Chapter 19 South Pole Nutcracker Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica Hole 18 Slick and Robbre stood arm in arm at the far end of the railing. The photographer and the sports reporter huddled beside them. They wondered what new hidden skeletons would be laid bare on this trip. Meanwhile, the teams gossiped as they waiting for their escort to show up. "Look at that," said Slick as she pointed at a mystery of nature. A red balloon covered with an inch of ice was floating on the calm water, yet the timid waves did not move it from its position. The amazing thing about the frozen balloon was that it was still filled with air. It was simply a warning buoy above a sunken obstacle. "Holy crabs!' shouted Little. Her partner Pieter spun her camera around to face the frightening object before she said, "Give me a clear shot… will you." Now, the players' attention was transfixed by a luxury cabin cruiser beneath the water's surface. Its frozen hull and cabin were outlined with glowing neon blue ice formations. A perfectly preserved dead man's beer gut could be seen through one of the portholes. The rear of the craft bore the name Coke Cowboy and its home port of Miami, Florida. Loca spoke as if she was telling a ghost story, "Probably just another stupid drug smuggler. The undersea currents of the world bring all kinds of trash to the South Pole. It is nature's way of cleansing the Earth. Everything that disappears in the Bermuda Triangle eventually ends up here too." Robbre spoke logically, "This would be a scavenger's paradise." Loca agreed, "Anything that comes here has already been written off by the civilized world. It's free for the taking. Do you want me to ask our hostess if you could raise that boat and pilfer the booty?" Robbre actually blushed as he said, "The skeletons and the boat are all hers."