Time on Ice: A Winter Voyage to Antarctica

by Deborah Shapiro, Rolf Bjelke

An account of this team's journey, with their forty-foot sailboat home, from Sweden to the Antarctic

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

290 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Deborah Shapiro is an American born explorer and photographer who, together with with her husband, veteran Swedish sailor and explorer, Rolf Bjelke, has made three voyages to the polar regions from their home harbor in Sweden.

In the 1980s and 90s the couple completed two round-trips to Antarctica in their 40 foot sailboat, Northern Light, including one unassisted winter-over. From 2005 to 2008 they circumnavigated Antarctica, in four consecutive summers, visiting sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic Peninsula for a third time. Their combined voyages covered a distance of 243,000 miles.

They received the Blue Water Medal of the Cruising Club of America for their daring 33,000 mile voyage from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

Shapiro and Bjelke have written several books, including Letters from the Sea, Northern Light, Time On Ice, They are currently working on their latest book, Pearls Around the White Continent.

Reviews

[Hana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sailing and Antarctica for my Around-the-World cruise. How could I resist?





Those who love disaster tales will be disappointed with this one. I, on the other hand, was delighted.

This book is a testimony, not only to Shapiro and Bjelke's endurance, but to their patient, meticulous planning. Things do go wrong and there are plenty of thrilling moments, but the husband and wife sailing team face each challenge with competence and determination. Dedicated sailors will learn a great deal and non-sailors will enjoy the novelty of spending a winter alone and icebound in the Antarctic.

I was fascinated by their observations on their own physical and mental reactions and by the sailing details: the merits of sailing without radar; why you need to master dead-reckoning and celestial navigation; not to mention how to get along with your spouse when you are alone together for months on end in a 40-foot sailboat going nowhere.

I liked the second half of the book best--that was the part when they found the perfect mooring site, figured out how to secure the boat for the winter and then prepared for the ice to lock them in. As they explore the islands around their frozen cove, Bjelke and Shapiro meet nosy penguins and elephant seals. Before deep winter sets in they enjoy magnificent sunsets that turn the sky deep orange and the ice purple.

Then come the long dark months--but it turns out that they are not really dark. The twilight is long, subtle and shimmering in the Antarctic and eyes no longer over-stimulated by bright light start to see more clearly, even by starlight. Then there is the light of the moon, "higher in the sky at midwinter than the sun is at midsummer. During half of each winter month there is enough moonlight to ski by; the natives of Scandinavia's high north call it the 'second day'....Blue starlight, silver moonlight, or the muted midwinter pastel twilight--when snow is pink and clouds lilac, or a second later when they trade colors...." It is all exquisitely beautiful.

The coming of polar spring was amazing--the birds and seals and sea lions arrive to claim their nesting sites long before anything even remotely like a thaw. They lay their eggs or give birth in the face of ferocious winds and blinding snow storms. Absolutely amazing.

Sadly, the human visitors arrive not long after and the peace is shattered. The popularity of Antarctic cruising has only increased in the years since Bjelke and Shapiro's 1991 voyage and the human presence has taken a toll on the land, and on the birds and mammals. The couple returned to the Antarctic in 2013, once again sailing in their beloved boat, Northern Light, and you can read about their trip in Cruising World

[RoWoSthlm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time on Ice (Vinteskepp – Swedish edition) has a special place in my bookshelf. This nautical book was one of the first books that inspired me enormously in the beginning of my sailing life. I always wanted to return to this book on some cold winter evening and now I’ve read it for the second time. It is still a thrilling page turner and catalyst of my dreams of getting to the Antarctic someday. It is a thrilling story of the Swedish-American couple sailing to Antarctica and spending a winter there, with all the challenges imaginable that such a harsh and at the same time special place on Earth can offer.

The story is written in a manner that one feels like being on board during this incredible journey. It has it all – meticulous planning and preparations, encountering the great wilderness, challenges, hurricanes, survival, cold and ice, endurance, isolation, personality issues, depression, psychology, and the sublime majesty of this remote place of our planet.

During their journey Rolf Bjelke and Degorah Shapiro were very worried about the global issues with our planet and treatment of wildlife. They describe their concerns in the book. Today, the problems they raised almost quarter a century ago are more actual than ever.

[Dovofthegalilee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quaint a book that really could have gone the distance for me but it lagged. I enjoy her reports of socializing and I actually would have preferred more of this and conversations that took place between her and husband to give a better feel of just what you do to pass all of that time. Pictures...There's a dozen or so in the edition I have but not near enough. I WANT TO SEE THE BOAT! Doesn't anyone else feel the same way?What does the stowage look like at set out? How about the galley? Along with the good list provided of foods carried I've always wondered reading these sorts of books what is it they have on their bookshelves! Come on, give us a list. They do mention the Encyclopedia Britannica and a book by Kurt Van.. but I'd love to see what made it with them. Oh well perhaps the next writer will see this and it will give them an idea of what we want.

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am intrigued by Antarctica so wanted to over-winter there vicariously through Deborah Shapiro and Rolf Bjelke, a couple who did just that, sailing their 40-foot sailboat from Sweden to the Antarctic Peninsula in a 3-year journey. Their voyage was definitely fraught with peril and worry, not to mention hard work. And their descriptions of the Antarctic weather, wildlife, and terrain are beautifully written. But for me, the joy I could feel in their adventure was ruined somewhat by the derisive tone that they take toward other 'humans' who desire to do the same. They correctly call out those who would visit and behave badly by leaving trash or bothering the wildlife, but fail to see that they also leave an imprint on the land, especially in mimicking the animals to the point where they thought they were communicating with others of their species and would run to find the nest or rookery, only to find Deborah. She may think that did no harm but how does she know - she doesn't really "speak penguin". It came off as: 'our actions are righteous and all others are selfish'. There are a number of times in the book where the preaching commenced and for me it took away from the enjoyment of their journey.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this by mail from a friend who knew I’d been to Antarctica. The wonderful thing about being gifted a book they love is that someone shares a piece of themselves with you. I actually thought I’d have to plod my way through this one, which documents a couple’s journey to, winter stay in, and return from Antarctica in their sailboat. But I really really enjoyed this book! The sailboat terminology is all new to me (Genoa? Gybe? Mizzen?...) and very interesting. Wow I realize how dull my life is! This book really made me think about how differently some live day to day and about choices. Who knows what adventures I might have had if certain choices had been made. Who knows what adventures I’ve had would also had been missed if other choices had not been made. Really interesting and pleasant reading. Makes me want to return to Antarctica (but never in a sailboat and definitely not over winter!!!).

[Citlali Helenes González · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5