Photographer Michael George joins an expedition to Antarctica, where shifting ice, unpredictable weather and massive penguin colonies create a voyage unlike any other.
Words by Renée Morrison
A surreal landing on Deception Island, inside the caldera of an active volcano. “The cliffs are towering, the beach is black sand and the water under the surface is warm like a hot spring,” says Michael George.
No journey to Antarctica is the same as the last. “Every trip depends entirely on the wind, weather and what landing are accessible,” says photographer Michael George, fresh from a 12-day Lindblad Expeditions excursion on the National Geographic Endurance. “Even the staff don’t know where the ship is going until the day before.” The Endurance bears the name of the legendary 1912 vessel of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, which carried him on an expedition to achieve the first land crossing of the White Continent, but found itself trapped in the Weddell Sea’s unforgiving pack ice.
Today’s Endurance is far more advanced, purpose-built for polar navigation. The ship’s cutting-edge X-bow hull allows it to glide through thick ice and turbulent seas, reaching remote locations where tabular icebergs drift, glaciers calve thunderously into sheltered bays and penguins nest by the thousands. Guided by naturalists, undersea specialists and photography experts like Michael, small groups pile into inflatable landing craft, called Zodiac boats, to see fur seals, chinstrap penguins and blue-eyed shags up close – just not too close. On board, lectures and the occasional impromptu 4 a.m. wake-up call announcing a sighting of a 40-strong orca pod ensure no one misses a moment.
A lone adult fur seal rests near Portal Point, framed by glacial ice and the Endurance; crew and guests organized a makeshift parade, releasing small Zodiac boats to follow the ship’s freshly carved path through the pack ice. “It was a fun moment, out there in a blizzard,” says Michael. “It’s only possible with this type of modern icebreaker. They’re able to get to places that you previously couldn’t reach on a tourism vessel.”
In the Weddel Sea, a massive tabular iceberg glows in golden light. “It’s probably four storeys tall,” says Michael. “And that sunset lasted from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.”; snowy sheatbills, Antarctica’s only native land birds, can’t touch down on water, so they treat ships like islands and scavenge whatever they can find to survive; chinstrap penguins huddle before diving. “They never jump in alone,” Michael explains. “They wait, wait, wait – and then one makes a move, and suddenly they’re all leaping in. It’s strength in numbers.”
Adventurers hike across Neko Harbor, an inlet that’s home to a large colony of gentoo penguins and noisy glaciers. “Every time I’ve been here, I’ve heard the glaciers calve – they’re that active,” says Michael; a rookery of penguins clusters near an Argentine research station for shelter from the wind; a pair of Adélie penguins guard their chick, tucked into a nest made of stones. “Antarctica is one of the last places on Earth that feels untouched,” says Michael. “The diversity of the wildlife – there’s nothing like it anywhere else.”
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