Elephant Island
This morning we were able to see Clarence Island in the distance and beyond that Elephant Island. A myriad of icebergs in all shapes and sizes reached to the horizon in almost every direction. The Captain brought the Endeavour very close to the eastern tip of the island, Cape Valentine. It was here that Shackleton’s men stumbled and staggered ashore 16 months after departing South Georgia. The story of their ship, Endurance, being trapped and then crushed in the ice, their tenuous months camped on the rotting ice flows, and finally the exhausting dash in the three small boats for the safety of land is by now familiar to us all.
Elephant Island lies at the northern end of the South Shetlands. Measuring 12 miles across and 24 miles long it was discovered and charted by Edward Bransfield in1820 and named for the numerous elephant seals that he found here. Seven miles along the north coast from Cape Valentine we anchored at Point Wild. Under the command of Frank Wild, twenty-one men spent the winter of 1916 living a cramped existence in upturned boats waiting to be rescued by Shackleton. Landing here was impossible for us as seas were pounding the shore from the north. However, our Zodiacs provided the perfect means to explore the shoreline and get close to the beach where a few penguins share the site with a bronze bust of Polito Pardo, the captain of the 1916 rescue ship.
At the very southern end of Elephant Island is Cape Lookout. We arrived here late in the day and the conditions were perfect for a landing. Excitement was high, as there are few travelers who have the opportunity to land on this remote and well-known shore. On the beach we discovered three species of penguins, chinstrap, gentoo, and macaroni and four species of seals, the now familiar fur seal, the expected elephant seal, a lone Weddell, and a beautiful specimen of a leopard seal which posed for our shutters. Lounging on an iceberg, it ignored our Zodiacs’ close approach. As we headed back to the Endeavour for a late dinner we could reflect on a day in which we’d heightened our connection with the Shackleton Expedition and shared an exceptional wildlife encounter. Someone posed the question, ‘is it luck or is it Lindblad?’
This morning we were able to see Clarence Island in the distance and beyond that Elephant Island. A myriad of icebergs in all shapes and sizes reached to the horizon in almost every direction. The Captain brought the Endeavour very close to the eastern tip of the island, Cape Valentine. It was here that Shackleton’s men stumbled and staggered ashore 16 months after departing South Georgia. The story of their ship, Endurance, being trapped and then crushed in the ice, their tenuous months camped on the rotting ice flows, and finally the exhausting dash in the three small boats for the safety of land is by now familiar to us all.
Elephant Island lies at the northern end of the South Shetlands. Measuring 12 miles across and 24 miles long it was discovered and charted by Edward Bransfield in1820 and named for the numerous elephant seals that he found here. Seven miles along the north coast from Cape Valentine we anchored at Point Wild. Under the command of Frank Wild, twenty-one men spent the winter of 1916 living a cramped existence in upturned boats waiting to be rescued by Shackleton. Landing here was impossible for us as seas were pounding the shore from the north. However, our Zodiacs provided the perfect means to explore the shoreline and get close to the beach where a few penguins share the site with a bronze bust of Polito Pardo, the captain of the 1916 rescue ship.
At the very southern end of Elephant Island is Cape Lookout. We arrived here late in the day and the conditions were perfect for a landing. Excitement was high, as there are few travelers who have the opportunity to land on this remote and well-known shore. On the beach we discovered three species of penguins, chinstrap, gentoo, and macaroni and four species of seals, the now familiar fur seal, the expected elephant seal, a lone Weddell, and a beautiful specimen of a leopard seal which posed for our shutters. Lounging on an iceberg, it ignored our Zodiacs’ close approach. As we headed back to the Endeavour for a late dinner we could reflect on a day in which we’d heightened our connection with the Shackleton Expedition and shared an exceptional wildlife encounter. Someone posed the question, ‘is it luck or is it Lindblad?’
