The Gerlach Strait, Antarctica
There is a disease out there, and symptoms are rampant on the good ship Endeavour. It is called the Polar Fever. It comes in northern (Boreal) and southern (Austral) variants, but the two strains are cross-compatible and mutually reinforcing. I am afraid that I must report to those of you who are at home following the progress of our voyage that your Mom/Dad/Grandparents/friends/co-workers are infected.
Symptom number 1: After spending the morning cruising southward along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, awestruck over the glacier-covered mountains rising straight up from the sea, we reached Cuverville Island. Here an appreciable number of heretofore reasonable people left the warm and comfortable confines of the ship to climb onto small, yellow, self-propelled watercraft and paddle off into the ice-filled Polar sea, going wherever their whims of the moment might take them, gazing up at majestic glaciers and down at gentoo penguins swimming laps in the water around their kayaks. And all of this under a clear, blue Antarctic sky. Now I ask you, is this really “normal” behavior?
Symptom number 2: There we were, seated comfortably in the ship’s dining room for another delicious, multi-course dinner, our every desire accommodated by friendly waiters and wine stewards. And what did we do? We left the dining room to climb into multiple layers of clothing and our beloved rubber boots to leave the ship and clamber over the rocks to reach the land at Neko Harbor at Andvord Bay, on the Antarctic Continent itself. Not entirely content with this lunacy, we proceeded to climb up the steep snow slope for a view of the 10:00 PM sun shining off of the snow- and ice-covered mountains far across the bay.
There is no cure for the Polar Fever. Its symptoms can be can be addressed by recurrent visits to the polar bears of the north and the penguins of the south, by exposure to the soft light of the midnight sun, by placing ones self in proximity to ice in its many forms (glacial ice, sea ice, icebergs, bergie bits …) but once you are infected a yearning for the polar regions will always lurk in backs of your minds! Beware of the Polar Fever!
There is a disease out there, and symptoms are rampant on the good ship Endeavour. It is called the Polar Fever. It comes in northern (Boreal) and southern (Austral) variants, but the two strains are cross-compatible and mutually reinforcing. I am afraid that I must report to those of you who are at home following the progress of our voyage that your Mom/Dad/Grandparents/friends/co-workers are infected.
Symptom number 1: After spending the morning cruising southward along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, awestruck over the glacier-covered mountains rising straight up from the sea, we reached Cuverville Island. Here an appreciable number of heretofore reasonable people left the warm and comfortable confines of the ship to climb onto small, yellow, self-propelled watercraft and paddle off into the ice-filled Polar sea, going wherever their whims of the moment might take them, gazing up at majestic glaciers and down at gentoo penguins swimming laps in the water around their kayaks. And all of this under a clear, blue Antarctic sky. Now I ask you, is this really “normal” behavior?
Symptom number 2: There we were, seated comfortably in the ship’s dining room for another delicious, multi-course dinner, our every desire accommodated by friendly waiters and wine stewards. And what did we do? We left the dining room to climb into multiple layers of clothing and our beloved rubber boots to leave the ship and clamber over the rocks to reach the land at Neko Harbor at Andvord Bay, on the Antarctic Continent itself. Not entirely content with this lunacy, we proceeded to climb up the steep snow slope for a view of the 10:00 PM sun shining off of the snow- and ice-covered mountains far across the bay.
There is no cure for the Polar Fever. Its symptoms can be can be addressed by recurrent visits to the polar bears of the north and the penguins of the south, by exposure to the soft light of the midnight sun, by placing ones self in proximity to ice in its many forms (glacial ice, sea ice, icebergs, bergie bits …) but once you are infected a yearning for the polar regions will always lurk in backs of your minds! Beware of the Polar Fever!
