The Seventh Continent

  Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Where to begin?  What to say?  How can I possibly describe the past 11 days?  I have been thinking about including Antarctica in my agenda from the very beginning.  Even so, I'm not sure that I was fully excited about the potential visit for a long time.  When I ran into travelers who had been to Patagonia I often questioned them about the cruise scene to Antarctica...hoping to learn more. Unfortunately, I never actually met anyone who had been on a cruise and most backpackers scoffed at the price.  Many questioned why I would even desire to be on a boat that long for the chance to see lots of ice, a few rocks and endless penguins.  They even went so far as to say I was a stamp-whore....only going all the way south for the right to say I had been on all continents.

Honestly, I never had a good response to them.  I didn´t really know why I wanted to go either.  Maybe they were right....am I a stamp whore?

In any case, as I came closer and closer to Patagonia and an ultimate decision whether to go I did a bit more research.  Mostly I simply read other people's journals here on Travelpod to see what others had experienced.  Every single traveler had raved about their Antarctic experience and I decided that was enough selling for me.  I was in.  Yes, the $3,660 USD was extravagant and could last me months in countries down the road, but I didn´t care.  This is my chance.  I'M GOING!

We were to embark our boat, the Ushuaia, on Sunday afternoon at 4PM.  I had talked with the travel agent at length about the boat I chose and was happy that the Ushuaia had a maximum carrying capacity of only 80 passengers.  Antarctic rules are quite strict on tourism: not more than 100 people may be on land at any site at any time; no one may visit a site within 24 hours of a previous visit; boots and pants must be disinfected before and after each excursion to limit the spread of disease.  As a result, larger ships severely limit the number of excursions taken.  If a ship has 1,000 passengers, you're likely to only get one or two landings in the entire voyage.  What's the point?  We were scheduled for ten excursions, time and weather permitting.  VAMANOS!

Walking down the pier towards the boat got me a bit nervous.  I looked around at hundreds of older travelers with canes, walkers and wheelchairs.  Buses were bringing them well down the pier for health reasons.  SHIT!  What have I done?  I'm going to be stuck with a bunch of blue-hairs for ages. Luckily for me, there were a number of ships leaving the same afternoon, one of them being a monstrous specimen.  This was the floating retirement home and I was glad to see it.

So, I boarded, unpacked my things and got ready for a few days at sea.  I started mingling with the other passengers and was very happy to get to know some amazing people.  Helen (UK) just finished her PhD in Mathematics at Oxford and had recently cycled across Bolivia.  John and Diane (USA) boarded their sailboat in Houston three years ago and have taken a little holiday away from Central America to fulfill their dream of seeing Antarctica.  A Japanese couple have just completed their 18-month overland journey from northern Alaska to the tip of South America....on a single scooter.  One of the reasons I travel is to meet amazing people.  The Ushuaia was packed with superstars and I was set for a fantastic voyage.

The first few days we were crossing the infamously rough Drake Passage.  Luckily for us, the wind was calm and the waves were slight.  It was an Easy Drake, according to our crew.  Many passengers were taking anti-seasickness medications as a precaution and only a few felt mildly unwell.  I chose not to take any medication....just to see if I could handle it. 

We filled our days getting our sea legs and attending seminars.  The crew included experts in many areas including Biology, Geology and the history of Antarctic exploration and we learned a great deal before our arrival on the continent.  For instance, Antarctica is the highest, driest, most pristine land mass on Earth.  It is estimated that Antarctica contains 89% if the Earth's supply of fresh water (as an aside, another 10% is on Greenland and we use the remaining 1% that is not locked in ice).  A recent British examination of the continent revealed that only 0.4% of the 14 million square kilometer land mass is ice-free.  During winter, sea ice expands the continent dramatically to roughly 34 million square kilometers.  The thickness of the ice has been measured as deep as 4.8km - I can remember when I couldn't run that far!  Most amazing to me is that all that ice has sunken the overall continent.  If the ice were removed today (and not melted to be added into the sea) the vast majority of the continent would be 800m below sea level!  Despite this fact, all that ice increases the average height of the continent so much that it is by far the highest continent.

Science lesson completed.

I´ve decided not to go through a lengthy day-by-day summary of events during our five excursion days.  This entry is already becoming long enough.  It will suffice to say that we had spectacular-to-average weather each day which allowed us to make all ten landings successfully.  Three of our excursions were continental and the remaining were on the countless islands that dot the peninsula.

We were treated to many kinds of wildlife throughout the trip:   
There were a few instances that were truly spectacular and that I want to note.  On our first excursion we were lucky to see a leopard seal that had caught a cormorant and was "playing with it to death."  He was tossing it into the air, dragging it under the water, crashing his tail down onto it and the water....could not have been more National Geographic.

Our whale sitings were extraordinary.  Although the voyage previous to ours yielded only a few sparse sitings of orcas (killer whales), we were delayed on nearly every transit because whales were everywhere!  The crew and expedition leader were great to be flexible enough for us to spend hours following the whales and observing them.  At one point, we saw upwards of 25 orcas that appeared to be chasing and hunting a humpback.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!  You know you're viewing something truly special when every cook, waitress and janitorial staff member on the boat is on deck with a camera.  I must say that I've never been one to enjoy sitting around and waiting for some bird to fly or fish to jump, but I very much enjoyed the whale watching.  We also saw tons of minke and fin whales along the way.

The fun wasn't limited to the wildlife though.  I had been looking forward to a swim in the Antarctic and I got my wish!  Deception Island was once a typical-looking volcanic island until it blew its top ages ago.  What is left is a "C"-shaped island similar to Santorini in Greece.  The volcanic activity that still exists creates a hot beach like the one I visited in New Zealand.  The crew dug out a hole to let the water warm up while a few of us prepared for....our...little contest.  Of course we had to see who could stay in the longest.  There were a few of us that were so stubborn the doctor MADE us get out of the 2C (35F) water after three minutes.  We then eased into the hot pool to warm up and play around a bit.  Drying off and getting dressed again was a trick due to the 3C (37F) air temperature!!

I could go on and on and on and ON!  The desolate beauty of land and ice is something that I won't soon forget.  I refuse to say it was a once in a lifetime experience as I would love to return some day.

The Rodster in Antarctica:











Our Path Through the Antarctic Peninsula:













Some of my shipmates also have logs....check 'em out:

Susan Maloney

Isabella de Jong

Helen Haworth