HALFMOON ISLAND BEAUTY

Two weeks in Antarctica. All ice and snow, and mountains and icebergs and glaciers and wildlife. No big stores, no restaurants or coffee shops, no beachside walkways, no hotels, and no movie theatres. For two weeks the only colours outside of the ship are white, shades of blue, grey, brown and black. Such isolation and limited colour palette could cause one to experience boredom and a feeling of never ending sameness. 

But such is not the case. Around every corner there is a new and spectacular sight. Every zodiak landing has its own unique quality. And to land the zodiaks you must travel over open water, or wend your way through chunks of pack ice or spectacular icebergs. And often upon the icebergs are resting seals or penguins. Sometimes the air is calm and restful, at other times the wind whips up to a point where it is challenging to even stand. The atmosphere is regularly punctuated with loud cannon-shot sounds of glaciers moving under pressure, and giant chunks of ice falling from them into the sea (this process is called calving). Out on the water one can see seals swimming and levitating onto icebergs, whales surfacing and diving in search of food, and penguins 'dolphining' their way in and out of the water in search of food. There is no opportunity for being bored in this imposing, spectacular place. 

Half Moon Island is a small island within a group of islands called the Shetlands. It is still a part of Antarctica but very different to many other Antarctic places. The island is exactly as named; it is shaped like a half moon. And when you climb the rise of the hill and you look west you can see the vast icefield and glacier that is Livingstone Island. 

There is much to see here. The island is constituted of boulder strewn beaches, sheer rocky pinnacles, and a relatively flat saddle-like area between the zodiak landing site and the infrequently used Argentinian Camera Station in the distance. And it is here that one is finally able to see the chinstrap penguins. They are just as cute and interesting as the Gentoo and Adelie penguins previously observed further south on the Antarctic Peninsula. To identify this penguin one looks for a black line across its neck below the beak; this is the 'chinstrap' . The beach was littered with Antarctic fur seals who were either sleeping or getting up to 'seal antics'. The seals were adolescent males who were showing off their prowess by roaring and fighting with other seals. Much like a bunch of teenage boys would do. 

The remains of an old wooden boat lie upon the beach, having been left there years ago from a tourist ship. It used to be that tourists were transported to shore, not in zodiaks, but in rather precarious looking wooden boats. 

Halfmoon Island is a stark and rugged place with its sheer pinnacles, steep slopes, and rocky flat areas. There is no colour except for the black of the rocks and the penguins, the white of the snow of the penguins, and the deep brown of the seals. And all this is surrounded by a choppy ocean that smacks waves onto the shore in every direction.