It is January 11th - the day of my departure from Patagonia. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of visual and social experiences. I will first endeavor to capture some of the highlights of the Students on Ice Expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula. We sailed on Janaury 28 through the Beagle Channel and onto the Drake Passage which was rather easy.
December 31 started with zodiac rides round Elephant Island's Point Wilde where Shackleton left his 22 men on April 24, 1916 to seek rescue when their ship, the Endurance, was crushed and sunk by pack ice on October 26, 1914, after a 2 year adventure fraught with struggle disaster and fortitude. His is a tale for everyone to know and admire.
In the afternoon we made our first actual landing on the continent a with a visit to Argentina's Esparanza research station.
On the last day of 2014 - I stepped foot on the continent of Antarctica - for the second time in my life. What a joyful privilege!. Only about 40,000 people visit this remote southern region, the bottom of our planet - less than the number going to a single baseball game.
However my polar investigations adventure truly starts the next day - the first day of the new year with our landing on DECEPTION ISLAND. I was there just years ago photographing the abandoned whale oil tanks. Having the chance to return to revisit and capture these forms in the landscape again under different light with more snow was such a gift.
And this time I found also decaying huts and structures left behind from the BAS, Argentine and Chilean stations all abandoned in 1970 after a major eruption on this still active volcanic island.
