Meet me at Half Moon Island, Antarctica

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Find the Insta Reel HERE to see amazing footage of Half Moon Island

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The year I went to Antarctica, I was one of 42,711 people who walked on the frozen continent. That was in 2018.

This season, there will likely be none. With the global pandemic ranging, it’s hard to imagine flying to another country, boarding a ship, and then disembarking on a continent which is the only one on the planet that remains Covid-free.

IAATO, or the The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, is a non-profit alliance of tourism operators that monitors and keeps track of all the tourist activity for the entire Antarctic region. If you go to their website, IAATO.Org, you can see in stunning detail each and every footstep on the continent, because it is all tracked: By nationality, by location and duration and, in some cases, by precise activity. While they don’t govern any tourism, they do keep track of it. And they have been making COVID statements regularly.

Going to Antarctica this year seems like an impossible task….and potentially also very irresponsible. 

Antarctica is much bigger than tourism, even though that’s what most people think about, after penguins that is. You see, December 1st marks the anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, which was first signed in 1959, by 48 different countries. Notably, Russia and the US signed this Treaty together, despite the Cold War otherwise raging between these two nations. 

It’s the only continent entirely dedicated to peace and science. 

Since we’re doing everything virtually this year, from birthdays, to funerals, to graduations, let’s then also celebrate Antarctica virtually. 

This episode brings you along for the ultimate social distancing walk, on Half Moon Island, part of the South Shetland Islands, part of an archipelago of islands off the Antarctic Peninsula, just about arms distance from  the continent of Antarctica. 

It’s also where  the group that I was with, as podcaster-in-residence, on the second journey of Homeward Bound, took our first steps on the frozen continent.

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Thank you to the following:

Dr Helen Corney,  Dr Marie Clarke,  Mel White,  Dr Rececca Doyle,  Alice Ruhweza,   Purvi Gupta,  Xuehua  Zhang,  Nina Earl,  Dr Justine Shaw,  Sarah Anderson,  and Dr Julieta Pedrana. 

Also a shoutout to Fabian Dattner and the whole Homeward Bound team, who made this journey possible.

And to Kolya Salter for his help in mixing and mastering this episode.

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