Ice-castles at Signy

This is fairy-tale romance country. Well, my kind of fairy-tale anyway. A long, long time away, in a land far, far ago, is an island. This island, Coronation Island, has mountans like you have never dreamed, snow covered, rearing out of the ice cold ocean. To get here, you must navigate past icebergs forty metres high and whales forty metres deep. In this magical land, the sun barely sets, it just glides around the horizon leaving an ever-pink tinge in the sky. Every direction you look is breath-taking. Mountains next to glaciers, glaciers next to rocky outcrops full of cape pigeons flying to their nests. Snow petrels, perfect white on white, gliding the shape of infinity a foot from my face. Mosses and lichens that take hundreds of years to develop. An ecosystem that would not survive the impact of mankind. This land has never been explored.

Nestled within a secret bay hidden by Coronation is a yet smaller island, only four miles long by two miles wide, named Signy. And hidden behind a hill within a bay guarded by icebergs are a few huts with green roofs, and a jetty. This is my dream home. Navigation skills and wisdom alone are not enough to bring you to this land. The blessings of the gods are also required as fair weather is rare in these parts and seldom do the inhabitants see the glory of their surroundings. Perhaps it is too much to take in too often.

But the gods were having a party when we arrived. Never have I seen such a panoramic vision. It was simply too large, too awe-inpsiring, to take in. It's one of those moments that you just have to accept and enjoy in the now because no photo, no writing and no memory will be as fulfilling. So I spun around and around and around.

There was a buzz of excitement on the ship when we first arrived. Some folk had been up since 5am wondering at their first icebergs, the spectacular scenery, the truth that we finally had arrived, that we were in THE ICE at last! There was also much excitement about going ashore and working. Working, justifying our existence here, showing our new friends what we actually were worth, moving some limbs, exercising muscles other than those needed to lift beer bottles. Big burly steelies in orange telly tubby flotation suits grinning like seven year olds who've eaten too much birthday cake. It was infectious. There were masts to replace, reverse osmosis systems to install, a VHF antenna to mount and all sorts of IT troubles to attend to. Even I found myself a purpose: in a science lab, troubleshooting a petulant autosampler and, just as important, providing a bit of female company to a friend who is posted here for six months with seven men. She's no complaints but it's nice to have a change every now and then.

We went for a stomp, we slid down hills, we rolled and laughed and skidded and skipped like people who have been cooped up on a ship for six weeks. We visited elephant seals,- they're HUGE, eight feet long at least and I hate to think how heavy, and saw a sole penguin wondering amongst them. An excited biologist came running into the lab to tell us his penguin colony had just had it's first chicks and there were a bunch of eggs rolling around, chirping, due any day. We drank tea. We found friends in the remotest of places.

Leaving Signy was as stunning as the place itself. Coronation island as a backdrop: thirty miles long with peaks 4000m high, us sailing through a field of icebergs, all shapes and sizes, all around, all awesome. Penguins on some, seals on others, birds following us. It was like a cheesy clip from a japanimation film. Blue sky with pink bits, twinkly ripply sea, huge silent icebergs.. and, to top it all off, three mountain peaks rising separately out of the ocean: The Innaccessibles. This is the landscape that sailors and climbers dream of. To ascend these peaks you have to jump straight from the yacht to a sheer face of ice. Something about them was alluring but also terrifying. I'm beginning to understand why they call this the Last Great Wilderness on Earth.

Note from Felix: this is a photo by Simon Coggins, who's also on the Shackleton and who also has a blog. Go check it out!

Posted by Rhian at 10:27 EST

Comments

It may be hard to write down in words, but you do a great job of capturing the feeling of being there. Its about 3 jobs and 2 children since I wintered at Halley, but your posts really bring the magic of the adventure back! Looking forward to reading more of your posts ....

Posted by: mbg at 5:16 EST, December 10, 2003

Sounds Fab.

Posted by: Morty at 10:10 EST, December 11, 2003

Wow, it all sounds so amazing. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us! Have a fantastic Christmas: yours will definately be white, ours still to be determined.

Posted by: Tina at 10:04 EST, December 19, 2003

Thanks for taking time to share your adventures with us.
We may have the Lord of the Rings but you are the Lady
of the 'Bergs! How are the drafts up top??
I am looking forward to more of your tales.
All the best for the holidays!!

Posted by: Jim at 14:56 EST, December 20, 2003