Downers Grove Magazine | World
ANTARCTICA To The End of the Earth
I
will admit to not even dreaming about Antarctica while planning my ultimate “Around the World Trip”. Six out of seven continents was just fine by me. But when you’re gearing up, you hang out at REI a lot, and when you do that, you run into guys like “REI Jim” who would became my travel guru. Jim looked at my itinerary and saw I was going to Patagonia, and opined, “well, if you’re going that far south, you might as well get down to Antarctica.” My bags were essentially packed and all adventures planned and paid for, so this little “etcetera” definitely added more than a few frantic moments, but in the end I booked an “Adventure Cruise” to Antarctica for February 2012. The “normal” Antarctic cruise takes eleven days with prices between $5,000 and $20,000 depending on the berth. For this you’ll be exposed to an amazing environment during the days and see star-filled skies through the night, weather permitting. You’ll venture off the boat in the inflatable “zodiac” boats, cameras at the ready and even visit a science station based on the land. All in all, an adequate exposure to this remote location. But as with many things I’ve done away from home, I found another way. The “Adventure Cruise” category assumes that everyone onboard wants to do more than ride in a zodiac boat. At a slightly higher price point ($7,000 to $25,000) the ship follows the same path as the others, but it’s totally different after that. Here
PHOTOGRAPHY AND WORDS BY MARK CHALABALA WWW.BIENTHERE.COM
64
DOWNERS GROVE MAGAZINE
