Mind-blowing and indescribable

Day 5: December 13, 2008, The Drake Passage (still)

Day 5 of traveling and we’re still not there. The weather was actually more inclement today, although the sailing was not nearly as rough. It started snowing sometime in the morning and continued snowing throughout the day. We crossed the Antarctic Convergence yesterday evening, where the water temperature drops dramatically to just above freezing. It also marks the official geographic start of the Antarctic. We started seeing more Antarctic sea birds today. We also saw more people around the ship, meaning fewer were laid out in their beds with seasickness.

We are all waiting in anticipation for tomorrow morning, when we should already be anchored in Marguerite Bay and will see our first ice and, more importantly, land! I can’t wait to feel solid ground under my feet, although I do now feel like I have my sea legs under me. I rarely need to hold on for dear life walking around the ship anymore – only if we pass over a large swell. The captain issued a challenge: a bottle of champagne to the first person who finds an iceberg larger than the ship. I’ve been looking out all day and have not yet seen any floating ice. I may go up again this evening and continue looking – sneaking in some viewing while everyone else is asleep! The sun will only be below the horizon for an hour tonight, but unfortunately, we’re so socked in that we won’t be able to see it. Tomorrow the sun won’t set at all, and I hope that the skies clear and we get some interesting light.

Day 6: December 14, 2008, Marguerite Bay

I woke up this morning and immediately and excitedly pulled up my curtain, ready to see terra firma. No such luck. We were still sailing south. But, within a few minutes, I saw my first iceberg pass by, my adrenaline started pumping, and I don’t think it stopped all day.

We attempted a landing on the north-northwest side of Pourquoi Pas? Island in Marguerite Bay (just south of the Antarctic Circle). They found us a penguin colony, but the landing itself was really rocky and icy and we weren’t able to actually go ashore. Instead, they took us out in the Zodiac boats for little tours, during which we got to observe our first Adelie penguins waddling along, arms outstretched to their sides for balance, or tobogganing along the ice on their bellies. We found a juvenile Weddell seal taking a nap on a small iceberg at the foot of a massive glacier flowing down the island. Our guide took us close in to see the seal, and I mostly sat in awe looking up at the glacier.

After lunch, the captain went looking for fast ice – meaning thick, constant sea ice that’s strong enough to stand on. They told us that they had found what looked to be a good patch of ice, and next thing we know, the bow of the ship breaks right into the ice and comes to a stop. Just amazing. A few scouts walked out onto the ice to test its thickness and strength and decided that it was sturdy enough for a hundred very anxious and curious travelers to roam about. They kept us within a certain area, of course, to be safe, but I was still able to get up close to crabeater seals and more Adelie penguins. In fact, the penguins were so curious that if you approached one carefully and sat down or laid down, they would come within a few feet. For me, interacting at such close range with another species in this way has been the highlight of the trip so far.

All sorts of adjectives were thrown about today: awesome, awe-inspiring, amazing, exciting, breathtaking, overwhelming, emotional, surreal, other-worldly, indescribable. The one that resonates the most with several of us is mind-blowing. Indeed, the landscape is so impossible to describe, so huge, and so untouched (at least in terms of direct disturbance by humans), that it’s difficult to wrap my mind around what I’m seeing.

To bring things full circle for me in terms of my career path, there are two researchers on board participating in a biological survey of the Antarctic Peninsula with the goal of conservation. I chatted with them after their talk and they don’t know of anyone doing any plant-centered research, but agreed that at least a basic survey should be done. So my new dream is to write a grant to do some basic research on the plants (only two vascular plants but some mosses and lichens) down here. Such fieldwork could only take place in the Antarctic summer, would be a perfect part-time gig, and would allow me to come back to this fantastic, fantabulous, mind-blowing place.