When I set off for the South Pole, my daughter Magdalena could not yet talk. When I returned, she asked me lots of questions: “What did you find down there?” “Infinity.” “What’s infinity like?” “White, peaceful, still.” “So is that like Heaven? Did you look for Heaven in Antarctica?” “No, I wasn’t looking for anything. But I discovered white infinity there.” –R. Messner, Antarctic mountaineer They tell you that Antarctica …
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Farewell, my dear.
Leaving Antarctica doesn’t happen in any obvious way. It is not that you see icebergs and snow one minute, and green earth the next. No; the Continent trickles away bit by bit. By the time you realize what is really going on it is far, far too late to catch one more glimpse of her ethereal beauty. It must have happened in those moments when I was floating like an …
Read More »Back to the Twilight Zone
Leaving Half Moon Island to prepare for our trip back to civilization had been a less traumatic experience than expected. Perhaps the gorgeous weather and stunning scenery had helped ease the pain, but I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was leaving in peace, having gained the knowledge and understanding of Antarctica that I had come to seek. Back onboard, seasick bags popped …
Read More »Final Landing: Half Moon Bay
Chinstrap Jr. and her furry-butted brother Pre-mating ritual Penguins go planking (looks mightily comfortable) Pebble hunting? “You always forget to put the toilet seat back down!” As Antarctic landings go, Half Moon Island is just about every traveller’s wild fantasy– Chinstrap penguins abound the very minute you land, Weddell seals and fur seals napping on the beach like giant sausages on rocks, beautiful snow capped mountains all around. What isn’t …
Read More »On a ship, the smiles come easier
Ships can be such wondrous worlds. They cross the wildest of seas and the furthest of horizons, bringing the world to us while we sit snuggly on the library sofa indulging in light-hearted chit chat. But even as we carry on with our seafaring adventures, there is this very definitive amount of space to call home for a week or two. On a ship, travellers bond in ways that humans typically cannot …
Read More »Of Polar Plunges and Imaginary Flights
The Orlova entering Deception Island [Location: Deception Island]. Day 7 was a day of wind. Of the many, many unforgettable things that happened today, the bellowing winds that swept the bow where we stood was the one element that carried the day. But I am getting ahead of myself. This morning saw us sailing into Deception Island, a semi-dormant volcano just off the Antarctic Peninsula. It had last erupted in …
Read More »Neko Harbour in Action
One of the best outdoor theatres of the world Iceberg calving Barbecue dinner onboard the Orlova after a long day’s hard work
Read More »Neumayer Channel and Neko Harbour
The Neumayer shrouded in mystery The icebergs I like to call “penguin & chick”. Glaciers about to calve at Neko Habour [Location: Neko Harbour]. After the incredible encounter at Jougla Point, we sailed through Neumayer Channel to to Neko Harbour, where there were active glaciers calving. The highlight there, of course, was the hike up what seemed like an impossible mountain. I have never seen anything like it– the entire …
Read More »Port Lockroy & Jougla Point in Pictures
The iridescent hues, the endless gradients of blue, the curves that rise and swell at the command of an invisible conductor… the Antarctica waters have their own symphony to play Little sailboat by Jougla Point A splash of water by the zodiac on the way to Jougla Point. From the largest to the smallest of scales, Antarctica is incessantly beautiful. Artistically assembled whale bones
Read More »To gaze into the face of Purity itself
Jill bullies us into a another 7.30am wakeup call with her trademark “good morning, everyone, good morning” and we are trooping off to the British base station, Port Lockroy. We meet two young women working at the base, and they were apparently travelling with one of the Quark cruise ships just one year ago themselves. After their trip, they looked for a job with the British Antarctic Heritage Trust and …
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