25 Jan 2023

Feisty Friends at Cape Bird and Cape Evans

After a morning of maneuvering Heritage Adventurer through the pack ice north of Ross Island, we found ourselves again near the shore of the Cape Bird penguin colony around lunchtime.

With the ice at the shoreline having thinned significantly overnight, it was a fantastic opportunity to go ashore and admire Adélie Penguins and Weddell Seals under the brilliant Antarctic sunshine.

Later our Expedition Leader Aaron Russ and his deputy also went ashore to climb a high promontory to take in a bird's eye view of the actual ice situation around the corner in McMurdo Sound. They came back with excellent news: it was open water as far as the eye could see, which was encouraging for the captain of Heritage Adventurer who steered us across the ice as we reached McMurdo Sound.

Under the evening light, we sailed through open water directly to the southern reaches where the last of the fast ice was breaking up before our eyes. There, in the moody evening light, we were greeted by a pod of Orca which amazed us with their acrobatic displays amidst massive shards of disintegrating ice.

At length we turned back toward Cape Evans, site of Captain Scott's famous Terra Nova Hut, imagining the kind of lives and challenges that were had by explorers who came before us.

Our day finished with a midnight sun beckoning us to abandon sleep and embrace one of the greatest expedition days of our lives.

To be continued...

Image (c): A. Breniere