Reporter's Notebook: Life on the Antarctic Ice

I ask if they'll miss Antarctica, a query greeted by a resounding "NO!" They admit they can't wait to be standing on a Chilean beach in shorts, away from the eternal cold.

The biggest news down south -- after the sinking of the tourist ship and the debate that will follow as to whether tourism is a good thing for Antarctica -- is the fact that it had been a particularly cold winter, even by standards here -- which means lots of ice.

The Weddell Sea, where I plan to take kayaks in January, is still mostly blocked by pack ice. Studying navigational images of the continent on the bridge of the Endeavour we were able to make out two sizable icebergs -- each more than several miles long -- blocking the Antarctic Sound, stopping the pack ice from moving out to sea as it normally does each spring.

My hope is that these next five weeks will be warm and windy, that the icebergs will blow out and that the Weddell Sea will clear.

Between scouting missions, our days were spent exploring islands just off the coast of the Peninsula, including Elephant Island where Ernest Shackleton's men spent nearly five months awaiting rescue in 1915.

By comparing historical photographs taken at that time with pictures from our visit, it was evident that the beach area of the island has shrunk, as has the nearby glacier. It's hard to imagine 23 men living here for that duration.

We also stepped foot on the continent, always a pleasure for me; this is my eighth visit to Antarctica, and I've spent more days on its interior than its coastline. If you can imagine the snow-capped peaks of Alaska flooded by a cold sea -- that's what Antarctica looks like in the springtime.

An immediate question regarding the abundance of ice this year is, "I thought global warming was changing Antarctica." Which it is.

The seas around the Peninsula have warmed by more than 4 degrees F in the past decade, meaning more glacial melt at its fringes, thus bigger icebergs afloat and melting.

In the 1970s, cold winters, like the one just past, occurred during seven out of 10 years. Now it's down to two or three out of 10 years. So things are changing, and fast, around the Antarctic Peninsula.

How fast? I'll have much more to report during January, when we are seeing this very remote place from the seat of a kayak.

Jon Bowermaster is an adventure writer based in Stong Ridge, N.Y. Click here for his Web site. Please check back in January for updates from the ice.