Antarctica Reading

While the bulk of the book is concerned with the seabirds and marine mammals that one may see, there are several pages on the plants, invertebrates and fish. In addition, there are a dozen pages on the history of human discovery and exploitation of Antarctica..

Tony Soper was a co-founder of the BBC’s Natural History Unit and made many wildlife films. In recent years he has led a large number of expedition cruises to Antarctica and is an authority on its wildlife. Dafila Scott is a zoologist and a member of Britain’s Society of Wildlife Artists. She would seem to be the ideal person to illustrate this book, being the daughter of Sir Peter Scott, whose skills with a paint brush she has inherited, and is a grand-daughter of Captain Scott – “Scott of the Antarctic”. If you take only one book with you, it may well be this one.

The text is detailed and very informative, and the illustrations consist of colour photos, nearly all of outstanding quality. There are also smaller chapters dealing with subjects such as the physical nature of Antarctica, especially ice, the terrestrial and marine ecosystems, the politics of Antarctica, and the threats to its conservation, from whaling to global warming and the possible introduction of alien species. There is no section devoted to history, but there’s plenty of interesting historical information in the descriptions of the visitor sites.

Both authors are zoologists who have made numerous visits to Antarctica in the course of research expeditions with the Australian and New Zealand Antarctic programmes, as well as lecturing on and leading many Antarctic cruises. This book could be your ideal companion if you only want to take one.

Reviewer’s note.
These two books cover similar ground, but are also quite different. Both are essentially concerned very largely with the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands, although the small maps in Soper & Scott indicate the birds’ breeding distribution over a wider area. They also feature more species of birds and cetaceans than Carey & Franklin, but the latter give more details about the make-up of the continent, and include information about the places where people are most likely to go ashore. It’s hard to say which is the better, so our verdict is to award them equal praise. The choice will probably depend on your preference for photos or artwork in a field guide.

What subjects does this book cover? Pretty well everything, and there can hardly be a question about Antarctica that is not answered here. These include occasional snippets of fascinating information, such as the news that Amundsen, who invariably seems stern and un-smiling in photographs, was in reality “a charming man of self-deprecating humour”. Now, that’s nice to know, and so is the fact that Adelie penguins are able to travel up to 300 kilometres (190 miles) from their nesting sites in search of food.

David McGonigal is an Australian travel writer and photographer with a passion for the polar regions. Co-author Dr Lynn Woodworth is a biologist with a doctorate in genetics. Originally from Canada, she now lives in Australia and has visited Antarctica and the Arctic many times.

Their book is fairly bulky, and you may not want to lug it along on your cruise, but either before your cruise or when you return home you will certainly want to consult it, and at the same time bring back memories of your cruise, for many years afterwards. We hope it will remain in print for a long time.

This simple but highly practical guidebook is the first to cover Antarctica. Trotter deals with all the necessary information, such as how and when to get there, what to expect, what to bring (suggesting dry suits instead of wet), what wildlife you are likely to see, and underwater photography in the region. She warns that this is a challenging environment, where there are no hyperbaric chambers, and is no place for the inexperienced diver.

The heart of the book consists of detailed descriptions of 27 dive sites in the Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia. In each case there is a location map, and information on depth, ice, and what you may see. These pages are copiously illustrated with photos.

The author also mentions some of the hazards. Around South Georgia fur seals can be very numerous and inquisitive, and the males are very territorial in the breeding season, so care should be taken at that time. The other species which may be a problem is the leopard seal. There was one fatality in 2005, but Shona Muir of the British Antarctic Survey says that the occurrence was most unusual, and that if the diver is vigilant, and does not panic, all should be well.

This subject is also addressed by Swedish diver Göran Ehlmé in a fascinating account of his experiences in which he developed “a kind of love affair with the species.” One summer, he says, a large female leopard seal “liked to keep me company while I was filming other seals, and would often tickle my neck with her whiskers. Once she started to kill penguins for me, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 a day, surrounding me with their poor carcases, but thankfully she eventually lost interest in that, and continued only being an observer.” Not many of us are likely to have such close encounters .... but what an experience!

Lisa Trotter hails from upstate New York. She graduated with a degree in health education and human biology, but after a radical career change went to sea on the National Geographic Endeavour of Lindblad Expeditions, where she has worked as an undersea specialist, divemaster, and expedition leader. Scuba divers will welcome this essential source-book, while armchair divers will also learn much about Antarctica’s underwater realm.

This is the place from where Nathaniel Palmer may have been the first man to set eyes on the continent of Antarctica for the first time in 1820. It became the centre of an enormous whaling operation early in the 20th century, and Hubert Wilkins took off from Deception Island in 1928 on a 10-hour surveying and mapping flight that was the first in Antarctica.

Hall’s stay could have been a nightmare. “There were times when I sat bracing up the tent against the howling wind when I felt the island was trying to throw me off its back,” he writes. But his short stay proved to be a remarkable adventure which he recounts with insight and enthusiasm. His story is matched with many splendid photographs, including an extraordinary one of an Antarctic tern in flight about to swallow a krill, and an even more miraculous one of an Antarctic prion and a blue petrel flying close together while perfectly exhibiting the diagnostic features that enable birdwatchers to tell them apart. Besides the photos, there are 16 of his equally lovely paintings.

Peter Hall had to work hard to get permission for his stay, but it was well deserved, and those who acquire this book will be well rewarded – among them those who have been staff members on expedition cruises to these parts, and have visited Deception often. They will certainly envy him his good fortune, and applaud the good use he has made of the opportunity.