He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since.

R Scott, Scott's Last Expedition, 1913

On Captain Lawrence Oates.

We can't resist a walk onto the frozen Adirondack lake, snowstorm and all. Fishermen report the ice at over a foot thick. Kevin, Alex and I travel maybe 3/4 of a mile from the beach. Once past the shelter of the bay, the wind is abrasive and we turn back, the farther shore unreached for this year. The short trek is invigorating, we are eager for another go, but we need to head home in the afternoon.

CHAPTER 2

Enduring

The protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems is in the interest of mankind as a whole. 

 - The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, 1991

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 Photo by Frank Hurley, 1915

The Endurance

The weather in Brooklyn is identical to the Peninsula. 38°F. Overcast. A light wind, permitting boating (< 20 knots).

Somehow it isn't the same.

Hours, days, leagues of air travel loom.

Punta Arenas at last. It is still overrun with overhead cables.

Kevin has sent Cinnamon along with me as emmisary, and to keep me company. Chilean immigration officials stamp her passport.

The sea crossing, clouds and water much of the time, offers rainbows and sunsets.

We leave the seals, whales, and penguins behind, while birds escort the ship true to folklore. Over 50 Cape Petrels cavort along the port side for the afternoon.

The Drake passage is even calmer on the return trip.

We sail around the back of Anvers Island through Neumeyer Channel, glassy in the windless morning.

A detour North takes us to King George Island to pick up 4 passengers from the Polish Arctowski Station. Their station zodiak meets the ship in the midnight darkness of Admiralty Bay.

The LMG arrives, dwarfing the small pier.

Our gear is hoisted aboard.

A lovely bergy-bit trapped by the ship crumbles away over the course of the day, it's striped blue a splendid contrast to the gleaming orange hull.