Antarctic Tourism Issues Surfacing

Does traveling to the Antarctic, even when it’s called “eco-tourism,” need to be regulated?

That question is expected to be a major item on the agenda for Antarctic Treaty members when a 30-year-old agreement protecting the pristine Antarctic comes up for review at a meeting of 26 consultative nations in Bonn, Germany, in October.

Meanwhile, there are still no international regulations governing what types of ships can visit Antarctica, how many passengers and crew members can be aboard, what kind of ice-navigation training the ship crews should have and what sort of ice protection is needed on ship hulls.

In addition, Antarctic tourism has been marred by accidents in recent years. Last February, 20 of 65 tourists, most of them elderly Americans, died when a chartered Chilean airliner taking them to their cruise ship crashed in the freezing waters of Beagle Channel while attempting a landing at Puerto Williams, Chile.

In January, 1989, the Argentine supply ship Bahia Paraiso, carrying 316 passengers and crew, ran aground near Palmer Station, an American base in the Antarctic, spilling 170,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

Although no lives were lost, National Science Foundation officials found dead penguins, cormorants and skuas (sea gull-like predators who feed on baby penguins and pigeon eggs) in the wake of the spill, as well as damaged limpets, sponges and kelp.

Virtually all tourists arrive in Antarctica aboard cruise ships. About 5,670 are expected to cruise the Antarctic Peninsula between November, 1991, and March, 1992, according to an estimate made by the tour operators who will sail six ships along the Antarctic Peninsula. The six are nearly double the number that visited three years ago.

The first Antarctic sailings were led by travel entrepreneur Lars-Eric Lindblad in 1965 aboard an Argentine navy transport vessel. Later, Lindblad helped develop the 96-passenger Lindblad Explorer, introduced in 1969. That ship, now Society Expeditions’ Society Explorer, will mark its 22nd year of Antarctic cruising this season.

Lindblad is scheduled to return again this year aboard Ocean Cruise Lines’ 460-passenger Ocean Princess, the largest vessel to sail there since the mid-1970s.

The Ocean Princess in the Antarctic has a 400-passenger limit, with only 100 permitted ashore at a time. The vessel will make three visits, all when the ice pack is the smallest.

Lindblad thinks tourism is beneficial for the Antarctic. “The only thing that can save the world is tourism. It can do a lot of damage, but when directed properly, it can save wildlife,” he said recently in an Ocean Cruise Lines newsletter.

For example, he says, last year he saw 150 whales, compared to 25 years ago, when he might not have seen any. “When people have visited a beautiful area and fallen in love with it, they will become its guardians.”

The Ocean Princess sailings are the least expensive this season, with fares starting at $255 a day per person, double occupancy, including all shore excursions, a two-night stopover in Buenos Aires and a “red expedition” parka for a 19-day package.

This ship has both inside and outside cabins and two meal seatings, compared to the smaller expedition vessels, which have all-outside cabins and non-assigned, single-meal seatings. There is an $895 air add-on from Los Angeles.

The starting price for the Ocean Princess drops even lower, to $236 a day per person, double occupancy, plus air add-on, for people who join a Grand Circle Travel group sailing that offers two 19-day programs with air add-ons, departing Dec. 20 and Jan. 6.

Salen-Lindblad Cruising’s 164-passenger Frontier Spirit, praised for its environment-friendly design since its debut last November, will be sailing south for its second Antarctic season.

Weather permitting, Capt. Heinz Aye plans to call at Cape Horn, taking clients ashore by rubberized Zodiacs to visit a Chilean weather station.

Fares on the six cruises, from 12 to 21 days, go for $446 to $732 a day per person, double occupancy, plus air.

Salen Lindblad President Lars Wikander, in a speech last year in Miami at a cruise industry meeting, urged the participants to regulate themselves wisely, especially in regard to Antarctic travel, “or find itself being regulated by various government agencies that may impose restrictions haphazardly.”

In 1989, tour operators to the Antarctic, led by Werner Zehnder, president of newly formed Zegrahm Expeditions and a veteran of more than 20 years of Antarctic expeditions with Society Expeditions and now-defunct Lindblad Travel, prepared voluntary environmental guidelines for both operators and passengers.

Zehnder says the guidelines work well, and believes that past tourism has created “ambassadors for the Antarctic.”

Society Expeditions will have two, instead of the previously announced three ships, in the Antarctic this year. (The company refused to accept delivery of the new Society Adventurer from Finland’s Rauma Shipyards in late June, citing contractual disagreements.)

The 96-passenger Society Explorer will, for the first time ever, circumnavigate South Georgia on an expedition conducted by Zegrahm.

This region is home to 250,000 king penguins, some standing four feet. A 17-day expedition starts from the United States on Nov. 25 and visits the Falkland Islands as well. Prices for the two cabin categories are $420 and $480 a day per person, double occupancy.

The ship will make seven other voyages into the Antarctic Peninsula as well, costing from $297 to $665 a day per person, double occupancy, plus air add-ons of $1,050 to $1,500.

Society Expeditions’ 139-passenger World Discoverer will make nine voyages during its 14th season this year, many of them including calls in the Falkland Islands. Prices per day range from $329 to $790 per person, double occupancy, plus $1,200 to $1,300 for air.

Travel Dynamic’s 140-passenger Illiria returns this winter with nine scheduled voyages, all under group charter. And a Bahamas-registry ship new to the area, the 250-passenger Columbus Caravelle, will make five voyages, all of them marketed exclusively in Europe.

The highest “ice ratings” belong to the Frontier Spirit and the two Society Expedition ships, all of which have special ice-hardened hulls.

Most cruises (and all of this year’s) go into the Antarctic Peninsula via the Atlantic Ocean from the tip of South America.

The season lasts longer in that area, 100 days compared to only 75 in the areas entered via the Pacific and Australia/New Zealand.

For brochures about Antarctic cruises, contact a travel agent or call Ocean Cruise Lines at (305) 764-3500; Grand Circle Travel, (800) 221-2610; Zegrahm Expeditions, (206) 285-4000; Society Expeditions, (708) 954-2944, or Salen-Lindblad Cruising, (203) 967-2900.