Help Send Matt to Antarctica!

Everyone needs dreams.  Traveling is mine.  I have specific areas I want to hit, sure, but as long as I keep moving I’m usually good.  Matt’s dreams tend to change from year to year.  Sailing the world was originally his idea, but by the time it rolled around for us to leave, he wanted to get into aviation and was ready to hang up his sailing pants.  Good thing I was desperate to keep my dream of traveling, even if it was on a sailboat, or we might not be out here right now.  (If you can’t tell, Matt obviously came back around to the whole sailing thing).

Even though some of Matt’s dreams change from time to time, there is one that has never escaped him.  Visiting Antarctica. Sure there’s the draw of adding yet another to your list of continents on your travels that most can’t say they have, but for him it’s so much more.  It’s exploring remote areas where few dare to venture. It’s viewing at an area of this earth that has barely been touched by man. It’s taking in the raw beauty of glaciers that have been there for eons, and for all the sea and land life that survives where no one else can.  I promise, every time we watch any Discovery Channel or National Geographic program pops up on this area, he instantly perks up.

So this is going to be a short post ended with a plea.  There is a contest through Oceanwide Expedition that Matt has the possibility of winning with your help.  If he does win, next February he’d be taking off on a once in a lifetime experience to Antarctica.  For 30 days he’d spend his time on the m/v Ortelius, departing from Bluff, New Zealand, and ending in Ushuaia, Argentina. Along the way he would be making stops at the Ross Ice shelf, the largest in Antarctica; The Dry Valleys, which have not seen rain in over a million years and are the closest thing you’ll ever see to the surface of Mars; a visit to Shackelton’s Hut; and also a stop at Peter’s Island. An uninhabited volcanic island and one of the most remote places on planet earth.

All you have to do is follow this link and click on the Vote button for him.  No forms to sign out, no email addresses to enter.  It’s that simple. If you’re feeling extra generous, make sure to share it on your Facebook page, Twitter account, or heck, even email it to you mother and tell her she’d be doing a good deed by voting for him.  The contest runs until February 29, 2016, so don’t worry if you’re not able to do it right this second.

Thank you so much to those of you who will (or have) vote(d) for Matt.  It means more to him than you’ll know.

Image taken from here.

Image taken from here.

Image taken from here.