Antarctic Oasis: Under the Spell of South Georgia - Hardcover

Carr, Pauline; Carr, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393046052 ISBN 13: 9780393046052

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998

Synopsis

An account of one couple's life on a remote island beyond the Polar Front, a tale to rival the exploits of the great nineteenth-century explorers.

After twenty-five years of cruising the world's oceans, renowned blue-water sailors Pauline and Tim Carr found themselves being drawn to the lonely places of the higher latitudes to experience earth's last, scarcely touched regions. Antarctic Oasis records the culmination of those exploits. True adventurers, the Carrs have lived year-round on South Georgia for five years―its only civilian inhabitants―experiencing a way of life that has all but vanished from our modern world.

A center of the Norwegian whaling industry in the last century, today a remnant of the far-flung British Empire, South Georgia is a splendid if forbidding land of towering, glacier-clad mountains and a treacherous, storm-torn coast punctuated by sheltered bays. During its brief polar summer, the island's verdant shoreline offers Antarctic wildlife a place to feed, mate, and rear their young. The only humans on the scene, the Carrs have learned intimate details about the lives of whales, penguins, seals, albatrosses, skuas, and many others.

In all seasons the Carrs explore South Georgia's uncompromising coast aboard their yacht Curlew. Their deep fascination with the island, its wildlife, and its history will stir the spirit of adventure and discovery in us all.

About this title

About the Author:

Pauline Carr (with Tim Carr) and Curlew, their 100-year-old, 28-foot wooden cutter, comprise the world's most celebrated blue-water sailing team. The Carrs have lived aboard Curlew―which has no engine, no radio transmitter, and no electrical system―for thirty years, crisscrossing the world's oceans. The couple has received the highest accolades for seamanship from cruising clubs the world over.

Tim Carr (with Pauline Carr) and Curlew, their 100-year-old, 28-foot wooden cutter, comprise the world's most celebrated blue-water sailing team. The Carrs have lived aboard Curlew―which has no engine, no radio transmitter, and no electrical system―for thirty years, crisscrossing the world's oceans. The couple has received the highest accolades for seamanship from cruising clubs the world over.

From Booklist:

The first thing you notice about this handsome book is a surfeit of color. In the mind's eye, the Antarctic is a study in sterile white, but in the Carrs' spectacular photographs, the Antarctic island of South Georgia is brilliant with green and gold lichen and grasses, the bright orange markings of penguins, the tawny beauty of caribou, and spectacular skies. One hundred miles long and glacier-clad, South Georgia is the South Pole's oasis, home to 2.2 million fur seals, hundreds of thousands of penguins, the world's largest flock of wandering albatrosses, countless petrels, and two human beings, the Carrs, a couple famous for their sailing prowess and love of far-off lands. Their gorgeous and unexpected photographs, lively history of the island, and personable account of their lives onboard their 100-year-old yacht reignite our sense of wonder in nature and remind us that it is possible to live in the wilderness and do no harm. Donna Seaman

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0393046052
• ISBN 13: 9780393046052
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256