Our First Landing Day in Antarctica: Penguins, Volcanoes, and a Thousand-Year-Old Cocktail

Nine months after opening up registration for our very first group trip, and five days into the actual adventure, it finally happened: we stepped foot on our seventh continent. Cue the celebratory penguin dance.

If you haven’t read our previous entry about crossing the Drake and boarding the Seabourn Venture, definitely start there—it’s the part where we sail through the world's most notorious ocean and live to tell the tale. But this entry is where things go full National Geographic meets bougie dream cruise.

Deception Island puts you in the center of an ancient volcano

Sailing Into a Volcano Like It’s NBD

Our first real landing in Antarctica wasn’t just a gentle beach stroll. Nope. We sailed the Venture directly into the flooded caldera of an ancient volcano. Because when in Antarctica, go dramatic or go home.

This place is called Deception Island, and it looks like something straight out of a dystopian sci-fi movie. Stark, smoky, eerie... and weirdly beautiful. You can still see remnants of the old whaling station that operated here back when humans had fewer scruples and worse coats. Now it’s mostly penguins, rusted tanks, volcanic ash—and twenty awestruck travelers from our group just standing there like, “What even is life?”

It’s also an active volcano. Yep. We were literally walking on the rim of a sleeping giant. Erin looked at me halfway through the hike and said, “So if this thing erupts, do we still get the polar plunge credit?”

First Colony Sitch: Penguins on Parade

If you’ve never seen penguins waddling in real life, let me just say: they do not disappoint. Our first colony was mostly Gentoos—chubby, orange-beaked, and somehow always looking like they forgot their keys inside.

They were curious, loud, and hilarious. One of them waddled right up to Colt, who froze like he was getting knighted. Brooklyn screamed (quietly, but still a scream). We learned not to approach them, but nobody warned them not to approach us.

We watched them build nests out of pebbles, squabble with each other, and occasionally just stand dramatically facing the wind like little feathered philosophers.

Also, penguin poop is no joke. That guano aroma? It’s a lot. But weirdly, after about twenty minutes, your nose is like, “Fine, I live here now.”

Icebreaking in Style

The Venture didn’t just coast through these icy waters—it plowed. The sound of the hull crunching through pancake ice was both soothing and a little bit like Poseidon chewing on a snow cone.

We stood out on deck with our coffees (and camera gear), watching the ship just own the landscape. It’s like being inside a screensaver but with better coffee and way more puffins.

And Erin? She was in full “Queen of the Poles” mode, wrapped in her parka like an Antarctic Jedi. She kept whispering, “This is insane,” every 30 seconds. And she wasn’t wrong.

Kayaking the Icy Kingdom

Let’s talk kayaking.

Nothing—and I mean nothing—can prepare you for the feeling of being in a tiny kayak, floating between mini icebergs, while surrounded by a cathedral of snow-covered peaks. The silence out there? It hits different. It’s like the continent is holding its breath while you paddle through its living sculpture garden.

At one point, we paused to just... float. No cameras. No chatter. Just the occasional sound of water lapping the hull and the eerie creak of glacial ice shifting.

I looked over and Erin had this grin that said, “I’m gonna talk about this moment for the rest of my life.”

One of several 1,000-year-old cocktails we savored

The Glacial Ice Cocktail Experiment

Later that afternoon, we put a new twist on the happy hour tradition: cocktails made with thousand-year-old ice.

No, seriously. One of our guides snagged a chunk of ancient glacier ice during the kayak excursion, and the crew used it to craft drinks back on board. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard your Negroni crackle with prehistoric air bubbles as you sip it in a leather lounge surrounded by explorers.

Also, it might’ve been the placebo effect, but that was hands down the crispest cocktail I’ve ever had.

Colt tried to convince the bartender to make him a glacial Sprite. Erin and I were too busy taking photos and pretending we were in a high-budget travel commercial.

The Polar Plunge... Tease

Now, let’s talk about what didn’t happen—yet. The infamous Polar Plunge was looming. Whispers of it circulated like an Antarctic ghost story.

“Maybe tomorrow,” someone said at dinner.

“They’re waiting for the perfect cove,” said another.

Meanwhile, we were all low-key stress-prepping. I may or may not have Googled "Can your heart explode from cold water shock?" (Spoiler: probably not. But also, maybe don’t Google that.)

The anticipation was its own kind of thrill. We went to bed with our swimsuits laid out—just in case tomorrow was the day.

A Day to Remember

This day felt like ten. In the best way. Every hour was packed with jaw-dropping beauty, unexpected laughter, and these little surreal moments where you realize you’re doing something that would’ve sounded absolutely bonkers a year ago.

We landed on our seventh continent, saw our first penguins in the wild, paddled through an alien world of ice, and drank cocktails cooled by ancient history. And somehow, that was all one day.

Part three is coming soon—and something tells me, it’s gonna involve us jumping into a sub-zero sea like a bunch of lunatics.

Stay tuned 🐧🥶🍸