In Preparation for Antarctica....

Disclaimer: I thought I ALWAYS documented my sources, but I there is a possibility that this info came from the "Antarctic Reader" (provided by the expedition company) and another source. If I find a second source. I'll post it.

Hey Everybody!


I don't know how, but somehow seven months have passed and I am only a week or so away from catching a plane to begin the long trip to Ushuaia where I will then board a ship to the land of ice & penguins!

But first some random tidbits about this destination. Beginning with this philosophical history lesson:

Greek philosophers were the first ones to conceive of a place like Antarctica. Because they believed the world was round, they concluded that the bottom of the world must have a landmass to balance out the North. Their idea stayed on maps for more than two thousand years without any actual proof. How cool are philosophers!? :-)

What year did the first humans winter on Antarctica? 1889

The continent with the highest average elevation? Antarctica

Fire is a serious hazard in the dry Antarctic environment.

Pretty much everything I read points out that Antarctica is potentially dangerous (just a nice way to say deadly), unpredictable, and inhospitable. Still, I am eager to get there!

The Falkland Islands have a population of two to three thousand people, tourist shops (insane!), and average winds of 40-70mph. They have no native trees or native land mammals. Most importantly....they are home to six breeding species of penguins!!!!

Captain Cook was the first person to land at South Georgia. There are 12 mountains over 6,000ft and approximately 160 glaciers! Between 1906-65 1.5 million whales were hunted, which decimated both the whaling industry and the whale population. The human population is probably 10-20 here, but the penguin population is in the millions! Oh happy day!!!

The first child was born on Antarctica in 1978....that's just cool!


Ice on the white continent can be 13,000ft thick in some spots.

-129.3F is the lowest temperature ever recorded on earth. I'm hoping for something closer to near freezing temps. Freezing I can handle; -129F not so much!

Antarctic plants do not grow very fast & most of them are about 1-1.25 inches in height.

Sadly, on this trip I will not be exploring the interior of Antarctica but will be limited to the peninsula. The interior continent gets an average of 6-inches of water per year, which is only a little more than the Sahara Desert. The snow/ice that's present is believed to have built up over millions of years. The Antarctic Peninsula can average 35 inches per year.

Ok...hopefully that's enough quick facts to entice you to check the blog again when I return to wifi-land after the trip :-).

Happy November to all!

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