Articles

 

My birthday present

My children got together and decided to surprise me with a two-week Antarctic adventure this year for my 62nd birthday. I have compulsively collected literature on the Antarctic ever since I was a small child, but I have never been able to afford the time or money to make the trip. Now that I am retired, I have all of the time in the world. They found a tour group through one of my ski magazine and discreetly arranged my voyage. The tour group gathered in Ushuaia, Argentina where we had a small bon voyage party before we were herded onto our chartered yacht, the Pilar the following morning. The moment when the expedition became real to me was on our first bumpy night aboard ship. As we cautiously crossed through the Drake Passage, I saw my very first albatross. It was glorious. The majestic seabird flew directly over the stern of our ship and must have had a wingspan of at least a dozen feet. I was so enthralled with the bird that I almost missed the enormous minke whale that was gracefully swimming parallel to our ship on the starboard side. When I woke up in the morning, we had arrived at our first destination, Cierva Cove. After a hurried breakfast, we boarded zodiacs and excitedly rushed ashore.

Perhaps it was due to decades of anticipation or maybe I was at the right place at the right time. I have never seen bluer water or whiter snow in my entire life. Rays from the brilliant sun seemed to splash off the landscape at just the right angle to make everything perfect. Even the chilly arctic air tasted sweeter. After just 40 minutes on land, four of us were able to successfully climb to the top of a steep ridge and glance out at the world in a way that I never imagined was possible. As if the scenery was not enough, the skiing was even better. For the first time in my life, I was able to pull off a double-pole plant turn. With this accomplished, I found a secluded spot and spent the rest of the day gazing at gigantic icebergs and silent leopard seals. When we reluctantly returned to the ship, a crewmember, Ernest, was patiently waiting for us. He dutifully aided us on board and provided us with giant mugs filled with piping hot coffee.