The cruise to Antarctica was incredible by itself, but adding the kayaking experience was a great decision! It provided a different perspective and simply a different way to interact with the natural elements. It was such an important part of the trip for me that it deserves its own blog ;D

In the case of Quark Expeditions, the kayak program was possible in all landings, weather permitted. Thankfully for us, in our entire trip it only happened once that the sea conditions were not favourable and we did the normal zodiac cruising with everyone else.

Normally the kayak group needs to be ready for departure earlier than everybody else, and if you consider how long it takes to put on all the necessary layers it always took a while for me 😉 By the time I more or less mastered the art of getting properly dressed as a polar kayaker… It was time to go back to Argentina hehe… My point is it was a full adventure for me to get ready, and on top of that we needed to be early as we were always the first ones to get off the ship.

How does it go in practice?

The kayak group is the first to disembark , the group and the kayaks are taken to the starting paddling point and the fun begins! There are always 2 guides and the zodiac remains at a visible distance for safety reasons, and also to finally take us to the same landing place where everybody is. It means you never lose any landing opportunity, this was one of my worries in the beginning when deciding if I wanted to join the kayak “club”  or not. In practice you spend less time on land compared to the people who only do the normal zodiac, but you get to have both experiences, the kayaking and time on land, just less time on land.

In addition to the cost factor (this added almost 1K USD to the original cruise price), I struggled to decide and not because I didn´t enjoy kayaking.. it´s quite the opposite actually.. rather to understand if I would be missing something important from the actual zodiac excursions and landing. I read in different places this is something to consider because some companies offer you the kayaking time but it´s done instead of something else. In that case you reallly need to understand and decide what is the most important experience for you.

From this perspective I share my experience with Quark Expeditions, but always check the details with the specific expedition company:

Pros:

• The experience alone if you are into kayaking (period)..    
• I like kayaking in scenic places and this is hell of a scenic place!!! Just imagine kayaking literally looking at glaciers, mountains, penguins and whales! Ok, imagine less and see more! 😉 😉

• Possibility to have unique animal encounters from a ridiculous close distance!   We even had a cormorant literally on our kayak, yes… we gave this elegant bird a ride!! –

Oh look at that cormorant behind us, so cute!

It´s getting closer to us, how cool!

Wait.. is it trying to…..?.

(nervous laughter)

Ok, there is a cormorant on our kayak 😉

• The most exciting AND the most frightening moments happened on the kayak with the whales. The scare lasted only 2 seconds though but it was intense 😉

• One day one friendly and apparently curious whale decided to spend quality time with those tiny kayaks on the surface. At some point the whale was breathing next to every single kayak and going in circles, almost like it wanted every one of us to have a close encounter. The instruction from our guides was clear: don´t move, of course we could paddle a little bit but generally we should just remain still and everything would be fine

Cons: (if really..)

• Less zodiac safari time – when you are using your human power in the kayak,  the motorized zodiac means the guide can cover more distance to see more places by sea.

• Less time on land – this is really and heavily depending on the actual landing place. There was only one place I wished I had stayed more time .. there was a huge penguin colony and I wished I had spent more time simply watching them. Trust me they are soooooooooo funny to watch! But I also have to say the time we could not kayak due to the weather conditions, I obviously liked the volcanic island we went to but honestly if I had been there 30 minutes less it would not have made a  difference to me as it was more remains of human activity.

Group photos!

WIP…