1. Introduction

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At last we took off from Santiago airport on the flight to Ushuaia, the gateway to the Antarctic Peninsular. Below us are the surprisingly dry foothills of the Andes but they are getting higher: yes, there's some snow. And now I can see that there must be thousands of square kilometres of snow-covered peaks with wild rivers and lakes, some with glaciers calving into them. And there, there's an extinct volcanic crater filled with snow: like a cup of cream. Is that a house with a galvanised iron roof glinting in the sun? No, probably not: just a rectangular patch of snow. Half way to Punta Arenas and the cloud is getting thicker just allowing the occasional glimpse of rivers and lakes. We must be inland from Chiloe with its enormous rainfall from the collision of the roaring forties with the Andes.
With nothing but cloud to look at I muse on what brings me here in January 2008. In February 2002 I took a twelve day trip from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, to the Antarctic Peninsular aboard the 2140 ton Polar Pioneer with Aurora Expeditions. There were some 54 passengers, an Expedition Leader and about six other staff including a naturalist and a doctor on board. We cruised the Antarctic Peninsular and usually went on shore twice a day. On my return to Australia I realised that it was the best thing that I had ever done and, with the help of some friends, put some photos and blogs onto a website. But I also realised that I had to go again so that is why I'm flying to Ushuaia. And when I'm back from the Antarctic Peninsular I'll update my blogs and photos and present them here. I hope that you find the results enjoyable and informative.
Now we are beginning to descend and we break through the cloud and there is Punta Arenas. It's surprisingly desolate with little more than scrub surrounding some sort of commercial site with a row of storage tanks. One might have expected Punta Arenas to be a promontory surrounded by a complete circle of the most astounding views. But, no, it's relatively flat with the Straits of Magellan on one side and that desolate country on the other rolling towards quite low hills.
So, after the inevitable queues to get yet another batch of paper work stamped we are off again. Up through the clouds and down into them again almost immediately: a turn to the left and we break through and there is the Beagle Channel, a ribbon of water running away into the distance lined by spectacular, stark snow-covered peaks. Soon we complete a U-turn so that, as we descend, we are dominated by those peaks and at last land at Ushuaia for the beginning of a voyage to the Antarctic Peninsular: a voyage that promises to be filled with adventure tinged with the history, both natural and man-made, of this exotic place.

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