The outgrowth of land was first discovered in 1941 by James Clark Ross named after his friend, Adare. However, the high promontory land of black basalt was first overwintered by Carsten Borchgevink and his party during 1898 to 1900 Southern Cross Expedition. 11 years later Scott’s northern party of 10 men (plus dogs) build the 15 square-meter hut that remains standing today.
Arriving along the coast mid-morning, the guides head out in zodiacs to check out the status of landing sites and potential routes to Scott’s Hut. The ice and swells were not cooperative this morning for an on shore landing. Undeterred we loaded up the zodiacs and went to check out the Adelie penguins. This is the largest Adelie colony in the continent. From as far and wide as the eye could see, we could smell and could hear, there were penguins. In the water, on the ice, and on land along shore and high above in the rocks, Adelies were nesting, playing, swimming, and watching us. Nearly every spec of dry land, ice floes, and water channels were filled with these funny birds waddling along. The scale of this total spectacle was beyond words and pictures.
We returned to the ship for lunch and the crew pulled out kayaks and zodiacs for an afternoon of continued delight with the wildlife. Electing to abstain from kayaking, we embarked on a second zodiac adventure. Amazingly during the time it took for us to have lunch, the ice floes managed to close off the shore line completely from direct access. The kayacers put-in first and it was not long thereafter that they were becoming blocked within the floes. At the same time, the zodiacs were starting to experience a similar capture process. The penguins were having a great time watching us struggle through the water. However, the captain began to make noices from the bridge that it was time wrap up our visit and head back to the ship. The radio air waves contained requests from the kayakers to move the ship toward them in order to break the ice and pick them up. Ultimately, 4 kayaks had to be pulled out of the water, piled on a zodiac and rammed through the ice in order to wrestle them back on to the ship. Meanwhile, there were a handful of zodiacs locked into place, reving their engines in order to blast out of solid state. Although it took quite awhile to loosen the ice blocks around the rubber, eventually the zodiacs all popped free and trundled back to the mother ship.
We close out our final day in Antarctica with everyone safely back on board continuing our expedition toward New Zealand
Rizbee On The Road 