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 Goodbye to Civilization
With no mobile phones and endless seas, there is no gentle introduction to this unusual expedition |
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Island Hopping
Killer whales, penguins and then back to the ship for lunch |
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The White Continent
The Southern land of the midnight sun gives a cold welcome |
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At Sea
The eagerly awaited eclipse, and the return journey |
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| ELLEN LINTON |
| PACKED GALLERY: The icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov crunches through the pack ice. |
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Goodbye To Civilization |
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With no mobile phones and endless seas, there is no gentle introduction to this unusual expedition |
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By MARYANN BIRD |
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Wednesday, 5 Nov. 03
(Port Elizabeth, South Africa)
With a portion of rainbow visible — a good omen! — the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov heads south as we passengers — numbering 100 and from 16 countries — settle aboard. Some of us are hooked on Antarctica, while others are wildlife enthusiasts or dedicated eclipse-chasers (or "blackout people," as penguin expert Frank Todd labels them). Me, I'm here for everything. For all of us, experiencing a total solar eclipse in East Antarctica — on the opposite side of the continent from the more popular and accessible Antarctic Peninsula — will be a genuine "experience of a lifetime." Records of Antarctic expeditions, cross-checked with eclipse paths for hundreds of years, confirm that no humans have previously experienced a total solar eclipse on the white continent. First achievement, though: surviving the mandatory — and dismal — lifeboat drill. Port Elizabeth, at GMT+2, soon vanishes in the distance, as do mobile phone signals.
Friday, 7 Nov. 03
(At sea, south Indian Ocean)
Out on the southern Indian Ocean for two days now. We've seen no other ships and no planes have passed overhead, but we have plenty of seabirds for company. Most awesome are the wandering albatrosses, measuring more than 3 meters from wingtip to wingtip and gliding effortlessly on the wind currents. Like the cuisine, our lecture menu is tasty, plentiful and varied, served up by an array of experts in Antarctic history, wildlife, geology and glaciology, survival skills and astronomy. By design, our icebreaker rolls much more than a normal, stabilized ship. I felt a little bit queasy on Thursday morning, but motion-sickness tablets like those used by NASA astronauts — designed for adjusting to motion, rather than suppressing it — did an effective job. My berth lies port-starboard, so I "roll" up and down, rather than side to side. On the bigger rolls, I feel like I'm going down a sliding board, then reversing back up. We've had some rough weather, with 30-degree tilts and spilled drinks, but it's all a laugh. Well, it is for those of us who have not taken refuge in our cabins and decided to skip breakfast.
Saturday 8 Nov.
So, so much water! Last night we left our cabin porthole open, for the sweet, fresh air and the sound of the waves. It's calm and a balmy 56-degrees F. outside right now, at close to 9am. More albatrosses, petrels, skuas and other seabirds are flying around the ship.
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