Another Antarctic Grounding
News came through the BBC last night that another cruise ship was in trouble in the Antarctic. The 2,900 tonne Cuidad de Ushaia ran aground in Wilhelmina Bay. At the moment, passengers and crew were not in danger, and a joint rescue mission is being planned by the Argentinian and Chilians to rescue the passengers. What price do we have to pay to visit remote places? Antarctica is one of the remotest places on earth, and mainly accessible by ship. Any ship which faces problems has to rely on other ships in the area for help. Luckily the Cuidad de Ushaia was specially built for these conditions, but each year cruise ships are allowed into the area which are not and this is where the problems start. Also there is the challenge of rescuing people from stricken ships. The Ushaia only had 89 passengers and 33 crew, but what happens when you have 700 passengers and crew to rescue? The Antarctic infrastructure would be completely stressed out. Its nice to be able to visit these remote places,