Lessons from Penguins

I am falling in love with Penguins.  I can't wait to watch their funny antics.  They are hilarious on land and so majestically perfect underwater.  They speed like bullets through the water.  We were lucky enough to dive with the northern-most living penguins of the world in the Galapagos, but I never did get any on film underwater because they were so fast. This time with video and perhaps photographs, I will get some winners like this:

Faith gave us a book for Christmas "Flipping Brilliant:  A Penguin's Guide to a Happy Life" by Patrick Regan.  Some of my favorites from that book are:

1.   Life is not black and white - even the mostly black and white penguins have bits of other colors: beaks, feet, "eyebrows", etc.  Indeed, life is all about the 50 shades of grey.  Black and white choices are easy, but they are rare in life. 
2. Determination makes all the difference.  Penguins certainly are determined creatures.  Completely awkward on land, they migrate around 100 miles inland to birth their young and travel back to the melting ice sheet to fish and feed. Life isn't easy for us either.  Having determination, spunk, and a bit of feistiness is essential to get through the rough patches.
3. Don't always follow the crowd, but do believe in the camaraderie of kindred souls.  During the migration, the penguins huddle together in a tight circle, rotating positions so that no one has to bear all the brunt of the high winds and bitter cold.  It is important to have friends in life.  There is nothing better than friends that just accept you for who you are, faults and all, and love you just the same.  
4. Uphills don't last forever.  Life has lots of uphills but eventually a downhill slide comes our way, and can it ever be a blast!   Without the uphills, perhaps we would not have as much appreciation for the times when life is free and easy.
5. Learn to be still.  Penguins, during the ferociousness of storms, learn to huddle together and be still.  They don't squawk, they don't even look up or around.  They duck their heads and become very still. Contemplative. We humans need more of that time.  Our world has become so overstimulating that we forget that our minds and hearts need to be still in order to grow and recharge. 

I am sure I will learn much more about Penguins and fall more in love with them when I visit Antarctica.  I hear the smell is overwhelming too (but will use that good ol' medic trick Vicks vapo-rub under the nose!).

Dreaming.....

You are going WHERE?

I began mentioning our epic trip to friends and acquaintances.  Responses fell into one of two categories:  1.  "Why would you ever want to go there?"  or 2.  "That's incredible!" I've decided that telling folks I am going on a long trip to Antarctica is tantamount to administering a full personality test.  Traveling to Antarctica is for folks who are not afraid to be "out of their element", out of their comfort zone, especially if you are diving. It is never a luxury cruise: comfortable, yes, but not luxurious. It requires a bit of the heart of the explorer. You never know quite what you will encounter or experience (cue the story of the tourist boat a year ago that got stuck in the ice and had to have a multitude of icebreaker boats to free it).  There are a lot of people that are perfectly content living their whole life in their own little worlds with little change, and that is fine.  But that is not me....

In talking to friends who have traveled there previously, they only use superlatives.  Unbelievable!  More beautiful than you can imagine!  It will be more stunning than anything your imagination can conjure up! It is a million shades of black, white, and blue and you have never seen anything this magnificent!

And then I ran across this quote from an article by Chris Jones in Afar Magazine (August / September 2014):

     "Months later, my memories of that trip aren't like my memories of other trips.  They 

     aren't even like my other memories.  There are no colors, no tall buildings, no roads or

     signs or music, no snapshots of indigenous faces, none of the usual time stamps given us 

     by day or night.  There was always light, the sun setting spectacularly before changing its

     mind at the last moment and rising again, true darkness just one more of Antarctica's vast

     repertoire of apparitions.  When I close my eyes, there are only shadows and blurs, a hundred

     shades of blue and white, snow and ice, sleeplessness and awe.  I don't really remember specific

     locations, and I can't say fully I remember moments even.  I remember the gooseflesh and lumps

     in my throat......In a world that can seem purpose-built and calculated for us, engineered for our

     safety and convenience, every part of that long-shot day, the entire lunatic trip, felt as fleeting

     as luck itself.  That feeling is what I remember and why Antarctica remains impervious to 

     memories and maps and the mental thumbtacks we might stick to them.  All of  its settlements are

     temporary.  Its borders migrate.  Its landmarks are seasonal.  Its ports are killer whales and its 

     capital cities are penguins."

 Oh YES.  I am ready.  Take me out of my element.  Make me oooh and ahhh and be surrounded by the incredible power and majesty of our planet. So freaking excited.

Penguin Ponderings

When I think of Antarctica I think of ice and frigid cold.  I really can't say it has ever been on my "bucket list" but, then again, I am open to traveling almost anywhere in the world - at least once.  We were in California in November 2013 to dive the Channel Islands and attend the 50th Anniversary celebrations of DUI - Diving Unlimited International in San Diego.  Our friend, Faith Ortins, mentioned that she had planned an "epic once-in-a-lifetime" group diving trip to Antarctica that followed Shackleton's famous trip, on the 100th anniversary.  Whoa.  Really?  That does sound like an epic trip.....one that shouldn't be missed.  Ushuaia, Argentina to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Islands, South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney Islands, Elephant Island, Deception Island, and the Antarctica Peninsula.  23 days, 22 nights. Tons of money.  Yeah, right.  A Paramedic salary goes really far.  The trip was 2 years away.  1K per month away, more or less depending on one's room selection. Serious cash.  Crap.  I resigned myself to hearing the tales from the trip.

And then came the holidays and Michael's surprise...."I signed us up for the Antarctica trip and paid the down payment for both of us!".  Awesome.  Crap.  Incredible. What?  How do I manage this?  Gees, that's another rent/ mortgage payment per month.  Pretty much buying a new car over 2 years.  Almost a year of college tuition.  And then the wheels began turning and at this point, we are more "in the trip" than out.  More than halfway there. We only live once.  Life is short. We cancelled cable TV.  I paid off my car a few months later and the monthly car payment went towards the trip. We ate out less, spent less money on skiing and boat diving. It all helps.

As is true to my nature, I began researching everything about the trip and what we would see and do.  I fell in love with penguins and began watching every video about Antarctica.  I read Shackleton's book South and the book Endurance which is a compilation of the journals of the men on his expedition.  Even PBS fed my Antarctica obsession by creating a 3 part series called "Chasing Shackleton" which recreates Shackleton's rescue mission to travel from Elephant Island in a 30 foot lifeboat to the South Georgia Islands using early 1900's gear and technology. Obsessed and in love with everything Antarctic. Bring it ON!

We told our friends about the trip and due to the cost of the trip we never expected anyone to join us - and then there was Rachel.  Rachel McCann.  Since then it has been all plotting and planning and general craziness.  Antarctica or BUST!