Whales, Penguins and Zodiacs at Elephant Island Sunday January 1, 2012

Communication via the website has been fantastic - up to four updates a day. It's great for people like me (ie a parent of an expeditioner!) to keep abreast of what my child is doing. I've been trying to really live in the moment and imagine what Drew is experiencing but it's very surreal and difficult to comprehend or take in that he is at the bottom of the world! I read  a little today about Ernest Shackleton's incredible journey to save his men, stranded by pack ice for four months; he managed to save them. I know that Drew's trip will be over too quickly so I'm trying to recognise it's significance while he's out there.

Sunday, January 1, 2012
http://www.studentsonice.com/antarctic2011/day6.html
Expedition Update - 8:30am EST

Happy New Year! Best wishes from Students on Ice and theAntarctic Youth Expedition 2011 Expedition Team!

Happy New Year to everyone from the Drake Passage!! We had a great nightlast night of 2011! The students really rallied and put on a great New Years celebration of skits and songs, poems and stories. It was a lot of fun. Emily and Laurissa MCed the evening, and there were also songs and presentations by David Fletcher, Tony Dekker, and Tim Straka. The Captain joined us for a toast just before New Years, and Mike Beedell and Garry Donaldson dressed up as Old Man Time and the New Years Baby. Out with the old and in with the new.

We all agreed that 2012 is going to be a great year, and one of positive change for all of us and the Planet. Certainly we could not ask for a better way to start 2012, then with this expedition. Particularly, later this afternoon we expect to arrive to Elephant Island! This morning David Fletcher will tell the story of Ernest Shackleton´s Trans-Antarctic Expedition on the ship Endurance, and then we will literally see with our own two eyes where part of this incredible true story unfolded. Sea conditions are better today, and everyone is looking and feeling much better. In about one hour we will pass 60 degrees south, officially entering the Antarctic!

In the expedition spirit, Geoff, Expedition Leader

Expedition Update - 10:30am EST

Earlier this morning we posted an update from Geoff and we just heard from the ship about the plan for the Education Program. Here is a New Year's note from the ship and today's schedule below:

Happy New Year!!! Yesterday we continued our southward journey braving what the Drake Passage offered us and engaging in presentations by Santiago (Sea Birds), Olle (Who are they? How do they fit in? - Questions & Answers about the ecology of Antarctica), Grant (The Global and Southern Ocean - Oceanography at the bottom of the World), and Sonja (Antarctic Marine Mammals).

We also kicked off our ship-based workshop program with a series of workshops that will repeat themselves again today and met in our Pods for the second time. At 5:15pm we crossed the Antarctic Convergence! The sun was shining all day and many of us spotted Wandering, Royal and Black-browed Albatross, Skuas, and Giant, Wilson's Storm and Pintado Petrels. During our evening program we enjoyed ringing in 2012 with a celebration that included Captain Jorge, Father Time and the New Year's Baby!

Our day looks like this:

0730 - Yoga (Clare & Danièle)

0800 - Wake-Up!

0830 - Breakfast

0930 - Presentation: Shackleton (David)

1030 - Workshops:
1. TED talk creation & tips for presentations back home (Elin & Selin)

2. How to create a powerful photo story (Mike)

3. Musicology (Tony)

4. Visual Art (Pablo)

5. Wildlife Surveys (Garry, Santiago & Sonja)

6. The Global Positioning System (Jeff & Grant)

7. On the bridge: Ship Navigation (David)

1200 - Presentation: The Art of Seeing (Mike)

1300 - Lunch

1430 - Presentations:

1. IAATO & Zodiac Safety Briefings (Geoff)

2. Dressing properly for the Antarctic (Paulie, Captain Preparo & Special Guests)

1600 - Snack

1630 - Getting outside to the observation decks!

1730 - Arrival to Point Wild and Elephant Island. Zodiac cruise and potential first landing of the expedition!

2000 - Dinner
2100 - Evening Recap & Briefing

Expedition Update - 4:00pm EST

We just received the following message from expedition leader, Geoff:

We have just arrived at Elephant Island!!! Two humpback whales greeted our arrival. Lots of Chinstrap penguins swimming around the ship. We are proceeding slowing toward Point Wild where we hope to get out in the Zodiacs if conditions allow. Everyone is ready and excited!

Geoff

Expedition Update -10:00pm EST

The team just finished an invigorating Zodiac cruise at Point Wild, Elephant Island. There was a good swell, wind and snow, but it was a good taste of the elements, and they got everyone out to see the place where Sir Ernest Shackleton´s men lived for 4 months in 1915 during their expedition on the Endurance. These men were stranded at the desolate Point Wild while Shackleton and others sailed across the Drake Passage in essentially what was a converted life boat. Upon landing at South Georgia, Shackleton and his men hiked and mountaineered their way across mountains and icy cravasses to search for help in the permanent whaling camps on the other side of the island. He then eventually returned to Point Wild to rescue his men who had now been there for 4 months. If you would like to learn more about this story and the heroic courage and perseverance of Shackleton's men, pick up a copy of ´Endurance´ by Alfred Lansing or 'South' by Ernest Shackleton.

During the Zodiac cruise, the group saw and smelled many Chinstrap penguins. They were also able to hear and watch the glacier nearby calving into the ocean, creating huge cracks and rumbles in the process. Now all are back on the ship and memories of any seasickness are sliding away with the excitement of a landing at such an important historic site.

Tonight the team will enjoy a later dinner and an evening recap and briefing to reflect and consider their day. Then it's anchor up to head south to the Weddell Sea for tomorrow morning and into iceberg country.

Overnight, they will sail to Heroina Island, a part of the Danger Island chain, where they expect to see even more penguins and will have a chance to set foot on land!

Everyone is smiling. Stay tuned, family, friends and supporters at home...the expedition is just getting started!