Million Dollar view, Billion Dollar Feeling

New day. I woke up again to our team leader’s wake-up call at 0630 and walked onto the deck to a magnificent sunrise, icebergs, and whales. Pictures Galore! It sure beats the train track view I wake up to in Chicago. The weather was totally different from yesterday. Cold was still there at -30 C, but the sea was calm and there was no snow or wind. After breakfast we started with our second session of the Leadership on the Edge program with ‘Vision’ as the theme of the session. (The first session on ‘Effective Teams’ already took place in Ushuaia, before we boarded the ship.) In the afternoon we left the ship for the mainland Antarctica. What an afternoon awaited us there.

I jumped off the zodiac onto the mainland Antarctica. Right foot forward! Once the zodiacs left, the only noise we could hear are ourselves, the waves crashing gently onto the black-pebble-rich-beach and, if you really tried, the distant hum of the ship. In the two hour we spend on the beach we can occasionally hear icebergs breaking off the glaciers and falling into the ocean. The noise sounds like distant thunder.

The scenery was fantastic in all directions. It makes even me look like a professional photographer. Out toward the sea the view is filled with cobalt blue icebergs in copper blue water. It is a bright and sunny day. There are no clouds in the area we are in. Only bright blue sky. The temperature in the sun hovers around -6C. The beach is littered with giant sized ice-boulders. Behind us stand an exposed stone face about 200 meters in height. The rust colored stone edifice stands like a giant fortress; as if meant to intimidate and keep away unwelcome visitors from the continent. How awesome it stands! The hill next to it has somewhat of a steep slope covered with snow. All around you the view is great. I see the penguins walking by toward the beach and seals sunbathing for hours on end with no care or worry of the visitors. Spoiled brats! Some of the penguins were a bit scared of us, while many of them walked past us with pride, indicating that they are the rightful owners of that land. (We are allowed to get within 5 meters of the penguins and 12 meters of the seals to minimize our intrusion into their world.) The air is crisp and clean to breath. As you breath in the air you feel it is so unpolluted. It will take some getting used to breath in air I can’t see.

After an hour on the beach, we hiked up the steep slope for about 50 meters to an even more amazing view. From there I can see the entire bay open beneath us, with our ship in the near back ground, 100s of icebergs speckled all around the wide bay and snow covered peaks in the far distance. It was the million dollar view, with a billion dollar feeling to go with it. Priceless! I couldn’t help wonder, why in the world am I privileged to this view. The only answer I could think of was that somebody must have made a big mistake and sent me here on this expedition by accident.