Quotes of the Day

King penguins
Monday, May. 17, 2004

Open quoteNOVEMBER: Antarctica's long, dark austral winter has ended and early summer is reclaiming Earth's coldest, windiest, highest, driest, most remote and least understood continent. Time Europe staff writer Maryann Bird joined a monthlong expedition to East Antarctica, the remote "far side" of the frozen continent, in November 2003. The focus of the voyage, aboard the Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, was a total eclipse of the Sun — believed to be the first ever witnessed by humans in Antarctica. The sky show was only one of the natural wonders that the ship's passengers and crew experienced between leaving Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and arriving in Hobart, Tasmania — one month, nine time zones and over 8,000 nautical miles later. Here are excerpts from her log: Close quote

  • MARYANN BIRD
  • Freezing seas and a solar eclipse shared in the company of inquisitive penguins make for a memorable trip to the Antarctic
Photo: ELLEN LINTON