I love everything to do with the ocean. 

This non profit expedition & its goals tick all the right boxes for me. 

It celebrates Lynne Cox's pioneering Antarctica swim in Neko Bay in 2002. It supports Lewis Pugh's #Antarctica 2020 campaign & it celebrates the 200th anniversary of Irish explorer Edward Bransfield, leader of the first expedition to see & chart the Antarctic Mainland on 30th January 1820

The expedition will create awareness for two non-protected, potential Marine Protected Areas in the Bellinghausen Sea and the Weddell Sea

It's not an easy challenge. I am training hard. Swimming skins in the North Sea Daily .(there's no wet suits on this trip). The Water temperature is currently 6 - 7'c and the air varies between -2'c and 10'c. On some mornings I have to scrape ice off my car and I'm swimming at first light walking barefoot over hard frosts on the sand to get to the water. This is warm in comparison to Antarctica where I'm expecting the air to be approximately -12'c and the water below zero.

As a volunteer marine mammal medic  for BDMLR it makes perfect sense to fund raise for this charity. I have rescued too many sick , injured (often entangled) marine mammals who have fallen victim to pollution, plastics and ghost fishing.