Our first day in Antarctica was Point Wild on Elephant Island. This is where Shackleton’s expedition got to after the Endurance was crushed by the ice, and where Shackleton left them to sail to South Georgia for help. After multiple attempts they were rescued in August 1916, with only four days’ supplies left.
To say the place looked ominous was an understatement, but we were able to do a zodiac cruise (the first the team had managed for three years) around the point. (There are no landings now after some fatalities a couple of years ago – we didn’t feel we’d missed out.) The place, the history and the wildlife were superb, with a Leopard Seal starring. The place was dramatic in midsummer – the Shackleton expedition survived for over four months in winter.
Heading further south we passed Bridgeman Island, which was birdless, but an iceberg next to it had Adelie Penguins on it, which was a bird we were going to struggle to see, with the most accessible colony being closed due to bird flu.
The next day took us to Half Moon Island, where we had our first Weddell Seals and a Chinstrap Penguin colony, buzzed by South Polar Skuas. Chinstraps are fun, there’s always something going on. In the afternoon Yankee Harbour was a Gentoo Penguin colony with more skuas and better yet, an Adelie Penguin on the beach gave us our best view of the trip. The weather turned to torrential drizzle, so we didn’t stay ashore that long.