Antarctica. The last great wilderness. Land of some of the greatest and most heroic expeditions in the history of mankind: from Admundsen and Scott to Shackleton and even Fiennes and Cracknell / Fogle more recently. One of the most inshospitable and dangerous places in the world, yet also a haven for wildlife not found anywhere else on the planet. And it’s disappearing fast – the majestic, towering shelves of ice recede each year as icebergs the size of football pitches and height of skyscrapers carve off in to the enveloping Southern Ocean.
These were the thoughts running through my head as I sat in shorts and T-shirt 5,000 kilometres away in a sweaty internet café in Bariloche, Argentina on the northern side of Patagonia. Was it really possible? Could I make it to the last of the seven continents I was to set foot on?
I was running on a tight schedule as I had to meet a friend at the legendary Iguaçu falls on the border with Brazil in three weeks and that was more than 3,000 kms north. Going back at a later date wasn’t an option as it is only possible to reach Antarctica by sea during three summer months. If I left it any later the sea ice would start forming, making the great continent inaccessible again for another year. I willed the slow internet connection to run faster as I discovered it would take at least 9 days to get to Antarctica and back from Ushuaia, the most southerly place in Argentina. There was a window of opportunity, but it was closing fast.
If I could get to Ushuaia in the next two days (fairly unlikely given the distance and poor flight availability), I would have three days in which to board a boat. As I realised there was a glimmer of hope, and pushed financial concerns to the back of mind, I began frantically emailing and calling every company in Ushuaia that I could find that might have some way of getting me on a boat: from scientific logistics companies to tour operators. A few hours later and I had received a lone positive response. The very last berth on a former Norwegian ice breaker was available. The boat leaves for Antarctica in two days’ time!