Today is March 3, 2009. We are going to try to land on Nightingale and Inaccessible Island which, like Tristan da Cuhna, are volcanic islands in the middle of the Southern Atlantic Ocean. We are probably only going to do a zodiac cruise around Inaccessible (because it is inaccessible!). I will just have to wait and see.
So, I woke up at 7:00 for breakfast and then headed to Nightingale Island. There was a big hike up to the top of a volcanic hill. Along the pathway there were baby albatross sitting in their nests. Some of the nests are right in the way of the path, so I had to walk around them while they clicked their beaks at me in displeasure. When going around the nests, I had to push though the tall tussock grass – in most places on our trip the tussock grass has been trampled by all the Antarctic Fur and Elephant seals, so it was good to see the healthy grass growing here (it grows way taller than my Dad’s head).
Before I reached the top of the hill. The doctor, named Jack, stopped us because he thought that we would take a long time coming back down. We had to turn around right before we reached the top of the volcano – we still had a great view, though.
After the hike my dad went back to the boat, and I went to work driving one of the zodiacs, shuttling people from the landing site back to the boat. I also did a training course where I practiced driving into tight coves and backing up and turning around, driving around and through thick seaweed, and how to time driving through big swells and breaking waves – it was a lot of fun! I had had a busy morning and was ready for a rest, so I had a quick lunch and then stayed in my cabin until the boat reached Inaccessible Island. The weather, and more important the wave heights, were perfect for a landing there.
Our trip leader decided to land at Inaccessible. I guess the island is accessible after all. The people call the island Inaccessible because on all sides of the island there are sheer cliffs. There is only one tiny beach there, and the weather and waves are almost always too bad to land there. While on the island, we saw lots of Rockhopper penguins, so now we’ve seen 7 different species of penguins on this expedition – Magellanic in Argentina; Adelie, Chinstrap and Gentoo on the Antarctic Peninsula; King and Macaroni in South Georgia; and now Rockhoppers in the Tristan da Cahuna Island group. Also, when we get to South Africa, we may see some African penguins, bringing our total to 8.
After the landing we went on a zodiac drive. Pete drove this time. We went to go see a waterfall on another spot on the island. It was cool to see the waterfall because it fell for hundreds of feet down the sheer cliff and right onto the rocky beach.
Once we got back on board we had tea. It was special tea though, because it was served on the Aft deck. It was nice and sunny out that day. There was a gentle breeze. I was out there for a while.
Next, I went up to the library to play some cards with some friends. We played all the way until dinner. I had dinner with them since my dad wasn’t hungry for a big meal, and then I played more cards until it was 11:00. I went to bed at 11:30. I read for a while once I got back in my cabin. I had a great day.
Bye for now,
Emily
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