ICEBERGS PASS OUR WINDOW, GREENLAND Greenland, or more poignantly, the icefield of Greenland is a must-do place to visit, in part due to the accessibility to the second largest icefield in the world at Kangerlussuaq and the active calving of the Jabobshvns glacier (retreating at over 1Km/year) at Ilulissat, all located within the Arctic circle. At the moment we are staying at Ilulissat, looking out of our hotel room window watching icebergs go pass. Straight in front the visibility is so good that a peninsula of land some 140km away is clearly visible. On the left is the town of Ilulissat with its brightly coloured painted wood houses framed by large icebergs that have calved from the Jakobshavns glacier, floated down the length of the 40km icefjord and are now clustered together as they bottom on the shallow seabed at the entrance to Disko Bay. Inside Illulissat, the town has a more practical persona being designed for the cold winter, rather than the romantic view presented at a distance . On the right are two cruise ships, the AIDA Cara capable of carrying 1000 passengers, and Silver Cloud with 300 passengers. Cruise ships are big business during the summer months here, […]
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Polar Bears and Walruses- An Arctic Odyssey. Any Arctic cruise invites comparison with Antarctica. Both are extreme regions of cold and ice. In the best of times, both evoke a sense of awe and wonder at the alien landscape and the life struggle of its inhabitants. The Arctic has overtones of desolation and bleakness, the Antarctic invokes a feeling of grandeur and remoteness. An Arctic cruise is predominantly a push to reach the furthest north into the pack ice and a search for polar bear and walrus, while in Antarctica with its extensive wildlife, the emphasis is to interact with the vast colonies of penguin and birds on the land. An advantage of an Arctic cruise, is that it is far more accessible, of shorter duration and thus less expensive, and one can get much closer to the pole than with an Antarctic cruise. However, if I had to choose, I would choose the Antarctic. Svalbard Cruise. Although there are a number of Arctic cruises (including ice-breaking to the North pole) which leave from various ports in Canada, Russia, and Iceland etc., the most popular is from Longyearbyen, Svalbard. This is partly due to the town being the world’s most […]
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Albatross Colony Steeple Jason Island The 150,000 Black Browed Albatross colony on the island of Steeple Jason ( see Steeple Jason map Fig.1) in the West Falklands is the largest of its kind in the world. The rookery of mud and grass nests extends over 5km covering the shoreline and lower slopes of the northern half of the island. On the land side the rookery is bounded by giant tussock grass that in places is taller than a human. This serves as a useful hide allowing close access to the rookery without disturbing the nesting adult females or their fluffy chicks. From this thicket one can view a spectacle of nesting albatrosses covering an area from just beyond the tussock curtain to as far as the eye can see along the shore, with birds courting, fighting, crash landing, and feeding their chicks, while predatory Brown Skuas swoop low over the rookery looking for weakness and opportunity. In amongst all this are Striated Caracaras that strut around as if they ruled the island and are not afraid of anything or anyone. They are audacious birds that will steal items off your person if you are complacent. This whole production takes place […]
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Cape Adare and the Ross Ice Shelf On a map of the world it is just another point on the shores of Antarctica ( see Cape Adare map Fig.1). It is the place where Carstens Borchgrevink became the first person to step ashore on the Antarctic continent and where, four years later he would lead the first expedition party to over-winter on the mainland. One of the original huts still stands a short distance from the shoreline. It has one of the largest Adelie penguin colonies in Antarctica with more than 250,000 breeding pairs. It is the place where one can view the eastern flank of the mighty Trans-Antarctic mountain range. In its large bay, there are icebergs swirling around in the strong currents, with Adelie penguins using them as platforms to move out to sea. It is one of the great places in the world. With good weather, that is. . Not far from Cape Adare is another wonder of the world; the Great Ice Barrier of the Ross Shelf rising some 30m above the water and spanning a distance of 600 km. Humpback and killer whales patrol in front of its imposing ice face, and occasionally groups of penguins can be observed on its lip, so close to the water and yet so far […]
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South Georgia Island Antarctica . Often the skies are grey, and the wind blows with sleet and snow. Occasionally a violent Katabatic wind pushes everything over, but when the skies are blue and the oceans calm, South Georgia presents one of the greatest visual spectacles on earth. At St Andrews Bay and Salisbury Plains (see South Georgia map Fig2), snow capped mountains with glaciers flowing into the sea, provide the backdrop for hundreds of thousands of King penguins spaced one pecking distance apart for as far as the eye can see. And on the shoreline elephant seal beach masters hack into one another, blood spattered red on their wrinkled fur. It is one of the places you really should experience. The weather and landing Realities for South Georgia. Due to South Georgia Island’s location in the Southern Ocean (see South Georgia location map Fig1), the permanently cold sea maintains a highly variable and harsh cold weather climate with a daily maximum temperature of 00C in winter and 80C in summer. Westerly winds blow throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm. These prevailing weather conditions make the island difficult to approach by ship. As access to the island is only by […]
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Paulet Island is Antarctica Paulet is a small circular island with a distinctive volcanic cone. It is located near the southern entrance to the Antarctic Sound at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Often the Sound and its southern approaches near Paulet have large numbers of weathered old ice icebergs. This area is then a likely place to observe an isolated group of penguins atop of a small sculptured blue iceberg; one of the images prized by many landscape and wildlife photographers.In 2008, our expedition ship encountered sea ice, and drifting icebergs as it approached Paulet Island, partially obscured by a curtain of lightly falling snow. It was an icy and primeval vista right out of a Hollywood “lost world” movie. On shore snow and ice were everywhere, brash ice cluttered the bay near the shoreline; snow covered the black pebble beach and continued up the hillside lightly covering a 100,000 Adelie penguin rookery spread out over the island. Just beyond the landing site was a Blue Eyed Shag rookery covering a rocky slope. It was also partly covered by falling snow. Along the shoreline, penguins were scurrying back and forth. Some joined small groups that rushed […]
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