It's a fact. Penguins stink.
"They have a distinctive smell," said Travis Tamerius, chaplain and director of the Center for Ethics and Global Studies at William Woods University. "Some of our travelers said the scent stayed in their clothes for days."
Ten students from WWU learned that fact the hard way during a recent journey to Antarctica, the world's southernmost continent and arguably its hardest to reach.
They traveled with Tamerius, director of the Woods Around The World program. The group left Jan. 27, a time of the year which North Americans think is winter - but is indeed summer "down under."
The trip was rough going at times, but Tamerius said he loved it when his charges found their bliss.
"There were numerous moments when I looked out at our students and saw how fortunate they were to to be there - when I saw the trip through their eyes," he said.
And there were moments, like a beautiful day on Paradise Bay, a body of water tucked into a peninsula well south of South America.
"It was a day our expedition leader described as one in every 1,000 days, where the water is incredibly placid and there's not a cloud in the sky," he said.
Senior student Baylie Borman remembers the day, and others not quite so smooth on their smallish ship, Ushuaia, crossing the Drake Passage.
"Our head guide said, 'Make sure you have two hands free,'" she said, remembering how rough the sea was and how holding on for a dear life became unavoidable.
But the rough crossings made little difference in her overall perception of the trip.
"I tried to soak up every moment," Borman said. "Our pictures don't do it justice."
Getting there
A journey to the bottom of the Earth isn't easy. In this case, Tamerius and his 10 WWU students traveled from Fulton to St. Louis to Atlanta to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they took a short rest break. From there, they went on to the port Ushuaia at the southern tip of that country - a jumping-off spot for the Antarctic nicknamed the "End of the World."
"We got on board the ship there and crossed the legendary Drake Passage," Tamerius said.
There may not be dragons in the "Pasaje de Drake," but one might prefer them to the storms that pound the region where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans converge. It's about 600 miles across, and up to 15,748 feet deep.
"It's the most turbulent water on the planet," Tamerius added.
Their ship was smaller than many of the larger cruise ships, carrying 50 crew and just 90 passengers from 15-82 years old.
"The drawback is it takes a pounding on the open sea," he said of the vessel.
The transit typically takes a couple of days, but visitors to Antarctica soon learn everything is weather-depencdent.
"You either get the Drake Lake or the Drake Shake, and that can extend the passage another day," Tamerius said.
The crew was anxious to get the ship southbound quickly as they knew a storm was looming. While the ride was bumpy, it wasn't bad, they said. Mother Nature reserved the full-on Drake Shake for the trip back north.
Passengers were well prepared with anti-nausea medication and techniques. Borman said she spent time rolling around in her bunk as the ship rolled to and fro.
"Better safe than sorry; that's my motto," she said.
To avoid seasickness, Borman organized several karaoke nights and played card games with other passengers. She got to know her crew members and said everyone made do without the internet.
"We had actual conversations," she said. "We played Uno and cards, and had lectures during the day."
Experts in various subjects lectured about the history of Antarctic exploration, sea ice, climate change and weather patterns. And once arrived, Tamerius said he was moved seeing his charges in places visited only by famous explorers such as Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Brit Ernest Shackleton a century ago.
"Our students were in places 100 years after they were first seen," he added.
They lived aboard and took day trips to places such as Deception Island and the U.S.-operated Palmer Research Station - the smallest station with 42 scientists.
"It's enchanting," Tamerius said of the continent. "We saw tons of penguins; three species out of 17."
Borman said each island they visited had a different terrain. Deception Island is made up of the caldera of an active volcano, and therefore is shaped like a horseshoe. Normally, it has one of the safest harbors with quiet water.
Tamerius said scientists who live on Antarctica deserve respect.
"Those people are called the winter-overs," he added. "Imagine going months without natural light. What they do to thrive in a very harsh climate."
Sometimes, he saw students go off by themselves to sit alone with their thoughts and ponder their environment. Often, he'd see someone alone on the ship's top deck, in the gloaming, looking into the distance.
"We had moments like that feeling sure that this was the most beautiful place on the planet," Tamerius added.
The sail home was crazy.
"On the way back, I went up to the wheelhouse to talk to the captain," Tamerius said. "He said on a scale of 1-9, this was an 8."
Instruments in the storm showed 40-foot waves and 80-85 mph wind. That sort of rocks the boat.
"Not only did our ship rock from side to side, but it was pitching front to back," he added. "The Drake Passage is everything it's reported to be."
The trip concluded Feb. 13. To pay her way, Borman said she participated in WWU's Project 123, a service-based scholarship program, and completed 123 hours of community service.
"It gave me a travel stipend to pay for part of the trip," she said.
Other Woods Around the Word participants have traveled to places such as Cuba, New Zealand, Europe and most recently, India - a trip that concluded March 9.
"During the past decade, this remarkable program has met its goal of getting students interested in a story other than their own, which is a hallmark of global travel and experiencing foreign cultures," said Jahnae H. Barnett, WWU president.
To learn more about the program, visit: bit.ly/2FS7vqE.