Day 17 - Drygalski Ice Tongue and we land on the Antarctic Continent

3 February 2014

I woke to us cruising along the northern edge of the ice tongue and even managed to see a big piece of ice fall off. The ice was up to 32m high in places and varied in thickness throughout. It was great to see all the new born ice bergs floating around the edge of the shelf having recently broken off in the last few hours, days and weeks.

As we travelled in the direction of inexpressible island katabatic winds picked up blowing 60knots +
Katabatic winds are when high density air rushes down the glaciers sometimes at hurricane speeds which can start and stop like a light bulb without warning.

We skipped inexpressible island for a later time and cruised along Terra Nova Bay past the Italian base to the unmanned German base called Gondwana. It was really sheltered from the wind here and I had a great time walking around. It was by far the hottest it has been here in Antarctic where I took off most of my clothes. The base itself was very basic with nothing really there, however over the ridge the Korean base was in full construction which is a reasonable size which had helicopters flying around, a container ship in the bay and many moving cranes.
Skuas were nesting everywhere which made it impossible to get up the hill without being dive bombed. I managed to spot my own emperor penguin and weddel seall up on the cliff face – I was so impressed they had come as high up as they had. Why they were there I am not sure.

The katabatic winds were still blowing hard in the evening at inexpressible island so we waited at drift for the wind to die over the night and into the morning.
Inexpressible island is a small rocky island in Terra Nova Bay where Scotts northern party over wintered after not having been picked up from their geological trip due to heavy pack ice. The six men managed to survive the miserable winter in a small snow cave in the dark feeding on seals and penguins.


DRYGALSKI ICE TONGUE

Band of pack ice

Thick pack ice all the way to the ice tongue in the distance

Up close to the Drygalski ice tongue

Recently formed ice bergs sitting in Terra Nova Bay

Some views of the ice tongue as we travelled along the edge of it.

Where we travelled this morning is meant to be all all ice according to the maps

Green Iceberg

There was a spectacular blue iceberg with a few Adelie penguins, seals and snow petrels making it home. It glimmered in the sun and looked like a big diamond with a deep light blue colour.

TERRA NOVA BAY

Water was spraying onto the bridge windows and freezing instantly. The winds outside were so cold I had to put my balaclava on for the first time.

Inexpressible Island and the katabatic winds zooming off the glaciers.

Large iceberg with several caves shaped from the wave and wind action.

Some spectacular coastline along Terra Nova Bay

The Italian Base - Zuchelli Station

GONDWANA STATION - MAINLAND ANTARCTICA

A large container ship in front of Gondwana station with Mt Melbourne standing 2732m high

A large iceberg almost wiped out the landing ramp as we were getting into the zodiacs at Gondwana station.

The ramp all iced up from the chilling winds during this morning voyage.

Weddell seals enjoying the sun at the landing point of Gondwana Station

We land on MAINLAND ANTARCTICA at Gondwana Station an unmanned German Station

Buildings at the German station

It was a stunning day to be out and about on mainland Antarctica. As you can see most of the snow at the station had melted

It was impossible to get past the skuas without being dive bombed

Emperor penguin on the steep cliff face

Some really interesting clouds

The korean base being constructed over the hill

A wind blown out rock

We had a zodiac around the icebergs in the bay some of which had spectacular patterns and lines in them.

An emperor on a small berg

We had a close up look at some of the other icebergs in the bay.