“If we sail any further now, we’ll get stuck in the ice and won’t be able to turn back.” We are less than 5 miles from Vernadsky, the Ukrainian base in Antarctica, at the end of the legendary Lemaire Channel. The southernmost point of our journey. That was the plan.
We decide against it. It’s madness to sail any further. Ahead of us is nothing but ice. In bite-sized chunks, perhaps, but the space between those chunks is getting smaller and smaller.
The decision wasn’t easy, as we want everyone to get as far south as possible. And to taste Vernadsky’s vodka. But the ice we would have used to chill our vodka is now blocking our way.
We turn around and, for the second time today, sail through one of the most spectacular passages of the Antarctic Peninsula: Lemaire Channel. To port and starboard, rock faces rise almost vertically from the water. Large icebergs drift from south to north, humpback whales spout in the distance, penguins dive into the water from an ice floe.
On the way there, everyone was on deck taking photos of the glaciers, rocks, and ice formations. But now, on the return journey, one after another disappears into the lounge to check their results on their laptops. I take the helm from the captain and send him inside to warm up; he’d been outside since this morning.
For a moment, I stand completely alone, gazing at perhaps the most extraordinary landscape on Earth. The water gently laps against the ship, the glaciers creak. Otherwise, it’s silent. Until I hear a ‘clunk.’ A sizable chunk of ice scrapes along the hull. The captain puts his jacket and gloves back on and steps outside to keep ice watch.
