21 Jan 2020

First Steps on the Antarctic Continent

It's been an emotional 12 hours as Akademik Shokalskiy's expeditioners took their first triumphant steps on the frozen continent at Cape Adare in the early hours of this morning.

Most joined us in the bridge late into the evening the night before as we navigated the ice in brilliant, 24-hour sunshine. Anticipation was running high on our approach as large icebergs loomed ahead of our destination - a flat stretch of land framed by snow-capped peaks and presided over by neighbouring giants Mt Sabine and Mt Minto.

After ascertaining a landing was possible, we piled into Zodiacs skipping over the glassy ocean towards the location of Antarctica's largest Adelie Penguin colony and Carsten Borchgrevink's Hut, Antarctica's oldest and the site where his Southern Cross party spent their first winter in 1899.

Nothing quite prepares you for the full-on, all sensory assault of hundreds of thousands of penguins and their fluffy brown chicks. The pungent smell hits you like a wave and is accompanied by endlessly fascinating, raucous neighbourhood disputes and hungry youngsters demanding feeding from worn-out parents. Confined to the beach by their numbers, we spot Borchgrevink's Hut rippling, mirage-like, and hovering over the ocean of rowdy penguins.

With everyone back on board Akademik Shokalskiy at 0230 hours, we sail south down the Adare Peninsula towards the shores of Possession Island and the peaks of the Admiralty Range and Trans-Antarctic Mountains. Once there our good fortune continues with many having to remove layers of clothing once ashore, surprised by the heat of the Antarctic summer. Also the location of a substantial Adelie Penguin colony, we take the opportunity to stretch our legs and walk to higher ground where we are afforded a new perspective of the great vastness.

Just before 1700 hours we spot our first Emperor (and eighth penguin species), it's regal stature giving it away among the Adelies on the ice floe, as we steam south to Terra Nova Bay.

Image © I. Wilson, Heritage Expeditions