=”1/4″ style=”padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; “][x_text class=”center-text “]by Danny de la Cruz, Founding Editor[/x_text][/x_column][x_column bg_color=”” type=”3/4″ style=”padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; “][x_text]I’m proud to introduce to you martial artist and author of Kirin Rise, E. Cruz. And yes, he happens to be my brother. He graciously joins us this month with his amazing travel highlights and stunning photos from his trip to Antarctica. [line]

E. Cruz in Antarctica

To boldly go where no man… wait, as much as I’d love to quote those famous words, many people are now venturing to what I believe is the coolest place on the planet. At the beginning of the year, I was fortunate enough to visit Antarctica through National Geographic Expeditions.

Before going any further, let me address the most common question that will come out of your mouth, and no, it’s not about how cold it is down there. Let me nip this in the bud right away — there are no polar bears in Antarctica. There isn’t any smugness when I say that because I wasn’t the only one on the trip wondering where those cute Coca-Cola bears were hiding. Also, it didn’t help that National Geographic’s key cards had a picture of polar bears on it.

Anyway, to sum up an adventure like this would require a ton of writing, so I thought I’d make it a little bit different and entertaining by summarizing the main highlights.

• No matter what, you’ll have to survive the Drake Passage. As mild as I was told it would be, both times we sailed through it even with my sea-sick patch on, resulted with me cradling the toilet and vomiting. Be prepared!
• The smell of penguin feces cannot be described, but strangely enough you get assimilated to it rather quickly.
• While internet was available in sparse amounts, it was great spending two weeks almost electronically free. Growing up in the 80’s we had the best of both worlds living before technology took over and understanding the joy of what it’s like to live without it.
• Words cannot describe the beauty of ice. The pictures I share with you can’t convey how breathtaking those moments were for me and my wife.
• I was treated to the greatest show ever while sailing mid day on the Explorer — suddenly, a swarm of thousands of penguins surrounded the boat. Soon after, seals joined in as I was wondering what was going on. They were running parallel with our boat as I was soon told there was a krill run and everything in the ocean was in for their afternoon meal. As incredible as that was,and yes I have video and pictures to prove it, suddenly 6 whales joined in on the hunt to make for the most incredible visual sight ever.
• I’ve never experienced having daylight for almost 18 hours if not more during the day.
• When doing the polar plunge in arctic waters, it makes for those shown on the news on New Year’s to be not so special. Here’s a little secret, January in Antarctica is their summer. Now don’t get me wrong, it was still freezing cold and it felt like I got knocked out when I hit the water, but that was a check mark that I etched on my bucket list.
• Kayaking was definitely an adventure. Knowing that the water was freezing and huge creatures were surfacing at any possible moment, it took awhile before the thought of ‘hey we could die’ left the back of my mind. In the end, teaming up with my partner to make sure we were in sync and seeing penguins swimming close up, made for something extra special.

The greatest thing about seeing Antarctica was the feeling that man hasn’t gotten its hands on it yet and destroyed it. With all the talk about global warming and the changes that are obviously happening, you feel driven to do the best you can to save the planet. I left feeling that money shouldn’t be the driving force behind our daily lives and when mankind can understand that as a whole, only then can we make the change for the better.

To learn more about this trip, visit National Geographic Expeditions. There’s still time to hop on board a ship and experience this for yourself!

Ushuaia – the southernmost city in the world and the launching point to Antarctica

Ushuaia; Photo credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

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Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

Photo Credit: E. Cruz

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