Time on Ice: A Winter Voyage to Antarctica

The ultimate getaway--Antarctica in winter--was this adventurous couple's choice for a belated honeymoon. Dividing up the writing by chapter, they relate how they prepared for the physical rigors by months of mountain climbing, trekking and arduous bicycle trips, and worked intensely to prepare their 40-foot sailboat, Northern Light, for icy waters and storms. Both experienced sailors, they already held the record for their 33,000-mile Arctic-to-Antarctic expedition in 1982--the longest north-south distance ever achieved by a sailboat. Setting out from Bjelke's native Sweden, they sailed across the Atlantic and down the eastern coast of South America to the Antarctic Peninsula, where they found anchorage. Undeterred by a painful injury to Shapiro's back and Bjelke's need for minor surgery, they settled in, happy with the silence and enthralled by congregations of birds and animals. In prose that is at times spellbinding, they detail adventures here that readers will thoroughly enjoy in the warmth of their own homes. Illustrations. (Oct.)