ANTARCTICA!

The start of a once-in-a-lifetime adventure!

15 December, 2016 7:00 PM: “It still hasn’t sunk in that my final destination is somewhere travelled by such a tiny percentage of the world’s population!

After a grueling 50-hour journey from home, I cannot wait to land in Ushuaia, the southern most tip of Argentina. 105 years after the very first voyage there, I cannot wait to set sail to the South Pole…to ANTARCTICA…and let it take my breath away.”

The tiny vessel

18 December, 2016 8:00 AM: “The yacht we are going on, the diminutive Peter the First, our home for the next 4 weeks, is just about big enough to accommodate 6 photographers. It has broken the world record in 2010 for being the only vessel in sailing history to have sailed the Arctic Circle in a single journey!”

The arduous Journey 

21 December, 2016 2:00 PM:  “So I think we are inside a washing machine today… Waves as high as 5 metres on the notorious Drake Passage, the most dangerous waters on Earth! 

I have been thrown around in almost every direction! In my cabin, I have to hold on to the ceiling with my hands and feet while lying down to stop myself from rolling around all over! The tiny bathroom is a hilarious experience in itself…there is no lock but a string that you have to pull on the inside to keep the door closed. So many times I’ve gone in and pulled the door shut and almost gone flying back out again! Chasing the foot-pumped tap water around the sink while brushing my teeth is another game this boat is playing with me. Of course there’s only enough hot water for a wash once a week. After all this, a quick glance at my “hair” in the mirror. Oh good, it’s still there. That’s the extent of me caring about it for now.

Needless to say, in this game of Dignified Neha vs Boat, so far Boat is winning!”

Why not a luxury cruise ship?

5:00 PM: “Why did I choose not to travel to Antarctica on a big cruise ship and put myself through the rough life aboard Peter the First? It’s because our comparatively smaller yacht can get to places that a big ship cannot because of ice and iceberg blockages. Also our yacht is rammed with a bunch of crazy photographers who will chase whales and sunsets for hours to get right up close for that perfect shot. Cruise ships have no such agenda. We don’t really have a rigid plan – if something looks interesting / beautiful / weird, we will go right up to it and photograph it from every angle possible! Besides, there’s a different kind of pleasure chilling with the sailors, dancing with them, eating with them and listening to their amazing stories!”

Some highlights – 

23 December, 2016 11:00 AM: “This is the Antarctica I’ve been dreaming about, and its more incredible that my imagination…and before I can complete that thought, there’s another 3 humpback whales hunting krill…turn left! There’s another one! Straight ahead one’s coming up! On the right! There’s 2 swimming together!!! I’ve never been so spoilt for choice for wildlife in the ocean and it just doesn’t get better than sailing alongside these huge beautiful beasts!”

24 December, 2016 4:30 AM: “Hands frozen, toes frozen and we have been up and shooting / editing for 19 hours in the land where the sun never sets and the photographer never stops working. Shattered. Ability to make complete sentences diminishing. Eyes closing while writing this post…this is what I live for!”

New Years Eve. Midnight: “At one point while dancing it hit me that we are doing a Bollywood flash mob in Antarctica in the middle of an underwater volcano, in the freezing 3 degrees, with a mostly Russian dance troop headed by me! That’s a sentence I never thought I’d write!”

1 January 2017 6:30 PM: “Everywhere we look, there are penguins as far as the eye can see. Each penguin has 2-3 chicks and they were all so adorable! Chirping, nuzzling into their mother’s fur, some clearly trying hard to climb back into the mother, demanding food every 2 minutes, hugging each other to stay warm! It was penguin baby paradise!”

“Life is all about adventure! Living each moment doing what makes you crazy happy and experiencing each emotion at its highest peak, each colour that life has to offer, pushing your body to stretch its limits. It’s been hard work getting here, but I feel totally privileged to have experienced this magical mystery land!”

Read the complete blog and see many more photos from Antarctica here: http://bit.ly/neha-in-antarctica

You can check out her professional work here – www.nehabrackstone.com