Class Note 1978. Most of us are nearly halfway through our 70th year on the planet. This is no small achievement, and it deserves a celebration, “Carpe D’78” style.
In January nearly 50 classmates, family, and friends did just that by embarking on the trip of a lifetime: a weeklong journey to Antarctica organized by Dr. TerryAnn Scriven and led by our own Dr. Celia Chen. Class co-president David “Jody” Dietze provides color commentary here; Jody’s full report is in the next class newsletter.
“We assembled in Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southern city in the world, for a kickoff reception and dinner with about 100 other cruisers. The Dartmouth women’s swimmers had the strongest show, with six former teammates!
“We toured Tierra del Fuego, named for the fires that the indigenous people, who wore almost no clothes, kept burning to stay warm. We took a catamaran tour of the Beagle Channel, named for Charles Darwin’s ship, and saw magnificent sea lions, penguins, seals, and scenery.
“We then boarded the main cruise ship to cross the notorious Drake’s Passage at the confluence of two oceans with some of the fiercest wave action in the world. Our group mostly fared well, though some skipped the dining room at mealtime! Continuing south, we transferred in Zodiacs to the Aitcho Islands for more magnificent wildlife.
“Keeping the cruise boat and the island pristine was paramount. All outerwear, and there was lots of it, was vacuumed, cleaned, and inspected before setting out. On land, no sitting, eating, putting anything on the ground (which was covered with liquid penguin waste). No restrooms! Upon return, anything that had touched the environment was scrubbed down.
“The next day, on D’Hainaut Island, we saw evidence of mariners from long ago—a small wooden boat, whale bones—and wondered how people with much-inferior equipment and tougher weather somehow survived.
“Of all the lectures onboard, Celia’s were the best. Her talk, ‘Antarctica, From the Bottom Up: Built on One Keystone Species,’ was a highlight.
“The next day: kayaks! The icebergs were beautiful but we kept our distance, knowing that if a piece were to break off, the resulting wave could swamp our boat. And we got the trip’s best photo: a whale diving deep, its magnificent tail pointed skyward, just 10 feet from Celia’s boat!
“Then we took the polar plunge. No souls were lost, and all enjoyed a post-dive vodka shot and hot blueberry tea. In the afternoon we hiked up a snowy trail for views of penguin colonies and elephant seals lounging on icebergs.
“On our last two days we visited Petermann Island—mountains down to the shoreline, penguins galore, grotesque icebergs, blue ice—and Deception Island, where we circled the caldera of a volcano that was last active in 1970.
“As a farewell tribute, TerryAnn and Celia received penguin-themed scarves and our group banded together to underwrite the naming of a whale: the ‘Celia C 78.’
“We all look forward to planning future class trips. But we’ll never forget this one.”
—Anne Bagamery, 13 rue de Presles, 75015 Paris, France; abagamery78@gmail.com; Rick Beyer, 1305 S. Michigan Ave., #1104, Chicago, IL 60605; rickbeyer78@gmail.com