Today the M/S Endeavour sails south for the Antarctic once again! With fair winds and a following sea. we are very comfortable on board, enjoying a series of lectures to prepare our minds for the coming experiences. Nonetheless, we are all eager for our first landfall tomorrow, looking forward to long-expected encounters with penguins, elephant seals, and much more. Perhaps though, it will be the unexpected sides of Antarctica which amaze us and move us most deeply. The light of a lingering sunset glowing on an ice cliff, the delicate patterns in a pebble on the beach or hieroglyphics left by penguin feet on the snowy surface of the pack ice.
Exploring the Antarctic seas can be just as rewarding, and just as constantly surprising as our experiences on land. In my role as Undersea Specialist, I dive, shoot video or fly the ROV into the depths at each of our stops to open a view of the underwater world for everyone on board. While I love every minute I spend at this task, what I enjoy most of all are the amazed and delighted reactions from our guests. It may be the simple beauty and striking color of a common seastar like this Odonaster validus; or possibly the thrill of watching scenes from the darker depths, never before witnessed by human eyes. The white feather-star in the second image is a species unknown to me. I filmed it using the ROV at 230 feet depth, off Cuverville Island and I have never seen it before or since; could it be an undescribed species? Whatever the specific reason, the Southern Ocean never fails to astound us all.
Antarctica is a true wilderness, still a mystery in many ways. There is a great deal left to be learned here, a tremendous challenge and a wonderful opportunity. Travelers like ourselves, who receive so much from this place, can easily give back as well. By assisting the Oceanites researchers on board the Endeavour with their counts at penguin rookeries and by sharing our observations of unfamiliar, possibly unknown species with other biologists, we come to know and love the Antarctic more and more deeply, adding new chapters to the long romance between our own species and Terra Australis Incognita.
