How a Kayak Can Get You a Long Way, Even in the Desert

Did you have curious looks or tag-alongs?

The Altiplano is a very high, dry desert, so certainly they'd never seen kayaks. Most of the families we met kept their children far from us, because I think they thought we were extraterrestrials. . . . We swam with dolphins and whales out in the ocean, but we never had anything follow us. We did have a few sharks bump the kayaks in French Polynesia. A little scary, but, of course, there are sharks everywhere.

Though these areas are so different, did you come across any similarities?

The thing that ties all of these places together is that everywhere we go, we see evidence of three things: One is climate change. People say there are more storms and more violent storms, which is largely related to warming seas. We also see overfishing, and lots and lots of plastic pollution.

What is your main goal for the Antarctica portion?

People say, "Why go to Antarctica? There aren't any people living there." But you can't talk about the health of the world and the oceans without talking about Antarctica. As the coastline of the peninsula melts more and more each year, that adds greatly to the volume of water around the world.

Are you right now the opposite of melting?

I hate to tell you, but it's like 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, it's balmy. To get here, of course, we had to sail across the Drake Passage, which is one of the windiest places on the planet. We've paid our dues.

Any chance anyone from your team of eight will partake in a polar bear swim?

Absolutely, yes.

What about real wildlife sightings?

We saw whales this morning; that was a good start. We stopped on some of the Antarctic islands and had interactions with penguins, because penguins are impossible to avoid in Antarctica. The rules say you have to stay at least 50 feet away from penguins, but they run right up to your feet when they see you, because they are extremely curious. They don't regard humans as predators. Because we walk on two legs like they do, they basically see us as giant penguins.