Blogs from Antarctica, Antarctica - page 11

Finding the right words to describe what I have seen and experienced in the Antarctic will be difficult with our limited spoken language from our left brain. Perhaps, the best way would be to beam over to you, a vision from my heart what it really means and feels like, to be with the Albatross as its gargantuous wings sail over the waves of the Drake Passage, what it means to see my first mountain adorned by glaciers, feeding their ice tongues into the sea, what it means to be in a place of such extreme, rugged, prestine, natural and untouched beauty. As soon as the first mountain met my gaze, as the ship moved closer and closer to our first destination of exploration, my spirit said, ¨You have arrived now. It is okay to open ... read more

Mighty, glaciated mountains towered from the ocean. Massive, vertical cliffs rose from the depths and mighty glaciars spilled through every valley. This was the welcome I got from Antarctica! "I am in Antarctica" I said to myself! It's an amazing place! I stood in awe on the continental mainland and looked around. I was completely surrounded by jagged peaks soaring more than a mile into the sky. Giant rivers of ice, several miles across spilled through every valley. The emptiness, loneliness and remoteness of this place is overwhelming. It has an icy strangeness ... It is like nowhere else! Antarctica is 99.6% covered in ice! It is the coldest, windiest, driest and most mountainous of all the continents. It's also the least visited and has no permanent human population. It is difficult to comprehend the scale ... read more

Antarctica was beyond everything that I dreamed. Our party of 7 - including myself, my parents, a couple of their cronies, my cousin Linda and her 11 year old son Jack - travelled on the expedition icebreaker ship the "M/V Ushuaia" (booked through Antarpply/World Expeditions) from Ushuaia Argentina. Thankfully the infamous Drake Passage was a smooth crossing in both directions. We were unable to enter the Weddell Sea due to the pack ice, so instead did landings in the Antarctic Sound, the Antarctic Peninsula, the Gerlache Strait, and the South Shetland Islands. The various lectures set the scene and built the excitement for what to expect, and every zodiac landing unveiled phenomenal and awe-inspiring wonders. It was nesting season and we saw heaps of penguins - Gentoo´s, Adelie´s and Chinstrap´s. It was fascinating to watch their ... read more

We are getting excited now. Its interesting hearing reactions from people as we tell them where we are going. Some are horrified and cant understand it and others are very jealous. Our flight to Buenos Aires via Santiago is all booked. We leave from Auckland on the 31 October. However, our baggage allowance is one piece at 23kg per person. All because we have a night in Auckland which means its not a through fare from home. So our only alternative is to pay $30 for an extra bag. Not much really in the grand scheme of things. As we live near a ski resort we have a fair bit of warm clothes anyway. So its a matter of sorting out and deciding if it up to the task. A Jacket and rubber boots are provided ... read more

A modo suo il mio vicino di volo, che grazie a un intuito fuori dal comune aveva capito che non sono proprio iraniano, aveva provato a dirmelo. A Teheran, se avessi dovuto incontrare mai problemi sarebbero stati dovuti al traffico. La città, almeno nella zona dove alloggio, è attraversata da larghe strade a tre corsie ma non è chiaro il loro senso di percorrenza. La maggior parte è sicuramente a senso unico ma sono così tanti ad andare contromano da rendere difficile capire in quale direzione dovrebbe muovere il traffico. I taxi e le automobili più piccole, dal clacson decisamente facile, si fanno strada tra camion, furgoni biciclette e carri tirati a mano. Gli autisti si sporgono dai finestrini per comunicarsi con ampi gesti dove e come si supereranno. Per fortuna che è una zona a ... read more