We had strong winds last night so we were unable to make the South Orkney Island we had hoped to land at this morning. Instead we headed to Elephant Island. This is the site where 22 of Shackleton's crew, led by Frank Wild camped for 4 months, much of it over winter, until they could be rescued. When you see how small this spit of lant is (most of the island has no place to land due to sheer cliffs and glaciers which tower towards the sky) it is even more amazing to think these men not only survived, but were able to maintain their sanity!

As we had arrived outside our scheduled time, there was another ship - The Silver Explorer already in position. My housekeep Raquel was in tears this morning. Her husband works on that ship and she hardly ever gets to see him. Being so close and yet still so far away from him was just too much for this young bride. Thankfully, the crew arranged for her to be taken over to his ship for a short visit. She may have only got 40 minutes with him, but her smile when she got back was a great sight for all of us :)

Luckily for us the Silver Explorer agreed to share their timeslot with us. This was a rare treat in these waters where timeslots are booked months in advance, and the weather often plays havoc with schedules. Whilst we were unable to actually land on Point Wild (there wasnt enough room for more than one zodiac at a time and the Silver Explorer passengers had preference) I didnt feel like we missed out at all. We cruised beneath a massive glacier and marvelled at the delay between when the ice calved off and when the boom reached our ears. We drifted in close to the shores of Point Wild and tried to place ourselves in the shoes of the men who were stranded here for so long. Next John zipped us out towards an iceberg.

We thought we were going purely for the gorgeous colours and shapes at play in this beautiful berg but then we drifted around to the back of it. Here we were delighted to find a bunch of chinstraps skating around on the ice and leaping up from the sea to try and land on the ice. They used the upswell of the waves to give themselves added lift but even that wasnt enough for many of them, and there were loads of face plants into the wall of the iceberg, belly flops onto the top only to slide straight down into the water and other mishaps. One poor penguin was just about to stick his landing when another slapped him straight back into the water. We stayed for as long as possible marvelling at the perserverence of these little guys and cheering when they finally made it up. A little bit of humour at an otherwise sombre location.

NOTE: Elephant Island is at the tip of the South Shetland Islands. For some reason the map has stuck it up near the UK and wont let me edit it