{"id":4342,"date":"2011-01-31T18:49:05","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T01:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/?p=4342"},"modified":"2011-02-01T12:33:57","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T19:33:57","slug":"departure-for-antarctica-in-17-days-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/31\/departure-for-antarctica-in-17-days-or-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Departure for Antarctica in 17 Days. Or Not."},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this season, the Clelia II<\/a> — an Antarctica expedition cruise ship — was rocked by big waves and lost an engine. There was some damage, the ship was escorted back to Ushuaia and trips were canceled. The best and most important part of the story is that no one was hurt, though I imagine the passengers were eager to be back in calmer seas.<\/p>\n

This morning at 8:30 “my” ship, the Polar Star<\/a>, hit a rock and was damaged. It’s not clear how badly she was damaged — a double hulled icebreaker, she’s built for exactly this kind of thing. Again, no one was hurt — that’s the important part — and the inner hull of the ship remains intact. There’s no oil leaking either, so not only are the passengers protected, but Antarctica’s pristine environment is as well. (Note: I’ll update this with more facts as they become available.)<\/p>\n

My phone rang at about 10am. “I’ve got some news,” said Rick, my primary contact at TravelWild<\/a>. “The Polar Star hit a rock. We don’t know what this means yet, but I thought you should know.” Later that day I got email assuring me that they’re on it, the staff expedition leader, Dennis, is hunting for a berth for me on another vessel should the Polar Star not be fit for my scheduled departure. I’m guessing it will be two or three days before we know for sure what’s going to happen. There are a lot of variables — how long it takes the Polar Star to return, the extent of the damage, if there’s a dock and materials immediately available to make the repairs…<\/p>\n

\"Gear<\/a>I’m circumspect about the whole thing. A friend asked me the other day if I was ready to go. “I have my gear,” I said, “but as for emotional, metaphysical readiness? I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.” The whole idea of traveling to Antarctica has been surreal from day one —\u00a0 I’ve felt like I’d believe I was going to Antarctica when I boarded the ship, and not a moment before.<\/p>\n

While there’s some temptation to veer into frustration over the uncertainty of my situation, the Polar Star’s mishaps are a reminder that nature is in charge. The seas are dangerous and still unknown — the Polar Star hit, according to the IAATO press release<\/a>, “an unsurveyed rock.” I’m not angry about this unexpected event.\u00a0 I’m glad I wasn’t on board, I’m glad those on board are safe, and I’m glad that my life is flexible enough to roll with whatever changes this may bring to my trip.<\/p>\n

I have a little scrap of paper by my keyboard with a odds-and-ends list for my trip. Extra batteries, binoculars, sunscreen… it’s a list of the items that I haven’t yet gathered for my trip. I can, I think, be ready to go one load of laundry, a trip to the supermarket, and 72 hours later. Even if everything gets delayed to next season, I feel incredibly lucky to a) be invited in the first place and b) to have figured out a life that lets me leave for Antarctica on three days notice.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the damage is minor and I’ll be able to travel exactly as planned. And I’m learning, first hand, a critical lesson about Antarctica. It’s nature who decides what our experience there is like. To think otherwise is folly.<\/p>\n

Update: The ship is on the way to the Shetlands, and then, after an inspection, back to Ushuaia. Apparently, “an underwater welding team is standing by.”<\/p>\n

Photo: Me doing Gear Test II in our backyard after a December snow. In my hands, Frida the Penguin.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this season, the Clelia II — an Antarctica expedition cruise ship — was rocked by big waves and lost an engine. There was some damage, the ship was escorted back to Ushuaia and trips were canceled. The best and most important part of the story is that no one was hurt, though I imagine … <\/p>\n


…read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[758],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antarctica-elsewhere","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4342"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4361,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4342\/revisions\/4361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}