24
ANTARcTIcA
Nes
ting
blu
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eye
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ags
A once-in-a-lifetime trip for most, Roderick Eime
remembers his time among the Antarctic icebergs
as if it were yesterday.
in time
ike the bristly tail of some intensely chilly winter. Palmer Archipelago. After a reinforcing breakfast we reach
L
giant, prehistoric sea I’m standing on the bow of a modern During the pre-dawn, we enter the Petermann Island, where a very basic
creature, the Antarctic ice vessel watching hefty chunks of relatively broad expanse of the Gerlache survival hut erected by the Argentines
Peninsula thrusts out disintegrating pack ice thud against the Strait and well before the first smell in 1955 provides essential food, shelter
past the Antarctic Circle, hull as we pick our way gingerly through of morning coffee wafts up from the and magazines for marooned explorers
lunging vainly toward its a narrow channel. Lonely groups of Adélie galley we’re all perched around the bow, – handy to know if I miss the last zodiac
sibling, the Andes, across the infamous penguins watch curiously as we inch past, goggle-eyed, as the snow-splattered peaks home. A cross erected nearby bears
Drake Passage. As far as the Antarctic is while in the distance a lone leopard seal embracing the Lemaire Channel loom witness to those who didn’t make it.
concerned, the peninsula is the most dives for cover under the flow. above us. This is the sort of vision that Apart from the curious hut, the little
densely populated location on the Having already penetrated the lasts to the grave – a manic chequerboard outpost plays host to the southernmost
continent, sprinkled with international snoozing caldera of Deception Island of ice chunks, too small to be called flock of breeding Gentoo penguins
research bases and minute outposts alike. where we revelled in the novel sensation ‘bergs’, are arrayed before us. Now at a while sheathbills, shags and the ever-
At the height of the summer season, of swimming in the only warm patch of virtual crawl, the ‘bergy-bits’ are gently opportunistic skuas patrol nearby.
the human population numbers over water in the whole Antarctic, our captain nudged aside, the ice-strengthened steel Next, some leisurely Zodiac cruising
3000 – not counting tourists. That figure prepares to make the delicate entry into bow ushering them delicately around the among the grounded icebergs off
shrinks to less than 1000 during the the ever-diminishing confines of the hull amid muffled, squeaking protests. Pleneau Island. Seasoned by a stiff,
DI
D Y
OU
It has been estimated that during the feeding season in Antarctica, a full-grown blue whale eats about 4
million krill per day (krill are small shrimp-like creatures) – that’s 3600kg or 4 tons every day for 6
KN
OW
months. The daily intake would feed a human for about 4 years!
cALL US TODAY! UK 0800 092 9595 IRE 1800 946 843 USA/cAN 1800 517 0867 SOUTH AFRIcA 011 881 5765 ONLINE WWW.KUmUKA.cOm
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