Chapter 9 : Gearing up for landing

This was going to be our first landing on the Antarctic peninsula. We have had mock sessions of gearing up and safety norms earlier and the excitement was at a fever high pitch.

Now dressing up for Antarctic weather can be very tricky. Our expedition leader had advised us to go on the deck before landing and dress according to the weather. When I went to the deck it seemed like a Hawaiian winter - warm and pleasant. I was prepared for a -10 degree temperatures and this weather was not in my scheme of things. My mind somehow convinced me that this must be a trick and once I land, my “not used to winter” body will freeze to death. So I went for the overkill.

Layering is the key to dressing up in Antarctica. You need to have an inner layer of woolen jumper with 1-2 layers of thermal fleece and bottoms. This needs to be then protected by an outer waterproof layer as landing in Antarctica often means waddling in shallow waters. After all this has adorned your body you need to cap it with woolen mittens, caps, socks and again layers with outer waterproof covering. By now you would feel like NASA ready but you are not. So you need to wear rubber boots and then fasten your life jackets around. Grab your cameras, again in waterproof bags, wear your sunglasses and you are definitely Antarctica ready. This dress up is what expedition dreams are made of and I wonder why does fashion industry not focus on it. All expedition travelers looked the same with our outer layers of red Hurtigruten jackets.

Antarctica treaty advises strict norms for landing to protect its environment and Hurtigruten (our cruise liners parent company) had extra strict norms. Before landing we had to bio screen all our outer layers to ensure that we carried no foreign species to land. Our boots had to be disinfected before every landing. There were strict rules to be observed when you encountered wildlife and absolute respect was to be given to their habitat. We were the guests and it was their home. Seemed like a fair task so far.

We were divided in groups and each of the groups had names given to them. We were group 9 named as Light Mantled Sooty Albatross. The groups were announced on the sound system and also published on televised screens in every cabin and across board. In my excitement to land, I got ready too soon and waiting in all those layers of clothes sweated out.

Finally when our group was announced and we boarded on the zodiac, I thumped in the air and got ready with my zoom lenses to capture the penguin colonies. My excitement was short lived. Firstly, Antarctica had had its worst summer in decades with temperatures touching 20 degrees. There was massive loss of ice cover and I was definitely over dressed. I was panting by the time I landed. The first thing on my mind then was to open out few layers and breathe. Some of the fellow travelers had enrolled for swimming in the Antarctic sea and I was over-jealous of watching them sun bathe. This was my reality check. Antarctica was changing and the dreams of the white continent were getting blurred.

I was still hopeful and scanned the landscape for those massive penguin colonies that were shown on Frozen Planet. Another disappointment hit home, the penguins had left the continent earlier this year on account of heavier summers and earlier arrival of the whales.

Meandering across slippery ice and muddy pools, I felt dejected, shattered. The white continent of my dreams was in fact seeing its first vegetation. Green mosses were making way on stones which were left without ice covers for a longer period of time. My journey back to the ship in the zodiac saw me in a gloomy mood. The arrival team on the ship was though, happy and told me enthusiastically, we promise you ice, we promise you penguins, we promise you whales and never promise what we cannot deliver. Seemed like a heavy sermon at that time but I had no option but to believe them.