Dressing for Shore Landings v. Zodiac Cruises

      Aurora, like Quark and a few other polar operators, provides a nice jacket for travelers to wear on their cruises.  Aurora and Quark specifically have dual-layer jackets, with an inside down layer that can zip into or out of a thick waterproof shell layer.  (Not all operators provide a jacket, and not all of those that do will have a dual-layer design. But I’ll speak here to my own experience.)

      I had come prepared with long-sleeve technical shirts (not cotton) and a couple different fleeces, much like I would wear under a ski jacket for a day of downhill skiing here in Montana.  I also came prepared with long john’s and a pair of water-resistant ski pants for my lower half… and all the accoutrements like gloves, buffs, hats, etc.   Since most temperatures along the Antarctic Peninsula will be in the teens, twenties and thirties (Fahrenheit) - as they are when I go skiing - I felt like being prepared for skiing would be a good way to think about being prepared for Antarctic excursions.

     After a couple landings and a couple zodiac cruises, I quickly came to two conclusions about my layering.
               -  When we did shore landings, I found that the technical shirt, fleece and outer shell were an appropriate combination.  I would be walking around, burning calories during these explorations.  This kept me warm, much like when I am working the turns or skiing the trees on a long run down a local mountain.
               -  But when we were doing an extended zodiac cruise, I got really cold.  I needed every bit of that technical shirt, the fleece, the zip-in down layer and the outer shell.  I wasn’t moving, wasn’t burning calories, and was losing heat quite quickly as the zodiac moved through the cold air.  The zodiac cruises were more like the cold ride on the chair lift, going back up for the next lap.

     It is important to note that some of our zodiac rides were absolute highlights!  Some travelers look down at the zodiac rides, believing the shore landings to be the only worthwhile excursions.  But au contraire… We saw humpback whales up close on zodiac tours; we saw leopard seals catching penguins on zodiac tours; we visited cliff-side seabird colonies on zodiac tours; and we toured through acres and acres of tossing and turning icebergs on zodiac tours.  None of these things would have happened had we been on land instead.