It was very early in the morning and the streets looked deserted. It was bitterly cold although the wind was not blowing fiercely. The sky was gray. This morning Christelle and Darryl were sailing off to Punta Arenas. By the pier, the Transborder Bloom ferry was not anchored. There was concern that there was none today. Hold and behold, it appeared from the horizon. The ferry had anchored in the Beagle Channel to avoid the fluctuation of the tide as well as the danger of being battered on land by the fierce prevailing Southern winds. Slimmy green algae spread on the concrete pier as the icy water flowed over it. Sea gulls and albatross flew about ereking any meal they could forage. Across the gray and relatively calm Beagle Channel, snow-covered mountains of the Cordillera Darwin chain stood majestically but looked very cold. Behind me, there also stood high white snow topped mountains with lush green trees below. The  gentle sound of waves  echoed in my ears as it lapped onto the concrete pier and stoney shore this morning. 

A rustic blue and white fishing boat , named Valpariso 111, slowly came into port as smoke puffed out of its exhaust. The men quickly threw the heavy ropes to secure the vessel onto the side of the pier. They were a cheery bunch and looked at the tourist with a little childish smile on their faces. Traps and net were  stacked at one end of the boat. I bid farewell to Christelle and Daryll a stood on the pier as the red and black ferry chugged towards the Argentine side of the channel. I  felt alone as the gang of four over a couple of weeks had become one, as it was in the beginning. I watched the ferry as it nearly disappeared into the foreground  of the towering  mountains. It sailed westward towards the Pacific.

I walked along the coast as the ferry vanished out of sight. I stepped onto small stone boulders side stepping slimmy and slippery pale green algae that had washed onto the shore. A small lighthouse stood on a square concrete block warning sea farriers of the dangers ahead – land. A large number of  water birds had gathered nearby for some rest and grooming.  On the eastbound deserted road, after crossing a bridge, I arrived at a sign post – Villa Ukikka. This settlement is  a collection of brightly coloured wooden clad houses  with rusting corrugated iron roofs. Smoke streamed out of some of the chimneys. This settlement was the last enclave of the original inhabitants, more likely descendents, of this island – the Yagans or Yammanas. It was too early in the morning to greet anyone. The day before I had seen an indigenous Indian child – dark skin with features similar to the Mapoche a and the Peruvian indians.  Frighteningly!, had some oriental features?  The only visual sighting of these original indigenous indians were in photographs and postcards in Punta Arenas.  Two beat up Volkswagen, a red and yellow, were parked in one of the house’s compound. There are  a few cars, trucks and heavy vehicles that are moving on the roads but in dire need of repairs and maintenance. Perhaps they had taken the brunt of the  subantarctic weather.

I walked along the concrete roads passing through residential homes high above the water front. From a construction site overlooking the Beagle Channel, I could clearly see the length of the channel. A sail boat swayed gently lay anchored in the shallow waters. I walked towards  McCalvi pier,  past the Navy post. A couple of grey naval vessels were anchored by the wharf. Navarino is a naval port and the island is suitably located to guard the passageway to Antarctica. This becomes attractive to sail boat wanting to  do the Cape Horn[US$2600 for a six-day sail] and Antarctica. The distinct dinosaur tooth like formation of  Diente de Navarino in the background with sail boats reflected off the placid waters in the foreground surrounded by green vegetation was simply magnificent. A  postcard picture indeed, a rather  cold one too. A disused cargo vessel, the ………, had now been converted to a bar and also acted as a “pier” for the smaller boats.

As the day went on , the intensity of the winds picked up lashing onto the houses and trees. I went back to Pusaki and packed up my bags. Having encountered some issues this morning, I wanted to be  certain that my boat journey to Ushuaia later in the day had no issues. I had about three hours. At  Pusaki, Patsy was not familiar with my travel company. I headed to the port where the Transborder ferry was. I seeked out the office to confirm the location to catch my boat. They suggested that I headed to Hotel…….. as they also operated small boats to Argentina. I hurriedly walked across town with a little apprehension. From here, I was directed to the Diente de Navarino Restaurant , with a sign post brightly painted in yellow, at the commercial square. It was dark and I probably gave the occupants a jolt as they scrambled into the kitchen and  a few out through the door. I finally managed to get a definitive answer to my quest. They are the “official”  operators of the fast boat from Puerto Williams to Ushuaia. I was relieved. To end my madness, I needed to calm down [not literally]. The only place I know I can get this respite was at Anglus - a home away from home – smell of fresh brewed coffee, freshly oven baked muffins and warmth from the wood fire plus the friendly face of Lorettta.

I loved the idea of being here in this  remote windswept wilderness land. I loved the idea of having walked on one of the oldest land mass. I loved the idea of being so close to Antarctica that still remained a dream but felt its stories from the southern winds. I loved the idea of life and living, just the rugged terrain and me. I caught the speed boat [US$124 one way] from McCalvi pier around 5pm. The weather was dull and the water on the Beagle Channel choppy. Low grey clouds hung low over the mountains with intermittent rain. The boat sped over the waves and at times a loud thud as it landed onto the water surface. We bounced around the boat but the ride was relatively comfortable. The western end of the channel was obscured by fog and mist. we passed several small islands and the captain stopped at one that had a red and white striped lighthouse  – Les Eclaireurs. This divided the channel between Chile and Argentina. The tide of  waves continuously lashed onto this rugged and rocky island partly covered with a layer of  yellow and green  moss .  Both sides along the channel were covered with snow peaked mountains. From this point, we speed northwards towards Ushuaia, Argentina. 

14.11.09

Dawn tints the glacier-covered peaks of the Antarctic Peninsula during a 2009 voyage aboard the M/V Professor Molchanov.

February 2009 Antarctic journey follows the footsteps of early Scandinavian explorers

By Bob Berwyn

South of the Antarctic Convergence zone, the sea is still. The ship slows to maneuver between giant ice floes in the Antarctic Sound. We awaken to a magical world of icebergs tinged lipstick-pink and tangerine-orange by a spectacular Antarctic sunrise. Only a few passengers are awake and perched on the bow of the Molchanov to watch a group of penguins arch through the water like mini-dolphins. They’re powerful swimmers, using their wings to propel themselves under water with flying motions.

“They’re trying to fly,” says  expedition leader Jan Belgers. Even though the birds gave up the sky for the deep sea eons ago, they still have some genetic memory of what it must be like to soar through the air, Belgers explains.

Later, we spot a pod of orcas cruising between the fantastically sculpted bergs. Leopard seals lounge on flat floes, looking fat and happy after feasting on this year’s crop of penguin chicks.

A group of guides from the M/V Professor Molchanov stands on the guano-covered shore of Paulet Island, watching as one of the ship's Zodiacs speeds back out to sea.

Paulet Island

Our first landing in Antarctica is on Paulet Island, a small circular chunk of volcanic rock that’s home to a major adelie penguin colony during the Austral spring and early summer. In early March (late summer in the southern hemisphere) the penguins are mostly gone but the remains of their rookery, in the form of pungent pink guano, was still evident. The acrid smell wafts across the water as we approach the shore in Zodiacs and getting across the beach to the uplands involved a hike through the smelly turf.

A few straggling adelies remained, along with dozens of fur seals lounging on ice floes and along the beach, along with a group of blue-eyed shags, the only members of the cormorant family to venture to Antarctica proper.

Paulet Island played a role in early explorations of Antarctica we learn while hiking to the remains of a stone hut that served as shelter for Captain Carl Anton Larsen and the crew of his ship, the Antarctic. Larsen, a whaler, was exploring the region in 1903 when his ship was trapped and crushed in the ice offshore, leading to one of the many epic stories of polar survival. Part of Larsen’s party traveled over the ice by sledge seeking rescue. Eventually, all the men but one were rescued by an Argentine vessel. A simple wooden cross set back from the beach marks the grave of Ole Kristian Wennersgaard, a 22-year-old sailor who died on the island in pursuit of science and exploration.

A battle-scarred Weddell seal rests on the shore of Dundee Island, where early explorer Lincoln Ellsworth started the first-ever complete trans-Antarctic flight.

Dundee Island

Although more and more people are visiting Antarctica these days (up to 40,000 annually), it’s still a remote tourism location compared to other hot spots on the global travel circuit. Our second stop is at  Petrel Cove along the shore of Dundee Island. It’s part of a group of islands known collectively as Graham Land, closer to South America than any other part of Antarctica. It was named by Scottish whalers in 1893 and served as the take-off point for American pilot Lincoln Ellsworth when he made the first trans-Antarctic flight in 1935.

When we got back to Summit County, I did some research on Petrel Cove to try and find out how many people have been there. A list shows that, during the past 15 years, only two commercial trips with a total of 107 visitors have landed at the remote site.

A few metal buildings, painted rust-red, are left over from an Argentinian settlement. Although it was supposedly a science station, our expedition leaders dismissively calls it a political site, established to help the South American country bolster territorial claims in Antarctica.

Under existing international law, the continent belongs to nobody and is managed for the purposes of scientific research through a consultative process. Still, several countries, including the United States, maintain that they have the right to exercise those claims in the future. With potential for vast reserves of precious resources, including offshore oil and gas, some observers think it’s only a matter of time before some countries try to assert some level of sovereignty.

Hundreds of fur seals, along with a few Weddell seals, lounge on a broad beach covered with red seaweed. Clumps of miniature icebergs melt in the warm days of late summer. A large glacier on the island appears to be in retreat, crumbling at our feet. It feels like just a few days since the last ice age ended.

A pair of Gentoos squabbles over a pebble at Brown Bluff.

Brown Bluff, ice arches and Deception Island landing

Setting foot on mainland Antarctica is a big step for some of the Molchanov’s passengers, who are visiting their seventh, and final, continent. The basalt rocks at Brown Bluff are part of an unusual geologic formation called a Tuya, formed when a volcano erupts beneath a continental ice sheet. Whether it’s our seventh continent or not, we all agree it’s the most spectacular site so far. Ice floes fill the bay for as far as we can see, and the curved beach is densely populated by friendly gentoo penguins and ornery fur seals, who protect their turf by grunting and lunging awkwardly when a tourist wanders too close.

The next day we visit Deception Island, anchoring in a small cove near the crumbling ruins of a whaling station. The bay is almost completely encircled by glacier-draped ridges, with only a half-mile wide opening to the sea. It’s one of the few places in the world where an ocean-going vessel can sail into a flooded caldera, the collapsed center of a volcano. The ice on the slopes is colored black with the ash and soot of the most recent eruption which was just a few decades ago. Geologists keep a close watch on the island to monitor for potential eruptions in the future.

Leigh Wadden walks along the shore of the flooded caldera of Deception Island.

The rotting sheds and rusted metal tanks that once stored whale oil are grim reminders of a not-so-distant past, when men slaughtered tens of thousands of the giant mammals at sea, then dragged them to the stations to be rendered for oil, flayed for meat and carved up for their by-products, including baleen to make combs and corsets. Thankfully, Antarctic waters have been designated as a refuge for whales. Several species that were hunted to near extinction are making a comeback.

We hike up to the rim of the caldera and across the ash-covered glacier to reach a chinstrap penguin colony at Bailey Head. On moss-covered ground, improbably distant from the sea, thousands of the birds are molting. In some places, the feathers have piled so deep it reminds us of drifts of snow back in our hometown of Frisco, Colorado. We’re amazed that the waddling birds can climb this far up a steep mountainside. At first glance, they look like precariously balanced bowling pins, but on closer observation, we see that they’re sure-footed and steady walkers.

Continued next week …

Let’s be realistic.  I’m probably not going to visit every country.  I don’t even WANT to visit EVERY country (I mean, I’m cool if I never visit Chad or Uzbekistan).  BUT there are certainly ones that I’d really like to visit and if I ended up just making it to every continent, I’m doing pretty well!  So here they are in list of priority:

1. New Zealand (obviously that’s getting ready to be checked off)
2. Sweden/Norway (I desperately want to stay in a Ice Hotel and maybe check off #32 See the Northern Lights)
3. Antartica (they offer cruises there and you can get off the boat and see penguins!)
4. Kenya (I want to do a safari and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro)
5. Greece (I was this close to going my Senior year of college.  I paid my deposit on September 7, 2001.  The next week changed international travel for awhile.  BUT a group still goes every other January and they are always looking for chaperones…)
6. Japan (My friend Heather lived there and taught English as a Second Language for 2 years and I never took advantage of having a place to crash and a person that could give me all the “must-see” places to visit)
7. Peru (Machu Picchu)
8. Brazil (Maybe during Carnivale? and to see Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janiero)
9. United Kingdom (Deep down, I’ve always been terribly fascinated with all things British/Irish/Scottish-sorry Wales-and I think I could easily spend a month here)
10. Germany (Ditto about all things German.  AND I’ll get to brush off my incredibly rusty German.  At least I already know how to swear-Scheisse!)
11. Russia (Kremlin)
12. Australia (Ayer’s Rock, Sydney Opera House, Great Barrier Reef)
13. Spain (Running of the Bulls in Pamplona!)
14. China (Great Wall)
15. India (Taj Majal)
16. Egypt (Pyramids)
17. Cambodia (Angkor Wat)
18. Turkey (Hagia Sophia)

I can hear it now: you mean, no France?  Yeah, never really felt the need to visit France.  And Canadia isn’t on the list either, but I figure I’ll visit “North Montana” eventually.  And if I don’t, am I really missing anything?

So what other countries should I put on my list?  These are definitely my top 18 but I’m open to adding others.

JERUSALEM–Money, money everywhere, but not enough. That’s the message from the massive deficit already apparent and projected for the United States. It comes from too many wars, too many tax cuts, too many entitlement programs, and too much exploitation by highly paid capitalists who forced the government into unprecedented bail-outs. Who’s to blame is problematic. Any quest for responsibility will produce a political dog fight that worsens the chances of getting cooperation to deal with it.

A newspaper headline captures the strategic threat, “Huge Deficits May Alter U.S. Politics and Global Power.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/us/politics/02deficit.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

At stake is the war on terror, health reform, tax and spending leverages to increase employment, along with prosaic domestic programs that are suffering on account of financial problems among states and localities. There is also a prospect of Chinese influence on American policy due to government bonds they have acquired from selling consumer and industrial goods to Americans, Europeans and others. The same changes in international commerce have also brought about the closing of factories throughout countries where shopping is a favored pastime.

It is too early to write finish to the power of North America and Europe. The Chinese cannot unload their bonds without reducing their value, and hurting themselves along with the United States. America and Europe are wealthy, and may be wise enough to avoid disaster. Yet signs of trouble include the interruption of medical evacuations from Haiti to the United States due to arguments as to which institutions would pay for treatment, and the president’s comments that the country could not afford an endless war in Afghanistan, a country his experts warned was unrepairable.

The dismay over deficits may be more important for the prospect of health reform than the loss of a Massachusetts Senate seat. The country with the best medical facilities in the world may continue to have them unavailable to much of its population. Large numbers will get only emergency treatment in public hospitals, and others who think they have paid for decent care will suffer the stinginess of insurance companies.

While avoiding the temptation of indicating which president or which bloc of Congress has contributed what portion to the deficit, it is useful to identify some traits of the United States that contribute to its problem.

The financial problems of the United States (national, state, and local governments) suffer from taxes that are lower than those of other western democracies, as well as from the costs of its overseas commitments. Americans concerned to deal with their deficits should not focus on their domestic programs, which generally are less generous than those of other democracies.

Wealth may be the single most important factor responsible for American prominence in international conflicts. Resources per capita in the United States are lower than in Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Iceland, The Netherlands, and Sweden, suggesting that the average individual in those countries is better off than the average American. However, the American population is larger, and the overall wealth of the United States is greater than those countries. This gives the American government leverage not possessed by others. Military power derives from the total wealth of the United States, as well as its being the greatest surviving western power at the end of World War II, and then one of the two major players in the Cold War.

Being the lone superpower left standing in 1990 invited endless appeals for assistance, and made the United States the most attractive target for those whose targets are capitalism, individualism, the rich, and the non-Muslim. The World Trade Center fell as a result of the second attack on the icon of all that was viewed to be evil. The Gulf War of 1991 was a prelude to major military investments, largely American, in the area from Iraq eastward and southward. Iran’s animosity to the United States dates from intense opposition to the friends of the Shah and the hostage taking of 1979-81. It does not seem to be diminishing under the Obama effort at engagement.

The prominence of the United States, as opposed to that of Britain, France, Germany, or Russia in international politics is not only a product of wealth and military power. The structure of American government also has made its contribution to the role the country has chosen for itself. The separation of power, and the competition between Congress and the presidency adds to the heroic defense of national values not so apparent in the parliamentary regimes of Europe. The unity between executive and legislature may facilitate the willingness to accommodate hostile forces, most apparent in going along with Muslim and Third World demands in the United Nations, or abstaining alongside American nays.

Somewhere in the American mix is the power of the Jewish lobby. One must be careful of exaggerating. It is far from dominant. Insofar as Israel is often a target of Muslim and other Third World countries, however, Jewish influence in Congress and the White House is among the factors responsible for United States vetoes in the Security Council, and votes against resolutions in the General Assembly and other UN organs where European governments are generally not as outspoken.

While on the subject of Jews, it is appropriate to continue with the advantages of a country that is beleaguered, but also small and limited in its responsibilities. Israel devotes three or four times the percentage of its resources to security as the United States, and has suffered perhaps 10 times the casualties on a proportional basis since World War II, but it has advantages that the American giant can envy. While American troops fight from bases on every continent but Australia and Antartica, Israel’s military operations are restricted to a couple of hundred miles from the center of its country, plus the occasional operation further afield. The cultures and languages of America’s  enemies are beyond the ken of its intelligence capabilities, while Israel has operated throughout its history with agents in places not so foreign to those who direct and analyze the gathering of intelligence. Israel can get credit for the quick dispatch of a few well trained people, with appropriate equipment to Haiti and other disaster areas. The United States starts slower, but does the heavy lifting of prolonged care and the refurbishing of infrastructure. Israel’s airport and national airline led the world in security, but they deal with a smaller number of flights than those at a sizable American or European airport, and need not bother with inflated demands to treat every passenger as posing the same risk. Israeli security personnel pay less attention to aged Jews than to young Arabs.

*

Antartica

I’m always asked about my “dream vacation.”

Actually, just about any vacation is a dream. The Caribbean, India, Europe — they are all destinations that are special. But there are a few places I’m really looking forward to seeing including Africa, Australia and New Zealand. But there is one dream vacation spot that keeps calling my name. I can’t stop thinking about how exciting it would be to visit this place at the end of the world.

I’m talking about Antarctica.

Yes, that’s right. That country way at the bottom of the world where not very many people have ventured off to. Some may say it’s too cold. Some say that it’s too far from anything. I would argue that it is one of those unique places on the globe where all kinds of stories are waiting to be told.

Here are some facts:

• Antarctica is huge. 5.4 million square miles, and only 100,000 square miles are ice-free.
• Permanent population? Zero.
• Antarctic territories are divided up and Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom all have a piece of it.
• The average temperature in the summer is between 41 and 59 degrees.

But, just imagine what you would see. There is fauna and flora in the area. There are all kinds of wildlife including seals, penguins, whales. It is pristine. It is about as pure as any place on earth (no offense, New Zealand).

What’s also enticing is that I would be on a smaller vessel and would be able to share this with an intimate group of people. Plus, this port of call would be nothing short of spectacular. In most cases, people on these small ships can go ashore and actually feel, see and touch the majesty of Antarctica.

This trip would also expose me to places like the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Shetland Islands. I could also see the Weddell Sea and the Ross Sea region — all places that very people see every year. I would learn about the area from experts and naturalists.

And it can still be done in luxurious fashion.

So, yes, Antarctica is a dream destination for me, without question. The stories would be incredible and the experience would be something that I could share forever.

aaaannd…… I’m off to play with penguins. Right now, I’m sitting in JFK waiting to board my plane.

Here’s the plan:

San Salvador layover tomorrow. Just enough time to grab a quick bite in town.

Buenos Aires, until Jan 31.
Taking a boat to Antartica, by way of Falkan Island and Cape Horn.
Getting to Montevideo on the 13th of Feb. Then the motorcycle adenture starts!

Nina and I are renting motorcycles in Uruguay and heading East until we hit Brazil
14th Punta del Este
15-16 Carneval en La Pedrera
17-18 Cabo Polonio
19-21 Punta del Diablo, and Chui, Brasil
22-23 Head back west towards Jose Ignacio/ Punta del Este
24 Back in Montevideo for two more days. Then head home, but not before spending a night in Lima!

Expect lots of photos!!

Today we are heading off on our Antarctic journey! We are doing the Weddell Sea and Antarctic Peninsula voyage on board the Polar Pioneer (http://www.polarcruises.com/antarctica/ships/adventure-ships_2/polar-pioneer_9.htm).

We’ll be back in 12 days with all the details and hopefully some awesome photos!

Through the lush and dense beech forest, across the calm Beagle Channel, I could see several high peaks covered in thick snow that reflected strongly against the afternoon sun, the land known as “Land of Fire and Ice” – Terra del Fuego on the Argentine side. I could hear water gushing downstream hidden from view by the thick forest floor. A man-made stone dam guided water from upstream into a pool before overflowing into a river stream. A little sign post indicated the route to the Sendo Bandera. The trail led immediately into the forest. Soon, I encountered  snow. The forest floor was white and it was apparent that calculating the next step became important. I had no idea how deep the ground was or what lay buried under the harmless surface of snow. Everytime I stepped over some timber or fallen tree stump, I hesitated.  I was cautious yet progressed forward to see the beyond. A steep wooden staircase covered in snow, between a sea of white forest floor and upright juvenile green and lush trees, led the trail deeper into the forest. Canelo trees [Drymis winteri] occupied certain exposed parts of the forest. The signs or trail markers  became invisible most times as the canopy above had created darkness. Gradually, my surrounding was in black and white. The sunlight could not penetrate through at all in places. The deep dark brown tree stumps and dislodged trees were further blackened from the moisture of  melting snow. Together with Daryll and Christelle, I continued pushing away dead branches and stepping over and crawling under fallen and wet tree trunks.

My shoes lost traction in several places only to fall on dislodged tree trunks and branches. Apart from the high potential to get  sprained ankle, I was concerned that my feet would get wet with my improvised shoes as snow turned to slurry. A few bruises here and there. Little brown birds with white bellies came close to us without fear. Perhaps they had hardly encountered humans I thought. Different species of birds could be seen and several more heard in this cold neck of the woods. Penetrating through this trek became more challenging as the snow started to fall. It became an obstacle and  the cause much more slippery. It looked like the park rangers had not removed  the fallen forest debris to clear the track. My thoughts were  perhaps  we took a wrong turn or possibly the wrong trek route itself. Heavy snowfall began. The weight of  snow that had accumulated  on the tree canopy and branch tops began to fall more consistently .  Progress became  unbearable as the trek ahead looked impenetrable and slippery with mud. There was fear that the new snowfall  may cover the path disorienting us and the possibility of being lost became greater. After one and a half hours of walking, disappointed, we turned around. We carefully retraced our steps and arrived back at the dam. Though not without minor incidences.

I was disappointed but safety first. The sun was still shining, but not brightly, warmed up my body. I only realised that  I had totally forgotten about the wind [its'  is a near impossibility for that to happen in Patagonia] when walking through the forest when I reaquintated with the unrelenting cold wind on my face.  My focus had been to overcome the obstacles on the trail. Across the dam,  the base of the tree stumps were covered with lichen and the lime green mosses spread across on the forest  floor. The high humidity in the subantarctic weather here encouraged this lower plants to flourish. They certainly added colour  giving the appearance of an aged  forest. Exposed and battered tree trunk roots revealed the harsh conditions of this land.  I was then back on the gravel road. More birds appeared darting here and there. The weather had improved. This time however, the views of Dientes de Navarino was stupendous – distant , cold, rugged, impenetrable yet alluring. The whole vista looked uninhabited and gave me a sense of wilderness. After all, beyond the tooth like mountain lies the tail end of South America - Cape Horn in the Southern Ocean. And beyond that, Antarctica. I am not sure how many people , both locals and visitors, had actually walked on this remote island.

In the middle of the town, more like a settlement, near a concrete roundabout, was a carved wooden  signpost – Puerto Williams , Chile, Municipalidad Cabo de Hornos. On it was  carved a muscular man’s figure of an original inhabitant of Isla Navarino, the Selk’nam (with his head covered with a conical-shaped mask).  A self  portrait with the signpost was inevitable. Isla Navarino is considered to be part of Chilean Antarctica and not Chilean Terra del Fuego! Nearby, a small square-shaped plaza, Centro Comercial, with several retail shops including restaurants, travel agents, post office, forwarding agent surrounded the square. It was early evening. It was windy and I wanted to get out of the wind for a while. We wanted to get some hot coffee but most of the shops seemed to be deserted or shut for the afternoon,  probably   siesta time. I walked past Angus coffee shop. I backtracked and peered through the wind chilled glass windows. Fortunately they were open for business as a customer was seated inside. As I entered in, the warmth from the fireplace immediately hit me and that cheered me up instantaneously. The icy strong wind that battered everything in its path including, perhaps more, tourist like me, is a fact of life here but getting out of it is at times bliss. Times like this one.  Furthermore, Loretta- the cheerful owner, made me feel welcomed . I started with coffee, apple pie and conversation. The atmosphere warm and ambient. Soon I ordered Pisco to toast with Christelle. Yes, I did mention that I am done with Pisco sour. This is another of the many special reasons. The southern most Pisco drink in the world plus our last drink together. We take separate routes the next day. As usual, after two glasses, I felt a little tipsy.  Through the glass window, I could see trees swaying, shutters rattling with the gale force winds. Smoke was already spewing out through the chimneys of the homes. Back out on the windswept street and with some help, I walked to a nearby supermarket and bought a bottle of Pisco to take back home.

At Pusaki Hostal, Patty had organised some dinner for some of the other guest staying here. The three of us agreed as well.  A man outside the house had already started to fire up the Bar-b-que using wood fire. He was wrapped in layers of clothing to keep himself warm. Dinner was late. The typical Argentine asado - meat cooked in open fire, was under way. I instead had vegetarian meal – spinach with cheese and potatoes. Not very glamorous but sufficed. The atmosphere in this hostel was very family like and it appealed to me tremendously. If only my spanish had been better! I had another day in Puerto Williams as my departure was in the evening. I slid  into my cosy warm sleeping bag. I could hear all kinds of sounds caused the blowing wind. It never relented as I finally dozed off.

13.11.09

I have been on the internet for quite some time now, over a decade. I thought I had seen every cool email distributed, but Ireceived this one from my friend Tracey the other day. It is so neat that I am posting on my blog for posterity.

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 Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. 

 Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. 
 
 When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a Green stripe. 
 
 Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea. 
 

 

AMAZINg! There’s more….   
  
Antarctica - Frozen Wave Pics - Nature is amazing! 

The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice.  
That’s what it is like in Antarctica where it is the coldest weather in decades.  Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air. The temperature of the water is already some degrees below freezing.  Just look at how the wave froze in mid-air!!! 
 

Sunrise in the Antarctic Sound, February 2009.

Ushuaia, Argentina is the gateway for sea voyages to Antarctica, but the harbor town at the tip of South America is worth a visit in it own right

By Bob Berwyn

Sipping a Beagle beer at the Banana Bar in Ushuaia, Leigh and I contemplate the trip ahead. If everything we’ve heard about the Drake Passage is true, we figure this may be our last pint for quite a while.

We’re about to board the M/V Professor Molchanov for a 10-day adventure cruise to Antarctica, and the formidable weather of the Southern Ocean is on our minds. Unimpeded by land, the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans all mingle in a circumpolar maelstrom of waves, current and wind. It can be rough — very rough, according to the guidebooks and blogs of previous Antarctic voyagers. Nearly everyone gets seasick during the crossing, we read. Alcohol may not be the best idea, but despite the warnings, we chug the last of our brews and head for the pier.

Our short stay in Ushuaia has been exceedingly pleasant. Ana, Marcello and the rest of the staff at the Posada del Fin del Mundo have made us feel completely at home. On the first day, we share the cozy breakfast nook with several researchers who just returned from Antarctica. We eagerly listen to their stories, hardly believing that soon we’ll be floating among icebergs.

A friendly husky peers out his yard in Ushuaia, Argentina.

The gritty little harbor town puts on a clean frock for tourists, dressing up its main street with shiny souvenir stands, electronic shops and internet cafés. But what we enjoy the most is hanging out with the many well-behaved and friendly dogs that each patrol a section of sidewalk. Every morning, there’s a parade of canines outside the posada, all wearing collars and purposefully trotting down the street toward some unknown destination or rendezvous. We befriend an especially cute mutt living just down the street for our lodge. He runs the length of his fenced-in yard each time we walk down Rivadavia to reach the waterfront.

Toothy crags decorated with ice form a dramatic backdrop. There  are even a few  small ski areas near town, including at the Martial Glacier, near the head of a heavily forested drainage just a few miles from downtown. Lupines, Shasta daisies and rose bushes are still blooming in the surprisingly warm maritime climate. Strolling the commercial district and residential neighborhoods, we find a pleasing hodgepodge of houses, from tiny wooden A-frames reminiscent of Icelandic huts, to new wood-framed homes built with brightly painted corrugated metal.

Ushuaia is washed clean by an overnight rain.

The local  martime history museum tells the story of the early explorers who first traveled these waters in their quest to circumnavigate the globe: Sir Francis Drake, Captain James Cook and Ferdinand Magellan are all among the notables who sailed the maze of fjords and headlands of the archipelago at the tip of South America.

After sending a few postcards, we visit a waterfront fishmonger to buy portions of seafood salad studded with chunks of apple. It’s made from king crabs. The spiny, long-legged denizens of deep southern ocean waters are starting to move south closer to Antarctic shorelines as currents and water temperatures shift under the influence of climate change. It’s a first taste, literally, of what we’re going to learn about how global warming is affecting Antarctica, and especially the Antarctic Peninsula, where temperatures have warmed five times faster than the rest of the planet during the past few decades.

Check in next week for part two, crossing the Drake Passage.

The game changer that many feared is now unfolding in Antarctica. The Pine Island Glacier (PIG) is poised to suffer catastrophic collapse according to a new study by Richard Katz of the University of Oxford. The largest of the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), PIG has long been the focus of worried scientific attention. Joe Romm gave an exhaustive summary in August 2009 of the importance and tenuousness of PIG here.

Area of Pine Island Glacier

As reported in New Scientist by Shanta Barley, the tipping point mechanism is a lip in the continental shelf. An extended excerpt to explain:

Climate change is warming the Amundsen Sea, which is at the southern margin of the Pacific Ocean. As rising sea levels push the warm water beneath the ice shelves, it melts them from below, pushing the grounding line higher up the continental shelf.

By raising sea levels, and therefore the grounding line, in their model, Katz’s team were able to find the point of no return beyond which the glacier would be unable to recover. That’s because the Antarctic sea bed has a small lip in it: it rises slowly up the continental shelf, then makes a slight dip before rising again to the shoreline. The researchers found that as long as the grounding line is on the outer rise of the sea bed, before the lip, small changes in climate lead to correspondingly small changes in the glacier’s ice volume.

But as soon as the grounding line moves over the lip and starts to move down into the dip in the sea bed, the situation changes critically. “Once the grounding line passes the crest, a small change in the climate causes a rapid and irreversible loss of ice,” says Katz.

So when will the grounding line pass the crest you ask? Try 1996!

Katz’ study estimates a 50% collapse by 2100 contributing about 24cm to sea rise. But by his own estimation they are being conservative and underestimating the potential melting.

Ominously Barley reports:

This assumes that the grounding line does eventually stabilise, after much of PIG is gone. In reality, PIG could disappear entirely, says Hindmarsh. “If Thwaite’s glacier, which sits alongside PIG, also retreats, PIG’s grounding line could retreat even further back to a second crest, causing sea levels to rise by 52 centimetres.” The model suggests Thwaite’s glacier has also passed its tipping point.

Not good.

A partial group gathering at the hostel

I have no idea what day it is, but I arrived safely at the hostel in Punta Arenas in the middle of the night, and have met almost all of the scientists participating in the workshop so far (a couple are still in transit). They are already I think some of the most interesting people ever. The research they’re doing is awesome, and we’ve been having fun and laughing a lot too already. Everyone here is either a rock star in their field, or grad students who seem to already be rock stars themselves too.

I am the one getting the workshop agenda organized for topics and sessions, etc, which has been pretty fluid up til now. I’m looking forward to getting a better understanding of what people here all research, and can’t wait to learn more about things like permafrost, polar amplification, etc. One person’s research at home at home in the States involves simulating global warming in chambers and studying the micrometerology.

A couple of the people are working on a project to get ice cores from a plateau in the Antarctic Peninsula. It’s difficult to get to, and this is the third attempt-year to get there (logistically), and it looks like it will work out. The plateau is high, colder than the surroundings, and flat. I asked them how they picked their site. The short answer is that no one has done a study so far north in Antarctica, which is the place where climate change is having some of the biggest effects. Working on the plateau is good because the cold and the flatness create more distinct, uniform, and flat annual ice layers, than a sloped area of land would. I loved this answer! It is simple but genius, and made total sense to me in completely everyday words.

We shared a bottle of wine (and tried Chilean Pisco) after dinner, and we were talking about how crazy it has been putting this workshop together. We then had a toast to making crazy ideas happen!

Spied our first penguin chicks of the season today, on Petermann Island … fitting since it had been the home of both early explorers (Frenchman Charcot and his boat the Porquoi Pascamped here for two seasons one hundred years ago) and more recently researchers (the penguin counters from the Washington, D.C.-based Oceanites lived here in tents for five seasons, until 2008). The island is unique for the combination of breeding Gentoos and Adelies and blue-eyed shags, all living together, nest-to-nest, in a bird-world equivalent of very non-segregated housing.

The Adelies have been fleeing Petermann by more than ten percent a year and their numbers are down this year too, to just a few more than three hundred pairs … from five hundred a few seasons back. The Oceanites researchers predict they’ll all be gone from the island in another ten years. Why? Adelies love cold weather, and it simply isn’t staying cold enough, especially during the summer months. They love pack ice, and the sea isn’t staying frozen as long anymore. Meanwhile, the place is amuck with a booming population of Gentoos, a more temperate-loving bird, who are taking over the abandoned Adelies’ rock nests and booming in numbers.

The chicks are about the size of a coffee cup, just two of them in the same nest. In the next week, ten days, the island will be covered with little squawkers. As I try to get a glance at the babies, I ask one of the researchers exactly how many penguins are on the continent. Same reply, No one really knows. Much of Antarctica is impossible to visit, so counting doesn’t take place. Aerial photographs don’t do the job. Estimates are there are about two-and-a-half-million Adelies alone; so let’s say there are somewhere upwards of five million of them scattered around.

The first penguin? It was a flightless bird of the Arctic sea, also known as the Great Auk, which was very similar to a penguin in anatomy, although from a different order of birds and was hunted to extinction in the 1600s. When later explorers discovered similar animals in the southern seas, they named them the same way. Penguin itself has muddy origins; it originally seemed to mean ‘fat one‘ in Spanish/Portuguese, and may come from either the Welsh ‘pen gwyn’ (white head), from the Latin ‘pinguis’ (fat) or from a corruption of ‘pin-wing’ (pinioned wings).

I spent most of the day on the island’s highpoint, hiking up through a slot in the granite hills to look south over a dark sea made more ominous by gathering storm clouds. Though it was cold, twenty-degrees with a gusting wind, and the skies grey I stood for several hours watching the ice move around the near sea, like a giant game of dominoes, the winds and currents faced off against each other, with no winner in sight.

By Danny Bloom

CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Two recent newspaper articles about climate change in the far distant
future, say 2500 or so, (titled, respectively, “How much more proof is needed for people to act?” and “Ignoring the future — the psychology of denial”) emphasized the importance of facing major issues that will have an impact on the future of the human species.

Climate change is indeed an issue that is on everyone’s mind, and while Israel seems to be far removed from the experts who recently made their way to Copenhagen to try to hammer out blueprints to prevent global warming from having a Doomsday impact on humankind, Israel will also be on the front lines of these issues. Why? Because Israel will not exist as a country by the year 2500. Everyone there will have migrated north to Russia and Alaska.

Despite most observers’ belief that solutions lie in mitigation, there are a growing number of climatologists and scientists who believe that the A-word — adaptation — must be confronted head-on, too. The fact is — despite the head-in-the-sand protestations of deniers like former Alaskan Governor Sara Palin in the US — that we cannot stop climate change or global warming. The Earth’s atmosphere has already passed the tipping point, and in the next 500 years, temperatures and sea levels will rise considerably and millions, even billions, of people from the tropical and temperate zones will be forced to migrate in search of food, fuel and shelter. This includes the people of Israel.

By the year 2500, Israel will be largely uninhabited, except for a few stragglers eking out a subsistence life in the Golan Heights. The rest of the population will have migrated north to Russia’s northern coast or northern parts of Alaska and Canada to find safe harbor from the devastating impact of global warming.

Okay, how do I know all this, you ask? I don’t know. I am just saying that we all must be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

By the year 2500, most likely, Israelis en masse will have left the country for faraway northern regions to find shelter in UN-funded climate refuges in places such as Russia, Canada and Alaska. Israeli climate refugees will join millions of others from India, Vietnam,Thailand, Japan and the Philippines. It won’t be a pretty picture.

When I asked a professor at National Taiwan University in Taipei if this was a possible future scenario for Israel and other nations in the Middle East some 500 years from now, he said it was very possible, and that these issues needed to be addressed now, if only as a thought exercise, and even if it all sounded like a science fiction movie script. When I asked acclaimed British scientist James Lovelock if such a scenario for Israel was likely, he said to me in an e-mail: “It may very well happen, yes.”

We humans cannot engineer our way out of global warming, although
scientists who believe in geo-engineering have offered theories on how
to do it. There are no easy fixes. Humankind has pumped too many
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the result of the industrial
revolution that gave us trains, planes, automobiles and much more,
enabling us to live comfortable and trendy lives — and now there is so
much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that the Earth cannot recover.

Israel, like the rest of the world, is doomed to a bleak future filled with billions of climate refugees seeking shelter in the far north, and
in places like New Zealand, Tasmania and Antarctica in the far south.

Meetings in Copenhagen and Rio de Janeiro and at the UN in Manhattan
will not stop global warming.

What we need to focus on now is preparing future generations for what
our world will become in the next 500 years and how best to survive
it.

For the next 100 to 200 years or so, life will go on as normal in
Israel in terms of climate change and global warming issues. There is
nothing to worry about now. For the next 100 years posh department
stores will hawk their trendy items, computer firms will launch their
latest gadgets and airline companies will continue to offer passengers
quick passage here and there, to the Maldives and to Manhattan, for
business and for pleasure.

But in the next 500 years, according to Lovelock and other scientists
who are not afraid to think outside the box and push the envelope,
things are going to get bad. Unspeakably bad.

Those of us who are alive today won’t suffer, and the next few
generations will be fine, too. The big trouble will probably start
around 2200 — and last for some 300 years or so.

By 2500, Israel will be history, and so will be all the nations of Africa,
Asia, the Americas and Europe.

We are entering uncharted waters, and as the waters rise and the
temperatures go up, future generations will have some important
choices to make: where to live, how to live, how to grow food, how to
power their climate refugee settlements, how to plan and how to pray.

*
Danny Bloom is a Jewish writer based in Taiwan where he blogs daily
about climate change and global warming at his “Northwardho” blog.

I’ve combined two of our most popular post from our blog before it crashed into one post for those of you who loved the movie Eight Below and just love dog racing in general.

There’s a show in Anchorage that featured one of the furry stars of Eight Below. The show is called the WildRide Sled Dog Show and is put on by Mitch Seavey (one of the famous Iditarod racers) and his son, Dallas. The show has changed a little, as Dallas married a woman named Jen.

FlapJack was a beautiful red malamute who starred in the movie Eight Below as Buck. This past year, Flapjack passed away. His legacy at Wildride will live on for a long time to come. The second year we went to see Wildride, we also got the opportunity to see the star of Snow Dogs, a young black and white husky with blue eyes. He demonstrated training techniques during the show with Hannah Sommers, another Iditarod racer.

Here are a few films we made of the first two years we went to Wildride and of an interview we did with Dallas Seavey.

Movie Stars in Fur Coats

This was the first year we saw Wildride

Alaskan Pink And Blue:

This was our second year to see WildRide (and it was Flapjack’s last year to be in it)

We spent some time after the show talking to Iditarod Musher Dallas Seavey:

Was the story of Eight Below real?

Not exactly.

The original movie was called Antarctica. It was a Japanese film that was actually filmed in Antartica. Eight Below was not filmed on location where the true story happened.

Antarctica told the real story of what happened. If you ever get a chance to see this movie, it is worth it. If you’ve got young kids, it is probably too upsetting for them to watch. I cried for about a week after I saw it the first time in 1985. Way more than just one old dog died in real life.

This movie is what Eight Below was based on, but Eight Below (in true Disney form) doesn’t tell the whole story. They probably felt like little kids couldn’t handle the truth of the whole thing.

So, if you want to see what really happened to those dogs, watch the move Antarctica. It has Japanese stars but is dubbed in English. The dialogue is not that great, but the movie itself is moving. The beginning of the film starts out a little slow, but it is critical to the whole story. So, don’t skip the beginning.

Here’s a video with some of the music in the movie by Vangelis. The music alone is worth seeing the movie for:

Monday through Wednesday, I listen to a talk radio station here with notable conservative personalities.  No, these aren’t Limbaugh or Hannity, but more centrist like Dennis Prager.  But, on Sundays, my shows aren’t availible, so I drift to the dark-side and listen to a liberal talk radio station.  I take one for the team and listen to the otherside.  I do my best to be as objective as I can, but I can’t see the facts that these people present.  For “Rational Radio”, they aren’t giving us facts.  I hear alot of “Scientists say this” or “Models say that”.  My favorite has to be the comment that we’re a bunch of greedy capitalists with eyes on our wallets.

So, I did some research of my own.  I try to care enough to take a few minutes and use the great tool called “Google”.  I found arguments on both sides of the field.  On the surface, climate change makes sense, but how many people really look beyond the surface to really examine with this all means.  I seriously don’t think the people we have voting on these bills have looked into it.  They don’t seem to have the time between their busy schedules to even read their bills.  You know, lobbyists and golf can really eat up a person’s time.  SIGH…  On both sides.

I argue with a friend at work who is trying to convince me that something is true because the textbooks tell him it is real.  Seriously?  What happened to our brains?  Did God decide that we just didn’t need them anymore and stopped issuing them to us?  Even God tells man to question him.  He can withstand the scrutiny.

I think we can learn from this.  If something is true, then why will it not stand under scrutiny?  Recently, the leak of the enviromental scientists emails have shown many cases of fudged, spun or destroyed data that was inconvinent.  Many of them can’t argue that it was inadvertent, the emails specifically direct others to hide or manipulate the data to produce favorable results.

To be honest, I really hadn’t thought much about Climate Change.  It used to be called Global Warming, that’s odd, isn’t it?  But, I’m digressing.  After hearing about the scam, I had to really take a look at my views on it.  These emails didn’t give me a good impression on which to perform my studies.

I found some interesting points that pass the question test.

If greenhouse gases prevent energy from radiating back to space, then what about the energy comming from the sun?  Shouldn’t the same principle apply to incomming energy?

If around 90% of CO2 is produced by sources outside human control, what impact can our 10% cause (some reports say 2% from humans).

Why is the “deadline” for climate disaster always being revised?  Catastrophe always seems to be just a heartbeat away.  We wait and fret.  The day comes and goes and climate believers simply revise the figures and “opps” we missed a decimal point, it’s comming in X years.

If the caps are melting as they are claiming, why do reports say that we’re actually gaining ice on the South Pole?

If Global Warming is killing Polar Bears, then why are their numbers increasing?

Pesky little questions.  I wouldn’t want to infringe on anybody’s time by actually getting answers for them.

On a more pragmatic level, whether Climate Change is real or not, it’s, at best, a secondary consideration for me.  My biggest concern is having a roof over my head and an America to call home before I’m going to feel all warm and cuddly because I saved a 2 inch shad in California.  Good luck on saving THOSE jobs. 

For some reason, we seem to be getting on the wrong side of this issue.  We lose sight of what really matters right now.

Fact : We can’t support a drastic change in our energy production.

Fact : American energy production is fast becoming much more clean.

Fact : With the Copenhagen treaty, We will lose a good majority of our soverignty to the UN.

Fact : There is no conclusive evidence that Global Warming is happening.  There is plenty of evidence and sound reason to say that it isn’t.

I don’t care.

One larger question, probably the biggest question for me.

How can America help save the planet if there is no America to save?

God Bless

A video of one of the most exciting big walls on the Planet, the Holtanna massif on Queen Maud Land…