A World of Ice

It’s all about the ice here.  In fact, Antarctica has 90 percent of the world’s ice.  At the North Pole it’s much thinner and less abundant.  And this place is huge.  The Antarctic continent covers 5.4 million square miles, the equivalent of all of the of the United States and Mexico combined. 

So ice is everywhere we go, and in all different forms.  Tabular icebergs rise as high as 80 feet.  And we’re reminded that we’re just seeing ‘the tip of the iceberg', with 90 percent of their mass being underwater.  We see huge snow-topped floes, and thin sheets of ice that are clear like glass. Some of these surfaces become homes or landing spots for seals and penguins.  We cut through hunks and sheets as we make our way in the ship, and hear the grinding and crunching.  The captain even ploughed-in and parked in four-foot-deep ice, so we could step out for a walk.  We see white peaks rising nearly 10,000 feet high, and glaciers seem, at times, to be around every turn.  And it’s all absolutely elegant, pristine and majestic.