Antarctica
In 2014 my friend and travel videographer Chris Stanley invited me to join him on an assignment for a Norwegian cruise line and document a newly built ship's voyage to Antarctica. We spent two weeks going between filming duties and relaxing as passengers. It remains one of my most cherished travel experiences.
Captain Bjarne Larsen is the main captain on board. There are four Captains on this ship. Two main captains and two Ice Captains for when the ship has to navigate fields of icebergs.
We left from the lower tip of South America and crossed the Drake Passage. On the way down we got hit by a lightning storm that took out a part of the eletronics on the ship. But that's another story. On the way to Antarctica the Drake was very good to us.
Drake Passage is unusually calm #antarctica pic.twitter.com/lXN8901Nie
— Yuriy Rzhemovskiy (@yuriyr) December 8, 2014
On the second day of sailing we saw our first iceberg.
First iceberg sighting #antarctica pic.twitter.com/TkB2BJNR6h
— Yuriy Rzhemovskiy (@yuriyr) December 8, 2014
Another overnight push got us to the tip of the continent where we got a chance to explore several bays and go on shore.
On the forth evening on the continent I felt really restless. It was already 11pm and we had a big day ahead of us as the ship was sailing into a new bay. I could not sleep and went on the balcony around midnight. Since it was summer in Antarctica the sun was still visible through the fog. The captain cut the engines of the ship and we floated silently through a field of icebergs. The water was still and a few flakes of snow were gently settling on my face. I set up my camera and just stood there. Oblivious of the cold, I was out there for hours, completely mezmorized by how the fog was revealing the ice formations.
Best day in #antarctica pic.twitter.com/Ysbkr5fvF2
— Yuriy Rzhemovskiy (@yuriyr) December 13, 2014
