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Position at 0700 on 25th March
Latitude: 54°16’2” S
Longitude: 036°15’6” W
Course: 222°
Speed: 10.8 kts
Barometer: 996 hpa
Air temp: 3° C
Sea temp: 1.5° C
Wind Speed: N 3
Penguin count: countless!
Whale count: also countless!!

Our Antarctic journey is coming to a close, though we still have this one day of shore landings to experience. We are up at a reasonable hour (7am) to have breakfast before heading to our first landing – Salisbury Plain. We approach the shore in our Zodiac and the scene before us is one we can hardly describe – perhaps the pictures will do it justice! Thousands of fur seal pups dance and swirl in the shallow waters as we try to disembark onto the land. There, we see thousands of King penguins covering the plain, cawing to each other, with the chicks at their feet crowing for food. King penguin males and females take equal responsibility over the rearing of their chick, with both parents routinely venturing on fishing trips to fatten up the chick before the winter comes.

We set up our recording gear for a brilliant lesson with John on the Antarctic Skua, predator of the unhatched King penguin eggs. The noise we hear, the continuous cacophonous cawing of the penguins, serves as a warning to the rest of the colony when Skuas are lurking. We also record a lesson about the four tiers of the Antarctic food web, starting from diatoms at the bottom to the apex predator, the wolf of the sea – the orca – at the top.

Later, we film the introductory video for the 10-week course ‘The Power of One’ with the penguins all gathering around us, and in some sort of crazy/beautiful moment, Gavin says to the camera “…during this course you will understand how the small changes you make affect each and every animal in Antarctica, including these four penguins here…” and a parade of penguins march across the scene in front of him, as if to emphasise his point!

What an absolutely epic and beautiful way to end our adventure. The next few days are spent at sea as we head home, while previewing and editing all the content we’d created for Upschool and reflecting on the journey. Initially, we started with a plan to record 20 educational video lessons, however, after seeing and experiencing the marvels that Antarctica has to offer, we leave this wondrous continent with over 70 learning sequences!

Thank you all for following along and we do hope that you enjoy the course when it becomes available. “Alone we can change today, but together we can change forever!”

See you again and thanks for reading!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt

Position at 0600 on 24th March
Latitude: 54°16’2” S
Longitude: 036°15’6” W
Course: 222°
Speed: 10.8 kts
Barometer: 996 hpa
Air temp: 3° C
Sea temp: 1.5° C
Wind Speed: N 3
Penguin count: countless!
Whale count: also countless!!

The morning begins with a call over the tannoy at 6am! Though, to be fair, it’s not an unreasonable hour – the expedition leader, Christian, has allowed us the opportunity to head to shore at this early hour so we can beat the weather and get to shore and back before the swells and winds pick up.

We quickly get into gear and cruise over in our Zodiac to Godthul, which is Norwegian for ‘good hollow’. Godthul was used as a whaling station between the years of 1908 and 1929. Along the shoreline were lots of fur seal pups, some rusting barrels, a shed and boats run ashore from the whaling days long gone.

Further along, there is a track that winds its way up a hill filled with tussac grass, an interesting tufty type of plant that takes 200 hundred years to grow! As we make our way to the top of the hill, we see seal pups hiding in amongst the grass, grumbling at us as we move past them! We reach the top of the hill to beautiful views of the mountains surrounding us, and we film a lesson on the rock cycle.

Back on the ship, it’s still early, so we have brunch as the captain and expedition leader take us to a sheltered cove called Jason Bay. We’re back on shore on a pebbly beach filled with fur seals, elephant seals, king penguins and leopard seals swimming nearby. Once again, it’s the perfect backdrop for more lessons to add to our ever-growing collection of educational content for Upschool’s ‘The Power of One’ learning sequence.

The day ends with some fascinating insights into seal breathing techniques from Bia, the marine biologist, and a lecture from Dr Karl about ‘Absolutely fabulous moments in science.’

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt

Position at 0700 on 23rd March
Latitude: 54°17’ S
Longitude: 036°28’ W
Course: 242°
Speed: 7.7 kts
Barometer: 1012 hpa
Air temp: 0° C
Sea temp: 1.5° C
Wind Speed: SSE 7
Penguin count: countless!
Whale count: also countless!!

In the morning we wake up excited to explore the crisp shoreline of South Georgia and to respectfully observe the colony of King penguins that roam about. Unfortunately, we open the curtains to a turn in the weather – grey skies and ominous clouds greet us. Over the tannoy we hear the sad news – we won’t be able to visit the King penguins! The seas are too choppy, making it unsafe to disembark and unload ourselves into the Zodiac. Safety is a priority so we are all very understanding about the situation and the Captain steers us towards a different area – Grytviken bay, which is sheltered from the weather, where we are able to head to shore for a different experience.

Grytviken Bay was established in the early 1900s by Captain Carl Anton Larsen and was, sadly, the site of the largest baleen whale massacres of the 20th century. Now, the whaling station acts as a living museum and the whole bay hosts hundreds of Antarctic fur seal pups, elephant seals and a variety of birds.

On shore, we see the ancient relics strewed across the land, rusted by the turning of time. These are the remnants of Larsen’s dismantled house and machinery. There is beauty in these ancient artefacts and we utilise our surroundings to tell more of the story of the destructive role that whaling has played in the ecosystems of the great Southern Ocean, with the amazing Bia, and another recorded lesson on nurturing seal pups with Pat, a marine biologist.

Further along is a small cemetery, where the body of one of the most famous explorers on Earth resides – Ernest Shackleton. We pay our respects and have a moment’s silence while we listen to Jeff give a speech about Shackleton’s life.

The weather begins to turn again and so we head back to the ship and to the warmth of the lecture rooms where we learn about the history of diet and scurvy in past expeditions from Linda, the Aurora Expeditions medic on board.

As high winds and strong gusts approached in the north Scotia Sea, it was time to batten down the hatches and find shelter for the night in a secluded cove before heading further north in the morning.

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt

Position at 0700 on 22nd March
Latitude: 54°37’5” S
Longitude: 035°50’5” W
Course: 242°
Speed: 7.7 kts
Barometer: 1012 hpa
Air temp: 0° C
Sea temp: 1.5° C
Wind Speed: SSE 7
Penguin count: countless!
Whale count: also countless!!

The morning brings us gorgeous weather and more golden opportunities to record educational content for Upschool! The Zodiacs take us to the aptly named Gold Harbour. The beach is absolutely crowded with King penguins, their vibrant golden beaks and crowns glinting at us in the morning sunlight. The King penguin colony here is the largest in South Georgia with an estimated 120,000 breeding couples. In the distance we could see 2196m high Mt Patterson with its icy caps, fed by the Bertrab Glacier. Like many glaciers in the region, this on is on the retreat due to climate change.

Basking in the sun, with their huge bodies taking up quite a major proportion of the shoreline, are a wallow of elephant seals. Occasionally they slowly open an eye or two to track our movements, but mostly they lay lazily, preferring to conserve their energy. These elephant seals are considered one of the greatest divers on earth – in pursuit of food, they can dive up to 2km whilst holding their breath for up to two hours at a time. Further along, we do see a couple of juvenile elephant seals play-fighting in preparation to becoming a beach master in their older age.

The King penguins casually stroll by, and we set up nearby, careful to keep some distance. With the waves crashing on the left of us and the seals lounging around behind us, we record a video for Young Art USA. Jordan chats with Gavin about the migration of elephant seals and how this can be mapped using tea-stained paper.

The penguins seem to show genuine curiosity in our recordings and so Gavin takes out the first children’s book he wrote – ‘Are These Your Glasses?’, a story about Sergio, a bullied penguin from Antarctica. A class of penguins gather around him, listening intently to the tale and trying to get a sneak peek of their penguin pals on the page.

Back on board, the afternoon begins with an informative lecture from Pat about evolution and physiology – how marine mammals have evolved over time. As evening approaches, the Captain takes us on a ship cruise past Sandebugten and Nordenskjold Glacier while we reminisce over the day and prepare for tomorrow’s journey to one of the largest King penguin colonies on Earth.

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt

Position at 0700 on 21st March
Latitude: 54°54’9” S
Longitude: 036°01’3” W
Course: 060°
Speed: 6.5 kts
Barometer: 994 hpa
Air temp: 0° C
Sea temp: 1° C
Wind Speed: NE 4
Penguin count: countless!
Whale count: also countless!!

It’s a beautiful morning when we arrive in South Georgia. The Captain of the Greg Mortimer, Vadym, and the expedition leader, Christian, make a special announcement! We’re going to slowly cruise through the Drygalski Fjord to take in the magnificent sights; the towering rock walls sprinkled with waterfalls, the soaring ice cliffs and the palatial Risting Glacier ahead of us. Drygalski Fjord is 14km long, named after Eric von Drygalski – the leader of the 1901-03 German Antarctic expedition. The mountains on the southern side are basalt and lava originating from underwater volcanic activity, and the other side is the ancient remains of the super continent named Gondwana. This is one of the only places in the world where these two distinct types of rock formation can be found.

Captain Vadym manoeuvres the ship 360 degrees and as we turn, the Upschool team record a lesson on the Ozone layers with environmental scientist Ella. Gavin and Ella talked about the Montreal protocol from 1987 where the whole world worked together to tackle the global problem of climate change, the mountains slowly receding behind us. In a moment of absolute serendipity, as Ella spoke about the threats of climate change, a distant crack sounds, and we capture the moment a glacier calves into the sea.

The afternoon takes us to Cooper Bay and another breathtaking Zodiac cruise! We snag Bia as our Zodiac driver and zoom over to a beautiful enclave surrounded by rocks with streams of bull kelp clinging onto them. Behind us looms some dark and cavernous rock cliffs, which makes the backdrop to our next recording on designing a kelp sanctuary in your school’s library, with Jordan from Young Art USA. We create a lesson on kelp and how it helps us to balance our climate whilst providing a safe haven for the creatures that live in this area. Seaweed stores a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, hence curbing climate change, and also provides a sanctuary for seal pups to hide from leopard seals.

Bia takes us around the bay of rocks filled with four types of penguins; Macaroni, Gentoo, Chinstrap and King. As we round the corner, we all gasp in awe – swimming, playing and dancing in the bay beside us are hundreds of young fur seals, cautious yet curious about us as we slowly approach. It is an indescribable feeling as we coast by quietly, careful not to disturb the serenity of the moment. Time stands still as we watch them twirl and spiral through the water. Further along on the shoreline, we see Macaroni penguins, more fur seals, and giant Petrels. We record a lesson with Bia on Macaroni penguins and how they hunt, breed and feed.

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt

Positions at 0700 between 18th-20th March
Latitude: 62°06’8” S to 57°10’9” S
Longitude: 057°53’9” W to 042°15’8” W
Course: 008° to 061°
Speed: 9 kts to 13.4 kts
Barometer: 1007 hpa to 992 hpa
Air temp: -3°C to -2°C
Sea temp: Around 1°C
Wind Speed: W 7
Penguin count: countless!
Whale count: also countless!!

We had an interesting day on the 18th, with the weather deciding most of the day’s activities! The initial plan was to go ashore at Penguin Island, the giant stratovolcano that looms above the surface of the ocean. This volcano was estimated to be last active about 300 years ago. On the east side of the island is ‘Petrel Crater’, estimated to have erupted in or around 1905. Unfortunately, due to the weather conditions – large swells and winds up to 48 knots – we weren’t able to get close enough while maintaining safety for all involved. A heavy mist was rolling in as well, affecting our viewing abilities.

So instead, we decided to take care of the South Georgia biosecurity requirements. These are in place to ensure the safety of the flora and fauna in South Georgia, to protect the ecosystem of the area, and for other general biosecurity reasons. To ensure we are compliant with the protocols, we spend the morning carefully checking our exterior clothing, our gloves, our hiking gear, and anything that would be touching the South Georgian ground. In the lead up to our first landing at South Georgia, in a few days, we will continue to have the occasional biosecurity parties, as we’ve been calling them, to ensure we meet the strict requirements of the area.

We spend the afternoon attending some interesting lectures – Bia speaks on the life of a humpback whale with a talk titled ‘From tropics to ice and back again, and Jeff gives us a history of polar exploration and ‘Shackleton’s Endurance’. As the ship cruises past Elephant Island, we are lucky enough to have a brief window of sun shine down around us – the sky clears up just enough for us to catch a sight of Elephant Island.

We head east across the Scotia Sea and as we travel, fin whales cruise alongside us, seemingly guiding us onwards, in what can only be described as a magical experience. We say our goodbyes to Antarctica and look ahead towards South Georgia.

The 19th and 20th of March were spent crossing the Scotia Sea and as such we made use of our time on board to listen to lectures and record educational content for Upschool. Jeff delivered a lecture on Otto van Nordenskjold’s Swedish Antarctic expedition, Pat delivered one on Antarctic weather, the cyclonic storms of the area and how the weather in the Antarctic region influences the climate of the whole planet. The Upschool team met up with Pat, the marine biologist, to discuss recording the video on wild weather as they anticipated a large storm heading into the Scotia Sea on the 20th March.

The morning of the 20th March took us further across the Scotia Sea towards South Georgia. We enjoy another day of fascinating history and knowledge with a lecture about the seals of the Southern Ocean by Hannah, our naturalist and wildlife specialist on board, and one on whaling and its effects by Bia, a marine biologist. The afternoon brought on the snow storms we were hoping for and we quickly utilised the weather to create the educational lesson with Pat.

As the seas calmed and the winds settled, it was time to get ready for South Georgia and the beauty that we would behold.

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt

Position at 0700 on 16th March
Latitude: 64°34’5” S
Longitude: 063°34’9” W
Course: 084°
Speed: 5.9 kts
Barometer: 1003hpa
Air temp: -1° C
Sea temp: 1° C
Wind Speed: LT AIR
Penguin count: countless!
Whale count: also countless!!

Each day we awaken early to a new adventure awaiting us and a wonder within us, as we await the day’s activities. Today, planned for us, is a visit to Port Lockroy, Jougla Point and Orne Harbour.

First up, we head to the mudroom to suit up for our first outing on the Zodiac boats to cruise around the calm waters of Port Lockroy. Within the port is Goudier Island, and we make a landing there to check out the colony of penguins that live there, and some buildings and structures known as Base A.

Base A was set up in 1944 by the British, as part of an operation to survey German activities on the peninsula. Scientific staff took over the base in 1948, until 1962 when it was decommissioned and maintained as a museum, operated by the Antarctic Heritage Trust.

On Goudier Island is also Bransfield House, one of the Base A buildings, filled with relics from times past – including old food stores, ancient sealer memorabilia & paintings of early 20th century explorers.

Outside, with the backdrop of the buildings, the Gentoo penguin colony pottered around – the perfect backdrop for our next Young Art USA recording. Matt Iuliano directed Gavin McCormack and Jordan C Brun into position to begin recording as Graeme Myburgh snapped pictures from the sidelines. The penguins in the background were very cooperative in demonstrating the techniques we were attempting to convey through art –  how to create caricatures from the animals around us, that they will then incorporate into later lessons on fictionalising these characters into stories. We also learned about how baby penguins shed their feathers before entering the ocean for the first time.
 
A little further around the corner, past the penguins, we ran across juvenile blue whale skeleton bones – remnants of the 1900s whaling past of the area, when whalers used to haul the whales onto the land to strip them of their blubber, which was used as oil for lanterns, grease for machinery, and even wax for candles. Bia, the marine biologist on board with Aurora Expeditions, showed us the eye cavity, and we filmed a lesson on the history of whaling.

And now… the time has finally arrived… it’s the polar plunge!! All through the morning, we had been buzzing with excitement and anticipation. Would it be colder than the Arctic waters of July 2022?! Yesterday we passed through many a cloud, the snow and hail softly falling on the decks, picking up with the wind. But today we’ve got beautiful, clear skies, the sun occasionally peeking through the clouds.

Over the tannoy, we get the call. Polar plunge time. We rush to ‘suit up’ in our swimwear and head down to the lower deck. Team Frosty Five cautiously step onto the mat and approach the edge, where the water laps, lining up to take the plunge together. Above us, from the sidelines of the ship, we’re cheered on, camera’s at the ready. We countdown…three…two…one…JUMP!

Photo by Renato Granieri

It’s all over in a matter of seconds and we’re scrambling back onto the mat! The shock of the cold doesn’t really register till we’re half-running towards the sauna, to thaw out our frozen toes! Antarctic plunge, done and dusted!

The afternoon’s activity took us to Orne Harbour, where we were given the opportunity to make a real continental landing! We approached the icy continent and as the Zodiac pulled up, the Upschool team felt an extreme moment of elation as we realised how fortunate we were to have this opportunity to deliver lessons across the world from one of the most remote locations on the planet. We stepped out onto the land – one of only about 400,000 people to do so.

In Orne Harbour cruising around we did a lesson on how warm and cool colours are incorporated in art, under a cliff filled with shags – the birds that help guide sailors towards land, because they are never more than 50km from shore. We also recorded a lesson with Jeff, the historian, on bubble net feeding techniques of humpback whales.

When we got back to the ship, we were greeted with the smell of a delicious BBQ, enticing us up onto the level 8 deck, where we enjoyed a beautiful evening of food, fun and festivities. Beautiful moments surrounded us as we enjoyed our BBQ, with humpback whales joining us alongside the ship to enjoy their own feed; we witnessed the beauty and magic of the bubble net feeding technique, that we had just learned from Jeff! It was such an amazing sight to behold and we can hardly wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!

Love from the Frosty Five!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt

Position at 0600 on 15th March
Latitude: 64°59’1” S
Longitude: 063°46’1” W
Course: 225°
Speed: 7.4 kts
Barometer: 1004hpa
Air temp: -1° C
Sea temp: 1° C
Wind Speed: LT AIR
Penguin count: Countless
Whale count: Also countless!

Today we were up bright and early, with the expedition leader, Christian, making a special call over the tannoy at 5:45am to hustle us out of our beds and onto the upper viewing deck. From there, we watched on as the Captain carefully manoeuvred us through the Lemaire Channel. With our steaming hot cups of coffee warming our hands, we took in the sights as we sailed by, marvelling at the towering basalt mountains and glaciers as the sun slowly rose behind them, casting a rosy hue across the sky. What a beautiful way to start the day.

After breakfast, it was straight into the activities for us. The Frosty Five geared up and headed out onto the Zodiac for a cruise around Yalour Island. We managed to snag the lovely Hannah as our Zodiac driver, and utilised our time with her to record an absolute gem of a lesson on leopard seals. We started recording and in a moment that seemed straight out of a movie, as Gavin spoke the words “…and here we have one of the apex predators of this region, the mighty leopard seal…” – a giant 3.5 metre leopard seal leapt out of the water, as if responding to his cue!!

The morning was off to a brilliant start, and we managed to record a couple more videos, including one with Young Art USA’s Jordan C Brun about the colour contrast between black and white: recorded in front of a colony of Adelie penguins. We also got to spend some time on Yalour Island where we saw several thousand more Adelie penguins (I’ve given up counting) and our photographer Graeme Myburgh took some absolutely stunning close-ups of the penguins, showing off their unique-seeming personalities.

After lunch we were back again at the ready, for another outing to another island – Petermann Island. Here, we trekked up the snowy mountainside and found ourselves in front of an Adelie penguin creche, where our videographer, Matt Iuliano of Wildhearts Creative Media, recorded a lesson with Upschool’s Gavin McCormack on how leadership within penguin colonies reflects what we can be doing within our own communities to make a more sustainable world. We spent the remainder of the afternoon with Dr Karl, recording lessons for Upschool.co about the layers of the Earth.

With such an eventful day, it was great to be back aboard the ship to finish up with a lecture from Ella on the restoration of the ozone layer. We learned so much from her, including that since the 1987 release of the Montreal Protocol, the world has worked together to restore the hole that sits directly over the Antarctic continent.

It was an early night for all and we headed off to bed, looking forward to the next day and the next adventure.

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!

Love from the Frosty Five!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt

Position at 0700 on 14th March
Latitude: 64°36’5” S
Longitude: 062°34’5” W
Course: 197°
Speed: 10.1 kts
Barometer: 1003hpa
Air temp: -1° C
Sea temp: 1° C
Wind Speed: NW 4
Penguin count: 749?!?
Whale count: Dozens!

Unbelievably, it’s only day four of our Antarctic Adventure, though it feels like we’ve experienced a lifetime of wonder already! It’s another beautiful morning and today there are some amazing things planned for us by the Aurora Expeditions team on board. First up, though, is a delicious buffet breakfast, bright and early at 8am.

The ship, Greg Mortimer, named after the first Australian to climb Mount Everest without the use of oxygen tanks, cruised down the Gerlache Strait and we got to see even more whales! Humpback whales slowly cruised by and surfaced as we watched from above – it was a sight to behold.

Yesterday afternoon, before dinner, we had the honour and privilege of being able to interview Dr Karl Kruszelnicki for the first of a series of ten educational videos about ‘Space from the Edge of the World’. It was a short and sweet intro to the solar system and we were all in awe as we listened to him speak on the topic.

As the days go by, we’ll be taking every opportunity to pick his brain on topics as far and wide as the universe and beyond – his knowledge seems to know no bounds and we appreciate every minute we spend with him.

After brekky on the 14th, we got to do our first landing! It was a place called Cuverville Island and we saw our first colony of penguins!! I’d been planning on doing a penguin count for this trip but there were so many! Matt has jokingly estimated that there were 749 penguins there, and Gavin, ever the teacher, informs us that it is the largest Gentoo penguin colony on Earth.

The landing and surrounds were the perfect location for getting the next few educational video recordings. We found a cute group of penguins and set up in front of them, at a respectable distance for Gavin to deliver a lesson on the Gentoo penguin’s first journey into the ocean.
In a different spot, we set up again for Jordan, our art curriculum writer cohort from Young Art USA, to deliver a lesson on depth perception – with penguins in the foreground and background.

The afternoon took us cruising through the Errera Channel, filled with even more whales surfing the waters alongside us. We are almost at the point where the whale count is going to be countless, too! We were treated to a Zodiac cruise around Paradise Harbour, anchoring near the Argentinian Antarctic Base Brown. We spotted even more whales, penguins swimming through the waters from island to island, cormorants nesting on cliff faces, and some very cool – in more ways than one – glaciers and icebergs.

What a day!! With so much that we’ve already seen, we can hardly believe it’s only still early days! What else is there?! Let’s see what tomorrow brings …

See you then and thanks for reading!

Love from the Frosty Five!

Tanya, Gavin, Graeme, Jordan & Matt