I-TASC expedition 2006/2007
Today most of our gear arrived. We can finally get to work on Christmas Eve and the eve of Tom’s birthday. Timing. So I scratched around a little bit, rewiring a microphone to be used for the FM station. It also looks like we have a room to use as a studio, which is great news.
If you celebrate Christmas, then good cheer to ya, and look after yourself.
lots of love from Antarctica
x
adam
I-TASC Antarctica expedition 2006-07 – aboard SA Agulhas icebreaker
Curiously, the sea is more like a cocoon than I had ever expected. It places a buffer between yourself and everything else. The slight giddiness from the motion brings a persistent soft haze over every sense… everything appears soft and sponge-like. The world is also a lot further away than just the hard miles that separate us from any mainland or communications mainline. We are in a suspended moment, like forever waiting at the terminal for your flight, but a strange waiting lounge where there is no anticipation of where we are going, no motivation to turn back.
Sleep comes easily, and the gentle rocking of the ship is soothing. We haven’t yet experienced really hard seas and they still might come but so far the sea has definitely been kind to us.
Today we slept late and worked only a little together as the I-TASC crew. It was a day off as it is Sunday. I passed the ship’s bar and TV lounge before lunch to see a small group of 7 or 8 people using the space as a makeshift church. During the afternoon, I read more about Shackleton’s amazing journey in his own words. Unbelievable. They seemed to survive for almost 18 months with little more than we would throw away in a week. I learned some Dutch a bit later then met the crew for dinner. After dinner, we met with Pierre and tried getting connected to the net via a BGAN terminal. We squatted on a high deck and tried to find the satellite in the dark, windy and cold night. We soon had a good connection and we were able to put up the Interpolar and I-TASC websites easily.
I have been thinking a bit about the trip and why we are doing this. I am not sure if it’s a good or bad idea. Before leaving, I read about Captain Cook’s journeys and his search for the great southern continent. Cook’s story is a sad one because it appears he had a lot of goodwill for those people he met as the first European on many Pacific lands. However, what followed was exploitation and loss. The one land he never reached, and coincidentally or consequently, was not to follow this route, was Antarctica. He never reached the continent although he got further south than needed if he had been at a different longitude. It seems to me there is good reason not to go to Antarctica as the first of many that might follow the I-TASC theme. Do ‘we’ really need to be there? What are the concrete gains by our adventures onto one of the last unspoiled areas on the planet?