Ornithology lecturer Ken Wright's yells from the forward lounge of the M/V Explorer startled us all. We left our tea and books. We grabbed our binoculars and cameras. Despite the sign on the nearest door that read Emergency Use Only, we sensed unspoken permission and poured onto the foredeck.
Above us, passengers on the bridge had also seen the solitary emperor penguin and alerted Captain Paul Heslop, who was navigating through an avenue of skyscraper-high, tabletop icebergs floating in the Weddell Sea off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The captain immediately changed direction to manoeuvre the 76-metre-long ship around the tiny room-sized floe. While we stampeded from bow to stern, stern to bow, and through the corridors in between -- Wright said he ran around the deck 50 times -- the emperor penguin, the largest of all the penguins, stood regally calm and splendid in his satiny gold-patched tuxedo.
"We were incredibly lucky," expedition leader Brad Rhees said when a passenger, an Antarctic buff from Massachusetts and one of the few Americans aboard, was presented with champagne that night for being the first to see the emperor.
Why all the fuss? Emperors are seldom seen by tourist ships. But ours was not an ordinary tourist ship. We were on the inaugural 19-day sailing of G Adventures' M/V Explorer, a ship originally built to be the first to take small groups of travellers into the planet's most remote places. (Its motto on the bar bill: We go where others do not go.) Our expedition was aptly named In the Spirit of Shackleton, after the legendary explorer who himself claimed many firsts in Antarctic exploration. Following much of his route in reverse, from South Georgia Island to the Weddell Sea, we were now seeking leads to look for a colony of emperor penguins.
Emperors are unique. They are the only ones to breed in winter deep in the Antarctic continent. Incredibly, the male spends up to four months fasting in the darkness of a wind-chilled winter (when temperatures may plummet to minus 70) while he courts his female and incubates their single precious egg, carried tenderly on his feet.
When his mate returns in the spring from foraging, he trudges seawards over the ice, perhaps as far as 160 kilometres, to feed himself. The emperor penguin has been known to dive to depths of 535 metres for 22 minutes, the deepest and longest dive of any bird.
Our success in finding emperor penguins was owing to more than luck. Over the years -- and through many name changes -- the M/V Explorer has racked up 18 records. It was the first tourist ship to travel south of the Antarctic Circle, the first to traverse the Arctic's Northwest Passage without an icebreaker escort and now, according to our leader, it has travelled the farthest south in the Weddell Sea.
The ship, built in 1969, was saved from the scrap heap by Canadian-owned G Adventures, which spent months and several millions of dollars getting it ready for its inaugural voyage this past November. G Adventures's environmental focus required several changes, such as replacing its Zodiac engines with cleaner four-stroke ones.
We chose the Explorer for its historical focus, itinerary, intimacy and low fares. We did without helicopters, free drinks, massage sessions and a choice of meal times in favour of the best value. Passengers came from 22 different countries, ranging in age from just over 20 to almost 80. We felt like family. The oldies among us accepted the loan of free digital cameras, and the youngsters steered our pictures through the perilous path from camera to computer to compact disk. The sense of camaraderie included the crew. One night -- another first for the ship -- passengers, staff, officers and crew squeezed into the crew's quarters for a dance.
The trip attracted young globetrotting backpackers who waited a month in Ushuaia to take advantage of last-minute specials. Trips to Antarctica used to cost $25,000 a passenger -- now, they range from $5,000 to $12,000. While more ships are heading to Antarctica -- traffic has doubled in the past 10 years (at last count, 24,700 passengers and more than 35 ships making trips in the November-to-March season last year, according to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) -- the ships co-ordinate itineraries to avoid being seen by each other and thus maintain the image of emptiness at the end of the world.