January 27 Siple Island and the Getz Ice Shelf

 

We opened the curtains to this stunning shadow on a huge expanse of whiteness!

This morning the Captain 'drove' the ship onto pack ice around the Getz Ice Shelf which separates Siple Island from the coast of Marie Byrd Land. Siple Island is a 'potentially' active volcano 3km high and is joined to the continent with thick ice. It looked pretty harmless when we were there but you never know ….. We disembarked straight onto the ice - it was a strange and quite exciting experience, and then we simply wandered in the sun for hours. Not far away in a little lagoon of open water behind the ship, we saw Minke whales cruising back and forth. Their blows looked shadowy dark against the blinding white of the snow and ice. 

We felt dwarfed against the ice field and ship

The ship looked/is so huge

Mt Siple

A weird new species of orange-topped penguin

Heading off to the volcano many km away!

Vast and empty - glorious!

“The volcano is that way”

An amphibian rescue vehicle equipped with medical emergency material

A rescue/transport ice vehicle

The depth of the ice is tested before any passengers walk on it (this is a demo)

A ship on ice! A strange sight 

Lindsay tried to budge the ship to no avail - hahah

..... it still wouldn't shift

Setting up for the polar plunge

The polar plungers had to walk a fair way to get to the 'Plunge Marquee' - and back again! Other passengers weren't allowed to go down there.  Strange and disappointing. We had intended doing the plunge but the ship's doctor said 'no' which was mighty disappointing at the time but looking at this I'm not sorry. A few Minke whales were interested in what we were doing but they kept their distance from the plungers!

A small blow from one of the Minke whales. Tranquility

A gloriously calm inlet in the ice.

It was such a glorious day that our expedition leader decided to stay there till early afternoon and set up a table of champagne - I know, more champagne but it is a French ship after all! And very Charcot. It was a slow easy day. 

L. Bubbles on the ice beside Le Francais on Charcot's 1903-05 expedition
R. Our expedition leader and cruise director sat down to bubbles Charcot-fashion 

As with most things Antarctic, Siple Island is named for an explorer, Paul Siple who was also a geographer and involved with a number of Antarctic expeditions particularly in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Our travel is a series of living history and geological/geographical lessons. A perfect way to travel for me and navigating through the ice adds something quite special, a unique experience for us.

A large tabular iceberg trapped in pack ice in late January. It's not going anywhere for a long time

One of the best dinner tables in the world. 

Today’s afternoon tea was Spanish charcuterie 

As with most days, we had a recap on the day's activities followed by a briefing for the coming day. Tomorrow we are heading for Cape Burks and an 'abandoned' Russian station.