Weddell Sea
We spent the entire day exploring the Weddell Sea just off the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula. This region is generally drier than the western side, because it is located in a “rain shadow” produced by the peninsular mountain chain. That doesn’t affect the production of sea ice, however, and the normal heavy ice conditions of the Weddell Sea can make for some very interesting cruising. During the morning, the National Geographic Explorer sailed within ice-filled waters and we had lots of fun breaking through fast ice and cruising close to ice bergs searching for wildlife. We were ultimately rewarded with an excellent sighting of a single adult emperor penguin hanging out with a small group of Adélie penguins.
The Weddell Sea was first explored by the famous scientist Otto Nordenskjold during the ill-fated Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901-1904). His experiences and those of his expedition members were among the most amazing and exciting of any of the exploits produced during the Heroic Age, including those of Ernest Shackleton, Robert Scott, Roald Amundsen, Douglas Mawson, etc. In spite of their struggles, however, these Swedes succeeded in accomplishing much important charting and mapping of the region, and conducted important hydrographical, magnetic, atmospheric, palaeontological, and biological studies.
In the afternoon, we made a landing at Devil Island, a double-peaked volcanic structure located in a bay off the north coast of Vega Island. Its small size precludes the formation of a permanent ice cap, which allows for the presence of a moderate-sized Adélie penguin colony. We found that most of the penguin chicks were already out of their nests and had formed into crèches…that is, concentrated groups of chicks guarded over by a few adults (see image above left). The island provided some excellent hiking that gave us great views of the surrounding area, including Vega Island and the Antarctic Peninsula. The geology was quite amazing as it included not only the volcanic material which composed the island, but also lots of foreign rocks deposited long ago by glaciers. Everyone must surely have been impressed by the brilliantly-colored orange lichens growing on many of the rocky slopes and higher deposits (see image above right).
Once we were all back aboard, we continued exploring the waters about James Ross Island for the rest of the evening, until changing course and heading back north. Our plan was to begin making our way towards the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and eventually head over to the western side for more exploring.
