KAYAKING 550 NAUTICAL MILES TO EXPLORE CLIMATE CHANGE

During December 2008, Cristian Donoso and Juan Pablo Ortega will travel from Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, aboard the Antarctic Dream Cruise Ship to the Antarctic Peninsula for a 550 nautical miles / 1018 km self-supported kayak expedition visiting the Palmer Archipelago and the Danco Coast, both among the places with highest wildlife density on Antarctica.

Main goal

The main goal of this expedition will be to alert the public about the effects of global warming on the Antarctic coast. In order to achieve it we will make a photographic and audiovisual register of landscapes and wildlife of this Antarctic region, from the deep and non-disturbing perspective of a kayak expedition. This material will be destined to the creation of a documentary film, book, articles and a web site that will inform of the consequences of global warming on the wildlife and sceneries of the Antarctic Coast.

The Antarctic Peninsula is warming five times faster than the average rate of Earth’s overall warming. Many species that had evolved the capacity to live in these cold, icy and harsh conditions, are now losing their only home.

Self-supported

This Journey will be accomplished in an absolutely self-supported manner, without the assistance of any vessel, previous deposit of food or equipment or any other kind of external help. Navigating by kayak provided of big storage compartments, we will carry all our food and equipment, which will include ropes and ice climbing gear, in case of disembarking at an ice wall.

Isolation, storms and ice flows

Along with the inaccessibility of the coast, other geographical aspects that defy the expedition’s logistics are the isolation, the furious Antarctic storms and the ice floes formed by the agglomeration of icebergs pushed by the wind.

First month

During the first month, the expeditionaries will circumnavigate the Anvers and Brabant Islands, first seen in February 1820 by the United States citizen Nathaniel Palmer, on the voyage where he discovered Antarctica. During this first 300 nautical miles stage, we will do a meticulous survey of the North coast of the Anvers Island, barely explored due to its countless rocks, small islands and shallow waters exposed to the open sea, which makes it a dangerous place to incursion in larger vessels. We will also explore the cliffy nooks of Brabant Island, and we will visit the bases, Lockroy, England; Palmer, U.S.A; and Islas Melchior, Argentina.

Second month

On the second month we will explore the Danco coast fjords, as deep as the ice floes allow it, navigating nearly 200 nautical miles between the Chilean base, Gabriel Gonzalez and the Argentinean Primavera base. From that coast – which’s name remembers the unfortunate Lieutenant Danco, from the Gerlache expedition- We will cross to Trinidad Island circumnavigating and exploring its coast until we reach the Mikkelsen Bay, where we will be picked up at the end of February by the Antarctic Dream, to return to the American continent.

This trip will be the longest unsupported sea kayaking expedition realized in Antarctica. Paddling Perfection will support trip Cristian and Juan Pablo. Two Polar Bear kayaks have been specially build for the circumstances. The kayaks have an extra thick hull and reinforcements to better suit kayaking in Antarctic waters.

Just like in our previous expeditions, this journey will be trackable on-line on www.antarctickayak.com