Our Antarctica trip reveals a pristine land full of life
In November 2023, Susan Schwartz-Rogers and Paul Rogers of Tiffin and Lyle and Diane Schwartz of Story City embarked on an expedition to Antarctica. Susan and Lyle are siblings. They boarded the Ocean Endeavour in Ushuaia, Argentina, on Nov. 4. There were 191 passengers from all six other continents on this expedition. The ship crew consisted of about 120 people. The ship left port and traveled though Beagle Channel and headed into Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica. Crossing the Drake Passage took two days. The passage took us through water from the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans. The Drake Passage is known for rough seas. It was important to take sea sickness medication as the seas were indeed very rough. The boat rocked and rolled with 15-foot-plus swells.
After the crossing, we reached the Antarctica Peninsula that extends towards South America. Our expedition leader worked with the ship captain to find protected areas out of the wind as much as possible. This allowed us to have excursions in Zodiacs to see wildlife, icebergs, and amazing scenery. Since this was the first trip of the year and it is early spring there, we were only able to set foot on land a couple of times. Other landing sites were filled with too much snow. Despite this, we had two Zodiac cruises per day in different locations.
We traveled through Intrepid Travel, who had a team of about 30 experts and guides from all over the globe aboard the ship. This Intrepid team included experts in ornithology, sea mammals, mountain climbing, glaciers, and more. Theses experts were our guides, Zodiac drivers, and lecturers of educational programs.
During the four days navigating around the Antarctica Peninsula, we into climbed into Zodiacs with about 10 people per boat. Our guides took us on cruises searching for wildlife, calving glaciers, and amazing scenery. Sometimes we had fairly calm waters and other times it was choppy. One day began very nice as we started out in the Zodiacs, but as we moved away from the ship the wind came up. We had to go into the wind with heavy waves to get back to the ship that was two to three miles away. Lyle’s Zodiac was the last to get in that day. We were all soaked by the time we got to the ship because we had to buck the waves and there was a lot of spray. Some of the folks thought it was pretty harrowing although Lyle felt like he had had much worse experiences during his years in the Alaska wilderness.
Most of the time the temperature ranged between 25 and 37 degrees Fahrenheit. Intrepid provided an outer coat and boots for all 191 passengers to use during excursions so the temperatures were not frigid but it was still important to be bundled up in waterproof gear.
We saw several colonies of Gentoo penguins and one colony of Chinstrap penguins. The two times we were on land we were among Gentoo penguins. We were instructed to stay at least 15 feet from wildlife, and the penguins always had the right of way. To be so close to these amazingly hearty birds was one of the highlights of the trip. At this time of the year the penguins are waiting for the snow to melt so they can build their nest with rocks in order to lay their eggs.
We saw a few different kinds of seals and many species of birds. While in the open ocean, we often had albatross and petrels following the ship. The albatross have a 9-foot wing span. Whales and whale spouts were spotted several times.
It is important to share that Antarctica is not owned or governed by any one country. Several countries have scientific research sites there. Tourism to Antarctica is governed by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Very stringent guidelines must be followed. This group is working very diligently to keep Antarctica pristine and protected. Tour operators must have a permit to travel to Antarctica. The permit includes exactly what they can and can’t do, where they can go, and a commitment to protect everything about Antarctica.
For instance, only 100 people could be on land at one time. The only thing that could touch the ground were our boots. We had to step through disinfect with our boots before leaving the ship as well as when we returned. We were required to have our outer clothing inspected with a magnifying glass to ensure we were not inadvertently transporting foreign organisms on land. They even used a vacuum on the Velcro on the bottom of our waterproof pants. There are serious efforts being made to prevent the avian flu from getting there. Unfortunately, is sounds like it is creeping closer every year.
This was an expedition rather than a cruise for a couple of reasons. First, we were able to take several Zodiac excursions throughout the trip. More importantly, there were several citizen science options for us to help gather data. It is expensive for research to take place around Antarctica, so any opportunities to gather data is valued. Many of the expert guides led the gathering of data which included data of sea mammals, birds, clouds, water quality and more.
Antarctica is the continent with the highest overall elevation. It holds approximately 70% of the world’s fresh water within 90% of the world’s ice. Only about 5% of the continent is exposed; the rest of covered with glaciers, ice, and snow. Even though it snowed on us more than once, Antarctica is technically a desert.
The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators is doing as much as possible to be carbon neutral to lessen the impact of global warming, which is impacting Antarctica along with the rest of the world. We were all encouraged to do our part in reducing our carbon footprint. Some examples would be using fewer plastic bottles and moving toward electric vehicles. Another revelation to us was that the life cycle of wildlife in the area is very dependent upon krill. Yet, there are commercial efforts to harvest krill for human use as krill oil, and it is endangering the species.
For Susan and Paul, this was their seventh continent they have visited. For Lyle and Diane, Antarctica was their sixth continent. As they had to travel to South America to board the ship, they also visited some other places in South America. They toured Buenos Aires, Argentina, and visited Iguazu Falls between the northern board of Argentina and Brazil. This waterfall is composed of 275 individual waterfalls. What an amazing site this was. There are some very interesting historical sites in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern-most city of South America.
The Ocean Endeavour returned to port on Nov. 12. Our amazing adventure was over, and we were filled with immense appreciation for God’s creation as we headed home.
Lyle Schwartz lives in Story City.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Our Antarctica trip reveals a pristine land full of life
