Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993 TAG: 9312160255
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: F8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FERNE SALTZMAN|
DATELINE: PALMER PENINSULA, ANTARCTICA LENGTH: Long
Outside in the protected waters of the Antarctic islands a dazzling, untainted fairyland awaited. Gleaming in crystalline silence, huge varied- colored ice cliffs, 1,000 feet tall, towered over a pewter sea. Jagged peaks embraced the sky disappearing into diaphanous clouds, and hanging glaciers became rivers of diamonds as the sun danced across their faces. Delicately sculpted turquoise icebergs stood like sentinels punctuating the other-worldly stillness.
The serenity of Antarctica is stunning. It goes beyond beautiful to something that touches both the eyes and soul simultaneously.
But all that splendor does not come easily. Hearty souls who visit Antarctica must endure horrific weather, treacherous seas, exorbitant price tags and many uncertainties, but almost everyone returns saying it was a spellbinding travel experience.
This hauntingly lovely terrain, covering 5.6 million square miles, is the largest cold area on Earth (equaling the combined areas of Canada, Alaska and Mexico), more than 98 percent of which lies under a formidable layer of pristine ice.
The ice averages 12 miles thick. It would take five centuries to melt and the result would raise the sea level about 200 feet causing flooding of most coastal cities. This volume of ice is so tremendous it causes a dent in the continent beneath it.
The lowest temperature recorded here was at Vostok, the Russian research station, on July 21, 1983, when the mercury plummeted to minus 129 degrees Fahrenheit. Even in summer (November-February), the only time ships can get through the pack ice, the thermostat rarely nudges above 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
The continent is plagued by the fiercest winds on Earth. These katabatic or gravity winds, intensified by gliding over featureless ice plains, can howl up to 200 mph.
With all this against it, why does everyone rave about Antarctica? One passenger on theColumbus Caravelle cruise ship said, ``Antarctica is not only emotionally thrilling and scenically sublime, but mentally stimulating as well.''
In preparation for shore excursions, cruise lines offer daily lectures on fascinating subjects that qualify as minicourses in oceanography, marine biology, ecology, geology and glaciology.
One piece of information that gets your attention is that, unlike the ice fish who can thrive in a frigid sea, human beings can last a mere 240 seconds in 28-degree water before going into hypothermia and certain death. It's a bit unnerving on your first ride in an inflatable boat to shore, but with the incomparable view no one thinks about it very long.
``I am responsible for your life,'' driver Alexander admonished. ``You will not stand up or do ANYTHING in the Zodiac without my permission!'' The group obeyed like children on a field trip.
Bouncing around in a rubber inflatable is a Disneyland "E" ride, but when your driver cuts the engine and you drift silently among the icebergs it becomes a magic kingdom even Walt Disney couldn't have equaled.
Nowhere on Earth are the icebergs as massive and magnificent. Dwarfed into a bathtub toy, the raft undulates around dollops of whipped cream, many of which are host to napping elephant seals.
Some icebergs radiate an incandescent blue-green above the water, glowing beneath it (90 percent of an iceberg is below the surface) like Kryptonite from Superman's home planet.
Mammoth chunks have been logged in at 150 miles long and 60 miles wide. These behemoths don't sink because icebergs are formed from snow and ice (fresh water), which is much lighter than the salinated and mineral laden sea water in which they float.
Stepping from a raft onto Petermann Island has the unreality of a movie set with wide ice plateaus and a backdrop of marshmallow mountains. Thousands of Adelie and Gentoo penguins waddle and stumble after each other like a committee late for a meeting. With the shortest growing season on Earth, they have so much to do in very little time.
Peter Bruchhausen, Transocean Cruise Lines' U.S. representative, who has made 45 scientific sojourns to Antarctica for the National Science Foundation, shared a chilling fact in one of his lectures. The increased radiation pouring through the hole in the ozone layer above the continent soon will render more than 1 million penguins blind with cataracts.
This fragile ozone layer is all that stands between us and the devastating effects of ultraviolet rays from the sun. Bruchhausen made a graphic analogy: The 30-mile-thick band of ozone surrounding the Earth is proportionately the thickness of a piece of cellophane wrapped around a basketball - that thin and that vulnerable.
Another concern of the scientific community is whether the fragile ecosystem of Antarctica can survive an ever-increasing onslaught of visitors as more and more larger ships join the Antarctic fleet. The debate over tourism resulted in the birth of the Association of Antarctic Tour Operators which wrote a set of guidelines for tour companies and a list of rules of conduct for travelers.
Guidelines for tour operators include: Using raft drivers who have experience in polar regions hiring experienced naturalists to accompany passengers ashore (at least one for every 20-25 people), consistently enforcing visitors' responsible behavior, limiting the number of passengers ashore to 100 at any one time or place , refraining from entering research stations without invitation and advance notice, avoiding especially precarious or protected areas, staggering visits between ships to avoid excessive intrusion at rookeries and enforcing strict waste disposal rules.
Tourists are requested to : Refrain from smoking on land, take all trash back to the ship, not to bring any food ashore, minimize noise, not touch the wildlife or encroach upon them too closely (maintain a distance of 20 feet from penguins, nesting birds and seals), never cut off an animal's escape route to the sea or path to their offspring and avoid stepping on delicate flora.
There is a saying, ``Take only photographs, leave only footprints.'' In Antarctica even the footprints can be disastrous, since it may take up to a decade for lichen and mosses to recover in the abbreviated growing season.
These concerns plus difficult conditions and the remoteness of the continent add up to the most expensive cruise destination around. Cabins cost a staggering $5,000-$15,000 for a two-week cruise, much of which will be spent just getting there and back. Actual length of time in Antarctica averages four to six days.
For that price there are no exotic ports. Actually, there are no docks at all and you will be put ashore either in a foot of ice water or on a pile of slippery rocks. You can forget about night-life. There isn't any. And no indigenous tribes live there, unless you count the penguins. There are also no shopping malls anywhere on the routing.
But after all is said and done, never mind the hefty price tag or heavy gear (you must dress like an astronaut to keep warm and dry). Forget slippery rocks, pungent penguin poop, the ultra-bright, almost painful glare of the Antarctic sun and the fearful reality of her uncertain future. Never mind the subzero temperatures, violent seas and howling wind that tear at your body with the ferociousness of a piranha. It will be worth every bit of it, difficult at times, but profoundly moving and unforgettable.
Adm. Richard Byrd, explorer and America's foremost authority on the south polar region, said it best back in 1938.
``I watched the sky a long time concluding that such beauty was reserved for distant dangerous places, and that nature has good reason for exacting her own special sacrifices from those determined to witness them.''
Ferne Saltzman is a free-lance travel writer and photographer living in Northridge, Calif.
by CNB