1 00:00:25,859 --> 00:00:28,760 This is the most empty place on earth 2 00:00:29,129 --> 00:00:33,122 the place almost no one goes-Antarctica. 3 00:00:33,900 --> 00:00:37,461 It's the last continent discovered by explorers, 4 00:00:37,704 --> 00:00:41,663 the last place to be charted and examined and understood, 5 00:00:41,908 --> 00:00:45,036 the last place to be inhabited. 6 00:00:46,246 --> 00:00:49,807 Even the wildlife here knows this land is different, 7 00:00:50,050 --> 00:00:53,542 and perhaps it is a mark of how harsh this land can be 8 00:00:53,787 --> 00:00:58,656 that there is no creature here that cannot swim or fly away. 9 00:01:15,008 --> 00:01:17,704 This is the last continent on earth 10 00:01:17,944 --> 00:01:20,913 a refuge of sorts for wilderness 11 00:01:21,414 --> 00:01:23,746 and for explorers. 12 00:02:17,504 --> 00:02:21,304 Jerome and Sally Poncet are explorers and naturalists 13 00:02:21,541 --> 00:02:24,533 who live on a sheep farm in the Falkland Islands. 14 00:02:25,078 --> 00:02:27,911 A half-dozen times in the last decade or so, 15 00:02:28,148 --> 00:02:32,312 they've sailed 900 miles south five days at sea, 16 00:02:32,552 --> 00:02:37,148 to the islands scattered along the famed Antarctic Penin 17 00:02:40,627 --> 00:02:43,425 Other expeditions come here with millions of dollars 18 00:02:43,663 --> 00:02:46,655 and the power of governments to support them. 19 00:02:46,900 --> 00:02:51,064 Sally and Jerome sail by themselves in a small yacht, 20 00:02:51,304 --> 00:02:54,296 accompanied only by their children, three boys 21 00:02:54,541 --> 00:03:01,310 Dion-10, live... 8 and Diti -5. 22 00:03:34,147 --> 00:03:36,741 They trek on remote, rocky islands 23 00:03:36,983 --> 00:03:40,475 trying to learn more about this once unknown and foreboding 24 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,018 continent of rock and ice 25 00:03:43,256 --> 00:03:44,848 while there's still time to protect 26 00:03:45,091 --> 00:03:48,254 the unique balance of life that exists here. 27 00:04:13,453 --> 00:04:17,355 As usual the Poncets are beginning this voyage in December 28 00:04:17,590 --> 00:04:20,684 high summer and vacation time for the boys, 29 00:04:20,927 --> 00:04:24,693 when some days might get as warm as 40 degrees. 30 00:04:24,931 --> 00:04:27,525 This will not last long the Poncets know. 31 00:04:27,767 --> 00:04:31,259 Winter and ice are never very distant here. 32 00:04:36,743 --> 00:04:38,836 Now development is coming too. 33 00:04:39,078 --> 00:04:43,447 As the Ponects will discover anew on this voyage, 34 00:04:43,683 --> 00:04:48,143 this last frontier is changing as never before. 35 00:04:54,527 --> 00:04:56,154 The poncets have gradually come to 36 00:04:56,396 --> 00:04:59,160 concentrate on the odd and endearing birds 37 00:04:59,399 --> 00:05:01,367 that are native to this place. 38 00:05:01,601 --> 00:05:04,968 They're concerned now that penguins may become threatened 39 00:05:05,204 --> 00:05:08,071 because many countries and claiming interests in the riches 40 00:05:08,308 --> 00:05:10,469 that may lie here. 41 00:05:13,546 --> 00:05:16,572 The Poncets will use their boat-part research vessel, 42 00:05:16,816 --> 00:05:20,718 part home-to search out penguin colonies all along 43 00:05:20,953 --> 00:05:22,887 the Antarctic Peninsula. 44 00:05:24,390 --> 00:05:28,486 The peninsula reaches up some 700 miles from the continent 45 00:05:28,728 --> 00:05:30,457 toward south America. 46 00:05:30,797 --> 00:05:35,496 The poncets goal is to survey the size of penguin colonies, 47 00:05:35,735 --> 00:05:37,635 that is, to count them 48 00:05:37,870 --> 00:05:41,328 all the way to Marguerite Bay at thebottom of the peninsula 49 00:05:41,574 --> 00:05:44,771 even further if the ice will allow them. 50 00:05:46,179 --> 00:05:48,443 In earlier voyages, they've found many colonies 51 00:05:48,681 --> 00:05:51,650 no one else has ever seen. 52 00:05:53,086 --> 00:05:54,451 Deception Island-near 53 00:05:54,687 --> 00:05:56,621 the northern end of the peninsula, 54 00:05:56,856 --> 00:05:59,154 early stop for the Poncets, 55 00:05:59,392 --> 00:06:00,859 and the site of a big colony 56 00:06:01,094 --> 00:06:03,358 of one of the three penguin species 57 00:06:03,596 --> 00:06:07,464 dominant on the peninsula: Chinstraps. 58 00:06:09,635 --> 00:06:12,900 Scientists use penguins as a key indicator species 59 00:06:13,139 --> 00:06:17,906 to gauge the health of the entire delicate Antarctic ecosystem. 60 00:06:18,144 --> 00:06:22,604 To do that, though, they must know how many penguins are actually here. 61 00:06:35,795 --> 00:06:38,559 If the penguin population changes radically, 62 00:06:38,798 --> 00:06:41,426 the scientists will know something is wrong here. 63 00:06:41,834 --> 00:06:45,167 That is why the poncets sail and climb to these remote places 64 00:06:45,405 --> 00:06:46,963 to count the birds. 65 00:06:47,206 --> 00:06:50,232 You can do a rough estimate by just counting up groups of say 66 00:06:50,476 --> 00:06:52,205 100 and then multiplying in groups of 100. 67 00:06:52,445 --> 00:06:53,639 That's a very rough estimate. 68 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:55,472 If you want to do it properly, though, 69 00:06:55,715 --> 00:06:58,582 you've got to map out the area that the colony's occupying 70 00:06:58,818 --> 00:07:01,548 and then work up average density of the colony and multiply that 71 00:07:01,788 --> 00:07:03,483 ...a couple of days work to do it accurately. 72 00:07:03,723 --> 00:07:05,350 But you can get a good estimate if you take your time. 73 00:07:05,591 --> 00:07:07,422 In a couple of hours, you can get a pretty good estimate of it. 74 00:07:07,660 --> 00:07:12,097 But we just compare it with colonies we know from elsewhere, 75 00:07:12,331 --> 00:07:14,822 like one in particular with 30 to 40,000 pairs in it. 76 00:07:15,067 --> 00:07:16,694 It's a lot smaller than this. 77 00:07:17,570 --> 00:07:22,633 This is huge. Must be one of the biggest chinstrap penguin clolonies 78 00:07:22,875 --> 00:07:24,900 down on the peninsula 79 00:07:25,144 --> 00:07:29,308 I think-this one It's gotta be, I think. It's huge. 80 00:07:50,136 --> 00:07:53,105 Chinstrap penguins seldom change mates 81 00:07:53,372 --> 00:07:56,705 and they prefer to return to the same nest sites each year 82 00:07:56,943 --> 00:07:58,342 to hatch the young. 83 00:08:01,013 --> 00:08:05,211 The nests are rings of small stones set just out of pecking range 84 00:08:05,451 --> 00:08:07,214 of incubating neighbors. 85 00:08:11,757 --> 00:08:15,488 The females usually take the first shift sitting on the eggs, 86 00:08:15,728 --> 00:08:18,094 fasting for up to 8 days. 87 00:08:18,364 --> 00:08:22,130 Then, the males take over and the females can feed again. 88 00:08:22,368 --> 00:08:26,566 Some of the small, shrimp-like krill they find at sea is regurgitated 89 00:08:26,806 --> 00:08:28,603 for the penguin chicks. 90 00:08:38,985 --> 00:08:41,715 Sally does not spend much time with the colonies here on 91 00:08:41,954 --> 00:08:43,649 Deception Island, though. 92 00:08:43,890 --> 00:08:47,223 This time her work lies further south. 93 00:08:56,802 --> 00:08:59,396 Jerome is French; Sally is Australian. 94 00:08:59,639 --> 00:09:03,735 They sail aboard the 50-foot steel hulled Damien II. 95 00:09:04,143 --> 00:09:08,079 It can look like a frail ship in amid all the ice and rock, 96 00:09:08,314 --> 00:09:12,512 but the ship can take the poncets places that others cannot go, 97 00:09:12,818 --> 00:09:14,786 which helps them make a living: 98 00:09:15,121 --> 00:09:18,955 They charter the boat for scientists doing coastal surveys. 99 00:09:19,191 --> 00:09:23,127 Indeed, Jerome knows his way along this coast, intimately. 100 00:09:26,699 --> 00:09:29,293 He first came here almost 20 years ago 101 00:09:29,535 --> 00:09:32,299 accompanied by his friend, Gerard Janichon, 102 00:09:32,538 --> 00:09:34,904 who has rejoined him for this voyage. 103 00:09:35,775 --> 00:09:39,074 It's unusual to sail in the Antarctic now, 104 00:09:39,312 --> 00:09:42,304 but it was truly extraordinary then. 105 00:09:42,548 --> 00:09:46,450 Theirs was the first yacht to sail the peninsula coast. 106 00:09:53,292 --> 00:09:55,852 The adventure made them heroes in France. 107 00:09:56,095 --> 00:09:58,689 Fees from a book allowed each of them to build bigger 108 00:09:58,931 --> 00:10:01,729 and better versions of first vessel. 109 00:10:03,769 --> 00:10:07,034 But new boats don't eliminate the four hour watches throughout 110 00:10:07,273 --> 00:10:08,865 this two-month journey 111 00:10:09,108 --> 00:10:11,668 or the sameness of stored food, 112 00:10:11,911 --> 00:10:14,709 or the confining conditions of life at sea. 113 00:10:14,947 --> 00:10:17,677 These they simply get used to. 114 00:10:20,820 --> 00:10:24,950 But anyone who's lived on a yacht or on a boat can tell you, 115 00:10:25,191 --> 00:10:27,659 you get used to shifts: Four hours on, four hours off. 116 00:10:27,893 --> 00:10:28,689 Or whatever you happen to do. 117 00:10:28,928 --> 00:10:30,395 And it's just something you get used to. 118 00:10:30,630 --> 00:10:33,656 You can't have exactly what you want to eat or drink 119 00:10:33,899 --> 00:10:34,490 when you feel like it. 120 00:10:34,734 --> 00:10:37,396 Or you can't wash every day if you want to, 121 00:10:37,637 --> 00:10:42,165 or you can't go down to the nearest pub for a drink 122 00:10:42,408 --> 00:10:43,033 just to get away from it. 123 00:10:43,275 --> 00:10:44,970 You just accept that. 124 00:10:45,444 --> 00:10:47,412 It just, it might look difficult to people, 125 00:10:47,647 --> 00:10:54,143 but until you... it would be far more difficult for him to have 126 00:10:54,387 --> 00:10:58,756 to get into a car every morning and drive to work. 127 00:11:06,298 --> 00:11:09,495 The Damien II averages 26 miles a day now, 128 00:11:09,735 --> 00:11:11,259 with stops along the way. 129 00:11:12,071 --> 00:11:14,232 Working from cove to cove 130 00:11:14,473 --> 00:11:16,634 they arrive at cuverville Island 131 00:11:16,876 --> 00:11:20,471 a breeding site for many many Gentoo penguins. 132 00:11:23,082 --> 00:11:27,109 Their pelts are sleek as fur but like all penguins, 133 00:11:27,353 --> 00:11:29,116 these are true birds. 134 00:11:29,522 --> 00:11:33,049 Short, thick feathers help insulate them from the cold, 135 00:11:33,292 --> 00:11:36,193 and at the same time lie close to the body to help 136 00:11:36,429 --> 00:11:38,693 the speedy swimmers in the water. 137 00:11:41,867 --> 00:11:45,701 This will be the first egg because its dirtier, 138 00:11:47,006 --> 00:11:48,667 and this is the second. 139 00:11:49,008 --> 00:11:51,636 The second egg is suppose to be a bit smaller that the first. 140 00:11:51,877 --> 00:11:53,367 But they look about the same size really. 141 00:11:53,612 --> 00:11:55,580 That one there, though-she's just about to get off 142 00:11:55,815 --> 00:11:57,908 that-you can really tell the difference there. 143 00:11:58,718 --> 00:12:00,777 The Gentoos are apt to form life-long 144 00:12:00,953 --> 00:12:03,581 attachments among breeding pairs 145 00:12:03,989 --> 00:12:06,651 although they are not so particular about which nest site 146 00:12:06,892 --> 00:12:09,383 they use from season to season. 147 00:12:10,162 --> 00:12:11,220 On the peninsula, 148 00:12:11,464 --> 00:12:15,264 it takes about five weeks for penguin eggs to hatch. 149 00:12:15,501 --> 00:12:18,368 The parents watch over them for another month or so, 150 00:12:18,604 --> 00:12:21,164 and then leave the chicks in large groups while the parents 151 00:12:21,407 --> 00:12:23,432 are off gathering good. 152 00:12:23,809 --> 00:12:28,542 One or two months later the young penguins begin to feed on their own. 153 00:12:34,820 --> 00:12:36,583 What beautiful nests these ones are well made 154 00:12:36,822 --> 00:12:38,380 anyway, with the stones like that 155 00:12:39,024 --> 00:12:41,185 and they all seem to be just sitting right. 156 00:12:41,427 --> 00:12:43,827 You remember the chinstraps at Deception- 157 00:12:44,063 --> 00:12:47,464 all mucky, all smelly in all directions? 158 00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:51,067 These are all nice and neat... 159 00:12:51,303 --> 00:12:56,741 I think these are probably the prettiest of the birds. 160 00:13:00,546 --> 00:13:01,774 By now Sally and Jerome 161 00:13:02,014 --> 00:13:05,780 have witnessed this cycle of penguin life many times 162 00:13:06,018 --> 00:13:10,045 and still Antarctica fascinates them. 163 00:13:10,756 --> 00:13:11,654 The first time we come... 164 00:13:11,891 --> 00:13:14,985 just well, put the foot ashore. 165 00:13:15,227 --> 00:13:18,594 That was an achievement for us at least. 166 00:13:18,831 --> 00:13:20,856 And we are very pleased with that. 167 00:13:21,100 --> 00:13:25,036 We've been a bit scared we've been fighting 168 00:13:25,271 --> 00:13:30,470 to reach Antarctica... and after we come back a bit more confident 169 00:13:30,709 --> 00:13:32,267 and you go a bit further. 170 00:13:32,511 --> 00:13:33,307 And that's what we've done 171 00:13:33,546 --> 00:13:36,982 just going farther and farther each time, knowing a bit more. 172 00:13:37,216 --> 00:13:41,312 And when you start to know a place you-why, 173 00:13:41,554 --> 00:13:44,250 it starts to belong to you or you belong to this place. 174 00:13:44,490 --> 00:13:46,617 And that's what's happened to us. 175 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:30,385 Often while Sally is counting penguins 176 00:15:30,629 --> 00:15:33,223 the children explore for themselves. 177 00:15:33,465 --> 00:15:37,367 At the shore here, they've spotted a leopard seal coming close. 178 00:15:52,117 --> 00:15:55,746 Penguins that survive to adulthood may live for 20 years. 179 00:15:55,988 --> 00:15:59,389 They're safe on land with practically no predators. 180 00:15:59,625 --> 00:16:02,685 But in sea there is danger from seals 181 00:16:02,928 --> 00:16:05,089 especially the leopard seal. 182 00:16:26,518 --> 00:16:28,383 Diti is the youngest of the boys. 183 00:16:37,162 --> 00:16:39,722 Live, the middle boy, finds that this summer, 184 00:16:39,965 --> 00:16:42,934 geology has captured his attention. 185 00:16:44,069 --> 00:16:46,970 Dion is the oldest a budding artist 186 00:16:47,206 --> 00:16:50,266 with an interest in mechanical things also. 187 00:16:58,650 --> 00:17:02,086 Some of this Antarctic exploration that the boys share 188 00:17:02,321 --> 00:17:04,721 can look dangerous to an outsider. 189 00:17:07,292 --> 00:17:10,728 But plainly, Sally and Jerome see great benefits in bringing 190 00:17:10,963 --> 00:17:12,590 the children with them. 191 00:17:12,865 --> 00:17:15,857 At home in the Falklands a traveling schoolmaster 192 00:17:16,101 --> 00:17:19,161 visits for a couple of weeks every other month or so 193 00:17:19,405 --> 00:17:22,101 with lessons from Sally in between. 194 00:17:25,044 --> 00:17:26,909 On board the Damien II, 195 00:17:27,146 --> 00:17:28,773 the boys learn about earth science 196 00:17:29,014 --> 00:17:34,247 by splashing where boiling volcanic waters mix with the near frozen sea. 197 00:17:43,228 --> 00:17:46,026 The boys bang away at rock looking for gold 198 00:17:46,365 --> 00:17:48,230 or fools gold even 199 00:17:48,467 --> 00:17:52,301 and making plans to get rich and buy firecrackers back at home. 200 00:18:18,063 --> 00:18:19,291 You can just see the difference 201 00:18:19,531 --> 00:18:21,021 that it's made to them. 202 00:18:21,266 --> 00:18:24,793 And coming down here for three months 203 00:18:25,137 --> 00:18:27,970 you can see how many people that meet and what they're introduced 204 00:18:28,207 --> 00:18:29,799 to and what they're capable of learning 205 00:18:30,042 --> 00:18:34,376 there are other ways of getting the same education or the same facts 206 00:18:34,613 --> 00:18:39,482 but this is a very good way of getting it, you see. 207 00:19:04,209 --> 00:19:08,077 At Foyn Harbor on the peninsula the boys explore a site leftover 208 00:19:08,313 --> 00:19:13,341 from one of the first significant human impacts on the Antarctic. 209 00:19:13,585 --> 00:19:15,450 It's an old whaler's anchorage 210 00:19:15,687 --> 00:19:19,020 where boats once filled casks with glacier water. 211 00:19:19,258 --> 00:19:21,522 The whalers are long gone 212 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:25,321 a whaling ship lies abandoned where it ran aground. 213 00:19:32,371 --> 00:19:33,599 In the hold of the wreck 214 00:19:33,839 --> 00:19:37,331 the boys find dozens of the cone-shaped tips for harpoons 215 00:19:37,576 --> 00:19:41,740 that once took tens of thousands of whales in a season 216 00:19:41,980 --> 00:19:45,040 until some species were threatened with extinction. 217 00:19:56,328 --> 00:20:00,788 At last, international protest put a stop to commercial whaling, 218 00:20:01,033 --> 00:20:02,330 and there are signs that 219 00:20:02,568 --> 00:20:05,731 the animals may be recovering in the southern oceans. 220 00:20:10,576 --> 00:20:13,044 Three humpbacks approach the ship. 221 00:20:14,646 --> 00:20:19,276 Their size and curiosity must have made them easy targets for the whalers 222 00:21:22,347 --> 00:21:23,371 But whale hunting was only 223 00:21:23,615 --> 00:21:27,574 among the first human endeavors to mark the Antarctic. 224 00:21:35,861 --> 00:21:38,796 Near Palmer Station an American research site, 225 00:21:39,031 --> 00:21:42,967 Dion joins a party of skin divers from the base 226 00:21:43,201 --> 00:21:45,135 who are going to see what remains 227 00:21:45,370 --> 00:21:49,397 of one of the biggest environmental threats the continent has seen. 228 00:21:49,641 --> 00:21:54,943 Actually, we're... the wreck today to look for oil spills 229 00:21:55,180 --> 00:22:02,484 or oil leaks they've plugged up with wooden... and splash... last year. 230 00:22:02,888 --> 00:22:07,120 The divers are protected as much as possible by their dry suits 231 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:12,729 but the water is frigidly cold: 33 degrees. 232 00:22:13,432 --> 00:22:16,868 Early last year, an Argentine supply ship that doubled as a 233 00:22:17,102 --> 00:22:19,002 tourist boat ran aground. 234 00:22:19,438 --> 00:22:23,374 Passengers used home video cameras to take these pictures. 235 00:22:23,608 --> 00:22:25,701 Within hours they were rescued 236 00:22:25,944 --> 00:22:29,675 but four days later the ship had turned on its side. 237 00:22:32,017 --> 00:22:35,282 The ship's cargo of diesel oil began to spill. 238 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,115 A Chilean navy ship arrived quickly to contain the damage, 239 00:22:39,358 --> 00:22:43,089 but it was a month before Argentine and American crews managed 240 00:22:43,328 --> 00:22:44,818 to seal the wreck. 241 00:22:46,198 --> 00:22:50,066 It had about 250,000 gallons on board. 242 00:22:50,302 --> 00:22:52,736 And they're estimating that about half of that 243 00:22:52,971 --> 00:22:57,670 125,000 came out when it rolled. 244 00:22:58,176 --> 00:23:00,576 It might have been worse if the ship had carried heavy, 245 00:23:00,812 --> 00:23:03,679 black crude oil instead of diesel fuel 246 00:23:03,915 --> 00:23:07,874 but still scientists worry that their research will be affected 247 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:12,750 because the once pristine area is no longer so pure. 248 00:23:13,525 --> 00:23:16,323 The wreck has gone through a single Antarctic winter, 249 00:23:16,561 --> 00:23:18,688 but the damage has been very severe. 250 00:23:18,930 --> 00:23:25,597 It's kind of like a beer can has been totally crushed. 251 00:23:25,837 --> 00:23:29,204 And there use to be two little copters there. 252 00:23:29,441 --> 00:23:31,272 There's no sign of them at all now, 253 00:23:31,510 --> 00:23:33,740 other than two tires, 254 00:23:33,979 --> 00:23:37,915 and the highly deck is mostly crushed. 255 00:23:38,150 --> 00:23:42,086 And there's no visible signs of oil leaking out anymore. 256 00:23:44,122 --> 00:23:47,319 Any cleanup operation would be difficult here. 257 00:23:47,559 --> 00:23:49,720 Indeed, all along the peninsulad 258 00:23:49,961 --> 00:23:51,861 it's clear that very often 259 00:23:52,097 --> 00:23:56,193 no one bothers to clean the mess that is left behind. 260 00:23:59,805 --> 00:24:01,773 The penguins hardly seem to notice 261 00:24:02,007 --> 00:24:05,033 but nevertheless many environmentalists are concerned 262 00:24:05,277 --> 00:24:10,613 that we may spoil the last really large wilderness left on earth; 263 00:24:10,849 --> 00:24:13,147 before we begin to understand it. 264 00:24:47,586 --> 00:24:50,851 The Damien II has been at sea for about a month, 265 00:24:51,089 --> 00:24:54,616 with dozens of stops so far for penguin surveys. 266 00:24:54,860 --> 00:24:57,727 Now Jerome has set course for Dream Island, 267 00:24:57,963 --> 00:24:59,897 about half way down the peninsula. 268 00:25:21,453 --> 00:25:24,820 The island has a large colony of the third species of penguins 269 00:25:25,056 --> 00:25:26,523 the Poncets are counting: 270 00:25:26,758 --> 00:25:28,282 Adelies. 271 00:25:39,404 --> 00:25:42,771 There are remarkable elephant seal colonies here also, 272 00:25:43,008 --> 00:25:44,600 and for the seals, too 273 00:25:44,843 --> 00:25:48,506 the Antactic summer is the season of the young. 274 00:25:51,516 --> 00:25:53,484 Well, it's a bit slippery in all this muck-especially 275 00:25:53,718 --> 00:25:55,379 where the penguins have been. 276 00:25:55,620 --> 00:25:57,611 I don't want you to fall in that. 277 00:26:02,427 --> 00:26:07,194 They've been fed by their mothers until they're sort of round 278 00:26:07,432 --> 00:26:12,460 and their mother's go off and leave them and they have to survive 279 00:26:12,704 --> 00:26:15,036 during the feeding time... 280 00:26:15,273 --> 00:26:16,501 And they lie around on the beaches in groups. 281 00:26:16,741 --> 00:26:19,938 And they're really sweet... 282 00:26:20,545 --> 00:26:23,275 They're very beautiful to look at at that stage. 283 00:26:23,515 --> 00:26:25,346 As they get a bit older they're not so nice. 284 00:26:46,771 --> 00:26:49,501 It doesn't look as if they're any more chinstraps in this area. 285 00:26:49,741 --> 00:26:52,437 They seem to be confined to that area back there. 286 00:26:52,777 --> 00:26:55,405 So I think I'll go back... 287 00:27:01,186 --> 00:27:02,380 In the water by the beach 288 00:27:02,621 --> 00:27:05,590 young male seals play at combat. 289 00:27:05,890 --> 00:27:08,882 They are too young now to really harm one another. 290 00:27:09,127 --> 00:27:12,358 Later, when they develop the droopy noses that account for the 291 00:27:12,597 --> 00:27:14,189 elephant seals' name, 292 00:27:14,432 --> 00:27:18,198 they will fight seriously for groups of females. 293 00:28:28,073 --> 00:28:32,635 All along the coast, the Poncets find sites of earlier explorers, 294 00:28:32,877 --> 00:28:35,072 many of them no longer in use. 295 00:28:41,586 --> 00:28:43,986 This cabin was once a research station, 296 00:28:44,222 --> 00:28:46,850 but it's been deserted for a long time 297 00:28:47,859 --> 00:28:52,489 Inside, there are copies of letters and dispatches that are decades old. 298 00:28:52,731 --> 00:28:55,962 ...shall be returning home about June and anticipate finding 299 00:28:56,201 --> 00:28:58,362 civilization somewhat bewildering. 300 00:28:58,603 --> 00:29:01,037 So would like to be considered for service as relief warden 301 00:29:01,272 --> 00:29:03,331 at a small hostile in the highlands. 302 00:29:03,708 --> 00:29:06,609 It's the kind of thing, now over 30 years since it was put up, 303 00:29:06,845 --> 00:29:08,540 and it really is the kind of thing now you can say, 304 00:29:08,780 --> 00:29:10,042 it's part of the history of this place 305 00:29:10,281 --> 00:29:13,079 And it should, really should be preserved and looked after 306 00:29:13,318 --> 00:29:14,342 to keep it like this. 307 00:29:14,586 --> 00:29:15,052 And all this food! 308 00:29:15,286 --> 00:29:16,753 You'll never get food like this again-these boxes. 309 00:29:16,988 --> 00:29:18,751 No one eats this kind of stuff anymore 310 00:29:18,990 --> 00:29:22,289 But this is how a British base worked 30 years ago. 311 00:29:22,527 --> 00:29:25,360 And it's really worthwhile keeping and doing something about. 312 00:29:26,498 --> 00:29:29,695 The men who lived and worked in bases like these 313 00:29:29,934 --> 00:29:34,371 were taking part in an extraordinary study effort in the Antarctic 314 00:29:34,606 --> 00:29:41,569 led by a dozen countries during the International Geophysical Year, 1957. 315 00:29:41,813 --> 00:29:45,613 The scientists paved the way for governments go to on cooperating, 316 00:29:45,850 --> 00:29:49,616 and eventually, there was an Antarctic Treaty. 317 00:29:49,854 --> 00:29:53,585 It's worked ever since to hold Antarctica as a scientific reserve. 318 00:29:57,929 --> 00:29:59,897 Today, tourist ships send groups 319 00:30:00,131 --> 00:30:03,760 like this one from New York's Museum of Natural History ashore 320 00:30:04,002 --> 00:30:07,267 to the sites where once only scientists went. 321 00:30:07,505 --> 00:30:11,737 Antarctica's past and present meet here, 322 00:30:11,976 --> 00:30:14,604 and perhaps show the way to the future as well. 323 00:30:15,814 --> 00:30:17,611 Some environmentalists want to see 324 00:30:17,849 --> 00:30:21,376 the entire continent now made into a world park 325 00:30:21,619 --> 00:30:24,144 no development or exploitation allowed 326 00:30:24,389 --> 00:30:28,883 the Antarctic to remain as it is a place for research, 327 00:30:29,127 --> 00:30:34,690 and for amateur naturalists to see the greatest unspoiled wilderness left. 328 00:31:45,236 --> 00:31:49,673 Some of the old Geophysical Year stations are still operating. 329 00:31:50,008 --> 00:31:51,339 The British base Faraday, 330 00:31:51,576 --> 00:31:54,739 for instance, plays a role in researching the periodic 331 00:31:54,979 --> 00:31:57,038 huge loss of ozone in the atmosphere 332 00:31:57,282 --> 00:32:00,683 over the southern polar region. 333 00:32:01,085 --> 00:32:04,316 Further south another British base Rothera, 334 00:32:04,555 --> 00:32:07,956 serves as a headquarters for inland science projects that can 335 00:32:08,192 --> 00:32:10,387 only be reached by plane. 336 00:32:10,628 --> 00:32:14,120 The flights take off from a runway cleared from the glacier, 337 00:32:14,365 --> 00:32:15,832 with a path well marked 338 00:32:16,067 --> 00:32:19,798 so the aircraft doesn't slide into one of the nearby crevasses 339 00:32:20,038 --> 00:32:21,699 that split the surface. 340 00:32:27,946 --> 00:32:28,776 From the air, 341 00:32:29,013 --> 00:32:32,676 an observer easily sees the extent of one of the great treasures 342 00:32:32,917 --> 00:32:35,886 and paradoxes of Antarctica 343 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:37,610 ice. 344 00:32:37,855 --> 00:32:40,085 This is the driest continent. 345 00:32:40,325 --> 00:32:43,226 Hardly any snow or rain ever falls. 346 00:32:43,561 --> 00:32:47,122 But what does fall is frozen in place and remains. 347 00:32:47,365 --> 00:32:51,062 So Antarctica is both the continent with the least precipitation 348 00:32:51,302 --> 00:32:53,361 and the one with the most water 349 00:32:53,604 --> 00:32:56,095 almost all of it locked up in ice 350 00:32:56,708 --> 00:33:02,510 Some estimates are that 70 percent of the world's freshwater is here. 351 00:33:05,583 --> 00:33:10,145 The ice here on the plateau also provides an ancient atmospheric record 352 00:33:10,388 --> 00:33:12,720 that's key to studying new phenomenon 353 00:33:12,957 --> 00:33:14,788 such as the greenhouse effect. 354 00:33:15,860 --> 00:33:18,988 These operations are just underway. 355 00:33:19,230 --> 00:33:22,324 When full drilling begins the scientists will be able to 356 00:33:22,567 --> 00:33:25,434 plunge the drill bit through centuries 357 00:33:25,670 --> 00:33:29,197 to see what changes have occurred over time. 358 00:33:55,066 --> 00:33:59,628 On board the Damien II again the Antarctic summer is progressing, 359 00:34:00,204 --> 00:34:03,332 although it is still not dark after midnight. 360 00:34:03,574 --> 00:34:08,671 Indeed, Jerome calls this the planet of light. 361 00:34:58,463 --> 00:35:01,432 There are only a few stops left for the travelers, 362 00:35:01,666 --> 00:35:05,397 one of them a special place for Sally and Jerome. 363 00:35:06,404 --> 00:35:07,530 More than ten years ago 364 00:35:07,772 --> 00:35:10,297 on their first voyage to the Antarctic together, 365 00:35:10,541 --> 00:35:15,103 they decided to stay over in the long darkness of winter. 366 00:35:15,446 --> 00:35:17,710 They had only the Damien II for a base 367 00:35:17,949 --> 00:35:22,443 frozen in a harbor here at Avian Island. 368 00:35:24,555 --> 00:35:26,785 It was a really big surprise for us 369 00:35:27,024 --> 00:35:28,651 to see just how many penguins there were 370 00:35:28,893 --> 00:35:30,588 or how many birds there were on that island, 371 00:35:30,828 --> 00:35:33,092 but really surrounded by them. 372 00:35:36,801 --> 00:35:39,201 They found extraordinary life 373 00:35:39,437 --> 00:35:43,601 including 70,000 Adelie penguins on the island. 374 00:35:44,275 --> 00:35:47,506 Avian is located at the top of Marguerite Bay, 375 00:35:47,745 --> 00:35:50,145 and it's the breeding ground for much of the bird life 376 00:35:50,381 --> 00:35:53,179 that lives and hunts throughout the Bay region. 377 00:35:53,417 --> 00:35:54,975 If something happened here 378 00:35:55,219 --> 00:35:59,315 it could seriously affect bird life in the entire Bay area. 379 00:36:00,825 --> 00:36:05,762 Besides the Adelies's... 380 00:36:05,997 --> 00:36:08,124 every single bit of that island is covered in birds. 381 00:36:08,366 --> 00:36:10,527 And you're surrounded by birds. 382 00:36:10,768 --> 00:36:12,099 And you really do live 383 00:36:12,336 --> 00:36:17,330 part of that cycle of the summer season with them, completely. 384 00:36:29,387 --> 00:36:32,515 But the poncets are disturbed to learn the birds may soon be 385 00:36:32,757 --> 00:36:34,122 sharing the island. 386 00:36:34,825 --> 00:36:38,317 A Chilean scientist from a nearby base if examining Avian 387 00:36:38,563 --> 00:36:41,498 as a possible site for future studies. 388 00:36:44,268 --> 00:36:46,498 Sally and Jerome are beginning to worry that 389 00:36:46,737 --> 00:36:50,264 the many scientists and bases could soon overwhelm the fragile 390 00:36:50,508 --> 00:36:53,136 wilderness they have come to study. 391 00:36:58,716 --> 00:37:02,812 Jerome navigates the Damien II through the mouth of a narrow passage 392 00:37:03,054 --> 00:37:05,045 at Terra Firma Island. 393 00:37:15,333 --> 00:37:16,732 They are very far south now 394 00:37:16,968 --> 00:37:21,701 nearly at the base of the peninsula where conditions are terribly harsh. 395 00:37:21,939 --> 00:37:24,999 Some years, the sea is frozen solid here, 396 00:37:25,243 --> 00:37:27,473 the air is very cold. 397 00:37:27,878 --> 00:37:32,838 Nonetheless, small patches of grass and pearlwort flourish here, 398 00:37:33,084 --> 00:37:34,711 unexceptional in any way 399 00:37:34,952 --> 00:37:37,284 except that these are the southernmost 400 00:37:37,521 --> 00:37:43,221 flowering plants known to exist anywhere-the furthest outpost of green 401 00:37:43,461 --> 00:37:49,263 in a world that is almost all grays and blacks and ice white. 402 00:37:50,635 --> 00:37:52,728 It was the Poncets who made this discovery 403 00:37:52,970 --> 00:37:55,666 and reported it to the scientific world 404 00:37:55,906 --> 00:38:00,275 although they now realize this, too may draw others. 405 00:38:00,811 --> 00:38:03,211 People have realize what this is 406 00:38:03,447 --> 00:38:05,881 and realize how they can damage it if they come too close, 407 00:38:06,117 --> 00:38:08,017 and how they can keep away and still enjoy it. 408 00:38:08,252 --> 00:38:09,344 There's a bit of a compromise to doing it, 409 00:38:09,587 --> 00:38:12,920 and you can't just ban people from coming to certain places all over 410 00:38:13,157 --> 00:38:14,522 just because they might damage it. 411 00:38:14,759 --> 00:38:15,919 They've got to be taught how not to damage it 412 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:17,821 so that they can come in and enjoy it. 413 00:38:27,738 --> 00:38:31,674 Many explorers must pause to wonder a little at what they do and 414 00:38:31,909 --> 00:38:36,039 at what will be done by those who inevitably will follow. 415 00:38:38,949 --> 00:38:41,679 Not many will follow this far, however 416 00:38:41,919 --> 00:38:45,218 The Damien II is entering what is called pack ice, 417 00:38:45,456 --> 00:38:48,983 a great plain that's frozen not quite solid. 418 00:38:50,828 --> 00:38:53,353 You can feel that-that you've very far south. 419 00:38:53,597 --> 00:38:54,859 And there's no one else in the pack. 420 00:38:55,099 --> 00:38:58,535 And you're nothing much more than another little bit of ice. 421 00:39:00,071 --> 00:39:02,005 You can really feel it as a living thing. 422 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:04,298 You can feel it, you can see it moving up and down with the swell 423 00:39:04,542 --> 00:39:05,634 as though it's breathing. 424 00:39:05,876 --> 00:39:08,504 And you see animals... the whales which come up to breathe 425 00:39:08,746 --> 00:39:12,512 just behind the boat because there's no other space for it, and penguins. 426 00:39:55,659 --> 00:39:59,117 The steel hull of the ship allows it to smash its way through. 427 00:39:59,363 --> 00:40:03,561 The ice will get worse soon as it gets colder, 428 00:40:03,801 --> 00:40:06,770 and then it will not be possible to get through at all. 429 00:40:07,004 --> 00:40:10,440 Jerome must judge what is safe. 430 00:40:59,423 --> 00:41:01,084 They have hone as far as they can; 431 00:41:01,325 --> 00:41:05,694 the Damien II must turn back toward King George Island. 432 00:41:29,787 --> 00:41:30,617 From the air, 433 00:41:30,855 --> 00:41:34,621 the ice floes look almost impenetrable 434 00:41:42,199 --> 00:41:43,427 Once you've been through a really bad storm 435 00:41:43,667 --> 00:41:45,760 and just got outor you've had to go through a lot of ice and 436 00:41:46,003 --> 00:41:47,868 just managed to get through then the next day, 437 00:41:48,105 --> 00:41:52,599 it's beautiful weather-each time, it's really very gratifying, 438 00:41:52,843 --> 00:41:54,333 each time, and very satisfying. 439 00:41:54,578 --> 00:41:57,479 And you really feel as if you've earned what you've done. 440 00:41:57,715 --> 00:42:00,309 It's the feeling of it being very difficult here and you've managed 441 00:42:00,551 --> 00:42:02,644 to wade through in spite of that. 442 00:42:10,094 --> 00:42:11,789 But all along the peninsula it is clear that as 443 00:42:12,029 --> 00:42:15,487 with all frontiers this one is developing. 444 00:42:15,733 --> 00:42:18,600 In the time since they left the British base at Rothera, 445 00:42:18,836 --> 00:42:22,397 perhaps the biggest cargo ship ever to come this far south 446 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:26,633 has arrived and begum unloading bulldozers and rock crushers, 447 00:42:26,877 --> 00:42:29,971 and housing for construction workers. 448 00:42:59,109 --> 00:43:02,442 The small landing strip on the snow field above Rothera is to be 449 00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:04,978 replaced by a gravel runway, 450 00:43:05,215 --> 00:43:08,082 so bigger planes can come and go regularly. 451 00:43:08,319 --> 00:43:10,981 It will mean blasting away part of a hillside, 452 00:43:11,221 --> 00:43:15,715 but the scientists say it must be done if their work is to go on. 453 00:43:16,193 --> 00:43:18,593 The Antarctic Treaty which has worked to protect 454 00:43:18,829 --> 00:43:22,959 the polar region for three decades may be reviewed next year. 455 00:43:23,300 --> 00:43:25,200 Some countries are interested in exploring 456 00:43:25,436 --> 00:43:28,064 for oil here or for minerals. 457 00:43:28,405 --> 00:43:32,205 Already there is an agreement for exploitation that the 458 00:43:32,443 --> 00:43:34,911 treaty nations are considering. 459 00:43:35,145 --> 00:43:37,943 Some think offshore drilling for oil is certain, 460 00:43:38,182 --> 00:43:42,676 and that that is going to mean the greatest change yet for Antarctica. 461 00:43:47,091 --> 00:43:50,891 Oh, we are next to the first area actually where 462 00:43:51,128 --> 00:43:56,760 oil will be exploited next to this... 463 00:43:57,001 --> 00:44:05,875 and maybe this one will die covered with oil, maybe not. 464 00:44:06,110 --> 00:44:07,577 Or maybe he will be starving very hungry, 465 00:44:07,811 --> 00:44:09,301 because there will be no more food. 466 00:44:09,546 --> 00:44:11,673 After that will be our children. 467 00:44:13,250 --> 00:44:15,775 Meanwhile, building goes ahead especially 468 00:44:16,020 --> 00:44:17,715 on King George Island 469 00:44:17,955 --> 00:44:21,288 the Damien ll's final destination. 470 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:24,660 If you look at what's happening at Rothera... 471 00:44:24,895 --> 00:44:25,827 what's happening here. 472 00:44:26,063 --> 00:44:30,090 This is the first steps in opening the place up. 473 00:44:30,334 --> 00:44:31,995 That's for sure. To what, I don't know. 474 00:44:32,236 --> 00:44:36,935 The rest of the world is still over the horizon, 475 00:44:37,174 --> 00:44:40,109 but it seems to get closer everyday. 476 00:45:09,273 --> 00:45:11,434 Frontiers are wild places. 477 00:45:11,675 --> 00:45:15,577 Once we thought they were all savage and needed conquering. 478 00:45:15,913 --> 00:45:19,508 This one doesn't seem so savage anymore. 479 00:45:19,750 --> 00:45:20,876 Before it's conquered 480 00:45:21,118 --> 00:45:25,282 it may be worth asking what the conquest would mean, 481 00:45:25,522 --> 00:45:27,717 and perhaps we should ask too, 482 00:45:27,958 --> 00:45:30,586 what will happen to the explorers 483 00:45:30,828 --> 00:45:33,388 indeed to all of us, 484 00:45:33,630 --> 00:45:36,656 when the frontiers are gone.