The Antarctic Peninsular

The cruise continues through the ‘banana belt’ of Antarctica…

By all accounts, Shackelton appears to have been a bit of an arse. His story is legendary, and his exploits no doubt took great fortitude. However he had none of the scientific exploration cover stories of other great explorers and merely seemed bent on appearing in as many photos as possible. The famous shot of his three-masted boat Endurance leaning terrifically just before it was crushed by pack ice was greatly exaggerated by the photographer (see below), but has immortalised his journey. That said, the vessel was completely destroyed and the crew were eventually forced to survive a winter on a desperately bleak and tiny southern island with their only shelter being two upturned dinghies. After their rescue, doctors reportedly snapped off quite a few solidly frozen fingers and toes. A fairly impressive feat of survival in spite of his ego.

The race for the pole in the early 1900s, and the outrageous land grabs of many countries to claim bits of Antarctica were motivation for the learned to create a sanctuary reserved for research and scientific endeavour. The Argentineans had been flying pregnant women down to give birth on the continent in order to establish birth right. The Brits sent explorers and vigorously printed Antarctic stamps featuring their faces (available at Post Offices they established). The US were, as usual, late to the party and simply refused to recognise anyone else's claims - including those from Mongolia and Ukraine which were admittedly a bit dodgy. Proudly, New Zealand was instrumental in making the agreement to establish this shared place of learning far more robust than many wanted, a legacy that continues to protect Antarctica from rampant exploitation today.

We have made shore on the seventh continent a number of times, and been greeted with the stench and continual ruckus that accompany the many penguin breeding colonies. Of course, with such a concentration of penguins come the hunters, and we've been lucky enough to see a few leopard seals. One was really quite close as it attempted to chomp on our Zodiac -- the massive jaws and teeth just a few small inches from tightly clenched British bottoms. With their disproportionate jaw line, leopard seals look far more malign and snake-like than any other seal, and have the confident and aggressive behaviour of an apex predator. Definitely Slytherin in Harry Potter speak.

In contrast, penguins are so human-like it is impossible not to smile as they waddle, heads comically swinging from side to side, up and down the beach. They mix and mingle with one another, eye us curiously and maybe waddle closer for a look, then set about the important business of stealing one another's stones with which to build a nest. Where the snow is still deep, they forge walk-ways, and it is incredibly amusing to see nothing but a row of penguin heads moving in orderly rows through the snow.

Onboard, the guests continue to charm, and we are particularly drawn to the upper-crust lot, with their extraordinarily affected accents and mannerisms. They grasp one another's hands, upper arms or shoulders and lean dramatically forward when conversing, then, from the waist swing back, raise their chins to the ceiling and guffaw loudly. It is all so terribly earnest. One of the lines that caused us to guffaw skyward was a tombstone inscription request from a clearly gay BBC producer: "I have never eaten MacDonalds and I have never seen an Andrew Lloyd Weber show"

The days spent sailing to and from the Antarctic Peninsula have been broken up by some really interesting talks/lectures. We've been incredibly lucky in that our guest lecturer is an entertaining oceanographer who specialises in the polar regions. He has had an esteemed academic career, is regularly interviewed on BBC and wrote much of the relevant narrative for David Attenborough's Blue and Frozen Planet series. The guy has serious scientific cred (more impressive - he is on first name terms with the great man himself) and admirably, is enormously humble and approachable. We have learned of and seen the 'greening of Antarctica'  -- as the temperatures creep upwards, plants are able to grow in places they have not been able to before. He has shown the break-up of ice shelves, and the unbelievable magnitude of the spawned ice-bergs. One of these monsters, sexily named A68, is 5,800 square kilometres in size (ten times the size of Lake Taupo) and contains more than a trillion tonnes of ice. These bergs are so big, they create their own weather and change the temperature and salinity of the sea around them. It is unknown what the impacts of such ecological change will be on the animals and climatic systems that exist down here. However it is indisputable that change is occurring, and rapidly.

S & T

xxx