Even though I’d been cruising, kayaking and exploring my way through the Antarctic peninsula for a few days, I still hadn’t actually set foot onto the Antarctic continent itself.
Though sailing to many of the islands on the outskirts of the Antarctic peninsula is certainly nothing to sneeze at, I really wanted to make it official and achieve a ‘continent landing’ – which is exactly what it sounds like – officially landing on the frozen continent!
On Day 6 of our expedition, I finally got my chance.
The wind completely backed off, and with such peaceful weather, it was with ease that our zodiacs arrived at Base Brown, an Argentinian research station.
It was the perfect place to finally jump up and down on my final continent, and jump up and down is exactly what I did!
When I think back to how I felt in those few first moments actually on Antarctica, I really struggle to find the words to describe it.
Snowflakes were gently fluttering onto my face, the snow felt crisp and crunchy beneath my feet, the water was as still as a statue, my smile was so wide that my cheeks had really begun to ache and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment washed over me.
There are a lot of things I have done in my life that I am proud of.
I have brought (at least) a few hundred babies into the world. I was so determined to travel that I worked three jobs whilst studying full time at university. I was the first person in my immediate family to finish university. Also, this one time, I successfully built a piece of IKEA furniture all by myself.
But the thing I have done that makes me proudest?
At just 24 years old I had successfully made it to every single freaking continent on planet earth!
Plus, as if achieving such an awesome feat wasn’t already enough; as an added bonus, Base Brown was stupidly pretty to look at!
I could not have asked for a more perfect and picturesque place to dance around on my seventh continent.
Located in the aptly named Paradise Harbour, Base Brown dates all the way back to the early 1950s, but has only been functional intermittently over the years.
Of all the many things that caused this base to be temporarily closed, the most hilarious would have to be the story from 1984. In April, the then doctor of Base Brown was ordered to stay on base over winter – something he wasn’t particularly happy about.
He displayed his dissatisfaction with the order by burning the base to the ground on April 12th, before being rescued and moved to United States’s Palmer Station.
Unsurprisingly, after being rebuilt, the base was demoted to ‘summer only’ status.
The base has not been operational in recent times, and in the absence of humans, a small colony of gentoo penguins have since made themselves very much at home; and with views like this, I can’t say that I blame them!

The penguins were just as entertaining to watch as ever, and in fact, it was much more enjoyable on this day than it had been in the past. This was most likely due to the unbelievably lovely weather. With almost no wind and just a light sprinkling of snow, there was none of the frustrated wiping at camera lenses and zero wind chill inducing physical discomfort that had been present on past days.
We got to hang around on the base for a good long while, during which time I got to penguin watch, take pictures of my stunning surroundings and generally just soak up the beauty that is Antarctica.
This particular landing was a ‘split landing’. Basically, this means that one third of the passengers were out doing various activities (eg. kayaking or mountaineering) whilst another third went to Base Brown and the last third went zodiac-ing through the harbour.
I wasn’t on the schedule for activities on this day, which meant that after I was done at Base Brown I would get to go and do the latter.
At the time I thought that Base Brown was Antarctica at its ‘peak beautiful’, but I had no idea what was to come.
Stay tuned.
THE Β LOWDOWN
Getting to Ushuaia:Β Ushuaia is well connected to Buenos Aires and El Calafate
Oceanwide Expeditions: An 11 night Basecamp Ortelius voyage starts at around $9650 USD
Camera: Images captured with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 in conjunction with aΒ M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 lens
Remember:Β In Antarctica, nothing (except gentoos) is guaranteed; the weather runs the schedule, so be prepared that a true continent landing will not be possible for every voyage
Congratulations! All seven continents–I could not be more envious . . .
It is a pretty cool accomplishment IMHO, I am pretty stoked to have done it to be honest!
What an amazing experience!!! Definitely something to be proud of! Congrats!!!
Thank you so much Celestial! <3
Love following you and all your adventureous travels!
Thanks Mike, I look forward to keeping them coming!
Wow I am happy for you that you’ve accomplished so much at such a young age, Ellen! What was the temperature when you made the landing? The photos are lovely and you look content! What an awesome feat.
It was just below zero degrees centigrade! Thanks Pooja, I always like to see your comments!
Congrats!
Thanks so much Curt!
Beautiful as I expected it would be. I can only imagine the feeling you had on landing there – I’m so keen to get there myself. Loving following your posts on this trip. Stunning photographs.
This is truly something spectacular!
Congratulations, what an amazing accomplishment! Iβve always wanted to go to Antarctica so Iβve been really enjoying reading your posts and oohing and ahhing at all the amazing photos. Canβt wait to see what comes next.
Nice one. A great achievement for a traveller I think. Interesting to think how you are kind of stepping into the footprints of people like Amundsen, Shackleton and Scott perhaps from a bygone age. I bet the penguins were pretty relaxed around you like on TV weren’t they? They probably thought, “Who the heck are these guys? Don’t they know it’s freezing cold?” π
Sorry to dampen the euphoria slightly though but do you think people should really be going to Antarctica π¦πΆ at all? I worry that we talk of it being preserved but then we treat it like so many other things, something to be exploited however we can…but from what you’ve highlighted about the rules around your trip, it is good that they’ve been pretty strict.
Congrats, now what is next all the countries of the world?
I love this! Currently planning for my 7 continents. Thanks for stoking my wanderlust.
Wow! What an awesome accomplishment! U inspire me more. π keep living ur passion.
Congrats!! It’s really amazing how you traveled 7 continents as such a young age. Hope I also have the resources to do that. Good luck on your next adventure! π
Congratulations on completing your 7! More power to you. Your post is inspiring and captivationg. As I was reading, I could get a little feel of being in the place.
Congratulations on this feat! I wouldn’t mind hanging out with a colony of gentoo, for a summer or so. The place looks awesome!
Love the pictures. And fair play to 7 continents at 24 – you must have had to make it your first priority.
Amazing! Congratulations on the 7! You should be proud of your accomplishments.
I so loved the first photo in your post. It perfectly captured the feeling of Antarctica as you described it. It looks really cold, but so appealing at the same time.
For now at least, I am living vicariously through you. You really have such a talent the way you weave your narrative through the wonderful photography. As I have said before, Elle, I always feel as if I was walking with you. Thanks again for brightening my week with your amazing posts. Looking forward to reading more.