Peter 1 Island - to land or not to land?
Sunday, 13th December - at sea to Peter 1 Island: I’m on the Bridge at 7am. It’s very calm as we continue to push through the broken sea ice, but the visibility is poor. The Bridge navigation computer has the ETA to Peter 1 at around 10am, assuming our course and speed remain as is. After breakfast, I rug up and head out to the bow.
It’s really not too cold, although we do have some snow blowing across the ship. Snow Petrels and Antarctic Petrels dip down towards the water and then catch the updraft from the ship, soaring up and across the bow. The Snow Petrels are pure white, other than a shot of orange just under their fine, porcelain-like wings – they really are a most glorious bird.
Leaning over the bow (feet firmly on a well placed structure on the wall), I watch large cracks appear in the ice and race forwards as the ship moves across a large piece of sea ice. It’s mesmerizing. Over and over again we move towards an untracked, flat and snowy piece of sea ice and see the zig-zagging crack appear near the front of the ship and then move out to the left and right, or to the front, getting wider and wider as we move forward.
Occasionally we see a seal lying on an ice floe, oblivious to our approach. A Crabeater seal opens its eyes to see us looming, and moves quickly to get out of our way, opening its mouth in an inaudible scream. So far they’ve all managed to get away, as have the few penguins we’ve seen in this area.
It’s now 11:00am and still no sign of Peter 1 Island. Visibility is very poor, and the temperature is dropping. Shane tells us that it’s now about 5 n/miles ahead. So I wait. About 30 minutes later we see land looming to starboard. The ship slowly circumnavigates Peter 1, and the fog continues to lift. Large mountains rise directly out of the sea, and icebergs in amongst the sea-ice, are mirrored in the calm water. This is a beautiful place for a Zodiac cruise.
[Peter 1 Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Bellinghausen Sea, 450 kms from Antarctica. It is 11km x 19km, and its tallest peak is 1,640m/5,380ft. Nearly all of the island is covered by a glacier & it's surrounded by pack ice most of the year, making it somewhat inaccessible. The island was first sighted by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingghausen on 21 January 1821 - but no-one set foot on it until 2 Feb 1929, when it was claimed for Norway. It was made a dependency of Norway in 1933. Wikipedia notes: "Since 1987, there has been an automated meteorological station on the island. Three amateur radio expeditions have visited the island and there are sporadic landings by tourists." We're now noted in history as sporadic tourists!]
As we slow to a stop near the potential landing site, the sun is trying to break through. Birds are everywhere, and once again I’m grateful for digital photography – it’s hard to not take continuous photos of the Snow Petrels flying around the ship and the Antarctic Petrels taking off from the water.
The first Zodiac group is called. We change into our gear and head down to wait our turn, enjoying the view as the visibility improves and the sun begins to shine. Since our group was first to go out at the last excursion, we’re now the last group to leave today.
Four Zodiacs head to the shore with the intention of making a very quick landing on Peter 1 – only 800 people in history have managed to land here, and I’m looking forward to being one of the next 80. Because of the moving sea-ice and the unstable ice above the landing site, we’ll literally step off the Zodiac on one side, walk around the bow, and step back in – a round trip of about 30 minutes.
The first four groups return and the second group are on their way. While we wait we notice that the ship has moved a little, now giving us a better view of the landing place and the Zodiacs. Three Zodiacs are now running down the shore line amongst the sea-ice. It’s only when Shane explains that the sea-ice is closing in on them that we realize they’re not sight-seeing but trying to find a way out!
One Zodiac returns and after about 30 minutes, during which the ship is used to very gently push the ice so that it continues to keep some channels open, the other 3 Zodiacs return to the KK. It’s now looking very unlikely that we’ll be Zodiac-ing today.
Over lunch Shane asks us all to attend a briefing at 2pm. The whisper is that the helicopters are out and being “put together.” Shane confirms this. The first people to go out will be the Crew to check for a landing site, followed by those that didn’t make it to the landing. It’s very exciting to be contemplating a helicopter ride on such a beautiful day!
But as we watch the blue chopper fly off, we see the weather closing in, and soon the staff return with the news that we’ll not be flying today – poor visibility, and the potential landing site is a mass of crevasses. We watch the engineers roll the blue chopper back into the hanger and tie the red one firmly onto the deck. It would have been wonderful!
We’re now underway, sailing west again, with three sea days ahead as we aim for Siple Island in the Amundsen Sea. At least the sea-ice is keeping the sea calm! And in the Cineplex tonight, a small group of us watch “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” – what a classic film!