55 years of friendship: Longtime pen pals explore Antarctica on 18-day cruise

A small town upbringing, outdoor living and a love of travel are among the similarities that the Bamberg resident has shared with Margaret Keys, a resident of Inverloch, Australia.

Steedly, 66, still has the first letter that Keys wrote her dated Jan. 28, 1968.

“That was a Tuesday,” she said, noting that their relationship started in elementary school.

“My sister was about two years older than I was. She wrote a place in Washington in which you could get pen pals from wherever in the world. She wrote for one, and I decided I wanted to write for one also. They sent Margaret’s name and address to me. So that’s how it started,” Steedly said.

While her sister and her pen pal from England, Katherine, eventually lost contact with each other, she and Keys did not.

“It seems like we were just constant in writing. Whenever we got a letter, we made sure we wrote back to each other. We had a lot of similarities. I lived in a small town, Bamberg, and she lived out in the country from a small town.

“The small town was even smaller than Bamberg at that time. Her family milked cows. She enjoyed life outside, and I did, too. As we got older, we both enjoyed traveling to places,” Steedly said.

She said she and Keys are a lot like sisters, getting to know each other’s families from writing since they were both 11 years old.

The two celebrated their 55th year of being pen pals with a cruise in November to Antarctica, which was the seventh continent Steedly visited.

The ship left from Ushuaia, a resort town in Argentina located at the southernmost tip of South America.

“Then it went to the Falkland Islands. We stopped three places there. Then we went to the South Georgia Isle. South Georgia was three islands, and then we stopped at Antarctica. … We had to dock out in the bay and then take zodiacs, which are like big rafts with motors, to go to the islands,” Steedly said.

She and Keys got to enjoy each other’s company, as well as a variety of wildlife during their trip.

“The expedition cruise only had 101 passengers, plus the workers and all. You got to know everybody. There were people from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Australia, Croatia and the U.S. It’s interesting talking to the people and getting to know their way of life,” Steedly said.

She took thousands of pictures of penguins, which she said were fun to see in their natural habitat.

“There were quite a few different kinds of penguins that we saw. I probably got 3,000 or so pictures of penguins. They’re just so amazing to watch them with their little flippers and how they walk.

“Whenever we went somewhere, we had to yield to the penguins. They didn’t yield to us because it’s their territory. We don’t want to frustrate them and make them scared to go anywhere. There’d be like 85,000 penguins living in a colony,” Steedly said.

She continued, “We saw elephant seals, fur seals, various birds like albatross. There were seabirds that just stayed out to sea, but after a long time they have to go back into shore. Occasionally they would hitch a ride with us on the ship.”

Not only did the friends enjoy the whales, seals and other animals, but also the majestic icebergs that they passed along their journey, with Keys appreciating “the beauty of the icebergs and the brilliant aquamarine and grey colors of the sea.”

Keys, communicating by email, said she also enjoyed watching the penguins, noting that “looking out the cabin window and seeing three southern humpback whales close to the ship was also amazing.”

Steedly said, “When you see the icebergs in the distance, they look like buildings. When you go up in the bridge of the ship, they’ve got all these screens, including one that’s pointed to wherever we’re headed.

“There are these green dots all throughout the screen. I asked what those were, and they were icebergs. So even though the ship is on automatic pilot, people still have to stay up there and start guiding the ship away if it’s headed that way (toward an iceberg).”

The 18-day voyage to Antarctica was well worth because it had been five years since Steedly and Keys had traveled together. The landlocked Asian country of Bhutan, nestled in the Himalayas between India and China, was the last place they had visited in 2018 to celebrate the 50th year of being pen pals.

The friends have also traveled to Hawaii together. Steedly has also been to Australia four times to visit Keys, who has also been to Bamberg to visit her longtime pal.

Steedly said she most enjoyed being with Keys during their latest venture to Antarctica.

“This was an adventure of a lifetime that won’t be forgotten, and Margaret made the trip even more special,” she said.

Keys said, “I think it’s great we can travel together plus be independent. I couldn’t wish for a better companion. The ship was comfortable. Not fancy, but so very clean with great staff and lovely food.”

Steedly said she is a picky eater, however, who did not partake of any seafood during the cruise.

“All the other people at the tables would eat whatever. It’s a menu and you choose what you want. Usually it’s really nothing on that menu that I’d want, but one day they had large baked potatoes. For like three days in a row, I said, ‘For my meal, I’d like a baked potato,’” she said.

Steedly said the chef was good at preparing her baked potatoes, along with well-stacked garden salads.

She was bitten by the travel bug early in life.

“When I was growing up, my parents and me and my sister always went somewhere for vacation during the summer. So I was used to going somewhere. Then I have a cousin, she’s passed away now, who was like 12 years older than I am. Betty would take fabulous trips all over the world. She had been so many places,” Steedly said. She eventually asked her cousin to go on a trip together with her.

“I went to Madagascar with her. That was interesting. I loved it. That was fabulous, and that got me the bug where I really wanted to do more traveling. I didn’t want to go to just typical places that tourists always went. I wanted to go out-of-the-way places. That’s what she loved to do. So that’s what we did,” she said.

Steedly said she had planned to take it easy for a while.

“Nothing is planned yet. I was telling people I’ll probably have to wait a while and get over Antarctica, but I was home for like four weeks and said, ‘Where can I go next?’” she said.