It was the fulfillment of dreams when we, along with 35 other passengers, sailed out of the port of Ushuaia, Argentina, February 27, 2001, on the Professor Multanovskiy, a Russian ice-strengthened vessel, to spend the next 19 days at sea.  We had just managed to get on the last long trip of this ship for the season (which runs from mid-Nov. through mid-Mar.) to visit the Antarctic peninsula and a number of islands in the region.  We were very lucky to have extremely competent naturalists aboard who lectured and walked with us when we went ashore.  Ed and I learned so much from them, and greatly appreciated their constant stream of information.The Antarctica and islands south of the Antarctic Convergence simply change one's perspective of the world.  Nothing in previous experience prepares the traveler for this region.  One should not fly here for all sense of remoteness is lost.  Even traveling by modern ships cannot convey the sense of desolation that the earliest explorers experienced. Antarctica After spending 19 days at sea in these rough waters, I must confess that I don't really want to travel as they did!  I am grateful that today we have pills that minimize the effects of seasickness--at least I slept well! Ed, on the other hand, had no problem, ate every meal with enthusiasm, and spent almost all the time at sea up on the bridge or out on the decks looking for the next new bird.  His vigilance did not go unrewarded, as we saw about 25 species that are seen only at these extreme southern latitudes.Thinking of the remoteness of the Antarctica, it is well to remember that this is still a voyage with many potential dangers.  Last year a tourist ship was stuck in the ice in the Weddell Sea and was rescued by a Russian icebreaker after several days.  We were told by the chefs (we had two young Swedish men who did an unbelievable job!) that we were carrying enough food for three months on our ship.  In the days of sailing ships being stuck in the ice either meant death or incredible hardships before rescue, as in the case of the Shackleton expedition of 1914-1916 that has become a currently popular tale of great heroism.  One of the several books about that expedition would make great summer reading, as would any of the many books about Antarctic exploration.  They would certainly help anyone keep cool!

Icebergs as large as islands, deep blue and wonderfully sculptured; complete stillness except for the sound of seals, whales, wind, waves, and birds; the absence of green; the cold; complete darkness at night; walking among thousands of penguins (they are very curious and come to you); smelling the penguin colonies (their poop is mostly pink) and the foul air from the spouting humpback whales; clapping and shouting to keep hundreds of fur seals at bay; watching the effortless, dynamic soaring of the albatrosses and other sea birds; these are some of the most memorable aspects of this wonderful natural experience.  It is not difficult to understand why many people long to return to the Antarctic region after having once visited.  

Only two percent of the Antarctic continent is ice-free; these are the areas visited by most travelers, since to go onto the permanent ice requires an expedition.  The continent is simply impossible to describe without resorting to superlatives—the only continent without permanent human habitation, the highest (the South Pole is 12,000 feet above sea level), the driest, the most remote, the last to be discovered.  By definition, Antarctic waters are those south of the Antarctic Convergence; we entered these waters on the third day of the cruise.  This year was a particularly bad year in these, the roughest seas in the world, and we had some of the worst seas in our landing areas that one of the naturalists had experienced in 10 years of cruising!  We traveled to the landing sites in zodiacs, a type of rubber craft that was invented by Jacques Cousteau after WWII, and could not always leave the ship in the rough seas or land at the sites where it is possible to go ashore.  Although this  was extremely disappointing, we were reminded that we have no control over these natural forces.  Frankly, we could have done without these reminders! We did see all of the seven penguin species that we expected.  The only one we could not see was the Emperor, which lives only on the permanent ice.  We were able to approach some of the largest glaciers to watch them calve; float silently among icebergs to study the truly fantastic shapes, sizes, and colors; watch whales, dolphins, seals, and birds all around us.There are only two species of flowering plants on the continent; we photographed both of them in a single shot on Livingston Island!  The many species of bryophytes, the many species of algae (both macroscopic and microscopic), and the hundreds of species of lichens compose the non-animal life.We visited the Vernadsky Station where the ozone "hole" was first discovered and saw the equipment, still in use.  Formerly a British station, named Faraday, it is now operated by the Ukraine.  We set foot on the Antarctic continent at the abandoned Almirante Brown Argentine Station. We were unable to enter the Weddell Sea, as planned, because it was completely closed by the ice.  Ed and I would have loved getting stuck in order to spend some more time in the region, but the Russian Captain did not feel the same!  After all, this was the last cruise of the season and as soon as it ended he and his crew were sailing back to the Russian base, Bellingshausen, to pick up the scientists who would not be spending the winter there.  From the Antarctic, they would sail through the Atlantic, visiting islands such as Tristan de Cuna, on their way north and home to St. Petersburg, where they would arrive sometime in April. The European crew were all flying home, as was the ship's doctor, a very interesting woman from New Zealand who now lives in Holland.  We had interesting conversations with her, especially about her two years of working in townships in South Africa shortly after we had traveled there in 1991.  Among the passengers were two Hong Kong Chinese, two Austrians, three Australians, one Canadian, two Germans, and three other Americans.  All the rest were from the British Isles.  Conversations with fellow passengers and reading from the small but interesting library made the time at sea go all too quickly.Of the islands we visited, Ed and I were most excited about South Georgia, which, with its nearby smaller islands, has the greatest concentration of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic wildlife on the planet.  Because of the severe weather, we had to see most of it from the ship! Unfortunately, South Georgia was the site of a large Norwegian whaling station from about 1905 to about 1930 and the impacts of this industry remain.  Reindeer were introduced to the island during this time and have essentially destroyed all the species of lichens that they feed on.  They have also grazed certain plants almost to extinction, while changing the composition of the vegetation in areas where they live.  A study of this problem is being carried out by two very interesting women, one Australian, one from the Falklands.  So far they have lived on these islands during two summer seasons to carry out surveys of wildlife and plants in order to quantify the reindeer impacts.  They are conducting studies of the impact of tourism on the islands as well.  They live in tents for the four-month season and move from island to island on ships as they go to and from the Antarctic. We picked them up for their voyage home.  We also picked up five British climbers who had followed Shackleton´s route over the glacier to the whaling station.  One of the climbers had earlier sailed Shackelton´s route from Elephant Island to South Georgia with two other people (one of them a woman) in a boat he had made that was almost a replica of the one that Shackleton used.  You'll have to read the story of this epic voyage and climb to fully appreciate what all of this means!  [The most popular book is The Endurance:  Shackleton's legendary Antarctic Expedition, by Carolina Alexander, Frank Hurley (photographer); Shackleton's own account from his diaries is South:  A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage.]Our last landings were made in the Falklands, where we visited Stanley, the capital, and walked in the surrounding areas.  The Falklands include some 420 islands lying between 51-53° S latitude and 57-62° W longitude; the two large islands are named West Falkland and East Falkland.  Though located near South America, these islands belong to South Africa geologically and have rotated 180° as they moved to their present location. Most people only think of the Falklands in terms of the 1982 war between Argentina and the British over who "owns" them; however, the plant and animal life were of much greater interest to us.  It is sad that some of the easily-accessible areas are off-limits due to the thousands of Argentine land-mines left from the war.  This is one of the few places left on earth where the major fuel is peat, and the sweetish smell produced as it burns was obvious as we walked through Stanley.  In the winter it would be much more evident. As with our other travels, we saw the impacts of introduced animals and plants on the Falklands.  Even when Charles Darwin visited these islands in the early 1800´s he noted the changes that had been brought about by the introduction of grazing animals.  We visited the offices of the organization, Falklands Conservation, and learned much about their activities.  We also visited a large private holding where the owner has removed the sheep and is monitoring the changes as the vegetation recovers.  Here we saw our last penguins when we visited a huge colony of Rockhopper penguins.There is much more to tell; perhaps it is impossible to tell all that I would like.  I'll close by saying that the two days back through the Drake Passage to Ushuaia were the roughest we encountered.  This made leaving the ship a little easier!  As we sailed slowly into Ushuaia in the early morning cold and watched the lights go off and the mountains appear as the sun rose, our feelings were of total gratitude that we had experienced and could continue to experience such beauty.  The world holds wonders for all to discover, far beyond our imagining!  It is up to us to discover them.