Antarctic Affair (11 page)

“Yup,” she breathed, feeling the kayak wobble with
the gentle motion of sea.
 

“Okay, I’m going to push away from the ship now, and
start paddling. You paddle in time with me, or not at all. If you paddle out of
time we’re going over.”

He pushed away and they were off. The kayak glided
seamlessly through the glassy water.

“Paddle with me, George,” Taj urged softly, as he
dipped his oars one side then the other in a rhythmic fashion.

“I don’t want to capsize us,” Georgina whispered.

“It’ll be okay, just paddle with me. Left – right –
left – right…” he counted. “That’s it. You got it. Now keep the rhythm going.”

Georgina was concentrating so hard she almost forgot
too look at the surrounding scenery. They rounded a perfect set of imposing
cliffs and paddled along the starkly beautiful coastline. There were six kayaks
in total slicing through the calm water.

The highlight of the trip was when a couple of
Humpbacks broke the glassy surface with their soft breathing only meters away
from them. Everybody gasped in awe at the massive yet graceful creatures. Taj
quickly stopped paddling and grabbed his camera which hung round his neck. The
kayak lurched to the side.

“Keep dipping your paddles on either side,” he
instructed her. “Try and keep it stable, I want to take a shot.”

Georgina carefully patted the water along the right
side of the kayak which gently righted itself, then she pressed down on the
left, and the kayak stilled.

“Good work,” Taj muttered, staring through his lens
at the whales, who were now squirting jets of water through their blowholes and
frolicking about to the delight of the group. Praise from the austere Taj
Andrews, Georgina could hardly believe it, but she felt proud of herself too.
She could do this.
 

“Won’t your camera get wet?” she asked, once he’d
finished and resumed paddling.

“I’ve got waterproof casing,” he told her. If I fell
in it would probably still survive.”

“Let’s hope we never put that to the test,” she
murmured.

After paddling around the coast line for about half
an hour they came to two icebergs connected by a low arch. They paddled under
the dripping ceiling and stared in fascination at the blue, green and white
striations in the ice.

“I want to get some shots of this,” Taj told her.
“Let’s land on that ice pack over there - it’s the best vantage point.”

“You want to land. Here?” They were in the middle of
the sea, about a kilometre from the ship and the rest of the group were
paddling off into the distance.

“Just for a minute,” he said, steering the kayak
onto the flat surface of packed ice. He hopped off and pulled the craft up a
few metres.

“Sit tight, I’ll be right back,” he told her and
much to her dismay he headed for the opposite side of the ice pack, camera in
hand.

“Fabulous,” she muttered to herself. The solitude
was overwhelming. She could hear her own breathing, and the gentle tinkle of
the ice knocking into each other with the incoming tide. She stared at the
smooth ice pack and Taj in the distance, crouching down, aiming his camera and
its long lens at the unique ice formations.

Suddenly there was a loud cracking sound and she
could have sworn she felt the ice move.

“Taj?” she called worriedly.

“Hang on, I’ll be right there,” he shouted back,
taking a few last shots.

“Taj, I felt something move!” she yelled. More
cracking. Taj stood up and stared at the ice pack. “It’s a pressure ridge. The
ice is cracking.”

There was a low, grinding sound and long angular
cracks popped up scarring the smooth ice pack. It looked like an earthquake on
a miniature scale, but just as scary.

“Taj, I can’t paddle this thing without you,” she
yelled, as a large crevice opened up in front of her effectively cutting off
Taj’s route back to the kayak.

Taj was running towards her, but ground to a halt
before the crevice. “You’re going to have to!” he shouted at her. “Quickly,
climb into the front and take my oar. Then push off and paddle round to this
side. You’ll have to come and get me, I can’t reach you there.”

“I can’t do it,” she sobbed. “I’ll capsize.”

“You won’t. I’ll talk you through it. Climb over
now!”

The whole ice pack suddenly came alive, creaking and
groaning like a living creature. Taj had to jump back as ridges opened up all
around him.

“Hurry!” he yelled, clambering over cracks that
exposed the frigid ocean below.

“Oh God,” she gasped, as she anxiously climbed into
the front of the kayak. She took up Taj’s oar, and began sliding the craft back
off the ice sheet and into the water. For a scary moment she almost went over,
but then remembered Taj’s advice and dipped the oar on the opposite side to
stabilise herself.

“That’s it, good girl,” Taj called. “Now start
paddling. You can do it.”

Tentatively she tried to paddle around the rupturing
ice sheet. Plates of ice were splintering and tearing away from the main pack,
bobbing in the water. She paddled past one, scraping the side of the kayak
causing her to wobble dangerous.

“Steady yourself,” Taj called in a calm voice. She
did as he said and after a painstaking ten minutes she glided to a stop a metre
from where he was stranded. The only firm piece of ice, which Taj had managed
to get to, was now sinking. It was half submerged already, soaking his boots
and the bottom of his jeans, tilted drunkenly to one side.

“What must I do now?” she screamed, seeing the angle
of the ice underneath him reach almost forty-five degrees. He slipped forward.

“I’m going to have to jump for it,” he told her.

To her horror he leapt forward, throwing his upper
body across the back of the kayak. There was a loud splash as his legs hit the
water, spraying Georgina across her face. She frantically tried to steady the
craft which lurched from side to side like a buoy on rough seas.

“Steady,” yelled Taj. “Keep her steady.”

“I’m trying,” she was sobbing now, desperately
dipping the oars to maintain some kind of equilibrium. Taj threw his leg over
the back of the kayak and sat up, straddling it. Then he slid into the seat
depression and lifted his feet into the correct position. He grabbed Georgina’s
oar which she’d left in the hull when she’d climbed to the front and began
paddling. The kayak stopped rocking and stabilised. Slowly he managed to get
them out of the hissing and spluttering ice pack which was now almost totally
underwater and away into calmer waters.
 

“Wow, that was close!” he breathed, as they paddled
slowly back towards the ship. Georgina was silent and it was only when he saw
her shoulders shaking that he realised she was crying.

“We’re safe now,” he said softly, leaning forward to
squeeze her shoulder. She sniffed in response.

He said sincerely, “You saved my life, you know.”

His hand was still on her shoulder and began to
massage it softly. She was really tense. She began to relax under his gentle
pressure and arched her head back. He felt the soft, silky tendrils around her
neck tickle his skin. As if with a mind of its own, his hand started to slide
up into her hair but he caught himself just in time. He placed it firmly back
on the paddle.
 

Georgina gave a small sigh. “I was so scared,” she
said weakly. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought we were going to die.”

“You did great,” he told her. “You kept calm and you
held it together. If it wasn’t for you I’d be sinking like that iceberg out
there right about now.”

She made a sound that was half sob, half laugh.
“Don’t joke.”

“I’m not. I’m being serious.”

She rolled her head back to release the tension,
“I’m just glad we’re both okay. I don’t ever want to have to do that again.”

“Kayaking is not normally dangerous. I was stupid to
take a chance on that ice sheet. I tend to do these crazy things when I’m
working, but I should never have endangered you.”

“Occupational hazard, I guess,” she said, staring
out at the flat sea ahead of them.

“Still it was really selfish of me. I’m sorry about
that.”

She half turned, “Apology accepted.”

He grinned at her. “Now lets get back to the
Explorer
shall we, and get into some dry
clothes.”

“I’ll second that.”

Taj set the pace and together they paddled in sync
towards to comforting bright red hull of the
Explorer
.

The others were already back when they arrived and
Don rushed up to greet them. “Thank God, I was about to send out a search
party. Where the hell have you been?”

“Don’t ask,” Georgina said her knees almost buckling
as she climbed out of the kayak. Don gripped her arm to steady her.

“You okay?”
 
he asked worriedly.

“I am now,” she replied.

“Taj?” asked Don, hauling the kayak up onto the deck
for his friend.

“Damn close call,” Taj said as he grabbed a towel
and dried himself off. “George was a star. She saved my life, quite literally.”
He smiled at Don’s incredulous look. Georgina shook her head. “I only did what
he told me to do,” she replied modestly. “I was terrified.”

“You landed on an ice pack, didn’t you?” guessed
Don.

At Taj’s nod he exclaimed, “You’re insane. I can’t
believe you took her with you. You know how unstable those sheets are,
especially with an incoming tide.”

“I certainly know now,” he acknowledged.

“Don’t be flippant, Taj,” Don said without humour.
“You could have both been killed.”

“Spare the lecture, okay buddy,” Taj said. “I know
it was a risk. You forget, it’s my job to take risks. I do it all the time.
It’s second nature. I will admit I shouldn’t have taken George with me, but the
opportunity presented itself and I got some excellent shots.”

“Bloody good they would have done you at the bottom
of the Scotia Sea,” Don said dryly.

“He didn’t technically take me with him,” Georgina
cut in, “he left me in the kayak.”

“I can’t believe you’re defending him, George,” said
Don.

Georgina looked offended.

Taj cut in, “Lucky I did too, or else she wouldn’t
have been able to rescue me.”

“I had to paddle around to get him,” she told Don
earnestly. “The ice was splitting up all over the place.”

Don shook his head. “Remind me never to pair you two
up again. Perhaps you’re right Taj, it is better you work alone. At least that
way you
won’t kill anyone
,” he
shouted.

Taj didn’t miss Georgina’s quick glance in his
direction but then she surprised him by saying, “That’s a pity. I think I’m
getting the hang of this adventure stuff.”

Taj burst out laughing, he couldn’t help himself. She
was priceless.

Don rolled his eyes and shook his head at the two of
them. “Okay, I’ll let this one slide, but please try to be more responsible
next time.”

“Yeah, I get the message,” said Taj.

“At least it makes for exciting reading,” Georgina
rationalised.

Taj said excitedly, “See, at least she understands.”

Georgina started shivering violently. “You’d better
go and get warm,” said Don concerned. “It’s freezing out here.”

“Okay,” she said through chattering teeth and made
her way back to her cabin leaving the two men on deck to rinse off the kayaks
and pack away the equipment.

Don busied himself stacking the kayaks. “I see you
two are getting on better now?” he commented idly.

Taj’s answer was heavily laced with sarcasm. “Yes,
thanks to your brilliant little scheme, which as you can see, worked so well.
The harder I pushed her, the more determined she was not to quit. I never
thought she had the guts.”

“It was worth a shot,” said Don not looking him in
the eye.

Taj secured the kayaks with rope so they wouldn’t
roll around the deck. “I think I underestimated you old buddy.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Don
muttered busying himself with collecting the paddles which were scattered about
the landing deck.

“I think you do.”

Don raised an eyebrow.

“I think you knew she wouldn’t quit. You sussed out how
important this story was to her and you threw us together on purpose. Don’t
bother to deny it.”

Don stood up and put his hands on his hips. “Okay, I
felt sorry for her. You’re not the easiest person to work with, you know.”

Taj sighed, “I know. It seems I misjudged her too,
she’s not so bad after all. In fact, I think she’s growing on me.”

Don chuckled. “I’m glad to hear it. She’s definitely
more capable than we thought.”

“Probably more than she thought, too,” said Taj
pensively.