TRAVELLING BLOGS

 AKANSH SHARMA 

22/4/22

TRAVELLING DIARIES 

HAPPY ANTARCTICA

King Penguins. An ice-water bath. Storms on the polar seas. Susanne Baade and Dirk Lehmann travel to Antarctica on the hunt for happiness.

The ship rises again. A little more, a little more – it hovers for a moment that feels like eternity – then it crashes back down onto the water. A tremor runs through the hull. The sea spray reaches as high as the sun deck. There’s another wave – this time the MS Bremen just rattles. But the sea is already gathering itself once more…

We’re lucky. A heavy storm is raging across the Antarctic Ocean. The captain of the Bremen, Mark Behrend, explained the situation with the weather two days ago. There’s a major area of low pressure approaching, and we have two options: go east or go west. Just don’t go through it. The waves at the centre are apparently ten to fourteen metres high.

So nobody had any objections when the captain said he was going to skirt westwards round the storm, as the waves in that direction would only be up to six metres high.

There are many things we have to relearn: sleeping at sea; brushing our teeth at sea; showering at sea; getting dressed at sea; and eating and drinking at sea while glasses are perpetually threatening to tip over and bread is constantly sliding off the plate. Still, there are some amusing moments: as you walk past someone else finding their sea legs, you tend to wobble into each other, a smile on your face. You don’t take yourself so seriously any more, at sea.

It suits our style of travel. Our five-month trip around the world has been a search for five experiences on five continents: enduring loneliness in Canada; sensing the breath of history in Portugal; learning humility in the Himalayas; encountering the animal kingdom in Australia; and – with the MS Bremen – travelling into the Antarctic.

once-in-a-lifetime journey into perpetual ice begins five days before the storm, on a grey November day in Montevideo. The ship is lying in an equally grey harbour, white and sparkling, with the words ‚Expedition Cruises‘ emblazoned in enormous letters on the hull. We’re greeted with champagne.

It’s a small ship, 111 metres long, with space for 164 passengers. There’s no entertainment programme, but it’s got the highest ice class a passenger ship can have.

As the ship departs from the greyish-brown Rio de la Plata into the South Atlantic, we get acquainted with our cabin. It’s sixteen square metres, with a narrow bath, a large double bed, a real window, a seating area with a table, chair, sofa and television, and a minibar. There’s more welcoming champagne. This is our home for the next twenty-three days. We get comfortable. But we’ve hardly had time to unpack before the emergency drill begins.

looking forward to the Zodiac adventure. Our first landing: New Island, the Falkland Islands.

A pier is fastened to Deck 3. The crew let down the scouting boat, so the expedition leader can find the best place to land. Then dinghy after dinghy – the sailors already on board – are floated on the surface of the water. We’re separated into four groups: blue, green, red and white.

They explain how to operate a dinghy. As you get on, you grab the sailor’s forearm near the elbow, steadying yourself. Once in the boat you sit down at once, sliding into your assigned place. No standing! Hold onto something as you make the crossing! When you reach the landing spot you straddle the side – keep your eyes on the sea! – and swing one leg, then the other, over the edge. Head immediately to land! The expedition leader shows our departure time on a board.