11 December: In the evening, we all strolled along with Jason to the ALE office. A moderate rain from an overcast sky was pouring quite significantly as we raced up the hill and hastened on our way. Few of us needed different size boots and we also wanted to see the detailed Antarctica map. Our bags and ski boxes were weighed and loaded and taken away to the airport. It was amazing that none of us had exceeded the baggage weight limit of 20 kg except Balaji, who was heaviest at 22.5 kg and Manoj was lightest at 15.15 kg. Though we thoroughly investigated, we failed to discover how can Balaji´s bag weigh so much more when our average was 15.7 kg. May be he was also carrying huge amount of good wishes in his bag.

Jason showed us the film on his ice challenger expedition that brought alive the environs where we would find ourselves soon. Commodore Rajiv Jaiswal, our Defence Attache at Santiago came down to see us off. We had a delightful meeting with him today morning. The weather in Patriot Hill is stabilizing and the earlier flight took off today around 11.30 am which means that we should be airborne tomorrow around same time. Finally the waiting seems to be getting over, but like Jason said, it is never over till we actually land at Patriot Hill. Today we plan to have an early dinner and hit the bed. Tonight´s sleep might very well be the only good one we would have in the next three weeks or so.

- Dec 10th 2006:
10 December: Sky Diving Instructors of the Indian Navy train student to sky dive on Antarctica

In an unprecedented feat of extreme adventure is being undertaken by two sky diving instructors of the Indian Navy. Lt Cdr N Rajesh and Lt Cdr MV Birajdar will fly to 10,000 ft over white continent of Antarctica with their student (Ms Shital Mahajan) and carry out a sky dive , helping her carry out the her maiden free fall jump of her life. This will be the first time in the history of sky diving that two instructors will train a novice in the extreme condition of Antarctica.

The two instructors will exit on an airplane (twin otter) holding their student on either sides. They will keep the student in control, correct her body position and eventually open her parachute in case she fails to open it.

The successful culmination of the feat will be awe inspiring to the entire world.

For more details please contact sky_diver2@yahoo.co.in or navyadventure@rediffmail.com

- Dec 10th 2006:
10 December: Our days in Punta are mainly engaged in doing exercises by the sea in the morning, long walks in the evening, finding new places to eat, exchange greetings with the local people, window shopping and of course, an unsuccessful (till now) attempt to pick up Spanish. The city of Punta Arenas is laid out in a north – south alignment along the sea coast of the Magellan Strait to the east and undulating hills to the west. These hills turn all white during the winter months of May – July each year and offer abundant of skiing. On a clear day, the mornings are brilliantly bright as the sun streaks across the blue ocean and the colorful houses dotting the hills look almost picture perfect. There are an unusually large number of stray dogs everywhere, all very wooly and well cushioned. One can find them almost anywhere… a friendly lot too. Often more than one of them latch on to us when we are out jogging or walking down the roads. It seems as if they can sense that we are from another world and they wish to befriend us.

Recently we discovered the national stadium of Punta, which has artificial grass turf and it is great to exercise there in the early hours as no one else is around and we have the entire place to us, barring the dogs of course. At Punta being the last port before Antarctica, it is a game of waiting for the right weather conditions for the aircraft to take off. The earlier flight of 3rd December could not go since the wind was quite heavy. Many more expeditions have joined us at Punta and we all are waiting. There is a big group of marathon runners who are completing the 7 marathons in 7 continents. Then there are few like us, skiing to the South Pole, another Indian group of sky divers, a family who are flying all the way to the South Pole for the weekend vacation and few who are attempting Mt Vinson and other climbs around the Ellsworth mountain range. Not many women this year to Antarctica.

Our ski guide and the head of Voyage Concepts, UK, Jason De Carteret, arrived on 7th December and briefed us thoroughly about what lay ahead. He is among the finest polar guides in the world and a prize winning and highly respected adventure film maker. He would be shooting our expedition too with his camera. We had a thorough equipment and clothing check by Jason and a guide from ALE (Antarctica Logistics & Expeditions), they are the agency for organizing adventure activities in Antarctica. They were more than satisfied with our gear and in fact asked us to drop few items at Punta.

Today we attended the ALE briefing in the Croatian Club premises with audio visual inputs. The indefatigable Mike Sharp of ALE held us spellbound for over an hour as he flashed slide after slide about Antarctica, the flight, the Patriot Hill base, etc. We met all other fellow passengers on the same flight as us. A French TV cameraman, covering the French Marathon team, covered all of us. We had tea and lemon cakes and exchanged pleasantries with all present. Today we got one more step closer to realizing what we were about to experience. The excitement in the room was palpable. It was a delight to see a room full of men and women all pursuing their respective goals and dreams and being so cool about it. Shortly the ALE staff would collect all our baggage, equipment etc and load the aircraft and then onwards we all would be standing by for the final call. The weather and wind conditions till 8 am today were still not favorable as the wind was around 21 knots with gusts up to 30 knots whereas they need it to be around 15 knots. We all are praying for the weather to stabilize so that we can go in, complete our journey and can return home soon to our near and dear ones.

- Nov 30nd. 2006:
When we arrived at the Santiago airport to catch our flight to Punta Arenas, our oversized bags and the two 7 ft long ski boxes drew attention from all. It took all his tact and technique for the wrapping guy to get the boxes cellophane wrapped properly. The flight LA 285 flew literally over the Andes and the Patagonia. Though we tried but only few of us could get the left side window seats. The others crowded over each other to get the magnificent views of the lakes, fjords and the tumbling glaciers. Few volcanoes dotted the horizon and the snow covered peaks reached out to the sky. We flew atop some of the most wonderful landscapes on Earth. Just before landing, the aircraft swung out towards the Magellan Strait over crystal blue ocean topped with white horses and then taking a loop came for a perfect touchdown at Punta Arenas. Soon we headed for our hotel, Finnis Terrae. Now all we have ahead of us is to rest, eat, recuperate, exercise and wait for the Antarctica weather to let us fly out to Patriot Hill.