Orion is Upside Down

Amy Kernahan was born and brought up on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, but is now an 'economic migrant' to the South East of England, where she works as an assembly, integration and test engineer for a company building small satellites in Guildford, Surrey. A fascination with technology led her to choose a career path that she believed would bring her to its cutting edge, gaining along the way a Masters in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Glasgow and studying for a time at the prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace in Toulouse. (She maintains that the reality is somewhat different and that whoever said the space industry is glamorous has never worked in it!) But her first love has always been the sea. Orion is Upside Down is her first book and is a sea story with almost as much ice as there is brine about it. Amy recounts the events and adventures of a journey to Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic Islands, drawing parallels and contrasts between the places she visits and the island she reluctantly calls home. Amy is a typical travel writer in that she insists that she is not a travel writer!

Prologue, 9; Chapter 1 Buenos Aires, 10; Chapter 2 Ushuaia, 21; Chapter 3 The Drake Passage, 37; Chapter 4 The Peninsula, 45; Chapter 5 The Mainland, 53; Chapter 6 You Shall Not Pass, 62; Chapter 7 Elephant Island, 75; Chapter 8 The Superhighway of the Sea, 79; Chapter 9 Sovereign Powers Are Not Penguins, 88; Chapter 10 A Tale of a Tail of a Whale, 91; Chapter 11 Grytviken, 100; Chapter 12 Stromness, 108; Chapter 13 Stanley, 119; Chapter 14 Westpoint, 129; Chapter 15 Homeward Bound, 137; Chapter 16 Orion is Upside Down, 142; Chapter 17 Landfalls and Departures..., 147; Chapter 18... Leaving Home, Coming Home, 149; Epilogue, 154; End Notes, 157; LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS; (Plates will be found between pages 76 and 77); Plates 1; (1) Nordnorge and MV Isle of Lewis in Stornoway Harbour; (2) The May Revolution Monument in Buenos Aires; Plates 2; (3) Mural in Ushuaia, arriving in the town from the airport; (4) The Prison Train at Museo Maritimo y ex Presidio de Ushuaia; (5) The author in the coach of the Prison Train; (6) Transport Weekend Puky Body sign, Ushuaia; Plates 3; (7) A large cruise ship and two Argentinian naval vessels, Ushuaia; (8) One of the trains that operates the End of The World Railway, Ushuaia; Plates 4; (9) The author photographed filming their passage around Cape Horn; (10) Jack Kernahan preparing to go ashore; (11) Passengers go ashore from a Polar Cirkle inflatable; Plates 5; (12) Nordnorge at Niko Harbour. (13) Tabular iceberg near Paradise Harbour; Plates 6; (14) Paradise Harbour; (15) Nordnorge at anchor in the bay, Paradise Harbour; Plates 7; (16) Nordnorge approaches the edge of the pack ice; (17) Nordnorge and a 'distance to...' sign, Arctowski Base; Plates 8; (18) Elephant Island; (19) A small iceberg in a field of brash ice and growlers; Plates 9; (20) The author on deck, approaching Grytviken; (21) Abandoned whaling vessels, Petrel and Albatross, Grytviken; Plates 10; (22) Shackleton's grave, Grytviken; (23) The final stretch of the route followed by Shackleton and his men when crossing South Georgia, Stromness; Plates 11; (24) Stromness whaling station and 'danger' sign; (25) Lutheran church at Stromness, with oil storage facility in the foreground; Plates 12; (26) Nordnorge at anchor, Stromness; (27) Passengers return to Nordnorge after a landing; (28) Nordnorge's crew attempt to release a seized chain-stop; Plates 13; (29) A passenger's satirical response to the abandoning of the ship's anchor; Plates 14; (30) Fitting the spare anchor, Port Stanley; (31) Liberation Monument, Stanley; (32) 'Thatcher Drive' road sign, Stanley; Plates 15; (33) Union flag on display at Westpoint; (34) A young albatross, Westpoint; Plates 16; (35) Tomas boarding the ship at BuenosAires; (36) 'God's providence is our inheritance' mural, Stornoway; (37) Stornoway Harbour besit in ice.