At 0600am, National Geographic Explorer pulled into Devil Island in the James Ross group of Islands. The weather was slightly gnarly as the icy winds whipped across the sea and onto the bay.
Our guests were excited at the chance to experience the Antarctic weather conditions as they made their way to shore. Devil Island is so named after the two peaks on each side of this 2-kilometre-long island separated by a low-lying valley creating a horned effect. Guests were given the options of the long hike up to the eastern horn, or the medium walk to the Adele penguin colony on the North side of the island.
During lunch, Captain Yuri and Expedition leader Jonathan plotted the charts and searched the horizon of the James Ross Island area looking for fast ice. At around 1400, we spotted fields of fast ice across the bow of our ship, much to our delight. The rest of the afternoon was spent at sea making headway toward our next destination.
