At 10:35 this morning we crossed the Antarctic Circle, becoming official members of the “Red Nose Club.” To mark the occasion, all 140 passengers crowded into the top deck lounge for a champagne toast. Just another one of those meaningless yet momentous experiences, allowing me to say that I’ve now been both above the Arctic Circle and below the Antarctic Circle.
To fill up the sea day, Atlas had a full program of lectures touching on everything from the history of Antarctic exploration to a discussion of the boundaries between science and science fiction, focusing on the possibility of extraterrestrial life. A particular standout was the talk by the ship’s marine biologist, Ema, who is a Fulbright Scholar from Brazil. She’s spent parts of the last several years in bases on Antarctica drilling core samples and analyzing microbes, and she detailed what it’s like to spend months ashore working with other scientists.
PuffinlessTravel 