Epic Antarctica: From the Peninsula to the Ross Sea & Beyond with Lindblad National Geographics

21 Jan we were at Coulman Island.  The ship pushed right into a fast ice shelf and were got off for a bit of snow shoeing.  Snow was deep and visibility was low, making the giant mountain next to us very hard to see.  I only have a few photos from that trek because there wasn’t mush around, it was just great to get off the ship and stretch our legs.

In the morning we got to take the kayaks and and glide around the fast ice for about an hour.  The water was so calm, it was like gliding on glass.  Naturally I forgot to put a memory card in my camera so I have no photos of that experience…go figure.  It’s not like I have a shortage of ice photos though :-)

We had the best surprise today!  We got to visit the Italian Research station: Mario Zucchelli and get our passports stamped!!!  They only take 1 ship of visitors in a season and they haven’t had visitors in over 7 years so quite the experience.  One of our naturalists is Italian and he was able to arrange the rare opportunity.

I am happy to report that today the conditions lightened enough for us to visit Captain Robert Scott’s Hut from the Terra Nova expedition.  The hut was built and occupied from 1910-1913.  Scott was in a race with Amundsen to reach the South Pole, each starting from a different side of the continent.  Scott made it after Amundsen by a few weeks and then perished before making it back.  The hut was neat to see; however, it was much more somber: a reminder to the men that died in the pursuit of fame.

We are parked offshore of Ross Island and today we got to go see Ernest Shackleton’s hut from the Nimrod expedition.  We were briefed that the landing was going to be rough, that the ice was going to be really slick, and it was going to be a 3/4 mile walk up to the hut.  The winds were at 25 knots and 28 degrees when we began and we had to go in small groups.  We took zodiacs from the ship to the ice edge where the swell was shielded by the ship.

Last night we had the opportunity to stay overnight in one of two glass igloos.  It was so cool….for about an hour.  The sun was brutal and the winds were howling so loudly that even with sleep masks we couldn’t sleep.  It wasn’t very cold but between the sun and the winds, we called it quits at 11:30pm and decided our cabin was a better idea.

We’ve been setting our clocks back 1 hour each night for over a week and then yesterday we skipped Friday so it’s now Saturday.  Silly international date line (even though we haven’t officially crossed it so no idea why we did it this way).  There’s 24 hours of daylight so it’s not like it matters much anyway.  The 12th of January never happened for me.

We were slowed down a lot by the pack ice today and didn’t make it as far as we were hoping.  We were all thinking it was going to be another day at sea and we were starting to feel a bit of cabin fever.  I was down in my cabin when I noticed that the ship stopped and was pulling up next to a huge ice flow that had a bunch of Emperor penguins, a few Adelie penguins, and several crab eater seals.  Out of our port window, the ‘penguin door’ opened and out came a gang way with several of the naturalists walking out and onto the ice.

Today we made our way further south, making our way to the Ross Sea.  We made slower progress than planned because of the heavy pack ice and a few wildlife surprises.  We woke up first thing to an announcement of an Emperor penguin dead ahead.  The ship slowed and I was able to get some great shots.  He is a juvenile, meaning he has already fledged his chick feathers but too young to breed.  The naturalists were guessing that he was between 1-3 years old.  His coloring around his neck isn’t as bright as an older adult male.

Amundsen Sea: today is another day at sea as we make our way to the Ross Sea.  Yesterday we got to see a blue whale which was amazing!  It was too far out to take any pictures so instead I just enjoyed watching them from the bridge.

Today we were supposed to have a full day at sea; however, conditions and weather had something else in store for us.  We got so lucky and made a landing on Peter I Island!  There has been maybe 1000 people to ever land due to the remoteness and inclement weather.  It’s essentially just a 5,300 ft mountain (volcano) sticking out of the sea floor.  We landed on a small rocky patch with the southern most recorded chinstrap penguin colony, a few straggling Adelie penguins, Fulmar, and Petral seabirds.  And guess what: not only did I actually see a bird, I got a picture of a Southern Fulmar!!!  Whoop whoop, go me!!!

Today we spent the day at sea.