The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2000 Recently (left) Gerry West, 64, and his ne from a two-week trip to the Antarctic. Here they hobnob ighbour, Jack Taylor, 60, cam e home bed with millions of penguins and seals and sailed with killer whales. For Mr. West it was his seventh continent to set foot on. phase 2 OF NCIVA SN WAY BL |W NS GT OT EH J 905-985-4427 Life RE/ SC NN lease b M UGOG Y | Retirement Living | by the Lake Garden Court Homes LTD, aE Re rete RATER ATR reat IT'S A Last stop! Antarctica Port Perry's Gerry West steps foot on his seventh, and final continent -- Antarctica -- during a trip to remember with pal Jack Taylor By Heather McCrae Port Perry Star Ever thought what it would be like to taste ice cubes that were millions of years old? Well, Jack Taylor, 60, and sixty-four- year-old Gerry West did and said they tast- ed great. The two Port Perry men recently came home from a two-week trip to Antarctica, the highest, coldest and driest conti- nent where temperatures can drop below 80-degrees Celsius and 98 per cent of the land lies buried under ice averaging 23 kilometres in depth. For Mr. Taylor, a retired principal from Bowmanville High School and Mr. West, who was head of the Geography Department at Port Perry High School Shop For Men's & Women's Fine Clothing In The Victorian Atmosphere Of BR@CK'S SERVICE, QUALITY & STYLE SINCE 1881 SAVIc aval [U[tTe Fs VASES TST [To Jil BF=1Y; (Wii alh Ko LN 0] of Sl e<Te|U| =I ol glel=ts) 168 Queen St., Port Perry 985-2521 before retiring a few years ago, the trip was particu- larly special for both. While this was the seventh conti- nent Mr. West has set foot on, his friend was only one body of land behind him. Their odyssey to Antarctica with Mountain Travel-Sobek began on Jan. 6 with 48 other adventurers. For Jeff Green, their expe- dition leader, it was his 50th time to set foot on the frozen continent. After leaving Toronto, they set down at Ushuaia, Argentina, the most southerly port in the world, six flights later. Here they hopped on their floating home for the next week, a former Russian research and spy vessel that had been converted into a small cruise ship. Operated by 30 Russian ST plo] CDE LY; Thurs., Mar. 30, 2000 up to 20% off with Seniors HO [0] oN OF:110 Seniors' Discount Everyday 10% off regular pficed LifeBrand & Rialto products 268 Queen St, Port Perry 985-8886 -and- 29 Toronto St. S., Uxbridge 852-3345 crew members that spoke no English, their first har- rowing experience was when they crossed the Drake Passage where the roughest seas in the world are found. "We put up with thirty- foot waves for two days as we crossed," Mr. Taylor said. "It was quite exciting." For the next six days they travelled around the Antarctic Peninsula, mak- ing it to shore on a Zodiac four different times. Glaciers millions of years old cover the conti- nent. The first time Mr. West set foot on Antarctica a bottle of champagne was cracked open to celebrate his arrival on his seventh continent. To add to this excitement they cooled the bubbly with hunks of ice chipped away from glaciers. "It was really something, knowing we were tasting something millions of years old. It tasted grand." When they landed on Elephant Island they became part of a handful of people ever to lay eyes on this desolate and inhos- pitable piece of earth. Here, their welcome party was a lone Humpback whale which swam within metres of their ship. The day they landed at Brown Bluff they were greeted by millions upon millions of penguins. "They had never seen humans before so they were pretty curious when they saw us," Mr. Taylor said. "Also, in a land where there is 24 hours of contin- uous sunlight, they saw a variety of seals and whales. There are no land animals in the Antarctic, Mr. West says. "Even the penguins spend most of their time in the water." Seeing that this was the summertime in Antarctica, the group said the weather was pretty good, never far from 0 degrees Celsius. On one spectacular day they encountered a pod of Orca whales that only a handful of people at best have ever seen. "We had Orcas beside us, underneath us and hunting seals on ice floes all around us. That was a special moment, one we will never forget," said Mr. Turn to Page 23 | | | [ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |