As we made our way to the South Shetland Islands
and the Great White Continent the excitement of making our first landing in
Antarctica mounted. Even the heavy
fog that enveloped the ship all morning long did not quell our enthusiasm. It may have been foggy but that did not
cause us to lose any time. We were
due to make our first landing at Half Moon Island at 15:00!
The lecture series continued in the morning with
talks on history, seals and penguins.
We certainly felt well prepared for Antarctica!
As we approached Nelson Strait, our entrance to the
South Shetland Islands, the fog began to lift and we caught our first glimpses
of land.
And than at 14:45 the Expedition Team boarded the
first Polar Cirkle boats and went ashore to prepare the landing site.
The first passengers on shore were the hikers. A lot of hikers. 78 people signed up to join the two hour trek. At 16:15 the hikers set off towards the
Argentine Base Camara and continued on along the beach and up to a lofty 360˚
view of Moon Island, Livingston Island and the surrounding waters.
At the main landing site everyone was entertained
by the boisterous colony of Chinstrap Penguins. There was also a Crabeater Seal and Weddell Seal which just
about everyone got the opportunity to visit and photograph. Towards the end of the landing a couple
of male Antarctic Fur Seals hauled out on the beach. It was quite an impressive landing for our first moments in
Antarctica.
Meanwhile the Captain decided that while we were
all on shore it would be a good time to run some safety drills with the ship’s
life boats and the “man over board” (MOB) boat.
At around 18:30 everyone was back on the ship. We lifted anchor and set a course to
take us towards Antarctic Sound and the Weddell Sea.
This was only day one of our landings. There is an entire boat load of
exciting adventures yet to come!
