Fifty years ago Lars-Eric Lindblad first fulfilled his dream of bringing intrepid travelers to the White Continent we know as Antarctica beginning what is now known as expedition-style travel. Today we celebrated that auspicious occasion by exploring the icy world below the Antarctic Circle. Our evening’s navigation brought us to this fabled line and below where we were graced with flat calm waters strewn with magnificent icebergs and dramatic ice-capped peaks towering over the horizon.
With an eager group of staff and some early rising guests we began our morning scanning the edge of the fast ice searching for any and all creatures that call this environment home. Fast ice, as it's called, is sea ice that's held fast to the shore, often over a meter or more thick it plays a vital role as habitat for many of Antarctica's residents. Crabeater and Weddell seals were scattered about hauled out resting from a night of feeding on the abundant krill and marine life. Adélie penguins stood solitary or in groups, or wattled about very much at home as they came and went from this desolate shelf so foreign to us. After the early morning ritual on the bridge of coffee, mate, camaraderie, and appreciation for this incredible place, our expedition leader, Lucho, made the morning wake-up call to officially begin the day. At some point during breakfast the dinning room began to shudder and shake like an earthquake. For those of us in the know it was obvious what was happening, our captain had picked a spot in the ice suitable to wedge our ice-strengthened ship into the 1.5-meter-thick sea ice. The conditions couldn’t have been more perfect and after an up-close examination of the ice and its suitability, we set out for a morning exploration on the sea ice. The ice was so sound and easy to travel on we made an extended outing hiking over this surreal “icescape” covering over a mile and reaching our furthest point south on foot at 66°57.66 south latitude. Meanwhile as an added bonus we launched our fleet of kayaks giving yet another perspective to soak in this stupendous scene.
Having traveled so far south it was time to make the return journey north for destinations awaiting our discovery for the remainder of our expedition. Our captain had opted to take a slightly different course for our return journey by navigating through the labyrinth of narrow passages, islands, and iceberg-strewn waters of the Grandidier Channel. As the afternoon progressed the scenery seemed to grow more and more beautiful as we sliced through massive flows of pack ice and passed towering cobalt blue icebergs. There were a few presentations given in the lounge and plenty of time to soak in the sights be it from the outer decks or the comfort of the ship’s interior spaces.
As evening fell upon us and after a warm toast of whisky to both commemorate Sir Ernest Shackleton's explorations as well as our 50th year of Antarctic adventure we brought this day to a close with an after dinner performance by several members of our incredible crew. “Emily & The Spice Boys” brought down the house as the fading light of the Antarctic lit up the distant peaks and glaciers and all the eye could survey with shades of orange, pink, purple, and blue. Truly a very special scene that all of us felt was quite possibly the most beautiful end of a day, as an added bonus the full moon set aloft over this icy world as if to make the scene that much harder to process.
