kayak on antarctica expedition

[duckdoc]

can anyone who has done the kayak trip give me some more details on their experience?
does the ship provide any special clothes, do we need to bring our own? how choppy were the seas, one or two person kayaks?? how wet did you get? any place to put a camera clip on the kayak?? etc...
any other details would be helpful
thanks
liz

[PaulTeolis]

hi liz,
firstly, I would email/call someone at basecamp at G adventures to double check things.

I was on board the first 3 trips of the season as expedition photographer and can give you
a few things I observed from watching the kayakers. The kayaks are 2 person and all dry gear was provided for the people.

weather wise, we had unbelievably calm waters so the kayakers were out a lot of the time. The first trip of the season the waters were choppy but the kayak master dictated whether the seas were okay for kayaking. I would definitely say the opportunity to get wet from waves and splashes
can happen.

most people who had cameras, they put in a dry bag or brought waterproof ones. I have no clue if
they clipped them or not, or hung them around their necks.

this should get you going...
p~

[jen_the_rockhopper]

Apparently there is not a mount for the GoPro aqua surf connector thingy but I am still going to strap my GoPro onto myself for kayaking (and swimming) I am not brave enough to trust my dslr even in a waterproof baggie. Too much money invested there LOL

[giskard]

I felt the same way you did about using my DSLR on board the kayak at first, but I did bring it with me in a waterproof bag, inside one of the waterproof pouches of the kayak, because that way I could take it to shore with me when we did kayak shore landings.

After about 3 kayak trips, we went out with hardly any wind, thus hardly any waves and by then I felt so confident in the kayak that I took out my camera... the pictures I took during those paddles are absolutely the best ones of the trip.

In the end I grew so accustomed to using it in the kayak I even took it out during the rather stormy last day, while we were chasing a group of humpback whales. I certainly don't regret it! (I wouldn't have shot this if I hadn't http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-f6BtQCT0 )

[daphodil]

We had a few days where the water was a bit choppy and the winds were really strong, made it a bit more difficult to paddle. Note that the kayak master will not take you out onto the water unless he thinks the conditions are good (i.e. not too windy / choppy) and if you think it's too rough for you, you can always choose not to go that day.

I kept my waterproof/freezeproof camera in a ziplock bag in the storage area on my spray skirt and it was okay. I definitely wouldn't have chanced keeping my DSLR there (i'm not that brave!)

It was a lot of fun and I definitely recommend it.