Stepping onto Antarctica

After waking this morning to the icy landscape around Damoy Point, it wasn’t long before we were rugged up and heading down the gangway of the MS Fridtjof Nansen and into the zodiacs.
The short ride across the calm water of Damoy Bay was pretty special. Snow-covered mountains, glaciers dropping into the sea, and our ship sitting quietly in the bay behind us — one of those moments where you realise just how remote this place really is.
Then came the big moment…
My first steps onto Antarctica.
Well, technically Wiencke Island, but it definitely counts!
The landing area around the beach was a mix of rock, melting snow and ice. Because it’s late in the Antarctic summer there’s quite a bit of melt happening, so there was actually more rock than ice underfoot. And in places the melting snow created some fascinating patterns as the ice slowly retreated around the stones.
One thing you notice very quickly is the yellow-stained snow. When you see it, you know you’re close to a penguin rookery! And a whiff too!
We spotted plenty of Gentoo Penguin around the area. Many were in the middle of their annual moult, which means they looked a bit scruffy and tired as they shed their old feathers before growing new waterproof ones.
We also managed to see a Crabeater Seal and what we were told was a Fur Seal resting nearby — always a thrill to see wildlife that you normally only ever watch in documentaries.
A short walk from the landing site sits the small but historic Damoy Hut. The hut was built in 1976 and used until the mid-1990s as a supply and transit base. In those days, aircraft would land on a snow runway just behind the hut, allowing supplies and people to be moved further down the Antarctic Peninsula when the sea ice made ship access difficult.
Today the hut has been carefully preserved as a historic site, and stepping inside is like walking back into a small slice of Antarctic exploration history — shelves of old supplies, simple equipment and the basics needed to survive in one of the most remote places on Earth.
Standing there, looking out across the bay with penguins wandering past and glaciers towering in the distance, it really sinks in…
We are actually standing on Antarctica.
Even if it’s just a small island off the peninsula — it’s still a pretty awesome feeling.Læs mere