Antarctica

Well, I am five days from leaving for Antarctica – the last continent and, quite frankly, the edge of the world.  I have been talking about such a trip for more than 10 years and been in the preparation for this trip for more than a year.  Although, I ave been getting ready for some time, I seem to be able to find no end of things to get done before I leave.

I leave on Sunday night by flying to Beunos Aires, where I stay over night to catch a plane to Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America. I’ve never been to Argentina, so this also gives me a chance to add a another country to my list. Ushuaia is the southernmost city on the planet and my last stop before Antarctica.

In Ushuaia, I catch a boat and we head further south to Antarctica. No planes for this stretch of the trip, as we are literally sailing off the edge of the world now. First, we need to cross the Drake Passage – the roughest waters on the planet, which travel continuously around Antarctica with hurricanes that  never hit land and rogue waves that can happen at any point. This is not a cruise ship, but an ice class expeditionary vessel that is very, very tough.  This is also home for the next 10 days until we return back across the Drake passage and the slow travel.

Strangely, the real challenges of this trip is not the cold, as many people would expect, but space. I am traveling to the least densely populated area of the planet, but space is an issue. Space on the plane, even less space on the boat, and space on the zodiacs, which is our primary method of leaving the ship. Oh yes, and water, lots of water, none of which my camera gear particularly likes at all.

Yes, camera gear, as the purpose of this trip is to capture the experience to share with others who may never get there. Besides my trusty Canons and a healthy selection of lens, I am also bringing some very small video cameras. Hopefully, I will manage to capture a few interesting things to share here.

Past Ushuaia, electronic communications are a real challenge, as we drop off the phone, internet, and GPS networks. Pretty much satellite radio is the only thing left and really only something to be used lightly. I may try to send out a few text based updates to the blog, but I expect to be radio silent for most of the trip. I’ll be using the trip northward to try to get some updates out and adding my updates after I return.

I’ve been to most of the middle parts of this planet, perhaps I might start exploring the edges .