An Aurora man stranded in Antarctica for more than a week is on his way home.
Bob Bonifas, 74, founder of Alarm Detection Systems, is expected back to work Wednesday afternoon, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Bonifas' ship lost power when a transformer feeding energy to the ship broke, leaving him and 72 other people stranded at South Georgia Island near Antarctica last Monday.
The first thing he wants to do when he's back in the U.S.?
“Catching up on my e-mail among other things,” the Aurora businessman and world traveler told NBC Chicago via satellite phone last week. “I am not a patient person. Most of my life is on the move at full speed and sitting here for eight days and I got six more before I even get to Montevideo, Uruguay, that is forever for me.”
A ship was expected last Wednesday morning to take them to Uruguay, but he won't be back in the States until Wednesday. Bonifas said the crew tried to entertain the passengers by taking them on hikes, but boredom for him has set in.
Still it could have been worse.
“If this would have happened a day out in that sea, we’d be stranded out there, and if you get big waves it can do serious damage to a ship,” he said, saying it has been snowing and between 20-30 degrees each day.
