Zavodovski Island (56ºS).

Once the worst of the weather had passed over South Georgia on Friday evening, we raised the anchor and set sail once again. We had a quick passage from Larson Harbour to Zavodovski Island and covered the 290nm in less than a day and a half.

The first, soft rays of sunlight struggled to break through the thick layer of clouds on Sunday morning and at first we couldn’t see anything but a grey sky over a grey ocean. But then, soon after the sun had fully risen over the horizon, we could make out the triangular shadow of the active volcano: Land Ho!

As we approached the island, Dion pointed out the different landing spots and Skip assessed the areas for potential camp sites. Once a site was agreed upon, we dropped the anchor on the south east corner in 20m of depth.

The big black volcano in front and icy blue icebergs to the south made for an impressive backdrop. The surrounding water was saturated with porpoising Chinstrap and Macaroni penguins, the air filled with Giant Petrels, Skuas and the smell of over a million penguins onshore. We could see Fur Seals around the coastline and an inquisitive Leopard Seal popped up his head to find out who these new arrivals were.

The whole team worked together like a well oiled machine. Justino and me unloading boxes from the big boat into the dinghy, Tor and Dion transferring the load from Vinson of Antarctica to the shore, where Skip and the shore team hauled up the boxes with climbing ropes and carried them to the chosen camp site.

By early afternoon, Skip and the scientists and all their kit - tents, food, scientific equipment, wáter, drones, gensets for charging batteries and fuel were ashore. We on board were envious as they would have a settled, stable night ashore, while rolled continually 15 degrees from port to starboard in this most exposed of anchorages.

Chris Kobusch

Skipper