20 Feb 2017

Rare Fyonn Island Landing

Our Ross Sea expedition aboard the Spirit of Enderby continues to enjoy some fantastic successes despite the lack of blogs. I start each day with the best intentions and then get caught up with the excitement of Antarctica and the expedition. We enjoyed better than average crossing from Macquarie Island to Cape Adare. We arrived Cape Adare late on the evening of the 19th, before drifting that night in Robertson Bay and early next morning checked out the possibility of a landing. Unfortunately an extensive area of brash ice extended offshore of both North and South Ridley beaches plus extensive push ice on both beaches made the use of Zodiacs impossible.

We continued south into the Ross Sea and sailed into a beautiful day, with clear blue skies and no wind. We made a landing on Fyonn Island in the Possession Group, possibly only the second landing ever made by a tourist group. A good surf on the beach made it even more interesting, but everybody made it albeit some with wet feet. From Possession we cruised into Cape Hallett and in all the years that I have been visiting the Ross Sea, I have never experienced so little ice. We all enjoyed a magnificent after dinner Zodiac Cruise amongst some of the most dramatic scenery in the world, impossible to describe (let alone a photograph). We are sailing towards Terra Nova Bay as I write this.

Image from file ©SBlanc