Why go to Antarctica?
Well, the quick answer is, "I hadn't been there yet!" <grin>
The longer answer is that I'd been all the way around the world, and
been to every other continent *but* Antarctica, so I knew that I was going
to have to go there someday, just for completeness' sake. Also, this
particular expedition was appealing to me because it was being sponsored
by the Planetary Society, and I knew there would be some interesting co-travelers...
Plus I liked that the invitation came from Dr. Louis Friedman, the Society's
Executive Director, who was also going on this trip, and I wanted to meet
him. Plus I just needed a vacation that would get my mind off work
for awhile, and Antarctica fit the bill. Plus it was a good price
for this particular trip, about $7,000 including airfare from St. Louis.
Plus I figured I'd better go now, in 1999, before everything breaks in
Y2K! <grin>
What's the Planetary Society?
It's a group that was founded by Carl Sagan and Dr. Louis Friedman
in 1980, with the goal of promoting public education, awareness, and support
of planetary exploration and other space programs. I became a member
of it because I was originally a member of a group called the L-5 Society
in the late 1970s, which eventually joined forces with another Space advocacy
group, and then when I saw some mail for the Planetary Society, I joined
it too. The Planetary Society currently boasts over 100,000 members,
and has been instrumental in obtaining funding and support for several
space-related missions. Also, as a member, I get some cool benefits,
for example my name was placed on a microchip which was launched aboard
the "StarDust" probe. The probe's mission is to go meet a comet,
gather some material, and then return to Earth for analysis. The
Planetary Society is also involved with the SETI@home project, where people
all over the world can tap their computers into the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence, by downloading data from space which their computer can help
process when its screensaver is activated, and see if there's any coherent/intelligent
signal in all the static. For more information on the Planetary Society,
you can visit their website at: http://www.planetary.org.
Did you see any penguins?
Thousands and thousands and thousands! There are several different
types of penguins, and we had hoped to see adelie (the most common), gentoo,
chinstrap, and macaroni penguins on this trip. Unfortunately, several
of our scheduled landings were cancelled or changed due to bad weather,
which is quite common on these sorts of expeditions, and so we never got
a chance to see adelie or macaroni penguins. As for the gentoo and
chinstrap variety though, it got to be quite commonplace for us to make
landfall on a particular island, and see "yet another" colony of 4000 gentoo
penguins hopping around. We were supposed to stay at least 15 feet
away from them at all times, but there are so many, and they're so busy
going back and forth from the colony to the ocean, that it's nearly impossible
to avoid them sometimes. Plus, if you stop and have a seat on a rock
or an iceberg, and remain very still, they'll come to investigate you,
and sometimes even nibble on your boots to see if you're edible <grin>.
They're very cute, and sometimes we'd get an urge to reach out and pet
them when they got so close, but we were given strict warnings *not* to
touch them at all. Partially this is for conservation reasons, and
partially for health reasons, because we were so far from hospitals or
any other kind of formal medical attention. We were told the story
of one tourist who had reached out to a penguin, and gotten his fingers
bitten. It was a minor bite, but the unusual bacteria from the penguin
caused a major infection. It took days for a medical evacuation team
to get him back to a hospital on the mainland, and by the time they did,
there was no choice but to amputate his fingers! So we resisted the
urge to pet the penguins. ;) To see some of the penguin pictures
that I took though, click here.
Did you see any polar bears?
Nope, polar bears don't live this far south, and can only be found
in the northern latitudes. I do want to travel to Greenland and the
North Pole someday though, so keep watching this site, and someday you
may see polar bear pictures here as well!
Did you see any whales?
Oh yes! I got a brief glimpse of some Killer Whales (also known
as orcas), saw *lots* of Minke Whales, and got absurdly close to some Humpback
Whales. I also got very good at scanning the waters around the ship, looking
for the telltale surfacing of a dorsal fin as a whale emerged to catch
a breath and then dive again. It was extremely enjoyable to be the
first person to point and call out, "Whale!" and then hear my cry echoed
down the length of the ship as others rushed over to take a look.
Minke Whales are the most common, and I probably saw a dozen or more in
the distance at one point or another. To see some of my pictures
of whales, check the pages on Andvord
Bay, Waterboat Point, and of course the Whales page.
Where did Humpback Whales get their name from?
I'd always assumed that it was because there was an actual "hump" on
the back of the whale... What I learned from whalespotting though,
is that they surface differently from Minkes, making more of a hump shape
as they dive back down. It's a very distinctive movement, and I can
see why the old whalers would have quickly named the Humpback Whales as
they did. Just as the whale that's called the "Right" Whale got its
name... It wasn't because of anything to do with left or right, but
because that particular type of whale had a high percentage of oil in its
body, that allowed it to float, even when dead. This made it one
of the easiest whales for the whalers to deal with, plus one of the most
lucrative, so it was the "right" whale to hunt.
What was your favorite part?
There were several...
How many people were on the ship?
There were about 50 passengers from the Planetary Society, 50 from
various other places around the world, and about 35 crewmembers, scientists,
and naturalists. So in total, about 150 people, with 10-12 different
nationalities represented.
What kind of research were the scientists doing?
Most of the scientists onboard were there simply as guides and lecturers,
since the primary purpose of this expedition was educational. Some
of them, of course, are always doing research of some kind though, even
when "on vacation." Adriana Ocampo, for example, was always on the
lookout for interesting rocks and meteorites (and she thinks she spotted
one in the side of an iceberg, but we couldn't get close enough in our
raft for her to pluck it out, because of the 60-knot winds <sigh>).
Tony Martin, the whale specialist, was also very eager to get pictures
of humpback whale tails, since they are used for identification purposes
to help track humpback migration patterns.
Did you see the Southern Cross?
Yes, and that was a very special part of the expedition for me, since
I used to be an Astronomy major... On the first night aboard ship,
I went up to the very top deck, up in the open air, lay down on my back
so I wouldn't have to worry about keeping my balance on the rocking ship,
and pointed my binoculars at the sky. It got amazingly dark out there
on the Beagle Channel, and we could easily see the Milky Way, the Southern
Cross, Alpha Centauri, and the Magellanic Clouds. Since I was fairly
familiar with the sky, I spent quite a bit of time pointing out the Southern
Cross and other constellations to other of my co-travelers. I also
got to spend some time looking for a few of the more obscure "fuzzy patches"
in the sky, and I think spotted things such as the "Jewel Box" cluster
and the "Great Looped Nebula." It was a very emotional experience
for me, looking at the stunningly beautiful southern constellations above
me, and knowing that below me was a ship which was taking me even further
south, to Antarctica!
Meet any cute Russians?
A few. ;) Actually, one of the funny stories about my trip,
came on the first evening when Claudia, who ran the ship's small bar, came
around to ask us for our drink orders. Without even thinking, I ordered
what I always order as a mixed drink, in any bar in the world: "May
I have a White Russian please?" She blinked, and for a moment, I
thought she was going to reply, "Sure, how tall?" <grin>