Forever South

When I think about the South Pole and Antarctica a lot of images come to mind. Some are things I have seen for myself, the icebergs and the blue, the penguins, the humpback whales and the killer whales, but some are things I have read about or have seen on films or photographs. The more you read and see about the continent, the more there seems to be. There definitely is something mythical about the place, and once you get drawn into it it is hard to walk away again.

A few years ago I talked to a co-worker who was very interested in penguins. She knew much about them, and that made me realize that I knew very little about them. I didn't even really know there were such different species. To see penguins you have to travel a long way and I didn't really think I was ever going to do that. To travel to the Falkland Islands to see penguins was such a remote idea that it never
even entered my mind. It was almost like planning a holiday on the moon. I still haven't visited the Falkland Islands, though that is now a real possibility for me, and I've already been closer than I ever thought I would be. And to tell the truth, I was even further away than the Falkland Islands. I've seen seven species of penguin in the wild, in their own environment, and that was very special. It really was amazing. (thank you, Richard)

But there is so much more out there. I had never thought I would end up on a sailing ship, somewhere in the Southern Ocean, just a few metres away from a group of curious humpback whales, I never thought I would get to smell them, and to almost get close enough to touch them. And I never thought I would get to see albatrosses gliding over the ocean, such a beautiful sight. And just a couple of years ago I hadn't even heard of Wilson's Storm Petrel, now one of my favourite birds. So small and so tough. It can survive above that immense ocean, and it is such a tiny bird.