Latest updates

So...I've been back home for about a month now, and back into the swing of things with work and trying to get out and play as much as possible! It has been great getting back to my home and my friends and believe it or not, work has been good too. I still have many moments where I long to be back on a ship or camping beside penguin burrows though....I suppose I will just have to keep working on my plan to get back down south.

My latest crazy news is that I am now the owner of a feline friend. Those of you who know me well will understand that this is quite surprising as I always vowed never to have a cat. Yet I was contemplating getting a pet and realized my life was not quite ready for a dog. I went to the Bow Valley SPCA in Canmore and found the coolest cat there...an 18-month-old orange tabby. He has chosen the name Atticus; I considered Sanchez, but he's a bit too contemplative to be a Sanchez, and not enough trouble to be name Jesus Christ (sorry Mike). He and I are currently chilling out, watching the Planet Earth series and so far we're getting along well! My only request to all of you is to prevent me from becoming "the crazy cat lady of Bow Valley"...I'm only allowed one cat.

So that's the latest news from this wandering Alberta girl....although with the addition of Atticus, I won't be wandering too far for a while.

January 9 & 10, 2009 -- Homeward Bound

[Sitting in the departure lounge at the Santiago, Chile Airport]
So here's my plan. I'm going to send in a resume to Quark Expeditions (along with some of the other companies) to apply to be on the expedition team of an Antarctic-bound ship on my time off next winter. I met yet anoher crew member at the Dublin Pub last night who convinced me I could totally get a job! So that's my plan. I just have to play up my background in biology, interpretation, & education, the fact that I have now been to Antarctica, I've done research work in the Falklands Islands and I have boating experience from my time at the Bamfield Research Station. Plus, add in a few good (hopefully) words from expedition staff....and there I go!

This trip has been crazy. It's been a little over-the-top, but I feel like I'm in a better head space after having just put myself out there so many times....because when I do, there are huge rewards!

[...]

January 10, 2009
Woah!! Karen (a friend from the hostel who is on her way back to Australia) found me in the departure lounge and got me to come join her in the VIP departure lounge! Free food, drink, a "quiet" room with lounge chairs, pillows and blankets....and I even had a quick shower!! What a fantastic way to chill out before the 11-hour flight from Santiago to Los Angeles.

I was then able to sleep quite well on the flight. Now I'm enjoying a little breakfast and a coffee at LAX while I wait for my flight back to Cow-town. I can't seem to get images of icebergs out of my head...so I'm drawing, sketching, and painting icebergs of all shapes and colours in my journal.

January 7, 2009 -- Decompression...

I'm back in Ushuaia and I still feel like I'm on a ship! The back and forth motion is kind of nuts...it is actually somewhat difficult to write at the moment. And when I'm walking down the street, it feels as though I'm weaving my way down the sidewalk...hopefully it's not too noticeable!
I went to Tanta Sara, the cafe where this all began, for a little cafe con leche and who do I run into but Mark -- the whale guy! Then as I was searching for a place to eat lunch, who do I run into but Mikolaj, Niklas, Geoff (the bird man), Alex (zodiac driver extraordinaire), and Gary (zodiac driver)! So I had lunch with the expedition staff one last time. These people have just been wonderful on my trip...who knows...maybe one day I'll work along side some of them! On a side note, I met some crew from another ship and one of them happens to live in Bamfield, B.C. the rest of the year! AND he's good friends with my gal Kylee! Ushuaia really is the smallest place in the world!

Tonight it's supper at La Rueda -- the best parilla in town -- with all of the other backpackers that got last-minute tickets as well. And tomorow night is the "wrap party" for the film crew! Only a few more days until I head back to the real world...

January 6, 2009 -- Farewell Antarctica

I was up nice and early today -- my last day on the Drake Passage. I spent some time up on the bridge deck for a while before breakfast. Another beautifully calm day! [When I woke up I wasn't sure if we were still moving...it was so still.] The ship was clipping along at around 12 knots...too bad! I wish I could prolong this.

A journey is a person in itself, no two are alike, and all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggles that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.
~ John Steinbeck ~

I'm sitting on the bridge one last time, looking into the Beagle Channel as we head back to Ushuaia. Am I different? Have I been transformed? As I look toward the horizon of the so-called real world, the world of work, and relationships, and the new year, I'm not sure I feel as transformed as I would have thought.

[...]

Just had my palm read by the Chief Engineer -- Bozo Petrovic, from Montenegro. Interesting man, with interesting things to say about my future.

This trip, this adventure, this journey has definitely shaken up my life in a good way. It's given me lots to think about in terms of what I want to focus my energy on, where I want to travel, what kinds of jobs I may pursue. As ridiculous as it might seem, I have a strong feeling that I will be back here.

Now it's time to get ready for the final slide show and our farewell dinner. We'll actually be in port tonight, so once we clear customs a few of us plan on heading into town for some beverages and one last celebration of our time together.

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.
~ St. Augustine

January 5, 2009 -- Northbound...

On this day in 1922 the great Ernest Shackleton died of a coronary off of Grytviken. His body was buried on South Georgia.

Here I am, crossing the infamous Drake Passage once again! Except this time, I'm feelin' fine! I took some anti-nauseants from a friend and although the boat is definitely moving around in the water, I'm not feeling queasy at all. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the day...on the way down I did more sleeping, but that just seems wrong somehow. My roomate Nataliya isn't doing so well...she's pretty much laying prone and sleeping her way through this day. Sooo glad that's not me!

Mikolaj and I had a chat about job possibilities for me on "The Ice"....could I work as the "gift shop girl" at Port Lockroy? I wonder....

Now Miko is preparing for his talk entitled: "Sex on the Beach -- or How Do Elephant Seals Do It?" I'm sure it will be interesting!

Strange. There is always sadness on departure.
It is as if one cannot after all bear to leave this bleak waste of ice, glaciers, cold and toil...
~ Fridtjof Nansen 1912 ~

Antarctic Poetry

The Sleeping Bag
by Herbert Ponting in the South Polar Times

There seems to be a difference of opinion amongst us as to which is the correct way to use a sleeping bag. There may almost be said to be sides on the subject, hence the following:

On the outside grows the furside, on the inside grows the skinside,
So the furside is the outside, and the skinside is the inside.
As the furside is the outside, and the skinside is the inside,
One side likes the skinside inside, and the furside on the outside.
Others like the skinside outside, and the furside on the inside,
As the skinside is the hard side, and the furside is the soft side.
If you turn the skinside outside, thinking you will side with that side,
Then the soft side, furside's inside, which some argue is the wrong side.
If you turn the furside outside, as you say it grows on that side,
Then the hard side's next your own side, which for comfort's not the right side,
As the hard side is the cold side, and your skinside's not your warm side,
And two cold sides coming side by side, are not right sides, one side decides,
If you decide to side with this side, turn the outside furside inside;

Then the hard side, cold side, skinside, beyond all question's inside outside and it does not matter a particle what you do with the bally thing, someone' sure to tell you it's outside inside.

January 4th continued -- Seals, fin whales and penguin chicks, oh my!

I went up to the main lounge after lunch for Mikolaj's talk on seals. Mikolaj has been the Base Commander of the Henryk Arctowski (Polish) research station on King George Island for the last year and is finishing off his time in Antarctica as the marine mammal specialist on the Clipper Adventurer. He has studied elephant seals extensively and has spent quite some time in Antarctica. He is also one of the best lecturers on the ship...you can tell he's taught university as he has lots of good jokes and anecdotes to share.

After the lecture I headed up to the bridge to try and spot some orcas...but no luck. We sighted several more humpbacks; the whales showing off their flukes, dorsal fins and even a little tail! We were on our way to the South Shetland Islands, into the English Channel towards Barrientos Island (one of the Aitcho Islands Archipelago) where we would have our final Antarctic landing.
Due to its proximity to the Drake Passage unfortunately a considerable amount of human flotsam and jetsam washes up with the tide here. During the crossing we got super lucky and got to see two fin whales!! These whales are the second largest animal in the world!

Once we arrived at Barrientos Island, I got busy with the film crew. Because of my work in the Falklands they wanted to interview me about some of the vegetation growing on the island, and asked me about how global climate change might affect the vegetative growth in Antarctica. There is definitely greenery on the island; it looks like a cross between a moss and an algae. It is hard to believe that much of anything could grow in this type of environment!

We got to spend lots of time watching gentoos and their chicks up close and personal. The chicks are especially curious as you can see by the photos...they would get super close to us, and then suddenly realize 'mom' was somewhere else. Then they would squawk and waddle around looking for mom once more.

I also got the chance to get some great shots of the chinstrap penguins, and their feet!

And right before we had to rush back to the ship, Niklas zoomed our zodiac over to a neighbouring island so we could see some Weddell seals. Just lounging on the beach, smiling for the pictures, scratching their noses...just chillin'.

Our last Antarctic landing...I don't want to leave! I didn't want to leave the Falklands and I don't want to leave here. Somehow work doesn't seem quite so exciting right now. It feels as though the real world is so far away; but I suppose I've only got the Drake Passage between this adventure and reality.

Side note: If anyone is wondering what penguin tastes like...

"If it is possible to imagine a piece of rotting beef, odiferous cod fish and a canvas-backed duck roasted together in a pot, with blood and cod-liver oil for sauce, the illustration would be complete."
~ Dr. Frederick Cook, the Belgican Expedition, on what penguins taste like