Antarctica East 2026

Jan 22-23: Seadays

James here’s some shots of the kayakers. I’m told that they sit on top of the kayaks rather than having to climb in…is this what you did? Not sure about stand up paddle boarding ….

We sailed past Scott Island, which is a small uninhabited island of volcanic origin in the Ross Sea, which has a huge pillar (called Haggits Pillar) on its west side, as well as a lovely see-through arch. 

The island was discovered and landed upon on 25 December 1902 by captain william colbeck , commander of Scott’s relief ship. On 12 February 2009 Andrew Perry and Molly Kendall, crew members of the Sea shepherd conservation society’s ship, the MY Steve Irwin, were married on the island by captain paul watson. An interesting place for a wedding!

The ship is making sure we don’t get bored on these seadays. Today we had a presentation from someone based in NZ, who is a member of the NZ Antarctica Heritage Trust. She told us all how the huts had been restored.

This is a before/after comparison of Scott’s hut at Cape Evans

The NZ Trust was set up in 1987 and have methodically put in place plans for the restoration of Cape Evans and 4 other huts associated with Antarctic explorers, using private funding. Princess Anne launched one of its fundraising campaigns in 2002. The Trust has raised around $25 m since its inception

And here’s Scott’s Cape Evans hut today. The huts have to be maintained every year, to prevent ice buildup on the one hand, and flooding from melting ice on the other.

In the middle of this lecture, the crew were called to a practice fire drill. At least I know that I was evacuated!

In the afternoon, we had a magnificent afternoon tea…..unfortunately not all penguins made it to the display

No complaints about the food, despite the missing penguin….

We asked our regular waiter in the Elements restaurant to see if he could organise crème brûlée for our dessert (this is not on the menu). And he delivered….

At 60 deg S, we are now well and truly out of the Antarctic circle and almost out of Antarctic waters. Tomorrow looks like it might be rough seas – this will be the first time we have had really bad weather.