Camping in Antarctica may sound like an odd idea, nevertheless 30 of us booked that option, which gave us a night onshore. We were sleeping straight on the floor without tents. Proper equipment (sleeping bags, inner and outer liner) was provided, so the cold was not really a problem.

During a preparation meeting earlier that day on the ship, the Quarks team introduced us to the equipment and showed us how to use it. There was a bit of uproar when people started to understand that they would not sleep in a tent. Afterwards the ship’s giftshop was ‘raided’, people bought all sorts of equipment (hats, scarfs, additional layers etc.) to get ready for the night.

We left the ship around 21:00 to get onshore and set up. As we were pretty close to the Antarctic circle, light was not an issue, there was at least dim light all night through. Again it was not allowed to bring food or drinks, except for water. As there are not many public toilets in Antarctica; so we had to bring our own toilet (or better it had to be provided). In our case a Porta Potti plus some walls around, a flag in front (to show whether it is free or in use) – and ready is the toilet with a view.

In the neighborhood to our campsite there was a small gentoo colony… the birds were quiet curious, some of them even made it into our campsite. Wake-up was at around 05:00 the next morning; The experience people had was quiet individual … some got molested by penguins, others by those white birds (cannot remember the name) … all I can say is … that I had a good sleep 😉