Elephant Island
Morning brought us an Antarctic seascape with scattered icebergs and snow-draped islands as we made our way to an anchorage at Point Wild on Elephant Island. Luck was on our side this morning as the northern shore of the island was relatively sheltered from a shrill south wind that had left an icy layer of snow on the ship’s decks. Although it was cold and breezy, we were able to anchor and set out in our Zodiacs to view Point Wild. Warming the chilly scene were scattered beams of sunlight high-lighting many of the sculpted icebergs that dotted the seas around us.
From the Zodiacs, we explored the shoreline of this historic location where Sir Ernest Shackleton’s crew spent the winter of 1916 awaiting rescue, not knowing if Shackleton and five companions had successfully made it across 1450 km of the southern oceans to South Georgia to summon help. Today, much of the beach where they had camped at Point Wild has been washed away, and only a few chinstrap penguins now cling to the snowy slopes above the shoreline. On the adjacent peninsula, a bronze bust perches above a colony of penguins. This sculpture depicts Luis Alberto Pardo Villalon who was the captain of the Chilean vessel “Yelcho” which was used (on the fourth try) to finally rescued Shackleton’s remaining crew members from this point on Elephant Island.
By midday we were underway southward towards the Antarctic Peninsula. En route we paused with the ship to view Point Valentine at the easternmost tip of Elephant Island. It was here that Shackleton and his men first made landfall after their epic journey across the ice of the Weddell Sea, and from where their ship Endurance was initially beset by ice, then crushed and sunk in October , 1915. Deeming Point Valentine too exposed, Shackleton’s party moved farther west along Elephant Island’s precipitous shores to find a campsite at the location now known as Point Wild.
Through the afternoon and on into the evening our ship has been moving through seas dappled with increasingly dense pack ice, occasionally passing penguins and seals resting on the floes, as we make our way southward toward the great white continent. (Point Wild: S 61º 06’ / W 54º 52’)
Morning brought us an Antarctic seascape with scattered icebergs and snow-draped islands as we made our way to an anchorage at Point Wild on Elephant Island. Luck was on our side this morning as the northern shore of the island was relatively sheltered from a shrill south wind that had left an icy layer of snow on the ship’s decks. Although it was cold and breezy, we were able to anchor and set out in our Zodiacs to view Point Wild. Warming the chilly scene were scattered beams of sunlight high-lighting many of the sculpted icebergs that dotted the seas around us.
From the Zodiacs, we explored the shoreline of this historic location where Sir Ernest Shackleton’s crew spent the winter of 1916 awaiting rescue, not knowing if Shackleton and five companions had successfully made it across 1450 km of the southern oceans to South Georgia to summon help. Today, much of the beach where they had camped at Point Wild has been washed away, and only a few chinstrap penguins now cling to the snowy slopes above the shoreline. On the adjacent peninsula, a bronze bust perches above a colony of penguins. This sculpture depicts Luis Alberto Pardo Villalon who was the captain of the Chilean vessel “Yelcho” which was used (on the fourth try) to finally rescued Shackleton’s remaining crew members from this point on Elephant Island.
By midday we were underway southward towards the Antarctic Peninsula. En route we paused with the ship to view Point Valentine at the easternmost tip of Elephant Island. It was here that Shackleton and his men first made landfall after their epic journey across the ice of the Weddell Sea, and from where their ship Endurance was initially beset by ice, then crushed and sunk in October , 1915. Deeming Point Valentine too exposed, Shackleton’s party moved farther west along Elephant Island’s precipitous shores to find a campsite at the location now known as Point Wild.
Through the afternoon and on into the evening our ship has been moving through seas dappled with increasingly dense pack ice, occasionally passing penguins and seals resting on the floes, as we make our way southward toward the great white continent. (Point Wild: S 61º 06’ / W 54º 52’)
