Initially Sandwich Land; south added to differentiate from Sandwich Island as Hawaii was once known.

The South Sandwich Islands are some of the remotest lands on earth.

The northernmost island in the SSI chain ... and our destination today.

Mt Curry ... aka Mt Asphyxia ... appropriately nicknamed for the suffocating fumes it spews.

Just some of the 2 million plus chinstrap penguins at the world's largest colony in the world.

Discovered on February 2, which is Candlemas Day ... hence the name — South Sandwich Islands.

The name refers to the fact that initially Cook's reports were not believed — SSI.

Mt Michael, which makes up much of the island, has a lava lake in its summit crater.

One of the islets near Bristol Island; formed through coastal erosion.

Mount Belinda, on Montagu Island, was dormant until 2001 when it erupted ... for six years — SSI.

Features the oldest rocks in the SSI and an active volcano that last erupted in 2016.

The three southernmost islands of the SSI chain that make up the South Thule Group.

The Central and largest island of the South Thule Group — SSI.

Named for the mythical land that ancient geographers believed was at the extreme end of the Earth.

RWSE Day 8: Allan Introduces Us to SSI

February 18, South Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 32 °F

“Mystery creates wonder, and wonder is the basis of a man’s desire to understand …” ~~ Neil Armstrong ~~ (from the Daily Program)

As Ortelius continued south, we continued to add to our knowledge base with Allan’s presentation … “Introduction to South Sandwich Islands.” His slides included some amazing aerial photographs, which were provided to him by the BFSAI [British Forces South Atlantic Islands, formerly known as British Forces Falkland Islands (BFFI)].

Part of the British Overseas Territory, this archipelago consists of 11 islands — in 4 groupings — laid out in a roughly reverse-crescent shape. Anyone interested in the list of islands can look them up. I’ll just say that the southernmost 8 islands were discovered by Captain James Cook during his 1775 expedition. But no one believed Cook until his findings were corroborated by Bellinghausen when he discovered the remaining three islands in the north in 1819.

Considered to be one of the most remote and inhospitable regions of the world, the SSI are difficult to visit and rarely does an expedition vessel attempt to do so.

In addition to the storms that often batter the SSI, snow and ice permanently cover 85% of the combined landmass. And then there are the violent earthquakes — usually 7+ on the Richter scale — and the active volcanos that spew suffocating gases. One such volcano — Mt Curry (on Zavadovski Island) — is more often referred to as Mt Asphyxia for this reason. Of course, let’s not forget the stench from the guano at the world’s biggest penguin colony that is bound to make landings unpleasant.

All that said, the slim chance that we might be able to visit these islands — even if it was just with a cruise-by — was one of the primary reasons we, in fact, booked this expedition.

The BFSAI photos all showed the islands in beautiful weather. We have been assured that kind of weather is most definitely a rarity. I expect we will not be seeing them under such conditions. We’ll find out one way or the other when we get to the northernmost island in the chain later this afternoon.Read more