Day 5; January 27, 2009; Cape Town, South Africa We continue to happily endure the seemingly never ending process of preparations, and spent the day getting extra tripod plates, DV tapes, a wind jammer for the microphone, s-rings, distilled water for our backup-power fuel cell, emergency blankets, signaling mirrors, a sound card for Ntsikelelo, and other random pieces of the equipment puzzle. Early in the day we stopped by Bobby De Beer’s warehouse where much of the ITASC’s mobile base was constructed, and met many of the people who built the three structures. At the end of the day, worn out from all the to and fro, Thomas dropped me…read more »
Day 4; January 26, 2009; Cape Town, South Africa Dawn seemed to arrive too quickly, and while I was excited for the morning’s events, I awoke somewhat reluctantly to meet the day. Today was the New Moon, and also an Annular Eclipse of the Sun, which was partially visible from Cape Town. I had brought film with me to document this eclipse for a Light Recording installation I want to create. Having never recorded a solar eclipse before, I was eager to stand witness as the moon traversed in front of the sun, which it would do just after it had risen above the horizon. Thomas had arranged for me…read more »
Day 3; January 25, 2009; Cape Town, South Africa The morning started with a bit of a technological jam—my cell phone, which I use as my alarm, didn’t adjust to local South African time from Amsterdam, and was off by an hour. So, as I was just sitting down to breakfast and coffee at 8am thinking I had a nice leisurely hour to awaken to the day, Thomas walked in to fetch me. As it was in fact 9am, and we had to leave at once to pick up Alfons and head to SANAP for our gear fitting, I gulped down what I could in a few minutes, and off…read more »
Day 2; January 24, 2009; in flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town The plane arrived almost an hour early to Amsterdam, due to the 115 mph tail wind, which was fortunate because my scheduled layover was hardly sufficient to grab a quick bite to eat and reach my connecting flight in time. This is the third time in the last two months that I have been through this airport, and my hope was to find the little gourmet bakery I had enjoyed last time before having to endure the dreaded airplane food, which I would no doubt be subjected to on the very long flight to Cape Town. Approaching my…read more »
Day 1; January 23, 2009; in flight from Boston to Amsterdam As we began the ascent to 39,000 ft, nearly two hours ago, I looked back out my window toward the waning lights of Boston, which dimmed by my growing distance. Tiny luminous points of light, poised static in the blackness, formed a nebula in my mind. A real star, tinier yet, hovered just above tip of the plane’s wing, glowing like a beacon to the lights below. My journey to Antarctica has truly begun. No more preparations. No more arrangements to be made. No more wishing. I’m en route, toward the farthest reaches of our planet. The feelings and…read more »
As I prepare for my first trip to Antarctica, now just weeks away, my mind is abound with visions of all the possible permutations of white. My imagination is confounded by the seemingly obvious fact that I cannot know this place in any capacity until I am fully there, feet planted solidly on the ground, eyes absorbing the view of vast ice deserts, breath taking in the cold air. The existence of Antarctica was first predicted by the ancient mathematician, astronomer and geographer, Ptolemy (1st century AD), who claimed that there must be a southern landmass to balance the North Pole. He named it terra incognita, “unknown land,” and amazingly…read more »
