[…] We had successfully embarked on the shore with all that equipment, only because this fortress of an island had a ‘key’ which was discovered decades ago by Dion’s father Jerome.

[…] 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.

(…) As a safety officer (Expedition Leader in the parlance) I have to call the landing ‘yes or no’ with input from Dion Poncet who knows these islands better than anyone and will be doing the critical dinghy driving.

All these scenes are in a loud and penetrating symphony of cries, calls, and sounds. Witnessing this powerful and ancient scenography makes anyone reflect on the essential and rudimentary life cycle. Birth, youth, death, genetics, hunger, desire, feed or starvation, power, loss.

Tussac provides food and shelter to almost every bird and mammal native to the Falklands and happily grows in high acid soils- of which the Falklands has plenty of. The perfect plant for our large scale coastal restoration project. […]

[…] As Thies and Kikih told us, while Antarctica, South Georgia, and Patagonia catch you instantly, the Falkland Islands slowly "grow" on you.

Time flies!

Its been five months since I stepped off Vinson of Antarctica at Cape Town harbour after 27 days at sea and the experience is still fresh in my mind.

For me the Alternative Shackleton Traverse was unfinished business. We came to try it in 2014 but were turned back by snow, rain and 60 knot winds. […]

I was savoring the coffee and toast when Skip called down from the hatch – “ roust out, we need some hands up here sorting out the docklines. ” […]

[…] Whether this was a better route than Shackleton’s, I’ll never know. What I do know is it was absolutely brilliant and we had the most amazing time. We got to Stromness and I didn’t want it to end. I wished we could have turned around and done it all again.

You don’t find outings like this at your exclusive high class travel agents. Thrilling, unique, physical and highly recommended but not for the feint hearted. […]

Because of the remoteness of the island, the only way to attempt and accomplish such an ambitious adventure is to have a capable vessel in support – and the old adage of “shjps are only as good as the men (now persons) who sail in them,” never holds more true. […]

Aside from the traces of the odd industrial fascination humans have, there is a lot of peace here. Deep pureness and silence. […]

The last hurdle of an obstacle course faces us at 0700 tomorrow morning. We are anchored alongside the Vincent Islands in King Haakon Bay. […]

After two days cowering from the wind in Undine Harbour, it was exhilarating to head back out to sea, hoist the mainsail and beat south to King Haakon Bay. […]

A long passage across the South Atlantic is life in continuous motion. Even when our bodies are adapted, everything is physically moving. […]

Almanacs, pencils, paper charts, dividers. Sextants, planets, stars, the Sun. For the last two weeks, these have been the most used words and navigation equipment on board. […]

After a couple of days of theoretical classes in Puerto Williams, the long-awaited moment arrived to take all that knowledge out of the classroom and put it into practice at sea.

Ahead, weeks in the open sea […]

The gods were on our side. In the tiny cove we found some sort of spot to anchor and a big piece of ice aground where we could lasso a line to keep the boat safe during the night. Almost everyone went to bed, and while we were eating chocolate and enjoying a bottle of Chilean Pinot noir, Skip left a book open on the empty saloon table: Tomorrow morning, anyone with a certain interest in local history should read this.

Aboard the Vinson of Antarctica, there were three crew members looking after us scientists for over a month. I would like to tell you a little bit about each of them, in the hopes that it reveals to you why getting to know the crew was something I felt most strongly about writing down. […]