2024 has been off to a refreshingly surprising start! For those who don’t follow me on Instagram, I had the opportunity to teach watercolor classes on board Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise for a couple weeks in January. And wow…what a treat it was. We boarded on January 4th in Buenos Aires, Argentina and left on the 5th. That meant we had a couple of days in Summer weather in a beautiful city before heading to the South Pole and with it, the major shifts in temperatures. I will do a full post on BA and the other excursions…but I want to focus on Antarctica for this post, she deserves our full attention.
I am lucky enough to have been able to work with Royal Caribbean, and I was asked to be apart of this cruise segment back in September 2023. I was thrilled to say yes, but I also knew that the trip to Antarctica was going to be long and comes with its own set of challenges…namely, the Drake Passage. (You can google and watch video clips if you dare!)
This cruise also went viral on Tiktok & many news media outlets before I got on board. It went viral for the fact that it is The Ultimate World Cruise and around 600 passengers on board will stay on the Serenade of the Seas ship until September, making their voyage to all 7 continents 9 months in total. When we boarded it had already been about a month departed from their starting point of Miami. It was so cool to talk to guests about why they chose to do a 9 month cruise. Can you imagine??
If you’ve never been on a cruise, you have “sea days” meaning not every day brings you to a port. Sea Days are full of activities! So a day at sea can be whatever you want to make it. As I tell people about cruising, “You can do everything or nothing.” You can super social or anti-social and stay in your cozy room and read all day.
My job on board is to teach painting classes on those sea days. And on longer cruises like this one, I can maximize the amount of classes I can teach, and therefore have a greater reach. What I love about teaching classes on cruises is that I get to teach people and meet people I probably would have never crossed paths with. I get to teach people while we are visiting some of the most beautiful and inspiring spots around the world. I get to enjoy the ports and excursions, just like the passengers which gives me a hybrid experience. I get to see the ship from both the customers perspective, and an employees. And I also get to adapt to the constant changes at sea. I have always felt that one of my greatest strengths in life is I am highly adaptable. It’s a Sagittarius thing haha. Or perhaps since it’s because I have spent the first 3 decades of my life moving across the country and always feeling a wave of constant change. But my art has always brought to me new friends and experiences, and has always given me a sense of security.
All that to say….the entire experience was an A+! It is very very hard to put into words what Antarctica is like. After crossing the Drake Passage (and yes…we got the Drake Shake with over 20ft waves!!!!) and the adventure that that was, we arrived to the South Pole! Now close your eyes and pretend you’ve gone to another universe…filled with icebergs, hump back whales, penguins and lands that no human inhabits…and you’ll start to feel it. I will be forever grateful that Brandon and I were able to see this part of the world. The moment when we saw a humpback whale jump out of the water, I teared up. One of the best moments was when we sailed to Paradise Bay Antarctica and sat there watching families of whales make their cute noises, wave their tales while we were surrounded by 360 views of majestic mountains. It is all so surreal.
Some of the students after Day 1 of painting classes!
When I taught classes the next day, I showed them how to use watercolors to paint icebergs and penguins. I loved that we had this shared experience. I told them, “We will all live the rest of our lives with the gift of what we saw yesterday….and how lucky are we.” To share that joy and paint with everyone was the cherry on top.
I hope you will enjoy some photos from the trip. And sending you best wishes as we start 2024! xo
Jess
Eating hot miso soup at the Sushi spot on the ship….with this view outside our window!
South Pole Chills! It was in the 30’s but it’s typical to have a lot of wind in this region…so it feels a little cooler than that. We also got snow the first morning which was so magical!
Our ship had 2 Ice Captains from Chile, to keep us safe and monitor all the ice bergs we navigate through. They along with our Captain said they had never seen an iceberg like this before-and we all marveled over it. He spun the ship around it a few times, and it was the first start to our day in Antarctica after a wild ride thru Drake Passage.
Julie was super talented, and is on the ship for 9 months-and brought her own supplies for the trip.
Painting at the pub!
Carolyn was another 9 month cruiser with her Mom-and she also is a budding artist and a joy to have in class!
The bluer the iceberg, the older it is. The water is more purer when it’s blue, and also makes it a more dangerous iceberg because it would be like colliding with steel. Luckily the ship has radars to know the location and depth of each piece of ice.
Our final port…the Southern most town in the world, Ushuaia!!! What I love about cruising….you wake up and you’re in a new location. I love getting a cup of coffee, going up to the top deck and taking in the amazing vantage, one that you would not get from land. When you travel by sea…it is an entirely different feeling.
So many wonderful students, making their own post card watercolor momentos!
Did you know Antarctica is home to 90% of all the worlds ice??
Drake Passage…I’m lucky I don’t get sea sick!
Brandee & Shannon are from ATL! how cool, right? And were wonderful students. Cheers to another adventure in the books!