November 17
On the afternoon of November 17th, we reached the South Shetland Islands. This would be our first step on Antarctica. Michael joined Pete’s ski group and headed out early with them to cross country ski on Half Moon Island. Half Moon Island is about 2km long and is crescent-shaped (making the name that much more obvious). Michael’s group saw a bunch of Gentoo penguins and ice burgs. They skied between the cliffs and the ocean, behind Half Moon’s peak. Four hours of tough skiing later, Michael had a new respect for how hard cross country skiing is on Antarctica and walked away with a few new friends. From below, I was able to grab a few pictures of the group. Please note our new buddy Keith is the person who is face planted on the snow:
While Michael skied, I jumped at an opportunity to see more of the island by snowshoe. This was my first time, so I was a little nervous, but also very excited to really get moving after a few days stuck on the boat. I met a new friend, Jackie, in the mud room as we got ready to go and buddied up with her for the excursion. We had a great trek – saw some Weddell seals and a crab eater seal along with some Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins.
Later on the zodiac ride we also got the opportunity to see a mother Weddell seal with her pup. Usually by this time of the year, the pups have already left their mothers, so apparently this was a real treat. They were swimming aroun, but the mother always had her eye on us.
