February 5, 2014 Journey to Antartica

Just registered for this trip and am looking forward to it. Would love to hear any tips from past cruisers about what they wished they brought and what they brought they wished they left at home.

Thanks!

Hi MadSkipper,

We returned just two weeks ago from our expedition on the Nat Geo Explorer. It was AMAZING, and you now have a year to savor the anticipation, and get your gear!!

At some point, I will write a review, and cover the "what I was happy to have, what I shouldn't have brought, etc.," but who knows when, so let me answer your questions:

I wish I'd brought more short sleeved polo shirts to wear on board. I asked my partner the same question, and she couldn't think of anything else she wishes she'd brought either.

As for what we could have left home:

1. I had too many sets of long johns (4); I brought that many because each was a different weight, and I wasn't really sure what would be best. From experience, I can say that two sets would have been sufficient (my partner says one, but I disagree). In term of the right weight for them, I liked my Cuddl Duds Climate Smart, and also my LL Bean Lightweight. (I have to say, though, that when we were just zodiac cruising, the LL Bean Midweight bottoms were quite comfy.)

2. We brought a bunch of chemical handwarmer packs, NOT because we thought we'd need them for our hands, but because I'd read they were great to put in a pocket along with your spare camera batteries to keep the batteries from discharging in the cold. Well, my Nikon batteries had NO problems in the cold, and I never once used the handwarmers. I have read on here that others have used them to help with their batteries though.

3. I brought a lightweight hiking stick that converted to a monopod for my camera. I never used it as a monopod, and there were plenty of hiking sticks on board.

4. We each brought more hats and gloves than we needed, because in the year we spent preparing for the trip, just about every time we saw something different that we thought would be great in Antarctica, we bought it. :) (I think two pair of good waterproof gloves and a couple of hats would do it. I highly recommend a neck gaiter that you can pull up over your mouth and your nose.)

I do want to recommend LL Bean's insulated, waterproof snowpants to wear over your long john bottoms and boots. They were absolutely the best piece of gear we brought (besides our Arctic Muck Boots); kept us warm and dry in the zodiacs and on land, and really easy to use with the boots since they had side zippers. Never needed to wear anything over the long johns when we had these one.

BTW, when we booked our trip and bought our boots, Lindblad had NO option to rent boots. They do now, so you'll want to strongly consider that. It was a lot to take two pair of Muck Boots to the bottom of the world (and back).

Happy to answer other questions, and congrats on booking the trip!

Google NEOS overshoes - perfect for wet landings - light weight, easier to pack than boots, fit over your comfortable walking shoes. Don't know what they are called, but gloves whose fingers pull off and fold over - good for photography in cold weather. We've been lucky to have been to the Antarctic twice - it will be an outstanding travel expeerience!

Google NEOS overshoes - perfect for wet landings - light weight, easier to pack than boots, fit over your comfortable walking shoes. Don't know what they are called, but gloves whose fingers pull off and fold over - good for photography in cold weather. We've been lucky to have been to the Antarctic twice - it will be an outstanding travel expeerience!

Sage advice.

+1 to the NEOS. My wife and I both found them to be great (and I'm not at all surefooted). Got mine at Ben Meadows, roughly $70.

And +1 to the gloves idea. I got mine at B&H, roughly $40--only the index finger and thumb need to be exposable.

And +1 to the gloves idea. I got mine at B&H, roughly $40--only the index finger and thumb need to be exposable.

I'm glad you liked the gloves. I brought along Aqua Tech gloves (purchased at B&H) that let you expose your thumb and index finger. I found them a bit cumbersome to use (had to push your fingertips out thru small holes in the inner neoprene, I know that sounds easy but it wasn't as the holes weren't very large); I often wound up just shooting with bare hands or, more often, wearing a thin pair of polypro glove liners.

A number of birders on the trip had mittens that let you pull the top back to expose the tips of your fingers. They were using them on the ship where they didn't need much dexterity; not sure how great mittens would be on land where you want the dexterity. They looked very easy to use, though, and if I ever needed anything like this again, I'd look into them.

Turtles: I also went with the Aqua Tech. Exceptionally rugged: May not be relevant for most cruisers but as detailed in my review I spent a lot of time on my rear end because of my own physical peculiarities, dragging myself along by my hand. Aqua Tech gloves absolutely none the worse for wear. Naturalists/crew horrified I might shred them on diamond-cut steel Zodiac boarding areas--nope, held up perfectly (as did the NEOS trekkers as I wriggled along).

Further, agreed completely the holes for thumb and forefinger were very small-by design I'm sure, suited me well actually. I spent a lot of time ashore in a folding chair they brought me or on my belly (by choice). Circulation in my left hand is not good at the best of times, and these were clearly not the best of times, but the gloves did the business.

I second many of the above suggestions and would add-several garbage bags to bring home smelly snowpants and boots (if you don't rent them).

I second many of the above suggestions and would add-several garbage bags to bring home smelly snowpants and boots (if you don't rent them).

This is good advice, but after our last landing, we were really careful to do a thorough cleaning of our boots and pants, not only in the water spray/fixed brush area (as always), but also using the free standing brushes in the buckets. We hung the pants in our cabin and wiped off anything we missed (and of course let them dry) before we packed them. And washed them when we got home! :)