February 18 our first steps on this most mysterious continent, Antarctica

The Ross Sea (click on the image for an enlargement)

We had arrived in the Ross Sea (I'll tell you a little more about this huge sea later).  We woke to ice on the inside of our cabin window and the temperature didn't climb above -6C all day.

The ice is on the inside as well as on the outside.  We had arrived at Antarctica!

Around dinner time after a chilly day at sea riding choppy waves whipped up by 50 kph wind, we arrived at Terra Nova Bay where a few research bases are located - Italian, German, Korean. The mood on board was one of great excitement and, yes, a tiny bit of apprehension as we struggled into layers of warm clothes and waterproof gear ready to take our first steps on this most mysterious of all continents - Antarctica. On top of our clothes went a thick hooded jacket and life vest and finally a backpack! Then, looking like astronauts clumping along in our huge gumboots, we very carefully picked our way down the gangway to 'step' into the waiting zodiacs bouncing crazily on a way too choppy sea - I actually collapsed gracelessly rather than stepped into the zodiac - my excuse is that I tripped over my way-too-big boots!  There were always 2 ship's crew to help you into and out of the zodiacs ship-side. They were wonderful, reassuring and strong seamen and most of them, the crew, got to go ashore at one landing or another. Our Captain was no exception. He took his turn helping us. It was his first time captaining a ship in the Ross Sea and he was so excited. Wonderful man who seemed to be in the Bridge day and night. The zodiacs pulled in to shore on breaking waves and we were disgorged on to a small slippery platform of ice - pretty unnerving having to quickly step onto the ice at the right cycle of the wave (with no crampons)! 

Michelin Lindsay

This is the gorgeous Captain of our ship taking his turn at driving a zodiac - and going ashore.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to visit any of the bases at Terra Nova Bay because, other than the Italian base, they were locked down ready for the winter. The Italian base had a skeleton staff left to pack up for the winter and weren’t able to show us around.  I would have liked to have visited the Italian Base as they do biological research on flora of the area (lichen, misses and algae) including sea flora and geothermal activity.  However .... we landed near the unmanned German base, ‘Gondwana’ and were free to wander wherever we liked providing we kept a safe 5m from any wildlife.

The Italian research base

It was an strange other-worldly experience - desolate and arid, a moonscape highlighted here and there with chunks of ice, a few molting penguins and some dozy seals. Lindsay and I were so excited about stepping onto this massive continent and a bit awestruck so didn’t venture too far from shore. Behind the bay and the smattering of research stations the plateau rises almost 2 Km.

In the foreground of this desolate landscape looking like a torpedo rock is a Weddell seal basking in the late evening sun. He/she was about 2m long.

A few Adelie penguins were standing like silent statues in the lee of these rocks - they were molting and during that time they don’t move much or feed. They molt for ~3 weeks then go to sea to feed in preparation for winter breeding

You may be able to see a white streak on the horizon that is part of the Drygalski Ice Tongue 

That orange thing on the hill is the German station. That blue thing is Lindsay!

The rocks are so strange. The land has been scaled bare by glaciers so there’s no soil just rocks in various stages of breaking down. In some place the rocks were eroded into weird shapes by the wind.

As a matter of interest the Drygalski Ice Tongue stretches 80 km out over the sea on the south end of Terra Nova Bay where we had landed. The dimensions of this land are difficult to comprehend, so vast. The waves picked up a lot while we had been wandering on shore and I think I might have collapsed back into the zodiac! It was horrendous stepping off the ice onto a bobbing rubber dingy. In spite of our cowboy driver who had the zodiac almost airborne over the waves only to smash down in the troughs almost winding those of us in the front, we made it back to the mothership with no injuries thank goodness! It was 11pm before we got to bed that night and we slept the sleep on the dead. Relieved to be lying down. What an awesome day, two days it had been and there was more to come.