We catch up with our somewhat chilly reader trekking her way through the Antarctic. Her pictures here have to be heavily compressed for sending purposes - via Ulead PhotoImpact on her laptop and then transferred by satellite phone:
Drakes Passage
Thursday 22nd - Friday 23rd February
After 2 days onboard the MV Ushuaia crossing 600 miles of the worst seas in
the world and we've finally made it to Antarctica!
About half of the ship was sea sick on the crossing, books were flying off
tables, food flying off plates and myself flying off a chair (very
embarrassing as it was in front of pretty much the whole ship). To add
insult
to injury the captain told us this crossing was the best they had ever had!
The highlight of the crossing was spotting whales, one came within 20metres
of
the ship. If you look out to the horizon you can often see several whale¹s
spurting and albatross's circling, reminding you that this really is one of
the last places on earth where nature is totally left alone. For the first
time for me the importance of the Antarctic treaty is highlighted.
EBase Opening
Saturday 24th February
Up bright and early today, with packed lunches and we all caught ribs or
zodiacs onto Bellinghausen island.
Our first impressions of Antarctica are not of a sparkling white wonderland
with penguins dancing, but of a brown muddy mess with orange research
stations. Oh goodness I can feel myself panicking, is this global warming
already, no ice or snow in Antarctica? But no, I was assured that
Bellinghausen has always been this delightful.
Bellinghausen has a small community of scientists and their families there
is even apparently a small school with internet! It was great as the Chinese
students on our trip got to visit the Chinese base and the Russians got to
speak with their scientists. We walked up a small hill and saw the building
where Robert had his 'vision' of the EBase 5 years ago.
Robert said a few words to open the EBase and then let Jessica, the youngest
member of our trip cut the ribbon. It all happened very quickly.
One of the coolest things I saw in Bellinghausen was the church, it was
shipped here already constructed it looked like something from a freaky
children's cartoon with all the mist around it!
I had on 5 different layers, from thermal underwear to polo necks, fleeces
and
a waterproof jacket but I still managed to get a little cold whilst standing
still filming.
For me personally today has been pretty special, I have completed a challenge I
set
myself to have visited the 7 different continents and the Arctic &
Antarctic
before I was 30.
Tomorrow we visit the Antarctic peninsular after travelling through a strip
more commonly known as "iceberg alley" - lets hope the ship holds up.
Penguins & Lion Seals
Sunday 25th February
Iceberg alley looks exactly as the name suggests it should and was a great
cure for a hangover (yep, Hanson's Mmbop even made it out to a 'dance floor'
in the Antarctic). Hundreds of icebergs littered the sea and the ship calmly
shunted them out of her way.
It is breathtaking and bloody cold! It literally seems to get colder by the
hour as we head further south.
Humongous chunks of the Larson B ice shelf floated by the enormity of
these
is startling.
In the afternoon we caught ribs to the peninsular dodging the icebergs. I
saw
my first penguins and was amazed at how friendly they are! We never approach
them, but they'll walk up to you, have a good look and are not bothered by
people in the slightest. They have no natural land predators and so
therefore
have no reason to be afraid. Lion seals were lying among the penguins and
again really gave a sense of how untouched Antarctica is and that we must
preserve it and keep it this way.
As we get on the ship after visiting land we must disinfect our boots so as
to
not bring any unnatural organisms to the next place. I am working on a
document full of suggestions of what we can do as individuals and as
corporations to counteract global warming and this place is great
inspiration.
I am so impressed with the way the Fujifilm FinePix F30 is holding up in the
cold - the video camera has packed up several times, but not the camera!
