Adieu, Antarctica

Antarctica is still incredibly intriguing. The last few days have been tremendous. Yesterday morning, we had a true Antarctica experience with high winds, snow, and rough seas. Despite the conditions, we were able to make a landing on Brown Bluff, where we observed many Gentoo and Adelie Penguins, Antarctic Fur Seals, and seabirds.

Snowy Gentoo and Adelie Penguins



Adelie Atop an Iceberg



We spent the afternoon cruising the Northern tip of the Weddell Sea, entertained with unbelievable icebergs and tabular bergs. Tabular bergs aren’t true icebergs, as they do not come from glaciers. They actually are gigantic pieces of ice that have broken off of the ice shelf. The tabular bergs we saw most likely came off of the Larsen Ice Shelf. It took us over 30 minutes to navigate around a tabular berg, which must’ve been a least a mile or two in length!

Small Tabular Berg



Today we visited Elephant Island. For all of you history buffs that are familiar with Shackleton and the story of the Endurance, Elephant Island is a special place. There is a very small spit of land where 22 of his crewmembers camped out and waited to be rescued. They had already spent months on an ice shelf after their ship, The Endurance, was encased and eventually crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea. They made a treacherous crossing to Elephant Island in three wooden longboats. Shackleton and five crewmembers made the final passage to South Georgia Island, where they had to hike over glaciers and rough terrain before finally arriving at a whaling camp. How did they do that? A statue of Pardo, a Chilean officer whose ship rescued the crewmembers (with Shackleton’s assistance over four months later), is located on the small spit of land. Oh, and it’s accompanied with a number of Chinstrap Penguins.

Point Wild, Elephant Island



Today we bid goodbye to Antarctica. Now we are in the Southern Ocean in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, making our way, once again, through heavy seas (rocking, rolling and pitching). The next step in our original itinerary included a visit the South Orkney Islands, but due to high winds (40 knots) and rough seas, our captain and expedition leader have set a course directly for South Georgia Island. We will arrive earlier than anticipated, but it sounds like an extra day there is like an extra day in paradise.