Apparently those who have been in it describe war as long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of great excitement. Reverse those ratios to great periods of excitement and some sea days and you have a description of the long Antarctic cruise that includes the Falklands and South Georgia. There’s a sea day to the Falklands then two days of landings, two days to South Georgia and three days there, these three days to Antarctica and five days there then two days back to Ushuaia. The landing days are so intense that the sea days give a welcome chance to recuperate, ready to go again when land appears on the horizon.
We are sailing southwest from South Georgia towards Elephant Island and it’s about two and a half days at sea. As we bounce around in our 116-metre ice-strengthened vessel we think of Shackleton and Worsley and the other four men in the tiny James Caird that was about the same size as our inflatable Zodiacs. They were tough!

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