March 21, 2008, Journey to Antarctica, By Judy Newell

I know we locals traipse up steep cobblestone streets every day, but can sanmiguelenses slog up an icy slope slick with penguin poop? Balance on the rolling pontoon side of a moving Zodiac in iceberg-strewn waters? Jump into freezing knee-deep water to wade ashore?

Bear in mind that they are so bundled up that they can’t see their rubber boots—think images of the Michelin man—and are further burdened with cameras, binoculars, life vests, backpacks, face wraps and sunglasses. Thick gloves make their hands nearly immobile. And one intrepid traveler had not one, but both wrists in a cast. Had we known about the long travel days and physical difficulties, would we still have made the journey?

“Nothing, but nothing, can dull the glow of that fantastic experience,” recalls Anna Buchanan. She was one of the 14 courageous travelers who set out in December to explore a world of scenic wonders that most people have only read about in books or seen in movies. Our journey was to Antarctica—one of the most remote corners of the world.

Antarctica is a last frontier, still largely untouched by man. It’s an entire continent dedicated to science and nature. It isn’t even all that cold along the Antarctic peninsula during the austral summer, when the pack ice melts and the southern seas are relatively free of ice.

The icy scenery is fantastic and the days are long and relatively mild, with up to 20 hours of sunlight.

In Mexico City, the “San Miguel 14” boarded an overnight flight to Buenos Aires. In our group were Martha Barglow, Anna Buchanan, Jennifer Butz, Rosalie Gower, Steward Hammer, Judith Jenya, Sallie Kravetz (from Baltimore), Miriam Meyer, Alfredo Lanier, Marcia Loy, Joan Savory, Bea Wood and the tour organizers Jim and Judy Newell, owners of Perfect Journeys.

Our first contretemps occurred in the airport when Gower took a tranquilizer and fell heavily asleep. The flight crew thought she was drunk or ill and wouldn’t let the wheelchair that we had loaded her limp body into pass. After a Mexican standoff with the steward, she was boarded and slept peacefully to Buenos Aires. She didn’t remember a thing the next morning and felt very well rested.

“Even though road-weary from the 24-hour trip from San Miguel, my bleary eyes cleared during the city tour,” Bagel Café owner Butz remembered about Buenos Aires.

“For several hours, we were treated to a city of wide boulevards, varied architecture, green oases of parks and gardens, public art and sculpture that was both traditional and modern, and a vibrant, startlingly beautiful people.”

Antarctic Treaty System

We really weren’t leaving Argentine waters as Antarctica belongs to no nation.

Antarctica is governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, which provides for the “peaceful use of the region, freedom of scientific investigation, protection of wildlife, banning of military activity, nuclear explosions or waste disposal and open inspections of any nation’s activities.” The Treaty was established in 1959 with 12 signatory countries. Currently 46 nations have signed the treaty and it is has been extended indefinitely.

An article in the March 2008 issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine states that the 46 nations have been wrestling for years to establish rules for tourism there. At a 2006 consultative meeting, they warned “limits need to be set to Antarctic tourism if it is not to become one of the major problems in the region over the next decade.”

The article continues: “The biggest concern now is the huge cruise ships that have begun regularly sailing to Antarctica.

The impact of spilled oil from such a large vessel would be disastrous. In January 2008 Holland America’s m/s Rotterdam brought 1,909 passengers and crew, and Princess Cruises’ Star Princess carried 3,800…. Most of these large ships are not reinforced to withstand blows from the ice.”

We had the rest of the day to explore Ushuaia, a Western-frontier-style town that reminded me of Alaska. It was a charming place and the Fuegian king crab served in nearly every restaurant was worth the hike uphill to town.

Jim and I had lunch in La Cantina Fueguina de Freddy, a charming place that looked to be straight out of the TV series Northern Exposure. The staff was so helpful that they even set up a driver for us for the next morning.

We decided to explore the Tierra del Fuego National Park on our free day. The remarkable drive up to the park passed the last golf course on earth, verdant fields and striking views of Ushuaia Bay and the Beagle Channel.

The park contains Ensenada Bay, Roca Lake and Lapataia Bay and borders with neighboring Chile. The glacial beauty, Andean mountains, forests of evergreens and southern beech, migratory geese, peat bogs and rugged tranquility of this majestic region was astonishing.

We sailed on the mv Discovery, a small ship by modern cruising standards that carries a maximum of 650 passengers. The Discovery is most fondly remembered as the Island Princess, one of Princess Cruises’ original “Love Boats.”

Owned by a UK-based company, the majority of the passengers were British, with a cosmopolitan mixture of travelers from Europe, North America, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.

The Drake Passage

Ahead was the infamous fury of the Drake Passage, known for having some of the world’s roughest waters. It’s 600 nautical miles of entirely open water—in fact, there’s no land anywhere around the world in that latitude. Most of the ship’s passengers were filled with trepidation about stories of 30-foot waves and the reception desk handed out seasick pills like jellybeans.

Our crossing took 30 hours and, to me, was bathtub calm. Just gentle swells—what a letdown!

As we started through the spectacular Drake Passage, we saw several species of albatross and petrels soaring effortlessly behind the ship, always ready to swoop down for any food stirred up by the wake.

The ship gave out red parkas to all passengers (the better to see you with, my dear) and the deck was crowded with red-jacketed photographers.

Some held professional cameras with 2-foot-long lenses and others had point-and-shoot digitals, but everyone was out in the brilliant sunshine enjoying the views.

Life Aboard

Our days at sea were a whirlwind of activities—lectures, movies, art classes, games, the spa and exercise room, a well-stocked library, bridge room, internet center, two pools, including one beneath a retractable roof, and two Jacuzzis. We meant to sit in the hot tub on the aft deck, sip wine and have our picture taken for next year’s Christmas card with the snowy glaciers of Antarctica as a backdrop. But we were so busy that we forgot!

One thing that kept us busy all day and all night was the food. There are three restaurants and five lounges aboard the Discovery and you can’t go more than a few hours without aromas of food being served somewhere—breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, late night snacks and room service.

The food had a decidedly British bias and we encountered toad-in-the-hole, bangers and mash, and baked beans for breakfast. The Canadians in our group loved it. The American contingent was less enthusiastic. Lanier grumbled, “If there was a Frenchman aboard, he’d have the chef marooned on an iceberg.”

The highlight of the 10-day cruise was the expedition team—seven working scientists, educators and explorers headed by Dr. Peter Carey. Each had his or her specialty—glaciology, geology, marine life, seals, penguins, seabirds and Antarctic history. Members of the expedition team were also the “penguin police” who managed the landings ashore along with a dedicated Beach Master.

While you won’t spend much time on Antarctica itself, you can opt to spend a lot of time learning about it. “Lectures aboard were first-rate; really interesting and authoritative,” noted Hammer.

The officers of the ship, scientific staff, entertainers and Zodiac drivers mixed effortlessly with the passengers and that created an easygoing atmosphere. With only about 300 guests on the ship, we soon came to know each other. Meyer met a lady who was also a microbiologist and attended the same university that she did.

Photos by author, unless otherwise noted.

Judy Newell, a writer and travel industry executive, heads the custom tour company Perfect Journeys. Contact her at JudyNewell_03@msn.com.