I broke one of the first rules of visiting the Antarctic

Ice, ice, baby. There’s no escaping it here. The rhythm and flow of Antarctica’s landscape is as catchy as a pop song after a while; the bass-like boom of glacial ice hitting the water, bobbing sheaths the size of buildings keeping tempo in the distance. In the inky ocean, chunks clink and bop to the beat. I’m snorkelling among bergy bits off Port Lockroy on the Antarctic Peninsula. It’s 0.5 degrees in the water. I can’t feel my face.

Polar snorkelling is one of the most unique ways to experience Antarctica.

Underneath my dry suit, which has rubber seals at the neck and wrists, I’m wearing three pairs of socks and three layers of clothing. We’re halfway through our nine-day Antarctic Explorer cruise with Aurora Expeditions and dropping into the Southern Ocean from the zodiac every day has almost become second nature. “Watch out for leopard seals. They’re territorial and imperceptible,” said our Australian snorkelling guide Edwin on day one of our briefing.

A run-in with an aggro, prehistoric-like pinniped is the least of my worries. Something doesn’t feel right this morning.

Swimming in ice soup.

Submerged and swimming away from the zodiac, I feel a sharp sensation shooting down my back. My dry suit is filling with water. Panic sets in as I replay Edwin’s safety briefing to our small group a few days ago: “In water this cold, hypothermia sets in within four minutes.” I’m seized by the irrational thought that I’m wearing multiple layers of clothing and could sink at any moment.

I immediately abort the mission and start swimming back to the zodiac to let Edwin know my dry suit may be unzipped. A dry suit is a canvas one-piece that keeps you dry but not warm. A thick plastic zip runs diagonally across the torso. The final step in the arduous task of getting it on is giving the zip a tug to lock it into place. I forgot to check my zip. I broke the No.1 rule when entering the water in Antarctica.

Dropping into the icy Southern Ocean from a zodiac becomes second nature.

Edwin directs me to clamber up a submerged rock and turn to the side so he can take a peek at the zip. I feel decidedly pinniped-like. There’s a short pause. Then quite seriously he says, “Get back in the zodiac. I need to take you back to the ship.” This is not what I had in mind for my first polar plunge. It seems silly to be scared, but you can’t help but feel fragile in this desolate, unforgiving environment.

View of Wilhelmina Bay from the Greg Mortimer.

And yet, I’m in no real danger: we are in a shallow bay and not far from the ship, but protocol requires the crew to act immediately. Once we arrive, a crew member is waiting for me and hurriedly helps me rip off the dry suit, wetsuit hood and gloves. Every layer underneath is completely saturated. I’m shivering and in shock, but otherwise unscathed.

The advice is to go and immediately take a hot shower in my cabin. Once I’m defrosted, I hang my wet clothes all over the bathroom in the hope that they’ll dry before our next outing tomorrow, which they do. One of the best features of the cabins on both Aurora Expeditions’ Sylvia Earle and Greg Mortimer ships are the heated bathroom floors that are very effective in drying wet things.

Heated bathroom floors are among the luxe features on the Greg Mortimer.Credit: Adrian Wlodarczyk

It’s a minor hiccup in an otherwise once-in-a-lifetime experience. In the end, we don’t see much other than icebergs and the odd plant on our snorkelling excursions, but there’s something very cool about swimming in ice soup.

Likewise, the snorkellers are always the first zodiac off the ship, so if there’s something exciting happening outside, such as pods of whales feeding nearby or humpbacks breaching on the horizon, we get first dibs on them before other cruisers. “All activities are gateway activities to snorkelling,” says Edwin. Just remember to check your zip.

The details

Fly

Qantas flies from Sydney direct to Santiago from $2780 return. See qantas.com.au

LATAM flies direct to Punta Arenas from Santiago from $456 return. See latamairlines.com

Cruise

Aurora Expeditions’ 12-day fly-in, fly-out Antarctic Peninsula: Fly the Drake itinerary, departing in early 2026, avoids the Drake Passage and includes the Lemaire Channel and Deception Island. From $33,631 per person. Add-on snorkelling from $1090 per person. See auroraexpeditions.com.au

The writer travelled with the assistance of Aurora Expeditions.