There is little that shouts out ‘Antarctica’ as much as frigid winds, gigantic tabular bergs, large glaciers hanging from dark vertical rock walls and katabatic winds pouring down from the ice fields. Such was the situation early this morning when we turned south into Antarctic Sound, the iceberg alley through which ice from the Weddell Sea squeezes out to open waters and start its journey in the Antarctic waters.
This passage is also a door to history. Many epic adventures took place in the area, most remarkably Shackleton’s Endurance expedition survival story, part of which we hope to retrace during our journey. From the comfort of our ship it is hard to imagine how the Boss and his men spent so many days on open boats, wet and cold and being tossed around by wind, ice and heavy seas and what they must have felt as they fought for their very own lives. So we take to the Zodiacs to experience it ourselves! None of that was to happen… the weather turned from nice to gorgeous, the wind died, the sun came out and searching our way through a maze of grounded bergs and sea ice, we made our afternoon landing at Devil’s Island. Over 15,000 Adelie penguins are busy feeding extremely large chicks that are almost ready to fledge and face the world on their own. The activity on the beach and around the colonies is permanent, chicks chasing adults, chicks begging for one last meal, skuas searching for that abandoned one to feed their own chicks, adults coming and going to the water, it is all happening!
Some of us had to have a different view of the situation and went for a climb to the top of the island. The hike was intense given the hot conditions, but with a huge reward waiting for them on top. Magnificent views of thousands of bergs of all sizes, the waterfalls of Vega Island and the penguin colonies down at the beach were a well-deserved prize.
The day could not get any better, but wait – we are in Antarctica…! Coming back to the ship, cruising around amazing bergs, Sam was waiting with his ‘special Zodiac’ to deliver hot chocolate! Back on board we slowly cruise back Fridtjof and Antarctic sounds with the last light of the day, making our way north to Elephant Island, literally in the footsteps of Shackleton.
