Exploration at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula
Any voyage into the Antarctica means a lot of planning ahead. But as many of earlier explorers found out before it does not matter how much planning effort you put in, you always have to play with the conditions at the spot.
Today our expedition leader and captain were forced to change plans almost constantly as ice and wind were playing with us. Our first attempt was a landing at Tay Head at Joinville Island. As we tried to approach the area, the ice forced us to turn around. Next attempt was at Brown Bluff, at the northeastern tip of the Peninsula. Now it was a strong katabatic wind, which made any landing impossible.
We turned to plan C and made a third attempt at a Madder Cliffs, north of Kinnes Cove on the western side of Joinville Island - a totally new landing site for the ship MV Endeavour. Even with the wind howling, the captain was able to bring the ship close enough to shore and give us shelter to make the Zodiac operation possible. The landing site was a great adventure, since we had to climb over big boulders to get ashore, and most made it. Any one who did not care to make the climb was able to enjoy the site from a Zodiac cruise.
Onshore we found a large Adelie penguin colony with many chicks on the red cliffs and our Oceanites penguin counter was able to make the first count ever. Some of us also had the opportunity to take great pictures, either from shore or from a Zodiac, of the penguins diving from the ice into the water.
Joinville Island was discovered and roughly charted by the French explorer d’Urville in 1838; he named it for Francois Ferdinand Phillipe Loius Marie, Prince de Joinville the third son of the Duc d’Orléans. Also Adelie penguin bears the name of d’Urville’s wife.
From our landing spot we also saw d’Urville Island, of course named after this remarkable explorer. We also could see Bransfield Island named after the British explorer who came down and charted parts of South Shetlands in 1820. James Ross named the island 1842, as the ships HMS Erebus & Terror sailed through the area.
In the distance we also spotted the Argentinean base, Esperanza, at Hope Bay. Yesterday we learned about three men from the Swedish Antarctic Expedition who were forced to winter at this place in 1903. Just by studying the names of the places we visit and sail by the whole history of exploration to this part of the world becomes obvious.
After we returned from this eventful landing the ship set sail towards Gourdin Island, on the other side of the Antarctic Sound. During our earlier outing we had the opportunity to get a closer account of what the Antarctic can be; the howling wind from the glaciers froze our inside and ice crystals blistered our face. Suddenly we begin to understand what the earlier explorer had to deal with but of course we could easily escape to enjoy a rich Scandinavian lunch followed by a short or long nap onboard a comfortable ship!
As we approached Gourdin Island the wind increased and made landing impossible. Again our expedition leader and captain gave us a good example on the flexibility of this expedition and took us to another new spot: a landing on the Antarctic Continent at Siffrey Point. Most likely we are the first expedition ship ever to land at this spot! Inside a nice and sheltered cove the scouting Zodiac found a perfect landing place protected from the odd easterly winds.
As the walked to dinner and sat down at the tables we could see icebergs fly by. Throughout the evening an endless number of ice sculptures continued to pass our windows. The major calving of Larsen Ice shelf, last year in March did really create a spectacular show for us almost one year later. Today it was really nice to arrive back to the ship, even after a very short outing. Winds or no winds, make a huge difference in Polar environment!
Any voyage into the Antarctica means a lot of planning ahead. But as many of earlier explorers found out before it does not matter how much planning effort you put in, you always have to play with the conditions at the spot.
Today our expedition leader and captain were forced to change plans almost constantly as ice and wind were playing with us. Our first attempt was a landing at Tay Head at Joinville Island. As we tried to approach the area, the ice forced us to turn around. Next attempt was at Brown Bluff, at the northeastern tip of the Peninsula. Now it was a strong katabatic wind, which made any landing impossible.
We turned to plan C and made a third attempt at a Madder Cliffs, north of Kinnes Cove on the western side of Joinville Island - a totally new landing site for the ship MV Endeavour. Even with the wind howling, the captain was able to bring the ship close enough to shore and give us shelter to make the Zodiac operation possible. The landing site was a great adventure, since we had to climb over big boulders to get ashore, and most made it. Any one who did not care to make the climb was able to enjoy the site from a Zodiac cruise.
Onshore we found a large Adelie penguin colony with many chicks on the red cliffs and our Oceanites penguin counter was able to make the first count ever. Some of us also had the opportunity to take great pictures, either from shore or from a Zodiac, of the penguins diving from the ice into the water.
Joinville Island was discovered and roughly charted by the French explorer d’Urville in 1838; he named it for Francois Ferdinand Phillipe Loius Marie, Prince de Joinville the third son of the Duc d’Orléans. Also Adelie penguin bears the name of d’Urville’s wife.
From our landing spot we also saw d’Urville Island, of course named after this remarkable explorer. We also could see Bransfield Island named after the British explorer who came down and charted parts of South Shetlands in 1820. James Ross named the island 1842, as the ships HMS Erebus & Terror sailed through the area.
In the distance we also spotted the Argentinean base, Esperanza, at Hope Bay. Yesterday we learned about three men from the Swedish Antarctic Expedition who were forced to winter at this place in 1903. Just by studying the names of the places we visit and sail by the whole history of exploration to this part of the world becomes obvious.
After we returned from this eventful landing the ship set sail towards Gourdin Island, on the other side of the Antarctic Sound. During our earlier outing we had the opportunity to get a closer account of what the Antarctic can be; the howling wind from the glaciers froze our inside and ice crystals blistered our face. Suddenly we begin to understand what the earlier explorer had to deal with but of course we could easily escape to enjoy a rich Scandinavian lunch followed by a short or long nap onboard a comfortable ship!
As we approached Gourdin Island the wind increased and made landing impossible. Again our expedition leader and captain gave us a good example on the flexibility of this expedition and took us to another new spot: a landing on the Antarctic Continent at Siffrey Point. Most likely we are the first expedition ship ever to land at this spot! Inside a nice and sheltered cove the scouting Zodiac found a perfect landing place protected from the odd easterly winds.
As the walked to dinner and sat down at the tables we could see icebergs fly by. Throughout the evening an endless number of ice sculptures continued to pass our windows. The major calving of Larsen Ice shelf, last year in March did really create a spectacular show for us almost one year later. Today it was really nice to arrive back to the ship, even after a very short outing. Winds or no winds, make a huge difference in Polar environment!
