The last continent where I haven’t been yet. Of course, unless scientists discover that there is another, separate continental plate, as recently happened in the case of New Zealand, which was promoted from an island to a separate continent.
I decided on a trip organized by a German office, surprisingly trips from a German office are 25-30% cheaper than those offered by offices in Poland…
The route of our trip was as follows:
Ushuaia (Argentyna) -> Canal Beagle (Argentyna) -> Drake Passage -> Maxwell Bay (King George Island) -> Admirality Bay i Polish science station of Arctowski (King George Island) -> Half Moon Island (Szetlandy Południowe) -> Neumayer Canal -> Port Lockroy (Goudier Island) -Lemaire Canal -> Drake Passage -> Cape Horn (Chile) –> Puerto illiams (Chile) -> Chilean fjords -> glacier Seno Agostini (Chile) -> Puerto Arenas (Chile)
Of course, such an expedition is just licking the tail of Antarctica, i.e. the Antarctic Peninsula, but still an expedition to Antarctica arouses emotions. Most people would not choose this direction for their vacation. Let the answer of the crew member of the ship on which I traveled also make a summary. As part of a small talk over a meal, I asked one of the crew members how he works and if he likes Antarctica. He replied: “First two days on f***ing Drake Passage, ship goes up and down, everyone is sick. Then you stare at rocks and ice for next six days, mostly white and black colours like in the old movie. You could watch it on Youtube, no difference. Then f***ing Drake Passage again. Are you people crazy??” . Well, I did not expect such a review.
I liked it. Beautiful, majestic, countless shades of white, blue, gray and black. Beautiful blue on sunny days, steel-gray ocean in bad weather, black volcanic rocks sharp as a razor. Admittedly, there is respect for this continent and nature. There are few animals, there are no polar bears here, there are various species of penguins, seals, gulls and other birds, leopard seals, whales. Drifting icebergs and incredible silence…
We went ashore several times, usually near research stations. And this is because, first of all, the disembarkations are checked, there are no rocks that can tear the zodiacs and pontoons can swim close to the shore. There are no piers here, you go down to the water (rain boots you must have!), so the depth of the water at the shore matters. The second reason is to minimize the effects of human presence. Shoes and clothes are inspected before disembarkation and disinfected upon return to the ship. Thirdly, if something happens, the only help can come from the ship or from the research station. There are no other options.
Antarctica is the fifth continent in the world, the coldest and windiest, the largest non-world ice desert, the world’s largest reservoir of fresh water. The average thickness of the ice cap is 1.9 km. In total, there are a maximum of 4,000 people in research stations. There are many active volcanoes in Antarctica, volcanic activity heats the water, lakes and streams of warmer water form under the ice. If the Antarctic ice sheet melted, the altitude of the oceans would rise by 5-6 meters. In the depths of the ice during the arctic winter, the temperature drops to -90 degrees.
We had warm weather, only -4 degrees. But when the wind blew, it got ugly. The force of the wind was so great that it was difficult to breathe and keep the camera to your eye.
Of the whole route, the Lemaire channel made the biggest impression on me. We were lucky, the weather was windless and there were not many icebergs. The Lemaire Canal is considered one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is a narrow isthmus between the mainland and the islands, it does not enter it in the blue wind. The canal is so narrow that the ship would have nowhere to run if the wind started pushing icebergs on it. We were gliding across the canal on a barely started engine, it was snowing, it was foggy, quiet, menacing and mysterious. It was beautiful…
