Swift Bay, James Ross Island, East of the Peninsula in the Weddell Sea

(-64.3964570, -57.8132400)

Oh What a Day! Last night we came through the Antarctic Sound at 63 degrees 20 minutes south and 56 degrees, 45 minutes west. In the usual course of affairs all the expedition ships stay on the western side of the peninsula and no one gets throught this channel due to doo much sea ice. This trip to the eastern side of the peninsula is a first for the Hurtigruten company and the passengers, the crew and the captain were all hugely excited. The minimal amount of sea ice this summer (hello global warming) means some patrol boats have done it this year and there are a couple of expedition ships getting in there now - including us.

The plan is to circumnavigate (huge word… 'sail around') James Ross Island at 64 degrees 10 minutes south and 57 degrees 45 minutes west. James Ross was a British explorer and went further south down the east coast of the peninsula than anyone else had and named things as he travelled (including crowd favourites like Rum Cove, Whiskey etc etc). We travelled clockwise around the island and the forecast was for -7 degrees, but no wind chill. It turned into a brilliantly sunny day in the end - a world apart from the white and blue ice along the eastern side. Fun fact (though obviously not for them), Shackleton's ship The Endurance was crushed and sunk in the Weddell sea - it is a more 'Antarctic' climate than the maritime climate along the west coast of the peninsula - so colder than Marguerite Bay despite that area being significantly more southern and below the polar circle.

We were having breakfast as we proceeded to begin the circumnavigation and we were stunned to see how much the view out the floor to ceiling windows had changed. Huge, granite brown cliffs/mountains along the side of the island - however the council had been in with height ordinances in mind and seemingly sliced off the tops of the mountains at the exact same level - like a hot knife through butter. If anything, the rock formations look like Iceland. A complete contrast to where we have been recently. Seeing the glaciers flowing down the cliffs like white iceing off a dark fruit Christmas cake is incredible.

It was one of those days that just kept on giving. We reached Swift Bay and the scouts went out for a nosey and determined the tender pit could be opened and we could go ice cruising. Incredible. We saw multiple waterfalls cascading down cliffs and stunning light play on the snow and mountains behind the ship. It was a day designed to be photographed - every, single minute.

It was a shame to head back to the ship, but lunch was enjoyable and we were kept well entertained watching the late morning zodiac trips going out. The powers that be on the bridge had found an excellent (and obviously, brand new) landing site for us to go to in the afternoon. We remained in Swift Bay as the conditions were superb and the ship moved to a slightly different spot for the landing on a diamond beach (hello again, Iceland). The beach itself with massive chunks of ice was beautiful but I was assured it was worth the hike up near Sungold Mountain to take in the views. They were right. We even saw moss on the rocks - not a lot of green stuff about - but more than we've seen anywhere else in Antarctica. The view over the massive glacier stepping down to the ocean, the ship, the blue sky and blue ocean were incredible. Well worth the slog up the hill (it always is). We headed back to the ship for dinner and must admit to being more than a little sad that this miraculous trip only had 1 more day visiting the White Continent.