Saturday, January 07
Drake Passage

Drake Passage- Our education program and lecture series wraps up. Weather conditions permitting, we'll sail around famous Cape Horn! This evening we arrive back to the Beagle Channel. Tonight we celebrate our expedition with a Farewell dinner & special presentations.

JOURNALS for Saturday (Updated 11:30 am EST)

Geoff Green

Hello from Cape Horn!

As I write this we are sailing around the infamous Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America. These stromy waters are really a graveyard of sailors from the hundreds of ships that never made it around Cape Horn in the last few centuries. The seabirds are out in greater numbers today with lots of Wandering Albatross, Giant Petrels, Black-browed Albatross, Wilson Storm Petrels, and Cape Petrels following the ship. Our education program concludes today with some final presentations and workshops. The students are also busy writing letters to themselves which will be sealed and returned to them in one year's time so that can reflect on their thoughts and feelings from the Antarctic Expedition. Tonight as we arrive to the Beagle Channel we have some special activities and festivities planned to celebrate our journey!! Tomorrow morning we arrive back to Ushuaia, Argentina, where we will sadly say farewell to our great expedition vessel and crew from Quark Expeditions. Luckily, we still have a few more days together, including a full day excursion into the mountains of Tierra del Fuego! So please stay tuned for more updates later today and tomorrow as our journey concludes. We'll be posting the Youth Impressions document and other outcomes from the expedition, as well as more photos and student journals...

I do want to take this chance to sincerely thank the partners and sponsors that really help make Students on Ice a reality, and who have helped to make this dream a reality for the students on the 2005/06 Antarctic Expedition. These organizations and individuals are helping to inspire a future generation of stewards for this planet, and that more than anything is cause for hope. Thank you from all of us a Students on Ice!!!!!

• BFI Canada
• Canadian Geographic
• Canadian Committee for Antarctic Research
• Canadian Museum of Nature
• Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs
• Earth Rangers
• The Explorer's Club
• EYES Project
• I-Lead Program, Bank Street College, NYC
• International Polar Year Youth Committee
• L'Actualite Magazine
• LAN Airline
• Lonely Planet
• Mission Antarctique
• One-Tonne Challenge
• People to People
• Podium Audio Visual
• QUARK Expeditions
• Royal Canadian Geographic Society
• Rumbo Sur
• Mr. Harold Snyder
• Mr. Brian Snyder
• Stephen R. Bronfman Foundation
• Tree Canada Foundation
• Technopol Maritime du Quebec
• Telus
• Walter and Duncan Gordan Foundation

With awe and wonder,

Geoff

JOURNALS for Saturday (Updated 11:00 pm EST)

A Psalm of Life

Tell me not in mournful numbers
Life is but an empty dream
For the soul is dead that slumbers
And things are not what they seem

Life is real - life is earnest
And the grave is not its goal
Dust thou art to dust returneth
Was not spoken of the soul

Art is long and time is fleeting
And our heart's thou stout and brave
Still like muffled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave

In the world's broad field of battle
In the bivouac of life
Be not like dumb driven cattle
Be a hero in the strife

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints in the sands of time

Footprints that perhaps another
Sailing o'er life's solemn main
A forlorn and ship-wrecked brother
Seeing shall take heart again

Let us then be up and doing
With a heart for any fate
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labor and to wait!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Peggy Armstrong

Hoorah for the Drake! She decided to give us "a lake" both ways. We are still rolling a bit. While sitting here typing this, if I look out the window, one second I see all water, and the next second it is all sky! A low key, wind down day. Stepped outside this morning, and saw 4 black-browed Albatrosses, a beautiful Wandering albatross, and a Sooty albatross, all floating over the swells together. A beautiful sight, only seen on the Southern ocean. We'll be landing in Ushuaia about 0700 tomorrow, then we get to see more of the area, via hiking and a Land Rover tour!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at home, but at the same time, will hate to part with the people with whom we have shared this experience. Lots of reflection today, especially re the changes that seem apparent to the world's climate, and how we all need to be a vehicle for change.

See ya' soon Peggy Armstrong.

Paul VanZant

As we make our way towards Ushuaia and the end of our voyage, I feel the need to put down some thoughts on what has been a truly amazing experience. For me this has been the fulfillment of a lifetime dream, inspired by the tales of Cook, Shackleton, Amundson and Scott. Today we travel in comfort, as "tourists" rather than explorers, and know not the incredible hardships these individuals were forced to overcome. Yet in many ways this too has been a voyage of discovery for many of us - a chance to do some "geography through the soles of our feet" and to find out a little more about ourselves and the impacts of human society on one of the remote points on the planet.

You can lose visual perspective in the Antarctic, for there is no point of reference; no scale with which to compare the icebergs, the mountains, the headlands in the distance. The immensity of it all is overwhelming - it leaves you feeling small and insignificant. And yet, it also helps you to gain a sense of perspective as well, to get you to really think about your place in the world. In many ways it forces you to consider man's place in the world and the detrimental effects "civilization" is having on this earth. It can make you frustrated, bitter, even cynical about the future.

But then . . .

You start to see the world through the eyes of our youth, the remarkable group of young people with whom you have made this journey. The parents and teachers of these young people should be very proud of the children they have nurtured and raised. They are some of the most inquisitive, passionate, committed kids I have had the pleasure to share time with. Not only have they embraced the Students on Ice philosophy, they have taken the first steps toward making a difference in this world. Many speak harshly of today' s youth - they don't care about anything; they are disrespectful; they are egocentric. When speaking in such generalities, it is easy to find an example to prove one's point. But recognize also that they are the minority, not the norm. And recognize that the problems that our youth will face in the future - the effects of pollution, global climate change, the global AIDS pandemic, poverty and social injustice to name a few - were not theirs, they were inherited. It will take a tremendous level of awareness, leadership, and commitment to navigate the world of the future. But I am confident, even optimistic. For I have spent time with the leaders of tomorrow, and know that the earth is in good hands.

I will return to my classroom on Wednesday rejuvenated, inspired, energized. For that I wish to thank a number of people. To my wife Susan and my children Laura and Ben, who have kept the home fires burning while I have been gone - thanks for your support while Dad is off pursuing his dream. All my love. Ben, Laura, your time will come, much sooner than I am yet willing to admit. To the Education team, my fellow chaperones, but most of all the students; I can't express to you how much I have enjoyed spending time with you all. Continue to follow your dreams; kindle your passions; reach for the stars.

Finally to Geoff and Diz: you are truly amazing. The opportunities that you provide, your enthusiasm, your "positive karma" inspire me! "Right on!

Best wishes, Paul