Jennifer Byrne's Voyage To The Ice

Wild, silent, awe-inspiring ... Antarctica entrances Jennifer Byrne, even though it’s her fifth trip to this end of the world.

- Jennifer Byrne

The sign the on the waterfront says it all, El Fin Del Mundo – the end of the world. I’m at the southernmost tip of Argentina and behind me is the frontier port of Ushuaia. Ahead is ocean, ice and the least-travelled continent of Antarctica. My fellow travellers are adjusting their seasickness patches, throwing down pills, as we board the ship that’s going to take us there.

Their nervousness is understandable. The Southern Ocean before us is the world’s wildest and conditions here are so changeable, so unpredictable, plans can change by the hour.

Yet our craft, the Sea Spirit, has been blessed by the weather gods. The sun shines, the sea is like glass and when we reach our first penguin colony – at the South Shetland Islands, en route to the Antarctic Peninsula – the 100 or so passengers stream out in full strength.

They returned from that landing with what I’ve come to recognise as the Antarctic stare. You expect a lot, but this is beyond ...