8 years later, January 2023. The memories are of course hazier now, but the place has maintained a hold within them. The wildlife has only come close to being matched by the Galapagos Islands, tellingly another ocean nature reserve. The respect you gain for the natural world in visiting these places is enormous. The sense […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 9: Departure
My final footsteps in Antarctica were on another volcanic outcrop of black sand and grey rock, backdropped by a large glacier. It was busily inhabited by penguins, seabirds, and seals. The seals were adolescent males, and as it was a Sunday afternoon, these creatures behaved much like teenage boys the world over. Slovenly sprawled on […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 8: Antarctic waters
The next day, I awake to feel some lingering effects of the vodka and drinking that followed back on the boat. The bottles of Malbec that I’d smuggled on board having been put to good use. Yet this was mitigated by some sense of pride that I’d got drunk on this far flung continent. And […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 7: Research on the continent
Antarctica is called the uninhabited continent, but this is not strictly true. Today, about 10,000 researchers and support staff work in the summer months, before dropping to about 1,000 hardy souls through the permanent darkness of the winter. Its winter population is little larger than the village where I grew up in the English countryside, […] Read More
Antartica. Chapter 6: Into the valley of icebergs
We are woken early the next morning to step out on deck to view our path through the Lemaire Channel. Huddling out onto the upper decks wrapped in layers. It was an impressive sight. At the narrowest point the channel is 1 mile wide, with small glacier covered mountains rising up either side. Yet it […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 5: Antarctic Life
As we ventured further south along the peninsula over the following days, the landings continued. The next morning, we visited an island, busy with gentoo penguins. Far from alone, they were also accompanied by seals and flocks of seabirds. In Antarctica the islands are not selfishly populated. All but 2% of the continent is covered […] Read More
Paraguay. Introduction
Enchanted and perplexed. It was how I felt after a couple of days in Paraguay’s capital Asuncion. I was enchanted by the breezy sensibility of some of the locals that I’ve just met; the tranquilo streets of the paint worn old down on the banks of the lazy Paraguay river. Set against the gleaming sense […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 4: Walking amongst penguins
The boat continued through the Bransfield Straight (the waters separating the South Shetland islands from the Antarctic peninsula) in the night. It was also colloquial known as the mini Drake. Only, if it was rough, I slept right through it. A couple of glasses of wine the night before a great aid to heavy sleep. […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 3: The company of seabirds
Thankfully, sunset on the second night was as benign as the first. By the end of the day the worst of the stormy conditions had passed, and while the boat still rocked, the skies were clear. I stood out on deck with a fast cooling coffee to watch the last of its light. A flock […] Read More
Antarctica. Chapter 2: Our ship the Ushuaia.
It was late yesterday afternoon that we embarked the ship. We remained docked for a couple of hours, before a gentle evening passing through the sheltered waters of the Beagle Channel as we got used to our surroundings. I quickly tried to get lost, but the corridors around the cabins, the lounge and dinning area, […] Read More
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