SNOW Alps 25-26 web - Flipbook - Page 110
such as Amundsen and Shackleton strapped on wooden planks
to chase the edge of the map. For many, the chase still is the
prize. “I’ll be back again because this place calls my name in a
way no other place ever has for me,” said Davenport.
Since we’re on the numbers, I just had to ask.
Generously invited for a looksee round the bridge of SH
Vega, Captain Lyubomir Garciyanov tells me he’s stopped
counting how many times he’s crossed the fearsome Drake
Passage. And I believe him. With a maritime career approaching
35 years, he introduces me, in reassuringly human terms, to the
NASA-worthy spread of high-tech engineering that navigates
the Earth’s icy final frontier. Amidst the calm enclosure that is
the nerve centre of the $115 million ship, two young men stand
sentry, eyes to the horizon, on continual watch for hazards –
primarily icebergs. My next question hangs unspoken in the air.
In case of catastrophic failure, Captain Lubo explains, the
110
vessel can do 1,500 nautical miles unassisted. She holds 50
days’ worth of fuel in reserve. Safe return to port is his numberone priority. Still, no one can accuse him of not showing his
passengers a good time.
Heading for port, halfway through our two-day return Drake
crossing – Captain Lubo’s umpteenth – he suddenly slows the
engines, and dreamily the ship spins from north to south in a
long languorous loop. Beside us a pod of 18 pilot whales dive and
breach in the calm waters, as a Zodiac quickly speeds out to join
them. Equipped with a hydrophone, expedition leader Brendan
records their salty afternoon chitchat – an otherworldly
soundtrack played for the after-dinner entertainment of a ship
full of Antarctic converts.
That creative donut manoeuvre – a first for Captain Lubo,
and certainly for every other soul onboard SH Vega – captured
in a cup the Swan Hellenic experience. Singular encounters:
