Imagine being surrounded, in every direction, by ice. Towering high above or floating at your feet it glistens, floats and flows. Welcome to Cierva Cove and the West Antarctic Peninsula. Here ice drips off of everything. Like a thick layer of frosting, glacial ice pours, drifts through and penetrates every corner of the landscape. Morning found us in the heart of this blue-tinged world. Via Zodiacs our fleet spiked out in all directions searching for our own glorious ice sculptures. Back-dropped by the heavily crevassed ice streams that produced most of these gemstones, our tours took hold of everyone involved.
Not a soul returned to the ship without having uttered some acknowledgement of the perfection of forces that brought this landscape, subject matter and weather together. A diffuse cloud layer filtered the sun’s rays for a perfect amount of luminosity on the ice and a balanced exposure for our busy cameras. With the occasional leopard seal on or under this frozen platform and hot chocolate to be found amongst the ice, this morning will run amongst one of my favorites.
The afternoon and evening held serve however. With fear that mounting winds and snow would steal our momentum we took to plan B, C then D and slipped into the protected waters of the Errera Channel. Sitting in the middle of a mile-wide stretch of water surrounded by five- to six-thousand foot peaks we took to the shores of Danco Island. As the clouds lifted and sun dipped lower and warmer on our faces the shore-goers trekked higher up the island’s domed ridge. From their two- to three-hundred-foot vantage point the view was no doubt overwhelming. From Zodiac perspective down below, their tiny silhouettes accentuated this already impressively vertical landscape. Weddell and crab eater seals lounged on the ice while the occasional krill representative could be seen foraging around sea ice floes.
The sun descended, we moved further south along the peninsula’s western shore and by dinner’s end found ourselves in an aptly named location to end our exceptional day... Paradise Harbour!
