Antarctica – Land Ahoy! The South Shetland Islands

Danny Catt — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:12:21 -0700

Rough Seas in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

It is about 20 to 9 in the evening and the sun has just set. It was an eventful day. We arrived in the South Shetlands early this morning, after two rough days at sea crossing the Drake Passage. I enjoyed the trip across the Drake but it was wonderful to see land again.

Near Deception Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica

We had great intentions of getting off the ship and going for a hike on Half Moon Island this morning but alas the winds that greeted us were about 50 knots and so no zodiacs would be taking us to shore today (the ship has a number of rubber zodiacs on board to transfer passengers to shore for expedition stops). Plan B was to move over to another location, Deception Island, about a two hour journey away… but alas that did not work either. We reached the island no problem but the winds continued to howl forcing us to stay on board. Deception Island is the largest of three recently active volcanic centres in the South Shetlands. At Whaler’s Bay there are the remains of a whaling station which operated from 1910 to 1931 and was then abandoned. Happily today there is no whaling in Antarctic waters.

Chinstrap Penguins. Who Says Penguins Can't Fly?

From the ship we could see penguins, some porpoising like dolphins out of the water, as well as Humpback Whales, Antarctic Fur Seals and a range of seabirds including Great Petrels, Cape Petrels and Wilson’s Storm-petrels. March is the end of summer in the southern hemisphere and although the days are getting shorter and the temperatures are dropping, it is one of the best times to see marine mammals, including whales.

Antarctic Ice

By late afternoon the seas had calmed a bit and we had great views of the Antarctic landscape and icebergs of all shapes and sizes. Icebergs are large chunks of frozen fresh water that have broken off glaciers and ice shelves where they meet the sea. The bluer the ice, the denser the ice (and the less air space within it). We had some fabulous shapes and colours of bergs pass by.

An Antarctic Sunset

And what better way to end our first full day in Antarctica than with an amazing sunset!

Catt-Trax 2 - South Shetland Islands

Antarctica – Land Ahoy! The South Shetland Islands