Twenty Twenty-Five

  I have done a quite comprehensive job of documenting 2024. As I write this on January 17 I expect 2025 to include visits to many of the same locations - especially while guiding. Each visit is unique and I continue look forward to each and every one. Having said that, many of the potential photos would be repeats. So, my intention is to include only the more special and unique images - and not so many documentary types. If you are interested in a more complete story about these places, then please look at Twenty Twenty Four.

  Most images will give a higher resolution version when clicked. I have split the year into quarters as the pages were too big, so here are links to various chapters of the year:

  February March April May June July August September October November December

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January - aboard Heritage Adventurer

  January 17 - approaching Cape Adare at the northern end of the Ross Sea, Antarctica. At the completion of my pre-Christmas Sub-Antarctic voyages I had a lovely couple of weeks catching up with old friends and celebrating the holidays. Then, it was back to "work". I will again be aboard for both the the Heritage Expeditions voyages to the Ross Sea. These are one of the highlights of my "working" year - both because Antarctica is a truly unique wild place, and because I have the pleasure and responsibility of communicating to the guests the remarkable histories of Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen and all the other explorers of the Heroic Age and beyond. In Expedition cruising we have Plan A, but that is only a starting point and the actual voyage is determined along the way based on weather and many other factors. The January voyage was a case in point as we made an unscheduled stop at Rakiura/Stewart Island to wait out a storm ahead of us. This meant that our Zodiac cruise at the Snares was delayed a day as the storm cleared. And clear it did with the most beautiful conditions I have ever seen there - light winds, minor swell and sunny skies. What a start. The good luck with conditions continued for our day at Macquarie Island - a bit of rain, but no issues with making the landings. The landing at Sandy Bay was a highlight with the Royal and King penguins, the Elephant Seals, and the flying birds all as engaging and beautiful as ever. In a first for me, and many others, we had a 3 operations day with 2 landings plus a Zodiac cruise before heading into the Southern Ocean. Our 4 sea days we as gentle as you possibly wish - no swell over 4 metres and light winds. I was gave 4 talks about the history - all of which were well received by the guests. So, here we are, only a few hours from attempting a landing at Cape Adare. Stay tuned.

  Some scenes from this period: Ulva Island/Rakiura: The southern rata was in full bloom with scattered needles on the ground, fern fiddlehead, Stewart Island Robin. Snares: Zodiac cruising, Snares Crested Penguins. At Sea: Antarctic Petrel in flight

         
    
         
    
    
    
         

  Our landing at Cape Adare was made in near perfect conditions - as is becoming standard for this voyage. I spent most of my time in and around the historic hut helping PAX - but we had landed early enough that I had plenty of time to explore in the Adelie colony. As we cruised back out to sea on a beautiful calm evening, the penguins were everywhere.

  Some scenes from this landing: Approaching Cape Adare, Adelie penguins x 2, Adelie with chick, a "flying" porposing Adelie

    

         
       
              

  January 24 - In the Ross Sea headed north toward Franklin Island - We cruised south and made a landing at the empty German Gondwana station, again in ideal conditions. Our Zodiac cruise at the Drygalski Ice Tongue also started in ideal conditions but the fog rolled in as we left the ship, making for interesting visual effects. We carried on south into McMurdo Sound as the sea ice had moved out from Ross Island leaving us access to the historic huts. Our first visit was to Scott's hut at Cape Evans. I left my camera behind but again spent a long time in the hut with PAX. Mostly we guides just keep silent and let them try to put themselves back into that era with those men. During our time in McMurdo Sound we managed visits to the other 2 historic huts - Cape Royds and Hut Point - meaning that these PAX had made all 4 of the huts in the Ross Sea, which is remarkable for any voyage, but truly exceptional for January. Throughout this voyage they/we have enjoyed exceptional weather and sea conditions. It is very striking to me how little snow is around at the landings and how fast the sea ice has disappeared. These are huge changes from my previous visits, including those of the previous 2 seasons. I can't help thinking that this is related to climate change. We also spent quite a lot of time cruising the sea ice edge as this is where the wildlife congregates. We were rewarded with exceptional encounters with Emperor Penguins, which were present in much larger numbers than any previous January voyage, and especially with Orcas, with huge pods swimming in close formation. Astounding.

  Some scenes from this period: Gondwana: The small base with Heritage Adventurer, South Polar Skua. Drygalski Ice Tongue: Zodiac cruise start, view from the top deck, fog rolls in - monochrome, Zodiac silhouette in the low sunlight.

         
    
         

         

         

         

         

    

    

  Use these links for the January Ross Sea Log and Slideshow

February - aboard Heritage Adventurer

  February 2 - at sea enroute to Bluff. The remainder of this voyage enjoyed the same exceptional weather and sea conditions as the start. We made the landing at Franklin Island. Even with the Adelie colony and the beach full of Weddell Seals, the highlight for me was the landscape. The beach is backed by a steep glacier front with cliffs behind. The interplay of the black and grey rock, white and grey ice, and black and white birds makes monochrome photography irresistible. It was an almost completely colorless place except for one striking blue iceberg in the bay. Sublime. We investigated a couple of landing spots on our way north. Neither was suitable but we did get nice views of the Admiralty Range of the Trans-Antarctic mountains. Our last Antarctic operation was a Zodiac cruise at the rugged Balleny Islands. On the night that we crossed the Circle, back to the land of sunsets, the expedition team produced a version of the play Ticket-Of-Leave, last produced in the Antarctic (or maybe anywhere) in 1902 by Scott's Discovery Expedition. It was a roaring success and a great deal of fun. We had 2 Sub-Antarctic Islands to visit on the way north - Campbell and Auckland Islands. Both days were almost sub-tropical as this voyage's luck continued. At Campbell one highlight was a visit to the cliffs at Bull Rock with the world's only Campbell Albatross colony. Enderby Island in the Auckland group provided a couple of real highlights. I love rata blossoms (as you might have guessed by now) and this was a super year for rata. In the rata forest a New Zealand Falcon gave us a long visit while the nearby Bellbird sounded the alarm continuously.

  Every Ross Sea trip is uniquely special, but the combination of people and conditions made this one more than usually memorable.

  Some scenes from this period: Franklin Island: Adelies and Weddells Seals, Monochrome landscape, Blue iceberg; Ross Sea: Mount Hershel and the Admiralty Range; Balleny Islands: iceberg, Antarctic Petrel in flight; Ticket of Leave cast photo; Campbell Island: Colony cliffs, Campbell Albatross in flight x 2; Enderby Island: Female NZ Seal Lions, Rata blossom, Rata on megaherb leaf, Bellbird calling, NZ Falcon x 2

         

         

         

         

    

         

    

         

         

         

         

         

         

  February 11 - At sea enroute to Cape Adare. The February Ross Sea voyage picked up where the January voyage had left off - with excellent weather and moderate seas for our visits to the Snares, Auckand Islands and Macquarie Island. The Bullers Albatross were nesting at the Snares and the kelp caught my eye. We called into Enderby Island only 4 days after the previous visit. The rata was still beautiful but this time it was the NZ Sea Lion pups, the Southern Royal Albatross and the Yellow Eyed Penguins that stood out for me. At Macquarie Island we made our normal itinerary, being landings at Sandy Bay and The Isthmus, and a Zodiac cruise Lusitania Bay. Normally Sandy Bay is the standout, but this time I focused on the other 2. The night of the first sea day headed south featured an impressive Aurora Australis. We had a bit of a wild celebration for crossing the Antarctic Circle in the snow.

  Some scenes from the period: Snares: Bullers Albatross on the nest, NZ Fur Seal in the kelp, Kelp on the rocks x 2, Snares Crested Penguins, Penguin in the kelp; Enderby Island: NZ Sea Lion pup, Southern Royal Albatross in flight, Yellow Eyed Penguin; Macquarie Island-The Isthmus: Giant Petrel, Gentoo Penguin, Sub-Antarctic Fur Seals pups x 2, Water droplets on King Penguin plummage; Macquarie Island- Lusitania Bay Zodiac cruise: King Penguins in the water x 3, King Colony, Colony with digesters; Aurora x 2; Circle crossing: Crazy expedition teammates, crew with snowman

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

    

         

         

  February 22 - At sea headed north - As usual our first destination on the continent was Cape Adare. We arrived in a blizzard with gusts up to 60 knots. We ship cruised the hut - giving a remarkable first-hand experience of what they faced in 1899. As the forecast looked good we ducked into Robertson Bay which was spectacular in the dusting of new snow. The conditions never allowed a landing there so we headed south and did a Zodiac cruise in the pancake ice off Coulman Island. We called into the Ross Ice Shelf and then the remainder of our time in the Ross Sea was very busy - especially for me as we managed to visit all 4 of the historic huts on Ross Island - including my first visit as a guide to the hut used by the Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE) in 1958. I didn't take many photos, but the PAX luck with weather and ice conditions continued and we did lots. We called into Cape Adare for a second try, and were able to make the landing after a second wonderful Zodiac cruise in Robertson Bay. We thus visited all 5 of the huts in the Ross Sea - a first for any single voyage for me - and likely for any voyage. This was made possible by the very early breakout of the sea ice - a double edged sword for sure.

  Some scenes from the period: Robertson Bay: Mountains and glaciers x 3; Coulman Island: In the pancake ice x 4; Ross Ice shelf: the shelf, sea and sky, the -1.5C sea steaming in the -20C air; Our ice landing at Drygalski; Erebus; Adelie; Emperor; TAE hut artefacts x 2; Robertson Bay

         

    

         

         

    

         

         

         

         

    

  Use these links for the February Ross Sea Log and Slideshow and, if you want a visual flyover of the voyage try this which Casey made with the Find Penguins app.

March - in Christchurch

  I disembarked in Bluff on March 1 after a truly fantastic southern season. Our final sea day was filled with perhaps the best mollymock display of the entire season. Two pictures from that event - a Bullers and a White-capped in flight

        

  March 26 in Christchurch - Monday March 3 was a momentous day as I signed the papers for my new house - Villa 4. By midday on Wednesday the movers had transferred the contents of my storage locker and I had started to get to terms with possessions that I hadn't seen in over 3 years. Only 3 weeks later I was fully moved into Villa 4 with all boxes empty and pictures on the walls. Here is a quick look. I'm no longer a homeless pensioner.