Blue Glaciers - Shingle Cove, South Orkney Islands

This spectacular color represents extremely old ice comprising these glaciers

Sunday, November 12 -  Shingle Cove, South Orkney Islands

Naturalist Tiphanie May giving us this mornings glacier tour

In the morning, we had an excursion around Shingle Cove.  We boarded our Zodiacs around 9:30 and were piloted by naturalist Tiphanie May.  Before heading to visit the Adelie penguin colony on the shore, we toured the glaciers that line the cove on the east side.  This is the closest we’ve been to the glaciers, and they were spectacular.  They’re showing their age, as they are a beautiful blue color, indicating older ice that had been compacted over decades/centuries.  And there were many splits and crevasses and pinnacles and arches along the face, where the glaciers tumble into the sea.  All the photos are natural colors, without filters or enhanced saturation.

Heading out on our Zodiacs in Shingle Cover

The penguin colony is behind the Endurance, just in front of the bow of the ship on this photo

But first, let's get up close and personal with those amazing glaciers

A thick ice cap covers most of this island, origin of many of the glaciers

Interestingly shaped iceberg - a muffin top?

Our daily briefing told us a little more about the South Orkneys: “The South Orkney Islands make up a lonely and isolated volcanic archipelago located along the southern boundary of the Scotia Arc. The islands were named for the Orkney Islands in Scotland which are located at approximately the same latitude north as these islands are south (about 60° latitude). They were discovered independently on the same day (December 6, 1821) by two sealers...George Powell (British) and Nathaniel Palmer (American). However, the islands were not properly surveyed until the Scottish Expedition of 1903 led by William Bruce aboard the SCOTIA. Bruce over-wintered at Laurie Island and established a meteorological station called Arkady. At this time, the British government was not interested in maintaining the base, so when Bruce left the site it was turned over to the Argentines.

"They renamed it Orcadas Station and it is now the oldest permanently manned base in the Antarctic region. The British re-established a presence here in 1947 with a base on Signy Island in order to study freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, but since 1997 it is only manned in the summer. Although both Britain and Argentina claim the South Orkneys, the Antarctic Treaty has frozen all sovereignty issues and the islands are open to use by any signatory of the treaty. We should arrive off Coronation Island in the South Orkney Group, during breakfast. This island was given its name by Powell because he discovered it during the year of the coronation of King George IV.”

The ice becomes blue under extreme pressure - all the air bubbles are squeezed out

Loving those glaciers - and now, it's off to see some penguins!