A Randolph County senior citizen plunged into the waters of Antarctica.
That’s John Pugh’s own headline for his most recent adventure. The 96-year-old went on a tour of the frozen continent in January, leaving his Asheboro home on the 13th and returning on the 26th. He flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina, then took another flight to Ushuaia, Argentina, which calls itself the southernmost city in the world.
At Ushuaia, Pugh’s party of about 100 adventurers boarded the Lyubov Orlova, a ship specially designed for sailing in frigid waters.
“We were on the ship for 11 days,” Pugh said last week during an interview at his home. “We sailed along the Antarctic coast, visited several islands and once went on the Antarctic coast.”
He said there are three or four million penguins in Antarctica and they have to go to the ocean to feed. There to meet them are predators such as leopard seals.
The tour group saw plenty of the tuxedo-clad birds during their visits to land.
Pugh also saw “lots of icebergs, big ones. We toured an area called the iceberg graveyard. Some of them were bigger than the ship.”
The “graveyard” is where huge chunks of ice break loose from the ice shelf to become icebergs. Other sights Pugh viewed were whales and a variety of seal species.
The passengers lived on the ship but traveled to shore on Zodiac heavy-duty, inflatable landing craft. Each passenger wore a life vest and wading boots for the trips to land.
Pugh said there were 14 countries represented on the Lyubov Orlova and his cabin mate was a 47-year-old man from Holland. “I was the granddaddy of the group,” he said in what could be considered an extreme understatement.
In fact, Pugh was presented with certificates stating that he was the oldest person to ever set foot on Antarctica and the oldest “lunatic” to take the polar plunge.
Only about 20 of the 100 passengers signed up for the plunge, which took place on Jan. 19. Pugh said they got into boats and floated about 20 minutes from the ship before stripping down to swim trunks and jumping into the water. Immediately, they were pulled back into the boat.
“I got the plunge over and dried off, then dressed,” Pugh said. “Then it was 20 minutes before we got back to the ship.”
Even though it was summer at Antarctica, the temperature never rose above freezing, he said. The water temperature, however, was about 33 or 34 degrees Fahrenheit. Pugh said Atlantic and Pacific ocean waters converge there, bringing whales to the area.
During the trip, the passengers went out twice a day on the boats – morning and evening. They landed on six islands and the mainland at a place called Waterboat Point. That was on Jan. 22.
Pugh said the continent “is a solid sheet of ice. The only inhabitants are at research stations” manned by a number of countries.
The group visited an inactive volcano, where the ground is bare of ice.
“It was cold,” Pugh said. But he wore three layers of clothing plus an Arctic coat. The adventurers had to wade ashore in their rubber boots six times.
Pugh revealed his advanced age when he called the “hardest part” of the trip was having to go up 42 steps from his cabin to the deck where the dining room and activity area was located. Then it was 42 steps back down to his cabin.
“We had to hold onto the rails because the ship kept rocking,” he said. “I’d never been on a ship before so it was an initiation for me. But I didn’t get seasick.”
So what possessed Pugh to decide to go to Antarctica?
“I’d heard it was like no other place on earth,” he said, “and it is. I’d been to the Arctic 25 years ago and it’s altogether different – and (Antarctica) is colder.
“I have an adventurous spirit,” he said. “I’ve rafted down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and slept on the riverbank seven nights. I was 81 then.
“Last summer I toured the Canadian Rockies,” said Pugh.
That was in addition to competing in the national senior games at Stanford University.
But visiting Antarctica had to be one of Pugh’s biggest challenges.
“It’s not something to enter into lightly,” he said. “There are risks involved if anything goes wrong. You have to be in pretty good shape and have your wits about you.”
Pugh said he began planning the trip in October.
“It took quite a bit of preparation,” he said. “You have to make sure you have everything you need before going – clothes, medications – because once you’re on the ship there’s no contact (with the outside world) except by radio and Internet.”
Pugh said the highlights of the Antarctica trip were “just seeing the place. Some of the sights were very beautiful, the water and icebergs, different colors and shapes. It was spectacular riding around them in the small boats.”
With Antarctica under his belt, what other places does Pugh want to visit?
“I’m staying home this summer,” he said. “We’re hosting the state American Legion (baseball) tournament and I’m looking forward to it.
“But there are some national parks I haven’t seen that I’d like to see,” said Pugh. “I haven’t seen Yosemite.
“I’d like to visit an 800-acre corn farm that’s using cutting-edge technology,” he said. “Worldwide, there’s no particular place in my mind. But I may get in my car and tour some of the U.S. next summer.
“My driver’s license is good for four more years.”
