In a bathing suit through the icy sea: Chilean climbs out of the water with a body temperature of 27 degrees

In a bathing suit through the icy sea
Chilean climbs out of the water with a body temperature of 27 degrees

The melting of Antarctica scares Barbara Hernandez. To draw attention to the dramatic consequences of climate change, the Chilean jumps into the sea – wearing only a bathing suit. Now she tells how hard this dangerous challenge was.

When Barbara Hernandez reached the goal of her daring record attempt, her body temperature was only 27 degrees: The 37-year-old Chilean was the first person to swim 2.5 kilometers through Antarctica – in a normal swimsuit with goggles, a swimming cap and ear protection. The water temperature was just two degrees Celsius. She took on the unique and dangerous challenge of highlighting the dramatic melting of Antarctica.

Shortly after half the distance she felt “something cold in my heart”, reported Hernandez – a sign of the beginning of hypothermia with the risk of a heart attack. However, she abruptly continued her race on February 6 until she reached the finish mark in the middle of the ocean. “It was very hard,” Hernandez now told the AFP news agency: “After the first mile I felt like I would never reach the buoy. I felt my arms getting heavier and heavier. But I didn’t focus on that .”

She always kept her goal in mind. “What scares me is that Antarctica will continue to melt,” said Hernandez, who ultimately needed 45 minutes and 30 seconds for her route: “When I swam, one of the things I thought about was that my legs hurt, but I did felt strong. I was like, ‘This isn’t just for me, this is the thing we want to make visible. It gives you a boost.’

“The courage Barbara has shown in this swim in the name of protecting the Antarctic Ocean is truly inspiring,” said Claire Christian, executive director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, according to swimmingworldmagazine.com. “The fact that someone put their life on the line to create greater awareness of the problems in the region shows the urgency of the issue.”

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