Hell-of-an-Island: 4 1/2 months stay and 1250km to safety.

I’ve read the stories of Shackleton (the book Shackleton by Roland Huntford is a must read). Now I am seeing and almost touched Elephant island. It is as the survivors coined its nick name “hell-of-an-island” , how anyone could survive a week let alone 4 1/2 months as the crew of the ill fated Endurance that got crushed in the Weddell sea is astonishing.

Elephant island is stuck out on the end of the chain of islands on the north east of the tip of the Antarctic peninsula and it’s 1250 km as the crow flies to South Georgia. No satellite, no phone, no motor, no radio and Shackleton with 5 others heads off in an open lifeboat for 16 days to get rescue. Impressive when you look at the map and think about the chances of doing that – rather like getting a bulls eye on the dartboard blindfolded whilst someone is holding it and swinging it in circles.

We arrived on a windy and snowing day, which added a lot to the dramatic setting. Luckily the wind abated, we anchored in a sheltered bay so all the passengers could get out in the Zodiacs or in my case kayak for a close up look.

Kayaking gave us a very personal impression of how it would be to be landing on the rocks with the surf frolicking without care as you are mercilessly pummeled onto the shore. A memorial sculpture was planted on the rocks to symbolize the Endurance crew’s epic story of survival.

Elephant island does not offer anything in the way of shelter, lucky there was a rocky shore to land on. Most of it is glaciated cliffs.

Paddling out to that bit of rock on the frozen island, seeing a marker for Shackleton and his men was a very special moment for me. That huge historical moment in time of endurance and tenacity and prevalence was brought to life with this excursion.

It was quite a long days voyage to the island and we were warned to take some sea sick tablets as we were in open water. This time I tried the Nausicalm and found them to work without the drowsy effects of Phenergan. Though the journey was long there was plenty to keep us occupied with historical lectures from Steve and some whale spotting.

Thar she blows !

What a day, what can I say. Emotions are high, it is now goodbye and we motor off through the brash ice to cover that 1250km journey over the next two days.

For the stories of Shackleton and Elephant Island, the Internet has a wealth of information. For example see Wikipedia, Elephant Island and Youtube eg.