Voyage to the Bottom of the World
by
George
Bailey
Your travel source with a personal
touch!
|
Voyage to the Bottom of the World |
|
|
Antarctica is Earth’s southern most continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. It is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America and South America. Some 98 percent of Antarctic is covered by ice, which averages at least 1.6 kilometers (1.0) miles in thickness. It was mid-December and I traveled to the coldest, driest, and windiest continent where there’s no permanent human residents or any evidence of any pre-historic indigenous population. It lies in darkness at the bottom of the world. It ‘s a vast unknown like an afterthought of creation. Antarctica would prove to be an adventure that makes life worth living. At 63 years of age I wanted a different kind of experience knowing I ‘ve lived more of my life than I have left to live. I got it. This is one of the many volcanic mountains that emerge from the Southern Ocean as we pass near the South Shetland Islands. Photo by George Bailey. Click on photo to enlarge and see other photos of Antarctica. |
|
Getting There
It’s about a ten to fifteen
hour flight depending on where you leave from North America to Buenos Aires,
Argentina. After overnighting in this Argentina capital and self proclaimed
City of Cool it was another three hour flight to the Tierra del Fuego and
its capital Ushuaia (you sway ah) where I embarked on a ten day trip aboard
the MV Discovery to the South Shetland Islands and Antarctica
Peninsula.
|
MV
Discovery knew I was not going hungry. The exquisite welcome-aboard buffet set the tone for the cuisine on the cruise. There are several places to eat. The Seven Continents Restaurant has menu service for breakfast, lunch and dinner or the top-side Lido Café and Yacht Club Restaurant are two other alternatives. One of the best things about the trip was I remained the same weight coming on board that I did when I disembarked. Other Ship Board Amenities |
|
During the day I attended excellent lectures. Get to the Carousel Lounge early for a seat to learn more about topics like, “A Beginners Guide to Penguin Appreciation” or the “Geography and Geology of Antarctica". This was one of my highlights of the journey.
If you get bored watching icebergs( if that’s possible) you can catch a movie in the Discovery Theatre. In the nearby lounge you can listen to a band and dance.
| The Drake Passage-The Roughest
Stretch of Water in the World. Getting to the Antarctica is no mean feat. This is the body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn and Antarctica .It’s called the Southern Ocean and is the ocean that circumvents the Antarctic. It’s the fourth largest ocean in the world (after the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean). This passage held up to it’s reputation as the roughest stretch in the world. Two lone passengers dressed in bright red parkas that are given at the beginning of the Antarctica cruise find a spot aft to check out the bergs and mountains. Photo by George Bailey. Click on photo to enlarge and see other photos of Antarctica. |
|
| Zodiac Cruising, Penguins, Ice
Bergs ,Seals and Sun I was mesmerized from the first moment I set eyes on the continent. It was a place that expanded my senses of time. It was deliciously peaceful. I listened to the silence outside my porthole. The skies were flawless blue with marshmallow clouds. The sun was shining for 22 hours a day and the temperature about +3C (+39 F). It was truly another world. I found what I was looking for. When weather permitted, as it did for most of this cruise, I took shore excursions (zodiac cruising) among icebergs to the continent itself. And it was Saturday, December 22 at 1 pm that I first stepped foot on Half Moon Island part of the 7th continent of the world, Antarctica. I became one of the approximate 35,000 people to do so each year. There was a sizable rookery of Chinstrap and Adelie penguins and an abundant bird population of terns, petrels, cormorants, wandering albatross and whales. I saw stunning views of surrounding volcanic mountains. It's not hard to spot the passenger that choose to wear his own parka as others on the starboard side of the ship strain their necks for sightings of whales, icebergs, penguins and mountains. Photo by George Bailey. Click on photo to enlarge and see other photos of Antarctica. |
|
Another highlight was to cruise off ice-covered Elephant Island ,named for its sizeable colony of elephant seals. Next day I set foot on King George Island where the Arctowski Polish Research Antarctic Station is found. Managed by the Polish Academy of Science it is manned year-round and researches things like biology, glaciology and oceanography.
Would I Return?
In a heartbeat. The vastness of
this white continent made me feel like I was the only person on earth. I now
have a persuasive calm and sense of balance.
| Antarctic Facts -Antarctica is owned by no one and it has no indigenous people. -The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 allows 12 scientifically active nations to establish scientific research stations on this continent and provides for the interchange of scientific data. -If Antarctica’s ice sheets melted ,the worlds oceans would rise by 60 to 65 meters ( 200-210 ft) everywhere. -the Antarctic ice cap has 29 million cubic kilometers of ice. This is 90% of all the ice the ice on the planet and between 60 and 70% of all the world’s fresh water. -only about 0.4 percent of Antarctica is not covered by ice. -the coldest natural temperature -89.2C (-128.6F) was recorded here at the Vostok Research Station (Russia). -Antarctica is the driest continent on earth with an absolute humidity lower than that of the Sahara Desert. -There are no Polar bears in Antarctica. Polar bears are only found in the Northern Hemisphere. -Antarctica is twice the size of Australia. This is one of the largest icebergs sighted on our trip. Our escort told us the berg was about 8 times larger below the water then above the water line!. The bluer the water where it enters the water means the older the iceberg. Photo by George Bailey. Click on photo to enlarge and see other photos of Antarctica. |
|
For More Information
Written and photographed in December of 2007
by:
George Bailey
5146 Morrison
StreetNiagara Falls,
Ontario
CanadaL2E
2E1
|
George Bailey is a modern day
adventurer. He's a bachelor who's continuously visiting different parts of
the world. He says being on his own gives him more flexibility to travel at
a moments notice. For the past 10 years he's been writing and photographing
articles for newspapers and magazines. George has published five books
filled with lots of information and photographs. One of them on Marilyn
Monroe. He's a past director and member of the Travel Media Association of
Canada. George likes to say that life is only a click of the fingers and
that we should enjoy it while we can. He intends to do just that. His photographs are available for sale, but if
it's for your own enjoyment he'd rather e-mail you free j-pegs. Incidentally, the name of his company is "
It's A Wonderful Life Productions." Figures!
George Bailey |
|
Although this page is copyrighted by Getting Away, the photographs used in this article were taken, and are the property of, George Bailey. Permission must be obtained from him reprinting any of these photographs.
