Todays Zodiac excursion was to Cape Royds, where Shackleton based the British Antarctic Nimrod Expecition (1907-1909). It was a tricky landing, basically a V cut in the ice with a few steps. The Zodiac was driven, held in by leaving the power on, and the passengers pulled out ! As such H decided to skip this one…

Waiting for next Zodiac

Not so a Chinese Social Influencer…who stripped down to a bikini and pranced around whilst having her photo taken for Insta, I’ve blurred the photo 😁

H took a few pics of me loading up. It was the full regalia for a -6 day, plus a significant wind chill factor. Click to enlarge pics.

The landing was tricky, but our group of 7 were soon marching inland, across a barren landscape, to a more well sheltered hut.

Stark landscape
Hut to left tucked
in against wind

It “nestled” into the landscape compared to yesterday’s.

Main Hut
Stables and garage !
Dog kennels
Usual artefacts scattered around outside
Stores and
entrance to
darkroom
Magnificent stove
More stores
Shackleton’s signature / graffiti
Huntley and Palmer biscuits
With biscuits inside !

The hut was very personable, but our 8 minutes allocated soon passed. Time to visit the adjacent Adelie Rookery, the most southern one. They would have been noisy neighbours!

Baby Adelie penguins (fluffy) chasing mums (harassed) for food
Youngsters getting up courage for first swin

We could then return to the ship, or do a free wander around a designated area or ASPA. There, with one of the guides, a most memorable Penguin encounter occurred.

3 Adelie penguins coming down our path
No where for us to go, so guide said stand still and enjoy 😊
Off to check out the landing party

It was time to head home, with a final look at Mt Erebus, still cloud free and under a blue sky. We have something different planned for tomorrow, fingers crossed for continued good weather.

Mt Erebus