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GEO Tourism
The Ross Sea
NICK CAMERON and
‘MO’ TURNBULL
Antarctica
Remoteness and extreme weather, coupled with increasing environmental concerns,
mean that only about 200 visitors reach the Ross Sea each year – but once there they
are rewarded with spectacular views and Neogene to present-day volcanoes.
Tourism, and consequently geotourism,
can never become
mainstream activities in Antarctica
due to the continent’s remote ness,
extreme weather and the dark ness
during the winter months (March to
September). There are also in creasing
concerns about human-induced
damage to fragile ecosystems and the
accidental introduction of alien life.
Because of the relatively short
– albeit often notoriously rough –
crossing from South America, the
Antarctic Peninsula is the most visited
region. In contrast, the Ross Sea has
far fewer visitors as it is a long week’s
sailing through the inevitably even
more stormy seas of the Southern
Ocean, from Bluff at the far southern
point of New Zealand or from Hobart
in Tasmania. Furthermore, since ice
is inescapable in the Ross Sea, icestrengthened
ships are mandatory.
These vessels are much smaller than
the cruise ships that visit the Antarctic
Peninsula and as they have shallow,
non-stabilised hulls, they roll in cross
winds. This results in an often all too
lively ship, as the wind almost always
blows from the west: we ‘enjoyed’ 70
knot-plus gusts. No wonder the latitudes
south of the 60th parallel are often
referred to as the ‘Screaming Sixties’.
In all, about 200 visitors reach the
Ross Sea each year, although some
never actually achieve their landing
destinations on Ross Island and
mainland Antarctica due to sea ice
and/or poor weather. Our trip was
organised by Heritage Expeditions and
led by the company’s founder, Rodney
Russ. It began at Bluff with landings on
the way south at the Auckland Islands
and Macquarie Island and on the
return trip at Campbell Island (see the
online extended version of this article
on geoexpro.com for a description
of the geology of these islands) with
disembarkation at Lyttleton, near
Christchurch in New Zealand.
As the first draft of this paper is
begun (25 February 2015), the air
temperature off Cape Evans (Ross
Island) is -18° C, which with the wind
chill equates to about -40° C – and
yet this was still summer. The wind is
lifting wreaths of freezing mist from
the sea and thick rime coats the ship.
No landings are possible. With a water
temperature approaching -2° C new
ice is rapidly forming, but for now it
is being broken up by the wind, but
the sea will quickly freeze over for the
season once the winds drop. Mount
Erebus is enshrouded in cloud, but the
bases of the glaciers descending from
its sides are periodically visible, as are
statuesque clumps of Adélie penguins
and dozing Weddell seals.
Bryce Lewis
78 GEOExPro November 2015