We were approaching Cape Adare, the western headland of the Ross Sea. And there it stood, a stark dark shoulder of land looming large against a spectacular backdrop formed by the Transantarctic Mountain range (which divides Antarctica into East and West). The early morning sky was painted in delicate pastels to the east - it was glorious! The scene was absolutely breathtaking surrounded as we were by gigantic, monolithic icebergs, humongous chunks the size of city blocks calved off the Ross Ice shelf and mega glaciers. The sun was very low in the sky but it was a dawn! and it cast a soft apricot glow on sky-rise icebergs and turned the sea and clouds to dark slatey blue. It was so overwhelming it brought tears to our eyes.
We slid slowly into Robertson’s Bay hoping to land on the wide beach at the entrance to the bay. Here cute Adelie penguins fanned out in chattering muttering clusters with a few giant Elephant seals plopped in between. Some of the penguins swam out from shore, porpoising towards the ship in a delightful happy greeting - it was quite beautiful (I have posted a couple of videos of the mountains and penguins on Facebook). The wildlife are fearless and so welcoming; it was very humbling.
Amongst the mass of penguins (and penguin poo!), stood Borchgrevink’s Hut, an overwintering shelter for his, the first, expedition to the Antarctic continent in 1899. Astonishingly it is still there well over 100 years later.
Whilst the history of Antarctic exploration during the early 1900s, the Heroic Age of Exploration, is quite riveting, Lindsay and I were primarily there for the wild life and to experience a tiny bit of this mysterious and mammoth continent. This is of course what brought those heroic men south all those decades ago - that and the mad dash to be first to reach the South Pole.
Remnant sea ice packed in along the shore that morning prevented us landing any zodiacs. So eventually after we had taken our fill of the splendour of the amphitheater of mountains, we headed around the cape and on south into the Ross Sea.
We were fairly drained by the end of the day. A culmination of the excitement of reaching Antarctica, dashing back and forth between decks, bow to stern and aloft to the Bridge many times throughout the day - not to mention lack of sleep after a number of very rough days at sea! It was a wonder-filled day and put us in the right frame of mind for what was yet to come.
Cape Adare with its curlicue of cloud.
The Transantarctic Mountains - the high peak you see is over 4000 metres
The pink smudges on the iceberg are not early morning rose, but rosy penguin poo. The particular species of krill they eat is pink-red hence the ....... and yes they climb high on these icebergs as well as on land.
Biiigg chunks of ice! The captain showed me an image of the ocean floor around here and indeed they are grounded.
Happy chappies
Adelie penguins. Cute as buttons.
There are penguins all along that shore.
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