Antarctica: Voyage of Discovery in Retrospect
I am often at a loss as to how to end a spectacular journey. Is it best to end with a bang, or a whimper? Perhaps instead a quiet whisper; a slightly paler version of the technicolor experiences that have gone before, to ease the transition back to reality with less of a full camera cut and more of a gentle, telescopic slide back towards reality.
We've been privileged to traverse the Antarctic Peninsula from several remarkably unique landing points. The stark and unrelenting beauty of this untameable land is seared in my mind. Courting block-long glaciers; playing hide-and-seek with mountain-tops emerging from shrouded depths of miles of ice; tracing the geology of the ages in beach sand and rubble... Face to face with the primal nature of this continent and its denizens, I feel both awed and humbled.
The southern end of the earth is its own last, best miracle. I feel honored to have touched its face, and walked its lands. Coupled with the multi-sensory experience of standing toe to toe, flipper and wing with a wide variety of penguins, seals and birds, I know now what it is like to curiously explore the ways and means of another species, with wonder and without fear.
I'll detail more fully each environment and its inhabitants, preferably before the daily experiences of this life rob me of the memories of what it was like to be in and part of another world.
If you have the chance to go, you should. Don't wait - special places have a tendency to change, and generally not for the better. Eco-tourism aside - it's a very delicate balance, and not one I am certain we can maintain. Go - it's one of the best things I've ever had an opportunity to experience, and one you would not, for a moment, regret.
Welcome back, and thanks for sharing an overview of your experiences!
Your exhortation reminds me of an inspiring quote by Mark Twain that I just re-encountered moments ago:
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
Posted by: Joe McCarthy | March 22, 2006 at 06:59 AM
Your pictures would make a wonderful coffee-table book, or at least a guidebook; you would only need your 500 or 600 best!
But you could also make a very interesting slide-show for some ambient 'wall' at a cafe, restaurant, bookstore, museum, etc....
I'm glad that your visit to the primordial temple near the magnetic pole, near where the days sometimes last for weeks.
Posted by: David Stephen Ball-Romney | April 11, 2006 at 05:13 PM
You are the only person I know who has ever been there; it must have been an incredible experience. You are so adventurous! It is all I can do to make myself drive up to Seattle sometimes!!
Posted by: Margaret | May 24, 2006 at 12:03 PM
What a fitting end! I'll definitely put going to the souht of the planet on my to-do list! Thanks for opening my eyes.
Posted by: GC Philo | May 24, 2006 at 01:53 PM
Kimberley, it's really about time you updated your blog. It will be good therapy. Just some short notes to let us know you're alive is all we need. Don't go overboard. Short. Just do it. Tell us what kind of birds live in those wonderful trees at your house. Yoda!
Posted by: Kick Shoe | July 16, 2006 at 05:23 PM
Whoa.. just... whoa... I wanna go too, I always have.
Posted by: toadman | August 29, 2006 at 04:53 PM