We spent the morning on Elephant Island, located about 100 miles northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. We anchored the ship off Point Wild, where Shackleton’s party spent several months in 1916. This was the very spot where the 28 men landed after surviving over a year on the frozen Weddell Sea and then taking their three lifeboats here. Even more amazing was that 22 of the men were left behind when Shackleton went to get help on South Georgia Island and they had to wait three months to get rescued.
This desolate island had high rocky mountains and white glaciers coming down to the sea. Several guests saw a few calvings off the nearby glacier, creating splashes as the ice fell off the glacier face. Icebergs and brash ice covered over half of the bay.
In the afternoon, National Geographic Endurance sailed east across the Scotia Sea. We had fascinating lectures on geology and penguins as we relaxed after a week full of nonstop activities. A relaxing foggy weather descended on the ship later in the day, but we didn’t care because the ocean was so calm.
The guests were served a special Thanksgiving turkey dinner tonight. We all enjoyed the comradery and felt thankful after a week of relatively beautiful weather, spectacular weather, and awesome scenery.
