Antarctic footwear

[fbhjr]

I don’t really like wearing shoes. I never have.
And, 20+ years ago when I broke one ankle after the other in less than a year made it difficult for me to wear any kind of high footwear that went past my ankle.
(As well as making it difficult to do much that stresses either ankle for a long time…)

So, what shoes to wear in Antarctica was a big question for me.
Boots when you go ashore are required, and we rented our boots from the cruise line for that.
They actually worked well for me as they were loose about the ankle and made the waterproof seal half way up my calf.

My wife bought us each some new blue shoes with a good grip sole for the ship. And, I did wear those on the times I was going to go out on deck. (You can see my feet in them to the right on this photo of the boots or my wearing them while doing scrimshaw at the table. That just proves I spent very little time doing it if I didn’t take off the shoes for it.)



The good news was the boots were only worn when leaving the ship and spent most of the time in the “mud room” on the lower deck drying and waiting for me to come back.


As my wife and I both dreaded the dress code they had sent us for the trip, I did go out and buy actual dress shoes. (At a discount shoe store…)
But, once we got there I never put them on. Not even once.

The footwear I wore the absolute most often was one I hadn’t know if I’d use at all.


There are whole days I didn’t wear any other footwear. Including going to the restaurants on the ship, the lectures and the observation lounge.
I am very glad I packed them. I almost didn’t as we were very close on the allowed weight. But, I did stuff them in.

So, if you ever go to Antarctica, make sure you buy or rent really good waterproof boots for wading ashore as that’s 100% of what you do at every landing.
But, for the rest of the time have some nice comfortable slippers that look just enough like dress shoes that no one will call you out on them.