Ice, ice, and more ice. The word of the day, you guessed it – ice.
Sunrise came early this morning (3:50 a.m.) as the National Geographic Orion sails through “Iceberg Alley” into the Antarctic Sound. Here, huge tabular icebergs become grounded in the passage between Joinville Island and the Trinity Peninsula, which is part of the Antarctic Continent.
As the early light paints the icebergs and pack ice with warm hues, first pink then gold, the ship sails through canyons of ice. These tabular icebergs are carried by currents from the ice shelves in the Weddell Sea, each to become a unique ice sculpture as they break apart over months, if not years. The photographers among us are out on deck as the Captain navigates close to shear walls of ice. At one point he turns the ship for a close view of a narrow slot canyon where the ice appears to our eyes as a deep cobalt blue, as if lit from within.
As the morning progressed the ice floes become more difficult to navigate until we reverse our course and begin to head south around the peninsula and into the Bransfield Strait. Misty conditions add to the surreal icy landscape as we passed one amazing iceberg after another during the afternoon. The ship circumnavigates a rare blue-green marbled iceberg. Around the back of the sculpted berg we find both chinstrap and Adelie penguins preening themselves against a wall of blue ice.
For the remainder of the day we cruise south through the ice and mist as we hear stories from the expedition staff about the fate of the Shackleton Expedition and the origins of sailor’s quirky superstitions. Onward through the mist, yes there will be no bananas tomorrow…
