Day 1 of my voyage to the #Antarctic Peninsula on the #tallship #BarkEuropa: departing from #Ushuaia and sailing east along the Beagle Channel.
#BusmansHoliday
Days 2-4 of my voyage to the #Antarctic Peninsula on the #tallship #BarkEuropa: crossing #DrakePassage until we sighted Smith Island, South Shetland Islands. As expected, there were some rough seas, but I didn't feel well enough to take photos in the worst conditions.
#BusmansHoliday
Day 5 of my voyage to the #Antarctic Peninsula on the #tallship #BarkEuropa: approaching Neptune's Bellows, the narrow entrance to the 7 km wide flooded volcanic caldera of Deception Island, South Shetland Islands.
#BusmansHoliday
Day 5 (continued) of my voyage to the #Antarctic Peninsula on the #tallship #BarkEuropa: first landing, at Telefon Bay, Deception Island, South Shetland Islands. From the landing site we walked to the summit of Cross Hill and around the phreatic eruption crater it stands on one side of.
#BusmansHoliday
Day 5 (continued) of my voyage to the #Antarctic Peninsula on the #tallship #BarkEuropa: first close encounters with some of the local inhabitants at Telefon Bay, Deception Island, South Shetland Islands.
#BusmansHoliday
Day 5 (continued) of my voyage to the #Antarctic Peninsula on the #tallship #BarkEuropa: second landing, at Whalers' Bay, Deception Island, South Shetland Islands. From the landing site we walked up a valley to a depression in the caldera rim from which Nathaniel B Palmer first sighted the mainland of the Antarctic Peninsula in 1820.
#BusmansHoliday
Decaying remains of the old whaling station at Whalers' Bay, Deception Island, including a derelict whalers' hut that was used as the main accommodation building by British researchers stationed here between 1944 and 1969. Under an international agreement Deception Island is designated as an Antarctic Specially Managed Area, but there is little evidence of any management. The decaying remains of the station here are neither being conserved nor removed.
Wildlife encountered during our landing at Whalers' Bay, Deception Island.
Day 6 of my voyage to the #Antarctic Peninsula on the #tallship #BarkEuropa: a close approach to Half Moon Island in McFarlane Strait, South Shetland Islands, but strong winds precluded a landing. Subsequently we approached close to Edinburgh Hill on Livingston Island, a volcanic plug exhibiting spectacular columnar jointing.
#BusmansHoliday
@PoLaRobs wow - never heard of, or seen pix of Edinburgh Hill before 🀩🀩🀩
@FaithfullJohn
I haven't managed to find any published radio metric age on it yet, but it is mapped as being Quaternary, in which case it is part of the alkaline rift volcanic province that includes Deception Island.
It's appearance seems to have a lot in common with Staffa, although I've never been there.

@PoLaRobs I should have heard of Edinburgh Hill - there are at least three specimens from there in the Hunterian museum collections in Glasgow, which I spent 30 years curating!

https://www.gla.ac.uk/collections/#/results?q=South+shetland&gn=All+Fields

These were collected by Glasgow geologist David Ferguson, who made a lot of trips to the Antarctic, sponsored by Christian Salvasen Ltd before WW1. He made the 1st geological map of South Georgia too. More here if you're interested: https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/97823/

His notebooks are aslo in Glasgow.

University of Glasgow Collections

University of Glasgow Collections

@FaithfullJohn
That knowledge might come in handy. There's a group of old BAS geologists (from even before I started) who have added me to their email list. Some of them worked on South Georgia. Might help my cred to have some gems of historical knowledge if I go to any of their gatherings πŸ˜€