Thoughts from the real world

It is hot, very hot. Not just the heat of a summer's day but searing, mind- numbing heat that I can almost taste. I look around; screwing up my eyes; even behind sunglasses the glare is incredible. A heat haze covers the sand dunes that stretch around me in all directions, giving the illusion that land disappears into the shimmering water on the edge of sight. I know it is not real but I am dying to believe it. To have some respite from the torture the sun is inflicting on me, to have release.

13:30 GMT. Aboard the ecological tourist ship Global Commitment at the edge of the Antarctic ice fields…