Warm Winter, Even at the Ends of the Earth
Traversing desolate Antarctica, explorer finds signs of warming.
Jan. 16, 2008 — -- We are headed down the western edge of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our hope is to spend the month in the Weddell Sea dashed by an unusual abundance of thick pack ice, especially unusual for this late in the austral summer season.
Instead we will travel, by kayak and sail, up around the tip of the peninsula then southward down its western edge, with the goal of getting 500 miles or so and a degree or two below the Antarctic Circle. While the Weddell Sea side is stark, remote and foreboding, the western edge is big, beautiful, offering all the classic Antarctic scenery, plus every one of its marine wildlife -- seals, whales, penguins and birds.
That fact is proven one of our first nights out, in the Gerlache Strait, when we pass first a pair of surfacing humpback whales, then another trio of the big guys and in the near background several small groups of Orca, or killer whales. The sea is perfectly calm and they are feeding, rising to the surface, diving and seemingly unperturbed by our presence -- in essence showing off for us.
Our first day of kayaking begins from Enterprise Island and the site of a historic ship sinking. In 1915 the Gouvernor, a Norwegian whale processing ship and the most sophisticated of its time, burned at anchor, its 1,000 barrels of whale oil igniting a massive fire that claimed the ship but none of its crew.
We kayak around the wreck, its rusted bow still jutting out of the calm bay, and circumnavigate Enterprise on a clear blue day. A highlight is crashing through brash ice to reach a hidden bay, the small floating bergs making a loud bashing sound on the bottom of our kayaks, their bark more serious than their bite.
The next morning we kayak through Paradise Bay, its tall snowy mountain peaks reflected in the calm sea, passing a sleeping leopard seal on a floating sheet of ice. We are headed toward the American science base called Palmer Station, where we are invited to dinner and an interview with a scientist studying Antarctic algae for its cancer-curing potential.
