Simply stunning

So far the journey was so good, it is incredible! The last two days were full of amazing experience. On March 18 we landed on King George Island at the Russian base of Bellingshausen, the location of E-Base, where Robert and his team of six had spent the last 17 days living solely on renewable energy. We were detailed by Robert’s team on how they used recycled materials and equipment to construct and maintain the buildings, discussed the use of solar and wind power, and then we helped a bit to get the E-Base ready to operate in an unattended mode during the forthcoming winter by taking the expedition gear down from the base to the shore. Robert introduced the Russian team to the Bellingshausen base chief Alexander, who was quite glad to see us (as well as the presents that we brought down to the base). Alexander took us on a tour around the base, including the scientific area, the House of Friendship (a place for gatherings), and the tiny Orthodox Church building, and described the life on the base in as much detail as possible. Close personal relationships and selfless support to each other – these are the crucial attributes of the life in Antarctica for anyone who comes over here, especially for those who stay for the whole winter season.

Next day we had an early wake-up to see icebergs of all possible forms and dimensions in the Iceberg Alley (what a wonderful experience of utter joy for a diverse group of people from 25 countries!), and then landed on the Antarctic Peninsula, stepping for the first time on the Antarctic soil, the farthermost and most free territory in the world.

And I can hardly find decent words to describe today’s day. Just imagine. First, we have the most pleasant and invaluable gift of a second sunny day on the row here in Antarctica, with smooth see and cloudless blue sky. Second, when we land at Charcot Bay and climb a little up a small hill, we see a landscape which might quite resemble the mountains of the Northern Caucasus in my home area, but look more than surreal due to the surrounding water covered with icebergs. And finally, when we all are seated on the ridge of the hill being deeply involved in another Leadership on the Edge session, we are interrupted by a terrible sound of a huge iceberg breaking down right in front of us, quite near from MV Ushuaia, the iceberg being I guess three times the size of our ship.

Actually, the iceberg breaking has made no harm neither to us, nor to the ship, in spite of the strong waves it caused. However, what happened was quite symbolic, as we understood the reason why we all had come over here, and we were able to see with our own eyes the vulnerability of the nature.

For me, this event confirmed that, indeed, we have to be ready for changes in order to ensure that our iceberg will never melt down, or, if it does melt down, we are ready to evolve.

Later on in the afternoon, when we were back on the ship heading to the camping site for tonight, the ship bridge announced the presence of a family of Orcas, the killer whales. Everyone on board the ship, crew included (as this was not a usual thing to be seen even over here) hurried out to the deck into the freeze to take photos of these creatures which, being caught, as far as I know, cannot be tamed by a man, but can only be engaged and involved into man’s activities. Indeed, the view of the Orcas cruising along aside the ship was totally stunning…