“Antarctica: The Ultimate Adventure” Part 1 The Journey
“Stchastlyvogo plavaanya” is Russian for “Let the adventure begin”, but I am getting ahead of myself.
“Will you humour me.......gently lift your right foot off the ground …….now your left …….continue to raise and lower your feet one at a time ….…add a small sideway sway …….lastly close your eyes …….give yourself over to the movement and relax!!
I would like you to join me on a semi circumnavigation cruise to the Antarctic from Ushiaia Argentina to Christchurch New Zealand via the Ross Sea.
Open your eyes now …….imagine you are on the high seas experiencing the pitch and roll of an icebreaker.”
Having left the Beagle Channel in Ushuaia, in the province of Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia and sailing in the Drake Passage, you are experiencing what is known as the “Drake Shake”. This passage has a reputation of the roughest seas on the planet. Gargantuan seas; ships can roll up to 48 degrees although today it is only around 30 degrees. Our mission is to travel 900 kilometres across the Drake Passage to the Sub-Antarctic. Sailors whisper when travelling in this part of the world “expect the worst and hope for the best”.
You are travelling in a Kapitan Sorokin class Russian icebreaker operated by Quark Expeditions. The Kapitan Khlebnikov or KK as she is affectionately known has a length of 120 meters with a cruising speed of 16 knots powered by 6 engines, a smooth hull with double-thickness armour-plated skin of 45 mm at the ice line, no stabilizers and an operating range of 10,500 nautical miles (20,000 km) for the mechanical minded. Her rhythm pitches sideways versus forward and back like conventional ships. The higher you are the more pronounced the roll. She rocks and bucks in wild seas but crunches her way through the pack-ice below the Antarctic Circle like a knife through butter.
KK is not a pretty vessel, but is unique; the ice is her element. KK is the only passenger vessel of her class in the Antarctic capable of making the ice-hindered journey. Her power, grunt and design allow her to explore and access places no other ship can in the Antarctic continent. In 14 years the KK has only made this semi circumnavigation 5 times. A superstructure 5 stories high looks like a boxed set of drawers that contains hospital, dining rooms, bar, shop, library, lecture room, lift and comfortable ensuited cabins complete with port holes that open. She is equipped with 2 helicopters and 8 zodiacs.
As well as the sailors onboard the Expedition team is led by Shane Evoy who looks like a buccaneering pirate minus the talking parrot and wooden leg; he is a veteran of 70 expeditions. A team of lecturers includes a Geologist, a Historian Geographer, a Marine Biologist, an Ornithologist, a Naturalist, an Artist in Residence, a Photographer and a Doctor. Their achievements are to be envied, their knowledge formidable; a biography complete with a Polar Medal and membership to the Arctic and Antarctic Clubs. We are privileged; we shall see more of the Antarctic than most scientists and explorers can ever hope to.
You are probably wondering what is going on! Do you celebrate birthdays? I do; generally with lots of festivities over a number of days and particularly if it is a significant one. I deemed turning X0 cause for celebration. With that settled, what form would these celebrations take? A cruise to the Antarctic was my choice but not a short hop to the sub-Antarctic. Rather than buy a stamp I wanted the whole postcard experience and decided a 29-day cruise was the way to go.
Antarctica has long held a fascination for me. One of the last wilderness frontiers; isolated, a desert, space beyond imagination, a location that defies limits, teeming with wildlife and heroic legends of history and hardships. Books, photographs or any publication catches my imagination, like an open door inviting and enticing you in. It seemed so easy to phone: “do you have any vacancies, you do, excellent!!”
There were feelings of anxiety, quiet fear, wonder, trepidation and yippee yahoo as I placed my hand on the gangplank rail and stepped up and forward onto the KK. My grin got bigger and broader; this was my long held dream come true.
How to share such an adventure? With so many characteristics and highlights it is difficult; I decided on 3 instalments. Part 1 the journey, part 2 the landscape and part 3 the animals, so please be patient if your favourite is last.
Cape Horn has been left behind and there she blows; my first iceberg.
In Wild Ice, Mark Jones writes, “Antarctica is a separate world. One can feel its presence in the approaches, sailing south from more temperate climes. Standing on deck, one may follow the reeling albatross; feel the drop in temperature, the bite of the wind, and the motion of the waves. Yet it is the presence of ice, from the first occasional fragments, escalating in shape, form and frequency, and finally dominating all else, that brings assurances of arrival in Antarctica”. It is the coldest, windiest place on Earth.
Snow and ice becomes an everyday scene. As KK moves forward the bow wave announces our progress. The choice to view the passing parade is yours, forward or aft decks or the bridge. Surrounded by cold polar ambiance of minus temperatures or warm and snug surrounded by large glass windows and ships instruments. Do you want to be where the action is? To see the comical surprised expressions of a crabeater seal woken with a start from slumber by the deep rumble of the motor or shock as its ice bed is being crushed as the KK ploughs forward. Or do you want to see the big wide 270-degree view of a white shaded endless snowscape sprinkled with spectral icebergs and pressure ridges?
Killer Whales surfaced porpoising like dolphins or is it cruising with intent, their dark fins leaving barely a ripple; gorgeous, streamlined and dangerous looking. They formed an escort as we glided into the Lemaire Channel nicknamed “Kodak Gap” due to its photographic beauty. It is hard to reconcile how wild the weather can be when you voyage under a boundless blue sky across a mirrored liquorice channel peppered with small pieces of ice confetti edged by Persil white cliffs; breathtaking may be an understatement. It was all cameras on deck.
Latitude 66∞ 33’ 39”S, we have just crossed the Antarctic Circle to the pop of champagne corks, cheers, toasts and tears. Captain James Cook crossed it in 1773. Outside blue tinted icebergs as big as cities silently pass, penguins vanish into the crystal waters, sea birds soar overhead on the shifting horizon.
The pack-ice is now encroaching. Ice sheets coloured with a range of shaded cool tones like a colour chart. KK breaks through the ice, not by ploughing into it, but by riding up onto the surface and crushing it with its massive weight. From the bridge you can see and feel the shudder then the surge; we only had to retreat a couple of times and the next assault is confident and decisive. The ice is meters thick verified from the jagged edges that end in the water. We head forward into an unbroken sheet of ice that stretches as far as the eye can see. As the ship powers on a small crack appears, 4 of the 6 engines are rumbling, the power is audible. The rupture becomes a hairline crack, a trickle, a creek then a river in volume. Football field sized sheets double over each other, no longer smooth and unbroken. In the wake the ice’s appearance is altered to an uneven corrugation, pulverised into submission.
Zodiacs, inflatable boats are being launched. 8 to a boat, down a seriously steep ladder with two big burly Russian sailors assisting with a hand to upper hand grip, one step onto the side of the pitching zodiac then one step onto the floor, choose a side and hold onto the rope. It is mandatory to wash your boots in disinfectant before and after leaving the ship to reduce the risk of contaminating this continent with non-native species, emphasizing the vulnerability of Antarctica. Ropes cast off, the motor is gunned and course selected. The rubber boats seem as eager as the occupants to get there. Shimming across the liquid plain, thump thump thump; no one looks behind.
Safety is paramount and reinforced often. There are life raft, zodiac and helicopter drills. Protocols like coloured disks, which must be turned when leaving and returning to the KK, a visual reminder of who is out adventuring. The scout team carry emergency equipment to provide shelter and food for several days if needed. Life jackets are checked on leaving the ship. On landing the jacket is taken and given back when returning, another check that everyone is accounted for.
Would you like to be the 801st person ever to land on the remote Peter the 1st Island? Named for Piotr I a Czar of Russia, what a stark cheerless environment. Cocoa dark rock with patches of gulag toned snow and huge glaciers reaching into the sea challenged the zodiacs. Thick deposits of ice delineate the ridges, stopping abruptly at the vertical edge where the downside has plunged into the sea. There is an unearthly quiet with ghostly mist hovering on the lower edges graduating to thick pea soup on the ridges; truly a creepy place with a sinister feel.
The basalt cliffs are alive with Adele and Chinstrap penguins standing guard over their young, ever watchful of the sea and the weather. Timed to the wave sequence, beaching on the ice littered pebbled shore was awkward. The weather is turning nasty, limiting our time onshore. The last 3 zodiacs to return could not find a lead, a path through the pack ice. The ice had been clustering all afternoon assisted by currents and swells, the island’s mischief at work. Over and over again each zodiac tried to manoeuvre around the bergy bits (pieces of floating glacier ice up to 20 metres across, commonly derived from the disintegration of an iceberg). Tension swelled, drama unfolded, even the KK had to pull up anchor to steer clear of an iceberg. Concerned tones and anxious communications between the Captain and the zodiac drivers; instructions were issued and acted on. Finally everyone was safely on board. Weather conditions in the Antarctic can be savage, unpredictably changeable and can deteriorate rapidly.
At dinner I sat next to Betty who was in one of the zodiacs. Betty was excited and animated exclaiming they had a fantastic time stuck in the ice, declaring it was great fun viewing an iceberg up close and personal. Adding there was a lone penguin minding his own business when they cruised past; he was most bemused. The tourists were delighted and I expect this will be a highlight of their trip.
There were 89 passengers on board, full at 108; 18 Aussies the rest from USA, South Africa, Holland, Switzerland, Canada, Iceland, Spain, Brazil and Britain. Wild life photographers, nature lovers, people who want to mark another destination off the list and the enquiring. Computer makers, designers, film director, nuclear physicist, funeral director, retired folk, politician, Canadian Mounted Police, CEO’s, surgeons, environmentalist and activists. Some friendly; others reserved.
Listening to a lecture on “Shackleton and the Antarctic” illustrated what hardships the early explorers experienced, imagine sailing 800 kilometres in a boat 6 meters long in the Drake Passage for a month. Sure made our expedition a walk in the park with sandwiches provided.
Every day brought rapture and awe. Travelling south the night disappeared quickly, promising extra hours for animal spotting. You have to pinch yourself, but when you look out the porthole it is right there; audible, visible just an arms length away.
Along the Phantom Coast travelling was difficult, we travelled only 70 kilometres in one day; progress was hampered by pack-ice and pancake ice surrounded by grease ice like a loose fitting outer jumper with holes. Weaving and winding among the ice sculptures was like meandering through a garden filled with art, except we are in the gallery space called Antarctica. What an exhibition. With pack-ice all goes calm.
A helicopter ride to break the onboard routine was exhilarating, soaring above the KK witnessing it crushing and relentlessly breaking through the ice. We buzzed the ship from every direction. The ice was thicker with immense breakaways; the ship’s heaving motion fracturing the ice was far more dramatic from our mobile crows nest.
Not only is the scenery fabulous, the food on board the KK is gourmet complete with pastry chef. A printed 3 course dinner menu was published daily. My personal favourite was High Tea which consisted of 3 choices of cakes, slices and homemade biscuits. One day there was a choice of 4 different ice-creams with all the associated add-ons: nuts, sprinkles, coconut, wafers, wafers with chocolate centres and a choice of toppings; talk about children in a lolly shop!! Adults debating the merits of sprinkles versus nuts, accompanied by the sounds of metal on metal as the last spoons are greedily moved around the dish.
Without the icebreaker’s design and power, progress would be impossible; we are living in the Antarctic. Have climbed the stairs all day from the 3rd deck for a swim and sauna, 4 for meals, 5 for library and art classes, 7 for lectures and movies, living on the 8th deck, the radio man is on the 9th and the bridge is on the 10th. Then you think I might go to the forward deck and lookout for penguins and seals, so it begins again, down to the 3rd floor and forward, oops!! I should have the other lens. Get rugged up, go on zodiac and helicopter excursions; get changed and comfortable, so it goes. No complaints this is great fun.
Life on board is casual and informal, you can do a little or lots; lectures, classes, reading, nature spotting. One day when garaged in the ice a few brave or foolish souls joined the Antarctic swimming club. Membership is free; all you need is a swimming costume, and you jump into the freezing frigid brine. All are now full members. The gangplank was lowered; we provided the crowd, the Russian sailors the safety lines and Quark the anti-freeze (Vodka).
Another festivity was our arrival to the Ross Ice Shelf, hot chocolate with rum on the forward deck, what merriment!! We milled around like a garden party with our cups and idle chatter. In lieu of hats there was an interesting assortment of woolly beanies, fur Russian style bonnets, penguin patterned Ushuaia knitted pull ons, even a very English bird watching hat; all nodding greetings to fellow adventures.
Like all good holidays, regrettably they end. Leaving the Ross Sea, our last destination in the Antarctic is Cape Adare with its rookery of 250,000 nesting Adelie penguin. A penguin colony is like a fun fair carpark; hectic with lots of waddling noisy tuxedo jaywalkers whiffing of fishy wet bird.
Gazing towards the sea the location is magnificent, a perfect summer’s day. I scanned the horizon trying to memorise the scenery in my mind’s eye to take home and revisit regularly. We exited through an arbour of icebergs, each parting as if tell us it was now time to leave this ethereal phenomenon.
Heading north on the homeward journey, 1,200 kilometres to Campbell Island, with 500 kilometres through ice. Growlers and brash ice vie for space on the gentle undulations of the ocean swells. Rice white colour they bulge and glide on top of a dark olive black fathomless liquid called the ocean like a slow waltz, intimate and connected.
Fridtjof Nansen – “Strange there is always sadness on departure. It is as if I cannot after all bear to leave this bleak waste of ice, glaciers, cold and toil”.
I too felt sad leaving the Antarctic, what an odyssey. The imagery will remain with me forever; isolated beauty, vast starkness, the profound silence and its animals, entertaining, proud and majestic.
Out of the pack ice and into open water, the night is coming back. The Southern Ocean encircles Antarctica and contains the point on Earth that is farthest from any land (2,575 km). It is one of the most tempestuous waters in the world with dramatic winds, waves and ocean currents. Below the Roaring 40’s come the Filthy 50’s, the Screaming 60’s then the Serene 70’s.
Antarctica defies adjectives. I trust you too have enjoyed the journey and will look forward to the next instalment.
Author: Jan Thompson
E-mail: jan@pcandjt.com
Website: www.pcandjt.com
“Will you humour me.......gently lift your right foot off the ground …….now your left …….continue to raise and lower your feet one at a time ….…add a small sideway sway …….lastly close your eyes …….give yourself over to the movement and relax!!
I would like you to join me on a semi circumnavigation cruise to the Antarctic from Ushiaia Argentina to Christchurch New Zealand via the Ross Sea.
Open your eyes now …….imagine you are on the high seas experiencing the pitch and roll of an icebreaker.”
Having left the Beagle Channel in Ushuaia, in the province of Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia and sailing in the Drake Passage, you are experiencing what is known as the “Drake Shake”. This passage has a reputation of the roughest seas on the planet. Gargantuan seas; ships can roll up to 48 degrees although today it is only around 30 degrees. Our mission is to travel 900 kilometres across the Drake Passage to the Sub-Antarctic. Sailors whisper when travelling in this part of the world “expect the worst and hope for the best”.
You are travelling in a Kapitan Sorokin class Russian icebreaker operated by Quark Expeditions. The Kapitan Khlebnikov or KK as she is affectionately known has a length of 120 meters with a cruising speed of 16 knots powered by 6 engines, a smooth hull with double-thickness armour-plated skin of 45 mm at the ice line, no stabilizers and an operating range of 10,500 nautical miles (20,000 km) for the mechanical minded. Her rhythm pitches sideways versus forward and back like conventional ships. The higher you are the more pronounced the roll. She rocks and bucks in wild seas but crunches her way through the pack-ice below the Antarctic Circle like a knife through butter.
KK is not a pretty vessel, but is unique; the ice is her element. KK is the only passenger vessel of her class in the Antarctic capable of making the ice-hindered journey. Her power, grunt and design allow her to explore and access places no other ship can in the Antarctic continent. In 14 years the KK has only made this semi circumnavigation 5 times. A superstructure 5 stories high looks like a boxed set of drawers that contains hospital, dining rooms, bar, shop, library, lecture room, lift and comfortable ensuited cabins complete with port holes that open. She is equipped with 2 helicopters and 8 zodiacs.
As well as the sailors onboard the Expedition team is led by Shane Evoy who looks like a buccaneering pirate minus the talking parrot and wooden leg; he is a veteran of 70 expeditions. A team of lecturers includes a Geologist, a Historian Geographer, a Marine Biologist, an Ornithologist, a Naturalist, an Artist in Residence, a Photographer and a Doctor. Their achievements are to be envied, their knowledge formidable; a biography complete with a Polar Medal and membership to the Arctic and Antarctic Clubs. We are privileged; we shall see more of the Antarctic than most scientists and explorers can ever hope to.
You are probably wondering what is going on! Do you celebrate birthdays? I do; generally with lots of festivities over a number of days and particularly if it is a significant one. I deemed turning X0 cause for celebration. With that settled, what form would these celebrations take? A cruise to the Antarctic was my choice but not a short hop to the sub-Antarctic. Rather than buy a stamp I wanted the whole postcard experience and decided a 29-day cruise was the way to go.
Antarctica has long held a fascination for me. One of the last wilderness frontiers; isolated, a desert, space beyond imagination, a location that defies limits, teeming with wildlife and heroic legends of history and hardships. Books, photographs or any publication catches my imagination, like an open door inviting and enticing you in. It seemed so easy to phone: “do you have any vacancies, you do, excellent!!”
There were feelings of anxiety, quiet fear, wonder, trepidation and yippee yahoo as I placed my hand on the gangplank rail and stepped up and forward onto the KK. My grin got bigger and broader; this was my long held dream come true.
How to share such an adventure? With so many characteristics and highlights it is difficult; I decided on 3 instalments. Part 1 the journey, part 2 the landscape and part 3 the animals, so please be patient if your favourite is last.
Cape Horn has been left behind and there she blows; my first iceberg.
In Wild Ice, Mark Jones writes, “Antarctica is a separate world. One can feel its presence in the approaches, sailing south from more temperate climes. Standing on deck, one may follow the reeling albatross; feel the drop in temperature, the bite of the wind, and the motion of the waves. Yet it is the presence of ice, from the first occasional fragments, escalating in shape, form and frequency, and finally dominating all else, that brings assurances of arrival in Antarctica”. It is the coldest, windiest place on Earth.
Snow and ice becomes an everyday scene. As KK moves forward the bow wave announces our progress. The choice to view the passing parade is yours, forward or aft decks or the bridge. Surrounded by cold polar ambiance of minus temperatures or warm and snug surrounded by large glass windows and ships instruments. Do you want to be where the action is? To see the comical surprised expressions of a crabeater seal woken with a start from slumber by the deep rumble of the motor or shock as its ice bed is being crushed as the KK ploughs forward. Or do you want to see the big wide 270-degree view of a white shaded endless snowscape sprinkled with spectral icebergs and pressure ridges?
Killer Whales surfaced porpoising like dolphins or is it cruising with intent, their dark fins leaving barely a ripple; gorgeous, streamlined and dangerous looking. They formed an escort as we glided into the Lemaire Channel nicknamed “Kodak Gap” due to its photographic beauty. It is hard to reconcile how wild the weather can be when you voyage under a boundless blue sky across a mirrored liquorice channel peppered with small pieces of ice confetti edged by Persil white cliffs; breathtaking may be an understatement. It was all cameras on deck.
Latitude 66∞ 33’ 39”S, we have just crossed the Antarctic Circle to the pop of champagne corks, cheers, toasts and tears. Captain James Cook crossed it in 1773. Outside blue tinted icebergs as big as cities silently pass, penguins vanish into the crystal waters, sea birds soar overhead on the shifting horizon.
The pack-ice is now encroaching. Ice sheets coloured with a range of shaded cool tones like a colour chart. KK breaks through the ice, not by ploughing into it, but by riding up onto the surface and crushing it with its massive weight. From the bridge you can see and feel the shudder then the surge; we only had to retreat a couple of times and the next assault is confident and decisive. The ice is meters thick verified from the jagged edges that end in the water. We head forward into an unbroken sheet of ice that stretches as far as the eye can see. As the ship powers on a small crack appears, 4 of the 6 engines are rumbling, the power is audible. The rupture becomes a hairline crack, a trickle, a creek then a river in volume. Football field sized sheets double over each other, no longer smooth and unbroken. In the wake the ice’s appearance is altered to an uneven corrugation, pulverised into submission.
Zodiacs, inflatable boats are being launched. 8 to a boat, down a seriously steep ladder with two big burly Russian sailors assisting with a hand to upper hand grip, one step onto the side of the pitching zodiac then one step onto the floor, choose a side and hold onto the rope. It is mandatory to wash your boots in disinfectant before and after leaving the ship to reduce the risk of contaminating this continent with non-native species, emphasizing the vulnerability of Antarctica. Ropes cast off, the motor is gunned and course selected. The rubber boats seem as eager as the occupants to get there. Shimming across the liquid plain, thump thump thump; no one looks behind.
Safety is paramount and reinforced often. There are life raft, zodiac and helicopter drills. Protocols like coloured disks, which must be turned when leaving and returning to the KK, a visual reminder of who is out adventuring. The scout team carry emergency equipment to provide shelter and food for several days if needed. Life jackets are checked on leaving the ship. On landing the jacket is taken and given back when returning, another check that everyone is accounted for.
Would you like to be the 801st person ever to land on the remote Peter the 1st Island? Named for Piotr I a Czar of Russia, what a stark cheerless environment. Cocoa dark rock with patches of gulag toned snow and huge glaciers reaching into the sea challenged the zodiacs. Thick deposits of ice delineate the ridges, stopping abruptly at the vertical edge where the downside has plunged into the sea. There is an unearthly quiet with ghostly mist hovering on the lower edges graduating to thick pea soup on the ridges; truly a creepy place with a sinister feel.
The basalt cliffs are alive with Adele and Chinstrap penguins standing guard over their young, ever watchful of the sea and the weather. Timed to the wave sequence, beaching on the ice littered pebbled shore was awkward. The weather is turning nasty, limiting our time onshore. The last 3 zodiacs to return could not find a lead, a path through the pack ice. The ice had been clustering all afternoon assisted by currents and swells, the island’s mischief at work. Over and over again each zodiac tried to manoeuvre around the bergy bits (pieces of floating glacier ice up to 20 metres across, commonly derived from the disintegration of an iceberg). Tension swelled, drama unfolded, even the KK had to pull up anchor to steer clear of an iceberg. Concerned tones and anxious communications between the Captain and the zodiac drivers; instructions were issued and acted on. Finally everyone was safely on board. Weather conditions in the Antarctic can be savage, unpredictably changeable and can deteriorate rapidly.
At dinner I sat next to Betty who was in one of the zodiacs. Betty was excited and animated exclaiming they had a fantastic time stuck in the ice, declaring it was great fun viewing an iceberg up close and personal. Adding there was a lone penguin minding his own business when they cruised past; he was most bemused. The tourists were delighted and I expect this will be a highlight of their trip.
There were 89 passengers on board, full at 108; 18 Aussies the rest from USA, South Africa, Holland, Switzerland, Canada, Iceland, Spain, Brazil and Britain. Wild life photographers, nature lovers, people who want to mark another destination off the list and the enquiring. Computer makers, designers, film director, nuclear physicist, funeral director, retired folk, politician, Canadian Mounted Police, CEO’s, surgeons, environmentalist and activists. Some friendly; others reserved.
Listening to a lecture on “Shackleton and the Antarctic” illustrated what hardships the early explorers experienced, imagine sailing 800 kilometres in a boat 6 meters long in the Drake Passage for a month. Sure made our expedition a walk in the park with sandwiches provided.
Every day brought rapture and awe. Travelling south the night disappeared quickly, promising extra hours for animal spotting. You have to pinch yourself, but when you look out the porthole it is right there; audible, visible just an arms length away.
Along the Phantom Coast travelling was difficult, we travelled only 70 kilometres in one day; progress was hampered by pack-ice and pancake ice surrounded by grease ice like a loose fitting outer jumper with holes. Weaving and winding among the ice sculptures was like meandering through a garden filled with art, except we are in the gallery space called Antarctica. What an exhibition. With pack-ice all goes calm.
A helicopter ride to break the onboard routine was exhilarating, soaring above the KK witnessing it crushing and relentlessly breaking through the ice. We buzzed the ship from every direction. The ice was thicker with immense breakaways; the ship’s heaving motion fracturing the ice was far more dramatic from our mobile crows nest.
Not only is the scenery fabulous, the food on board the KK is gourmet complete with pastry chef. A printed 3 course dinner menu was published daily. My personal favourite was High Tea which consisted of 3 choices of cakes, slices and homemade biscuits. One day there was a choice of 4 different ice-creams with all the associated add-ons: nuts, sprinkles, coconut, wafers, wafers with chocolate centres and a choice of toppings; talk about children in a lolly shop!! Adults debating the merits of sprinkles versus nuts, accompanied by the sounds of metal on metal as the last spoons are greedily moved around the dish.
Without the icebreaker’s design and power, progress would be impossible; we are living in the Antarctic. Have climbed the stairs all day from the 3rd deck for a swim and sauna, 4 for meals, 5 for library and art classes, 7 for lectures and movies, living on the 8th deck, the radio man is on the 9th and the bridge is on the 10th. Then you think I might go to the forward deck and lookout for penguins and seals, so it begins again, down to the 3rd floor and forward, oops!! I should have the other lens. Get rugged up, go on zodiac and helicopter excursions; get changed and comfortable, so it goes. No complaints this is great fun.
Life on board is casual and informal, you can do a little or lots; lectures, classes, reading, nature spotting. One day when garaged in the ice a few brave or foolish souls joined the Antarctic swimming club. Membership is free; all you need is a swimming costume, and you jump into the freezing frigid brine. All are now full members. The gangplank was lowered; we provided the crowd, the Russian sailors the safety lines and Quark the anti-freeze (Vodka).
Another festivity was our arrival to the Ross Ice Shelf, hot chocolate with rum on the forward deck, what merriment!! We milled around like a garden party with our cups and idle chatter. In lieu of hats there was an interesting assortment of woolly beanies, fur Russian style bonnets, penguin patterned Ushuaia knitted pull ons, even a very English bird watching hat; all nodding greetings to fellow adventures.
Like all good holidays, regrettably they end. Leaving the Ross Sea, our last destination in the Antarctic is Cape Adare with its rookery of 250,000 nesting Adelie penguin. A penguin colony is like a fun fair carpark; hectic with lots of waddling noisy tuxedo jaywalkers whiffing of fishy wet bird.
Gazing towards the sea the location is magnificent, a perfect summer’s day. I scanned the horizon trying to memorise the scenery in my mind’s eye to take home and revisit regularly. We exited through an arbour of icebergs, each parting as if tell us it was now time to leave this ethereal phenomenon.
Heading north on the homeward journey, 1,200 kilometres to Campbell Island, with 500 kilometres through ice. Growlers and brash ice vie for space on the gentle undulations of the ocean swells. Rice white colour they bulge and glide on top of a dark olive black fathomless liquid called the ocean like a slow waltz, intimate and connected.
Fridtjof Nansen – “Strange there is always sadness on departure. It is as if I cannot after all bear to leave this bleak waste of ice, glaciers, cold and toil”.
I too felt sad leaving the Antarctic, what an odyssey. The imagery will remain with me forever; isolated beauty, vast starkness, the profound silence and its animals, entertaining, proud and majestic.
Out of the pack ice and into open water, the night is coming back. The Southern Ocean encircles Antarctica and contains the point on Earth that is farthest from any land (2,575 km). It is one of the most tempestuous waters in the world with dramatic winds, waves and ocean currents. Below the Roaring 40’s come the Filthy 50’s, the Screaming 60’s then the Serene 70’s.
Antarctica defies adjectives. I trust you too have enjoyed the journey and will look forward to the next instalment.
Author: Jan Thompson
E-mail: jan@pcandjt.com
Website: www.pcandjt.com
posted by PC and JT at 3:17 pm
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