THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURES OF A CRUISE SHIP ADDICT

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, ...

The Explorer sinking in the Antarctic was just an accident waiting to happen... As cruising becomes more popular, cruise companies are choosing more and more isolated places to take their ships to. Unfortunately some of these places are very remote, such as Antarctica. While the landscape maybe beautiful, the seas are amongst the roughest on earth and it is so far from anywhere (and cold) that it is very difficult to co-ordinate a quick rescue. Explorer's passengers were incredibly lucky because there was another ship close at hand - 4 hours away - but what would have happened if that ship had not been about? What would have happened if the seas had been rough? Antarctica has some of the strictest cruise ship regulations in the world governing which ships can enter, how many passengers they can carry, the environmental impact of their presence on the continent and how passengers act while they are in Antarctica. There has been worrying incidents in the past such as the Nordkapp run...