Paradise Bay, Antarctica. Solid soil! Solid ice! - 12:20 pm

16 Dec 2008

This afternoon was insanely beautiful. Pack ice, leaden clouds, snow falling, ice formations from dreams and penguins! We finally landed on the continent.

We had to slow down dramatically to get through the ice but still there was a lot of scraping and clunking as we made our way through the ice

How can this be summertime? It doesn’t seem possible!

The abandoned Argintine base. A slightly dodgy looking place to set up camp.

Crabeater seals grunt, but don’t move as we make our way past

Shiver!!!

We landed! We’re standing with penguins on the Argentine base while our lovely ship waits in the freezing sea. I’ve become most fond of the Alexsey - home for more than two weeks now and so good to us.

Zodiacs waiting next to the ship to come and get us.

And then off - into this mad landscape. it’s so still. So remarkable. All sound is muffled by the falling snow. We’re cold but nobody cares.

Dwarfed by the ice. We hauled a large chunk of very special ice out of the sea and took it back to the ship. The clarity of it! There was hardly a bubble. It looked like glass. This ice had been compressed in a glacier for thousands of years and was reduced to this chunk which was slowly melting away. Better that we have it melt in our drinks. So this evening we shall have 12 year old whiskey with 10 000 year old ice - the purest water possible. Could anything be better?

Eventually cameras had to go away. The snow was falling too hard to keep the lens clear. So we sat and watched until eventually we had to go back to the ship to thaw out and process these scenes.

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