Why I love Antarctica
In all honesty Antarctica is one of those places that touches your soul. When people ask me where my favourite places are in the world I can't help but answer Antarctica. The expression of bewilderment crosses their faces as if to say what! Why?
So Antarctica to me symbolises pure wilderness and adventure. If something goes wrong down here then you don't have a huge amount of chance of survival. I have been to Antarctica twice. The first time I was lucky enough to spend two months on an expedition ship, as an exedition leader and logistical excursion leader. Unfortunately that ship almost sunk close to half moon island. We had a collision with a submerged rock which cut through the first hull of the double-hulled icebreaker and punctured a hole in the second hull layer. Water leaked in and we had to go to action stations. That little incident was cleverly kept out of the news.
The fact that we had to close off the front section of the ship was testemony to the severity of the collision. What's more, the crew were on action alert for the two days we spent crossing The Drake Passage in a huge storm. You might wonder why I love Antarctica after such an experience. Well, the evenings I spent with the Ice Captain searching for whales while the passengers dined is something I will never forget. It was so much fun using the radar to scan the area for whales and go and photograph them. Then there were the penguins and the fact they were so amusing.
Sometimes they would all line up to dive in the water. The leader would glance over its shoulder as if saying 'hang on I don't want to go first'. It would then secretly walk backwards hoping that none of the other penguins would notice.
The second time I went to Antarctica we had a similar incident where a huge wave hit our cruise ship and wiped out some of the cabins near the bow. One lady was almost sucked through the window when a wave entered and then retracted from her cabin in the middle of the night. What actually saved her life was the duck-down duvet. It swelled with sea water and blocked the window so she was not sucked out. I saw her after the incident, she was still in a state of shock with numerous bruises to evidence her trauma. We still had a couple of days at sea until we reached Ushuia in Argentina. There was nowhere else for her to go, so she simply strolled around the ship sharing her shocking story.
You may wonder why on earth I would like the ice-ridden place after relating these stories . As I said before: Antarctica provides a true sense of adventure. The air is crisp, the wilderness is vast, the visibility is astounding and life takes on a whole new sense of priviledge. I do wonder whether life will deliver me there for a third time. We will see, in the meantime I have to decide whether I make the leap from the 'normal' world back into a life of adventure. I am just waiting to hear the outcome of the final interview. The thing is with long periods of travel there are sacrifices to make and acceptances to be had. The question then becomes do you live a life by the day and never know what the future holds? You have no financial securities or stability. Or do you play it safe, accumulate wealth and live knowing that you could have lived a life completely filled with adventure with no actual security? Does one play it safe until death? Safety is an illusion and so is money. That is why such choices are always a conundrum. The ice is always bluer on the other side of the planet!
In the meantime, I am finalising two more books. The thing that I do like about the travel is there is so much that is inspirational to write about... This week will be interesting. Let's see what happens!
Enjoy my audio books at the following link:
A fantasy fairy fiction novel for girls aged 8 and older...
No comments:
Post a Comment