Antarctic Dreams

In 90 minutes we will do a landing, at about 8 p.m. local time, and I willset foot on the Antarctic continent for the first time. I'll do a shortkayak paddle with three or four other shipmates, set up my tent, and spend anight sleeping on the ice. It's a perfect evening for it... no wind and alight snowfall. We've been warned that we probably won't get much sleep,with the noise of penguins, the all-night twilight, and of course the cold-- but I wouldn't pass up this opportunity for anything.

It's been an another amazing day. Lots of whales -- several of them rightup close, including one that swam right under the bow of the ship; I lookeddown and could see the whole creature from tip to tail just a few feet belowthe surface. Kayaking three times... during one of the paddles, we stoppedand sat silently for ten minutes... it was dead calm and the water was likeglass, with icebergs drifting silently by and brash ice all around. Therewas a light snow falling, shrouding the high points of the peaks andglaciers that surrounded us. The only sounds were the brash ice tinkling,an occasional rumble from one of the glaciers, or the splash of penguinsporpoising their way along the channel. We got back to the ship, and hadanother BBQ dinner out on the bow in the snowfall.

I'll post a longer entry later, with more on the last 2 or 3 days, but thisis one of those times I wanted to capture the moment.