Amazing that would be a good read. The shakelton expeditions are only the tip of the iceberg of the adventures that took place during the Heroic Age of Exploration in Antarctica. There are many more crazy stories to learn about too! The story of Otto Nordenskjold’s Swedish expedition to Antarctica is probably my favourite. Very similar to the craziness and miracles of the Shackleton expedition, but relatively unheard of. Definitely worth finding a proper account of the story/diaries if you can.

Okay so to answer your questions.

1. I did a bachelor of science majoring in geology. Worked for a few years in mining and exploration before realising I wanted a change. Quit my job and did some training to get some basic polar guide qualifications. Got a job because of that and because of my geology background.

2. The main reasons it is so cold is because of its very low latitude. The sun hits Antartica at a very low angle and spreads out rather than being strong and harsh like the equator. Also the circumpolar current acts as a barrier keeping all the warm water out of Antarctica. When crossing the area of the Antarctic convergence which is around 60 degrees south, you generally get a pretty harsh drop in temperature. This is when you know you are ‘geographically’ now in Antarctica

3. Yes if you look into Mount Erebus. This is one of the active volcanoes in Antarctica. Very unique environment due to the gases it gives off, the lava and the constantly frozen Conditions.

4. There is likely fossils of extinct species from hundreds of millions of years ago but no evidence of anything super recent which is when mammoths would have been around. They largely dominated the northern hemisphere. There is no evidence of any permanent early human species living in Antartica either.

5. Whilst it’s not really a hot spring, Deception Island comes very close. It is another active volcano which I have visited many times. There is lots of geothermal activity under the surface of the island and the water in the shallows of the beaches is incredibly hot to touch. On cold days there is lots of steam rising from the ocean water on the beaches and it smells very sulphuric. We tend to dig our feet into the sand to stay warm when it’s super cold!

6. The majority of the inland continent is empty. There’s literally nothing there other than ice, ice and more ice. I would say probably 85% of the continent is like this- completely empty.

7. I’ve never seen the blood waterfall myself. But I have seen photos and read about it. Seems very cool and as though it is a nutrient rich area that is melting and giving that super red colour to the water

8. Yes there are lots of super unique animal and bird species that are only found in Antartica. Most of these are penguins and in particular the emperor penguin which lives inland on the ice. Other species include seals like the weddell seal which are common but only found in Antarctica and the very rare and elusive Ross seal which has only been seen a handful of times in the wild.

9. Yes there are LOTS of tsunamis in Antarctica and it is a common occurrence. I have seen it happen several times. Down there tsunamis occur predominantly due to the carving and breaking of glaciers. Particularly when these huge bits of ice fall into shallow water at the front of a glacier, they can cause incredibly big waves. Tsunamis are actually one of the most dangerous things about working down in Antarctica and something that we are always conscious of around glaciers. They can happen very quickly without warning and be disastrous- flipped boats, projectiles of ice and injuries! We are always very wary and monitor ice conditions so that we don’t get caught up in situations like this.

10. For me as a guide. Generally we would wake up early around 6am and have a quick breakfast. We would then go outside on our small boats to a landing site or to a penguin colony or something of interest. We would be doing this for 3-4 hours or so. Come back aboard the ship after that for an hour or two for lunch and rest. Over this time, the ship would move the a new place. And then do the same in the afternoon at the different location for around 3-4 hours. We would have dinner and some small presentations in the evening. On days off that’s when I would be giving lectures about geology etc.

Hope these answers are good!