Diary of a Journey under the World – Part 3 – On Latitudes

David travelled aboard the magnificent Le Commandant Charcot by PONANT Cruises earlier this year on a half circumnavigation trip from Ushuaia, Argentina to New Zealand and what follows are his notes and highlights of a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica in 2023.

David Heydon has been many things, nominated for Australian of the Year in 2016, the 2012 recipient of the Moore Medal, and a deep seabed mining pioneer. Most days David would be one of the expert naturalist guides aboard a ship, but today he is a guest on the Le Commandant Charcot. 

David is an expedition cruising veteran, one who is uniquely specialized in the Polar. His extensive geological knowledge provides welcome insight into these regions’ many fjords and glaciers. 

Day 5

David has made it across the Drake, and subsequently has encountered the first Icebergs of the trip. Antarctica now acts as a snow-white background to accompany dinner.

You might be wondering: it looks a little too bright for dinner! Well, in the Antarctic Circle there is a nearly continuous 24-hours of sunlight each day during Summer. The Antarctic Circle is actually defined by the line of latitude where the sun is above the horizon for this continuous 24-hours, this would be on the solstice in December. If it was Winter, this would instead be a 24-hours of complete darkness during the June solstice. 

This also means that the Antarctic Circle is changing constantly, albeit only by about 15-metres or so each year. Earth has a certain tilt, angled between 22.5 degrees and 24.5 degrees. It wobbles between these tilt axis. This affects the position of the Antarctic Circle, as it slightly adjusts the angle the suns light hits those previously mentioned specific points. 

Right now David says it is at about 23.5 degrees, with a few calculations he determines the latitude of the Antarctic Circle is currently 66.5618455709 – but tomorrow it will be slightly different. 

David finishes the bright evening to scenes of whales breaching in the Antarctic channel, with a soft layer of snow flurries covering the deck of the Charcot….

continued in Part 4 coming soon…