ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS
Tourism Industry |
Brief news items on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic
non-government expedition activities.
ANAN 59
Wednesday, 14 November 2001
News in this edition:
59-01. South Sandwich, South Georgia, operations planned by ham group.
59-02. Monitoring and heritage programs to continue at Port Lockroy.
59-03. Proposed Indian Ocean sub-Antarctic tour voyage confirmed.
59-04. 2003 eclipse overflight 'definitely' planned.
59-05. 'Pelagic II' construction imminent, investors sought.
59-06. New group to promote interest in South Georgia issues.
59-07. Site guide for Falkland Islands' visitor sites available.
59-08. New 'all-round' book on Antarctica released.
59-09. Coming Events Relevant to Non-Government Activities.
SOUTH SANDWICH, SOUTH GEORGIA, OPERATIONS PLANNED BY HAM GROUP
[ANAN-59/01]
The ham radio group that has chartered the New Zealand registered vessel 'Braveheart' for part of the 2001-02 season is planning to conduct operations from a site in the South Sandwich Islands as well as South Georgia early next year (ANAN-48/04, 6 June 2001). The group, which has received permission from the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands for the operation, is understood to be hoping to make in excess of 100,000 contacts with ham operators around the world in the second half of January and early February.
'Braveheart', which visited the Ross Sea earlier this year (ANAN-41/05, 14 February 2001), is expected to leave New Zealand some time this month and travel via Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific to Ushuaia, Argentina, then on to Stanley in the Falkland Islands. The twelve ham operators involved, who are understood to be from Canada, Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States, are to assemble in Stanley in the first half of January in the lead up to their voyage, and leave there on 'Braveheart' for island operations around the middle of that month.
Information currently available indicates that the group will operate from the former manager's villa at the old Husvik whaling station on the central north coast of South Georgia for about a week commencing 18 January. After completing activities at Husvik, 'Braveheart' is to depart there on 25 January for the island of Southern Thule some 500 km to the southeast, near the southern end of the South Sandwich Islands chain. They may use the refuge hut there for another period of ham operations between 28 January and 3 February.
Transit time for the ship from Stanley to South Georgia is put at around four days, from there to Southern Thule three days, and back to Stanley from Southern Thule around five days. As always, the timing will depend on the weather encountered, especially when the vessel is travelling westwards into what is normally the prevailing wind and sea on the voyage back to Stanley. 'Braveheart' is currently expected back at the Falkland Island capital sometime around 8 February.
It is believed that several members of the Braveheart operation have been involved in similar operations on three other sub-Antarctic islands over the past seven years. These include Campbell Island south of New Zealand in January 1999, when 'Braveheart' was the expedition vessel, Heard Island in the South Indian Ocean during January 1997, and Peter I Island in the far southeast Pacific in February 1994.
Monitoring and heritage programs are to continue at Port Lockroy in the Antarctic Peninsula region in 2001-02 for the sixth straight austral summer. The historic UK station, which is operated over summer by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) with guidance from the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) and the British government, was derelict until a UKAHT survey in 1994-95 led to a decision to save and conserve the buildings. A major restoration and clean up program was undertaken the following season (February 1996) and the facility has been operated each summer since then.
Three BAS personnel are scheduled to operate the facility over a three-and-a-half-month period, with arrival expected on the RRS 'James Clark Ross' on 29 November and departure on the RRS 'Ernest Shackleton' on 16 March. During their stay the party will welcome visitors to the base, operate the Post Office there, and carry out further maintenance work on the buildings. They will also continue a long-term environmental monitoring program whose aim is to determine whether or not large numbers of visitors cause any discernible impact on the breeding success of the resident population of gentoo penguins (ANAN-3/09, 1 September 1999).
The trio involved are: Antarctic heritage expert Dave Burkitt, who returns for his sixth season as Project Leader after a break spent lecturing onboard Antarctic tour ships earlier this year; another Antarctic veteran, Kenn Back, leader of the Lockroy team last austral summer; and Jo Hardy, who has previously worked for the UK program at Halley and Rothera stations.
BAS told ANAN earlier this month that additional important historic artefacts will be on display at Lockroy this year. They include a 'clandestine' 1944 radio transmitter, an operational B-28 radio receiver, 'HMV' gramophone, scientific equipment from the 1950s, wooden skis purchased from the Grytviken Whaling Station Stores, South Georgia, in 1957, and an Antarctic Ski Club jacket. The Antarctic Ski Club was founded at Port Lockroy on 21 December 1956.
According to figures collated by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and the United States National Science Foundation (NSF), Lockroy was the most popular Antarctic tourist site in five of the nine austral summers from 1992-2001; a period in which almost 42,000 people are believed to have visited the site. During the record 'Millennium' season of 1999-2000 there were almost 8,000 visitors (ANAN-28/04, 16 August 2000), however, IAATO/NSF data for 2000-01 indicate that numbers fell some twenty-seven per cent to 5,726. Last season, Whalers Bay on Deception Island, with just over 7,000 visitors, took over as the 'most visited' site for the first time since the 1994-95 season.
A new visitors guide that outlines the historic significance of Port Lockroy has recently been published by BAS. It will be distributed free of charge to station visitors during the coming season.
New Zealand based tour operator Heritage Expeditions has confirmed that its plans to conduct a voyage to French and Australian sub-Antarctic islands in the Indian Ocean in November-December 2002 using its forty-six-passenger vessel 'Akademic Shokalskiy' (ANAN-54/06, 29 August 2001).
'Shokalskiy' is scheduled to leave Mauritius on 14 November 2002, travel first to Iles Crozet, and then visit Heard, Kerguelen, Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands, before arriving at Albany in the southwest of Australia on 14 December. Heritage told ANAN last week that it is preparing the necessary environmental impact assessments for the visits for consideration by French and Australian authorities.
'Shokalskiy' is to travel directly to Mauritius from its home port of Vladivostok, Russia, in the lead up to the 2002-03 season; a distance similar to its normal pre-season positioning voyage from there to Bluff, New Zealand. After arriving in Albany in mid-December, the vessel is to re-position to Hobart, Australia, from where it will commence its normal round of tour voyages to the sub-Antarctic islands south of New Zealand and the Ross Sea region of Antarctica.
Tourists may also visit sub-Antarctic islands in the Indian Ocean sector via the annual austral-summer voyages of the French-national-program vessel 'Marion Dufrense', although it does not visit Heard Island on a regular basis (ANAN-7/05, 27 October 1999).
Australian company Croydon Travel, which has operated half-day tourist overflights of East Antarctica since 1994, says that it is "definitely planning" to operate a flight to observe the eclipse of the sun that is due to occur over the coast of Queen Mary Land on 24 November 2003. The tour ship 'Kapitan Khlebnikov' is also planning to be in the eclipse area around that time as part of a four-week voyage that is being offered to eclipse enthusiasts and general tourists (ANAN-57/02, 24 October 2001).
Croydon Travel, which usually charters aircraft operated by the Australian airline Qantas for the overflights, told ANAN that they have been discussing the 2003 flight with numerous 'eclipse chasers' over the last two years and that they "already have many potential participants listed" for the event. Plans call for the flight to depart Perth, Australia, late on the evening of 23 November 2003 so that the aircraft is in position near Russia's Mirny station for the early morning local-time event the next day.
After the eclipse ends, the flight is to undertake normal overflight Antarctic sightseeing. Coastal areas along the 2,000km-strip from China's Zhong Shan station in the Larsemann Hills of Princess Elizabeth Land in the west, to Australia's Casey Station on the coast of Wilkes Land in the east, could be overflown. The exact post-eclipse sightseeing area will depend on just where the best ground-viewing conditions are on the day. The aircraft will return to Perth at the end of what is expected to be a twelve- to fourteen-hour flight.
Costings for the flight have yet to be finalised but tickets are expected to start at around $US700 ex Perth with premiums applying to those who wish to have window seats during the actual time of the eclipse. Registration for the flight can be made via E-mail to: Ant@croydontravel.com.au. Final cost details are expected to be available by March 2002.
Croydon conducted the first East Antarctic overflight of the 2001-02 season on 4 November, up to six more being scheduled over the next two-and-a-half months (ANAN-52/06, 1 August 2001). Over the past six years, more than 20,000 passengers and 1,200 crew members have flown on the overflights over East Antarctic coastal regions between Russia's Mirny station in Wilhelm II Land in the west and the Cape Washington area of Victoria Land (ANAN-42/09, 28 February 2001).
UK company Pelagic Expeditions is continuing with its plans to build and operate a second expedition yacht in the South American sector of Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic. Detail design work is currently underway on the new craft, 'Pelagic II', with construction likely to commence sometime in the next few months. Investors are still being sought for the project.
Plans call for the new yacht to be 22.5 m long, have a beam of 5.9 m, and up wind and downwind sail areas of 264 and 414 square metres respectively. Its aluminium hull and deck structure have been designed to withstand navigation in brash ice, while a fully ballasted lifting swing-keel and swing-rudder will allow her to navigate in unsurveyed shallows and be able to dry out with the tide in an upright position.
A plan has been prepared for the first decade of the new yacht's operations. It indicates that the yacht will be working in Patagonia, the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc region each austral summer as Pelagic's current craft, 'Pelagic I', has done for the past twelve years (ANAN-58/09, 7 November 2001). Unlike the present yacht, however, the plan calls for the new vessel to travel to the northern hemisphere for the summer there, where it could make two, thirty-day, fixed itineraries in areas around Iceland, Greenland and Spitzbergen from June to September, before returning south for the austral summer.
As a two-hemisphere operation is planned, 'Pelagic II' has been designed to be fast enough under sail and power to traverse the length of the Atlantic between seasons, with transit speeds of ten knots being normal. 'Pelagic I' would continue to operate only in southern waters as it has done for over a decade, and would take any overflow in business from the new craft or be used where a smaller vessel may be needed.
The Principal of Pelagic Expeditions, Skip Novak, who has been working on the 'Pelagic II' project for a number of years (ANAN-7/11, 27 October 1999), has received partial or completed tenders from five builders, based on preliminary specifications and drawings. Detailed design work is now proceeding and the company hopes that construction of its new vessel will commence sometime in the next few months.
Full details of the 'Pelagic II' are available on the company's web site at: http://www.pelagic.co.uk/
A new non-government group, to be called 'The South Georgia Association' (SGA), is to be established next month to encourage interest in sub-Antarctic South Georgia and the conservation of its natural and cultural heritage. The Island, which is administered for the UK by a Commissioner based in Stanley in the Falkland Islands, is regarded by many as a place of unique and exceptional natural beauty, attributes that in recent years have attracted increasing interest from tourists and adventure seekers alike.
The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) manages the land and sea areas that make up both island groups. In recent years it has funded the development of a management plan for South Georgia, and research is under way there on tourism, rat eradication and other management issues (ANAN-35/09, 22 November 2000), while a new system for vetting adventure activities was introduced last year (ANAN-36/07, 6 December 2000).
GSGSSI is also responsible for fisheries management in the 320-km management zone around South Georgia. It funds the operation of the new fisheries research facility that was established at King Edward Point, South Georgia, last February by the UK national program (ANAN-43/04, 28 February 2001).
Those involved in setting up the SGA say that membership will be open to "anyone who shares our affection and concern for South Georgia and wishes to follow developments there". They wish to encourage contacts and fellowship among those who have lived and worked on the Island, have visited there, or who have an interested in it.
The SGA's constitution is expected to be adopted at a meeting planned for London in the UK on 14 December. Regular meetings of the association are envisaged in Britain throughout each year with visits to organisations, ships or sites of South Georgia interest being proposed. A twice yearly newsletter, which is to contain the latest news on the Island as well as features on its history, wildlife and other topics, is also planned.
News reports indicate that the founder members of the SGA include three former Governors of the Falkland Islands, Sir Rex Hunt, David Tatham and William Fullerton. The Governor of the Falklands also holds the position of Commissioner for South Georgia.
Others mentioned as being involved include: researcher Professor John Croxall; Robert Burton, former director of the South Georgia Whaling Museum; Alexandra Shackleton, grand-daughter of Sir Ernest Shackleton; Falkland Island resident and South Georgia researcher Sally Poncet (ANAN-35/09, 22 November 2000); Stephen Palmer, the former Canon of Christchurch Cathedral at Stanley in the Falkland Islands; yacht operator Skip Novak (ANAN-58/09, 7 November 2001 and ANAN-59/05 preceding); current South Georgia residents Pat and Sarah Lurcock; and Shackleton devotee Trevor Potts (ANAN-46/05, 9 May 2001).
Membership of the SGA is expected to cost around $US25 a year or $US75 for a five-year subscription. Enquiries about the new association, and the 14 December meeting, can be sent to Membership Secretary, Stephen Palmer, at stephen.palmer@fish.co.uk.
What is being marketed as the "first-ever practical high quality handbook" written to promote eco-tourism in the Falkland Islands is to go on sale in the UK on 14 November. Around 3,500 tourists are expected to visit a number of locations around the Islands during the 2001-02 austral summer on the way to or from Antarctica (see ANAN-58/03, 7 November 2001). Ten times that number make similar day excursions there from much larger, non-Antarctic, cruise vessels.
Written by Falkland Islander Debbie Summers of Falklands Conservation, 'A Visitor's Guide to the Falkland Islands' provides details of the Islands' top fifteen tourist visitor sites in a similar manner and format to the now well established 'The Oceanites Site Guide to the Antarctic Peninsula' (ANAN-10/05, 8 December 1999). A map is provided of each site listed, together with information on wildlife, geological features, nature trails, and details of how visitors can avoid disturbance and environmental damage.
In launching the book, Summers said that her research had found that "many visitors" to the Islands were "generally unaware of environmental conditions and often lacked essential information" about the places they were visiting. She emphasised to ANAN, however, that in her experience this did not tend to apply to the smaller ships, as passengers on them were generally well briefed and supervised.
Ms Summers also said that the Falkland's "wildlife and unspoiled landscapes are the biggest reasons to visit the Falkland Islands" and that the Guide is aimed at "showing how tourism and conservation can work together", something she says that "is vitally important particularly as tourist demand increases".
Enquiries about the new guide, which retails at around $US15, can be directed via e-mail to Falklands Conservation at info@falklands-nature.demon.co.uk. The handbook has the ISBN of 0-9538371-1-4 and is published by Quetzal Communications.
A new large-format publication that is claimed by the publishers to be the "single most comprehensive book ever produced about Antarctica", was released in Australasia and North America late last month. Around a tenth of the book is devoted to the Arctic in order, say the authors, to "provide a thorough polar overview".
The new publication is currently only available in Australasia and North America, being published in the former as 'Antarctica the Complete Story' (ISBN 1-865-035-416) and in the latter as 'Antarctica and the Arctic - a complete encyclopedia' (ISBN 1-555-297-5452).
Prime authors of the 608-page volume are Lynn Woodworth and David McGonigal who have visited the Antarctica Peninsula and Ross Sea regions many times since 1994 as guides on tour ships. They have also taken part in several tourist day-overflights of East Antarctica from Australia and have visited various parts of the Arctic. Woodworth is a conservation geneticist and McGonigal a geographer who in recent years has made his name as a photographer. Lynn wrote most of the sections on biology and David those on history and geography, while a number of other authors, including Sir Edmund Hillary who wrote the introduction, contributed smaller information pieces.
The book is produced in a large format, sells for around $US60, and weighs in at just under four kilograms. It has eighty maps and over 1,000 photographs, many of them taken by McGonigal. The first edition comes in a presentation box and is accompanied by a CD which has all the images contained in the book, plus others that are not available in printed form.
Australasian publisher is The Five Mile Press of Melbourne, Australia, and Firefly Books of Toronto, Canada, is responsible for the North American release. It is also available for purchase on line at Amazon.com. E-mail enquiries about the book can be directed to: firefly@globalserve.net (North America), info@fivemile.com.au (Australasia), or to David McGonigal at davidmcg@davidmcgonigal.com.au.
COMING EVENTS RELEVANT TO NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES
[ANAN-59/09]
Please forward notice of events via e-mail to: tourism@aad.gov.au. Up-dates are made to ANAN's web site at http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/Research/BibConf/Confer/default.asp as soon as new information comes to hand.
YEAR 2001
14 December (London, U.K.)
Inaugural meeting of the South Georgia Association.
Contact: stephen.palmer@fish.co.uk.
YEAR 2002
4-11 January (South Geographic Pole)
High Plateau Marathon.
Contact: general@adventure-network.com
2 March (King George Island, Antarctica)
Fifth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan).
Last week of June [Dates/location to be set] (Europe).
IAATO year 2002 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
15-26 July (Shanghai, China).
XXVII SCAR (Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research).
15-26 July (Shanghai, China)
COMNAP XIV (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).
3-14 September (Warsaw, Poland)
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXV
YEAR 2003
July [Dates to be set] (Seattle, United States).
IAATO year 2003 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
23 November (Queen Mary and Dronning Maud Land regions).
Total solar eclipse (See ANAN-3/08, 1 September 1999).
Next edition issued on Wednesday, 21 November 2001 @ 0600 UTC.
Deadline for items: Sunday, 18 November 2001 @ 2359 UTC.
ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS (ANAN)
ANAN's aim is to provide a periodic summary of non-government activities in Antarctica. It is prepared from contributions from company, governmental, academic and private individuals with an interest in this area of endeavour on or around the southern-most continent.
EDITOR: Dave Moser (David.Moser@aad.gov.au).
POSTAL: Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia 7054
TELEPHONE: +61-3-6232-3347 (2200-0600 UTC).
FACSIMILE: +61-3-6232-3357.
RESEARCH/WRITING: Martin Betts (Martin.Betts@aad.gov.au)
TELEPHONE/FACSIMILE: +61-3-6267-4790 (2200-1100 UTC).
FACSIMILE: +61-3-6232-3500.