Our Visit To Antarctica

We just returned from the beautiful black and white frozen world of Antarctica. We sailed from Valparaiso, Chile aboard the Holland America ship the Zaandam. Our route took us along the coast to Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern most city on earth, our last port before departing for a week in the Antarctic. The Alacalufe people who settled the area lived nude. They stayed warm by covering themselves with whale oil.

Sailing through the Straights of Magellan our route took us through Glacier Alley and past Cape Horn. It technically isn’t a cape in that a cape is a projection of a land mass and the horn is simply the end of Horn Island. Here more seamen have died that any place on earth. In 1905 there were 105 ships lost here. At this point we passed back and forth across the dividing point where the Atlantic and the Pacific meet. Each time we crossed the captain sounded the ships horn.

The next eventful six days we glided among icebergs, some more that 150 feet in height and larger than the Zaandam. Among the abundant wildlife we saw seven varieties of whales, three vanities of seals, nine kinds of albatrosses, and seven kinds of penguins.

Our first sighting of a penguin rookery was amazing with over 5,000 pairs. Soon we saw rookeries 10,000, 100,000 and the largest 125,000 pairs. Neighbors, but set apart were Magellanic, Adelie, King, Emperors, Chinstrap, Rockhoppers, and Gentoo.

A phenomenal act of nature seldom observed occurred within a hundred yards of our ship as a pod of twelve Killer whales attacked, killed , and devoured in a feeding frenzy a baby Humpback whale estimated to weigh two tons.

We were fortunate to have on board as lecturers two world renown Antarctic authorities, both of whom had spent decades visiting and working in this frozen world. As additional sources of information twelve members of the American Palmer Station came out on Zodiac to share. America has three stations in Antarctica: Palmer, McMurdo, and South Pole.

Guy Guthridge spend 35 years with the National Science Foundation and was the engineer who oversaw the 1,000 mile ice road from McMurdo to South Pole which required four years. Also lecturing was Chris Wilson, also a long time member of the NSF with years of Polar experience who was instrumental in some of the more important biological experiments at the Pole.

In conversations with them I learned they believe in global warming. Now I do also. However, I don’t’ share their belief that it is man cause. I believe it is part of a natural cycle. The Polar Peninsula has warmed 6 degrees in the last sixty years. I asked if there was a part of the Antarctic where ice was increasing. They said it is on the east coast of the continent. The reason is the melt on the west side puts more moisture in the atmosphere that produces precipitation on the east side causing the build up. That seems more like a shift.

As a chaplain for Holland America I spoke eight times and conducted my first burial at sea on this cruise. Last year on a similar assignment we went to the northern most city of Europe in the Arctic Circle. The Bible speaks of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth and I now have done it.

As a child I was enthralled by the study of such far away places as the Straights of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Cape Horn, Drake Passage and the Antarctic. Having now been there, they comprise a vivid memory. Therein are these further thoughts.

The waters at the tip of South America where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet is considered the roughest in the world. The fifteen foot waves we experienced were enough for me, but no means major for the region. This coupled with the icebergs, bergies, and growlers made for excitement. To be classified as an iceberg one has to stand a minimum of 16.5 feet above the sea. A bergie is less in height, but more than three feet above water. A growler is less than three feet.

Compounding these challenges ours was the last passenger ship of the season in these waters which were already beginning to freeze over. All this made for an exhilarating voyage.

Penguins, which abound, though in some regions they are threatened by climate change, are fascinating. Not all line up and march great distances across the ice to nesting sights like the Emperor penguins in “March of the Penguins.” Some burrow in the ground and nest in seclusion. Some build their nest out of rocks.

Insights into the South Pole defied some of my preconceptions. I had never heard of the Polar Plateau. Its summit is over 9,200 feet above sea level. The South Pole does not move, but each new year the post marking its location has to be reset in that the shifting ice moves the marker about 30 feet. To actually get to the Pole requires a flight of slightly more than two hours from Ushuaia, Argentina that costs $3,000 and only one third of the flights get to make it. There is no cancellation refund.

The National Science Foundation South Pole Station houses 150 in summer and 25 in winter. Most of the year’s supply comes in on one ship each year. The staff eats well. Weather permitting staff members have an annual race around the South Pole.

The buildings are an engineering marvel. Snow drifts build up around buildings, eventually covering them. Current facilities are built on telescopic stilts which can elevate the entire facility ten feet twice, thus extending the life of the facility to over thirty years. They have to be able to stand winds up to 160 mph. The average January temperature is minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit though it gets much colder. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was -128.6 F at Russia’s Vostok Station, July 21, 1983.

Staff members have a gym, library, spacious dining hall, extensive kitchen, and very nice living quarters.

All waste matter is removed from Antarctica, even the rinse water from washing the dishes. Over five million tons a year come out to California to be recycled. Almost all food comes by boat. Ships entering polar waters have to use a special light weight diesel in the event there is a leak. No heavy fuels can be on board.

Thirty nations are active signatories of the Antarctic Treaty. Serving as chaplain on a Holland America cruise to Antarctica, I have had the good fortune of conversations with some of the foremost scientists conducting experiments there. Their dedication to their isolation is admirable. Many conclude that when the Lord made “heaven and earth and the sea” He did a masterful job. Our visit to Antarctica leads to the same conclusion.

Our recent visit to Antarctica provided insight into a frozen world. The beauty and distinctive character of the terrain kept our minds off the challenge of navigating the area. There were days our ship had to reverse and reroute due to ice having closed the intended channel. At other times we changed course because winds in the intended channel were to strong. It was a learning experience like few others. Some little know facts about Antarctica are:

The Ice Fish has no hemoglobin. It has antifreeze instead, thus it can live in these cold waters.
The animal with the largest brain of any on earth, the sperm whale, lives here. Its brain weighs approximately 20 pounds. It is also the deepest diving of all whales with the capacity of diving 3,300 feet.
There are sub-surface mountains, lakes and rivers in Antarctica.
Two-thirds of the ammonia in earth’s atmosphere is produced by penguins.
The shoreline of many of the islands and parts of the continent gives the appearance the water line has dropped many feet. The opposite is true. The melting on the large glaciers that once covered many areas has melted and the removal of the weight has caused the land mass to rise.
The marker noting the exact South Pole moves about thirty feet per year as a result of the shifting ice and has to be returned to the true Pole center each new year.
October 31, 1956 the first airplane landed at the South Pole.
Lockheed specially equipped C-130s and C-17s provide the primary survival links to the outside world. They are equipped with a unique landing gear and sleds instead of wheels. After parking on the ice for a while if the ice is seen to be sagging, they are relocated.
Workers stationed at the Pole have an annual race around the Pole. They celebrate all holidays and weather permitting play ice games outdoors at times.
Women constitute thirty percent of workers at the South Pole.
Antarctica once had plant and animal life. Fossils are found at scattered sights.
Cape Horn isn’t really a horn. A “horn” is defined as a projection of land and the mountain called Cape Horn is merely the end of Horn Island. Early sailors misnamed it cape.
The classic poem “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” was inspired by the waters around the Horn.
The polar plateau is 9,200 feet in height.
Antarctica constitutes 90 percent of earth’s natural ice. Less than one percent of the continent is ice free. At one point the ice is one and one-half miles thick.
At times it is so cold that if boiling water is thrown in the air it vaporizes.
A compass at the South Pole shows only north, there is no east and west.. Planes have to navigate by coordinates.
In 1978 the first human baby known to be born in Antarctica arrived.
Inability to get out of Antarctica during one hard winter resulted in the resident doctor removing his own appendix with the aid of mirrors.
Some ice is blue and some pink. Age, size, and weight filter out certain light wave links causing this phenomenon.
Antarctica displays the grandeur of the Creator’s capacity to ice sculpture.
The renowned seaman Earnest Shackelford, who sailed these seas, said Antarctica reveals the soul of man. It also displays the grandeur of the Creators capacity to ice sculpture.