We are now sailing southwest, away from South Georgia on our way to South Orkney. Above is a picture of our ship anchored in Stromness Bay yesterday morning. It has gotten much colder than it was when we were sailing to South Georgia, and we are now sailing against the wind, in swells of 30 feet. My stomach is challenged, shall we just say.
We hope to be able to land at South Orkney to see chinstrap penguins, but this will depend on the wind, fog and ice. We're actually not scheduled to stop there, so if we do it's a bonus. Otherwise we sail straightaway to Elephant Island just off the tip of the Antarctic peninsula, a place famous for where Sir Ernest Shackleton's men hunkered down for many months awaiting rescue in 1916. If you haven't read the book Endurance about Shackleton's two year survival effort after getting stuck in ice while seeking to reach the South Pole, you should download it now. It is a tale more gripping than any novel.
We should reach Antarctica in another two days, and spend five days exploring many sites there before braving two days crossing the Drake Passage to get back to South America.
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