Antarctica is no easy continent to check off your travel bucket list. One traveler recently shared a harsh reality about visiting Earth’s southern-most continent, and it’s clear a trip to Antarctica is not for the faint of heart (or for the queasy). Earlier this week, Stephen Grace posted a video showing “towering” seas that left guests sick and items on the ship shattered. Grace called the experience “humbling.”
Grace says the expedition ship was headed toward Elephant Island off the coast of Antarctica when it encountered rough conditions in the Southern Ocean.
“Yesterday, on our Naturalist Journeys expedition to Antarctica, the seas rose to a towering ten meters (33 feet), their power unleashed as we passed a massive iceberg,” Grace wrote in his Instagram post sharing the terrifying footage. “There, we witnessed a dramatic lesson in clapotis—waves colliding with the ice and reflecting back, creating chaos that embodied the raw, untamed force of nature. The ship pitched and rolled violently, and many aboard succumbed to seasickness. Plates shattered in the dining room, and even a coffee machine was lost in the upheaval. It was humbling and unforgettable—a profound reminder of the ocean’s power.”
Thankfully, Grace says the storm passed and the seas calmed without severe damage. We’re sure they all had a great time seeing Elephant Island . . . as soon as their stomachs settled, of course.
See what you’re missing by not traveling to Antarctica here: