DESTINATIONS ANTARCTICA | CRUISE


Southern exposure


Sue Bryant channels her inner explorer with an Antarctica cruise on Hurtigruten’s new hybrid-powered ship


w travelweekly.co.uk


atching the sea freeze is a curious sensation. I stood on my balcony under midnight Antarctic skies and a bright


half-moon watching circles of ice, called pancakes, slowly merge together. In between them the black water was gradually


taking on the texture of slush. My ship, Hurtigruten’s Roald Amundsen, nudged across the bay so quietly I could hear the ice gently knocking against the hull. The brand-new Roald Amundsen should be quiet. It’s


the world’s first hybrid-powered expedition ship, named after the Norwegian explorer who, in 1911, beat Scott to the South Pole. I joined its first voyage in Antarctica to check out its green credentials, which are impressive. Two enormous banks of batteries cut fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 20%. This doesn’t mean it sails silently, but the batteries do ensure the engines run at maximum efficiency. Computer-controlled ‘dynamic positioning’ meant


we didn’t once drop anchor in Antarctica. Waste water is processed to the extent that it’s drinkable – although nobody was offering to try. The laundry bags are made from upcycled hotel sheets, and crew uniforms from repurposed plastic collected by Spanish fishermen. In a recent review, more than 70 types of single-use plastic were ditched.


PASSAGE TO ANTARCTICA A few days previously, we’d picked our way through the glacier-strewn fjords off the tip of Chile, heading out into the feared open sea of the Drake Passage, 500 miles of water between South America and Antarctica. After a bumpy night, I woke to steely skies and scudding clouds, huge waves breaking over themselves. I downed a seasickness pill and distracted myself by watching the magnificent birds surrounding the ship – giant petrels and graceful wandering albatross, the latter with wingspans of up to eight feet.


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