Wish You Were Here: Antarctic adventures with some extremely helpful advice

Our readers’ travels have taken them to locations near — Oregon bike trails, for example — and far, as they explored Old Montreal and hiked Kauai’s Napali Coast. Today, we’re headed for Antarctica, where two intrepid Oakland travelers are sharing their tales of adventure and offering travel tips, including one extremely helpful one for people who want to actually go ashore and see the penguins, and not just hear about it afterward!

Wish You Were Here

ANTARCTICA: In January, Oakland residents Joe Schieffer and Cathy McDonald traveled to Antarctica, their seventh continent. “It is not as cold as you would expect,” Joe says. “During the Antarctica summer — the only time ships go there — the air temperature is a steady 35 degrees due to the modulating effect of the 38 degree water. But 38 degrees is still mighty cold, if you do a polar plunge.” (Joe did!) “Interesting fact: Since the water is warmer than the air, the part of an iceberg underwater melts faster than the part of an iceberg above the water. ”

TRAVEL TIPS:  “Think carefully about the size of the ship which you take to get to and explore Antarctica,” Joe says. “It is a two-day adventure each way crossing the Drake Passage from Ushuaia, Argentina. Larger ships have more amenities and a smoother journey across the turbulent Drake Passage. However, each ship can only allow 100 passengers to land on the continent at a time. If you are on a 100-passenger ship, everyone on board can go ashore each landing. If you are on a 400-passenger ship, you can only go ashore every fourth landing.”