Wildlife Abundant for Hahn and Team

December 7, 2009
Danco Island, Antarctic Peninsula
S 64˚ 43′ W 62˚ 35′

Those stormy and idle days at sea are now a distant memory. We’ve kept up a fairly aggressive schedule of landings and visits to various islands in the last few days: spending four to six hours in each place, wandering about on snow-covered hills and shores, or else cruising among sculpted icebergs while in the zodiacs.

Two days back, we stretched our legs hiking to the rim of a small volcano at Penguin Island out in the South Shetlands. Just across the way, we strolled over to see and hear (and smell) elephant seals on King George Island. Winds were relatively mild, which was surprising since we’d just come through a rough night and morning in the gales. Yesterday, we got busy early in the morning with a visit to another old volcano at Half Moon Island. Somehow we spent hours snapping pictures of penguins and the surrounding mountains of Livingston Island. There was heavy cloud cover, but conditions were mild and easy for being amid so much ice and snow. Back on-board ship, we navigated into the collapsed caldera of Deception Island through the narrow Neptune’s Bellows, but found things a little too windy for zodiac operations inside the volcano. Instead, we cruised the inner bay and surveyed a few of the scientific bases on its shore. Some of the buildings are half-covered with volcanic ash and pumice, and ruined by the eruptions of the 1960s and ‘70s. The team gathered a few times for the continued lecture series in the ship’s comfy lounge as the captain pointed Clelia II south again across the Bransfield Strait last night.

The bow smacked a few more big and loud waves during the night, but not too many people reported seasickness this morning in extremely calm conditions off Danco Island and the Arctowski Peninsula. We went ashore for a calm and satisfying hike, following Peter Hillary onto the summit of Danco. There is a distinctly different feel to this coastline of “true” Antarctica. The land and its wildlife bear little resemblance to what we could see of South Georgia last week. Massive glaciers pour off every peak and ridgeline in sight, and the waters are filled with bergs and brash ice. We’ll attempt an actual continent landing at Neko Harbour this afternoon.