This morning we arrived at Elephant Island and Point Wild.

This is where Ernest Shackleton left for his amazing 800 mile journey across the furious fifties in a small boat to reach South Georgia Island seeking help to rescue his crew. What a desolate place. Can you imagine being trapped here for months? Just you and your crew, nothing to eat but penguins and seals (if you could catch them).

We’d been learning more about Antarctica every day of the cruise so far. The ship was equipped with a science lab with microscopes where we could examine plants, minerals, plankton, etc. Our expedition team fed our interest in Shackleton and the other explorers (Roald Amundsen, Fritjof Nansen, Scott, etc) with films and lectures. There were plenty of books in the library as well.

We nosed our way into the small bay, up against the Endurance Glacier, with ice all around us. This was our last stop in Antarctica (technically only Orne Harbor was really part of the continent). We didn’t attempt to land.

We could see a colony of chinstrap penguins and a monument to Piloto Pardo, the Chilean Navy Captain who managed to rescue the 22 men Shackleton had to leave behind there. His story and his tug Yelcho should be better known.

I find all that history fascinating and admire the abilities of those guys back in the days of exploration. The determination, stamina, courage, skills to do the things they did. Not just Shackleton, not just the Arctic or Antarctic explorers, but all of them: Columbus, Magellan, Cook, etc.

I think there’s something in human nature that needs that kind of wilderness- that frontier- that kind of challenge to look forward to. We need that kind of ‘escape valve’. It seems we’ve rid that from the world. I feel it myself. A loss of possibility. All we have left is space. I think it’ll be even more of a challenge, but will we find the capability to explore it like we did the earth?