On Saturday, we once again headed out on the sea ice of McMurdo Sound for another trip along the coast. We took the same route as before, but this time we headed beyond the Barne Glacier to Cape Royds, the last point of land accessible by sea ice. Beyond that, the sea ice ends and there is open ocean.

What a spectacular day it was. Warm, sunny and clear. This is Mt. Erebus. It is Antarctica's only active volcano, and one of only three in the world that has a molten lake of lava in the crater. Mt. Erebus is the focal point of Ross Island, the Island that sits just off the coast of Antarctica and it inhabited by McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base. It is 12,300 feet tall. Just visible (barely) on the right side of the summit, is a fuzzy bit of steam coming from the crater.

We also took a different vehicle...this time a Pisten Bully. The track length on this vehicle ensures safe passage over all the cracks in the ice we may come across this time of year.





Notice Antz is hat and glove-free. Truly a wonderful summer day! We stayed out in the eternal summer sun for 12 hours.

Antz set up a camera to take a time-lapse of Mt. Erebus. This camera would run continuously for about 10 hours with an additional external 12-volt battery pack (not shown).



Along the way we happened upon lots of Weddel seals. This one right by the road. Seals are not too disturbed by human presence, they are more bothered by the sound of the Pisten Bully engines. Most of the time they will open their eyes to look at you, then go right on snoozing. We are instructed to keep our distance and "if the animal reacts to your presence, you are too close."

This young seal had a beautiful glossy spotted coat that shimmered in the sun and gave us a big seal "yawp" to say hello, then continued his (or her) seal siesta.



Seals also some pretty weird sounds. One researcher described it as sounding very, "Pink Floyd." That is a great description. The sounds are quite inorganic, ranging from radio-like squeals and whines, to popping and booming sounds that come deep within their bodies. Of course they also "yawp" like big fat dogs.

More seals camped out by a old iceberg trapped in the sea ice.



Where there are seals, there is bound to be a hole in the ice. Nearby, one determined seal was trying to come up onto the ice, only to slip back in after repeated attempts. Ice is slippery, even to seals.



To seals, holes also mean being able to breathe, so they must keep these openings clear of ice. They have special teeth that they use to scrape the ice from underneath to keep the holes open.

Heading onward, we passed the Barne Glacier again, then further north arrived at Cape Royds. We parked the Pisten Bully in a small protected cove of ice, then walked up onto the land. We had to cross a few tidal cracks; fissures caused by the sea ice bumping up against the land. They were narrow enough to hop across thankfully. We use our ice axes to clear away the snow on top so we can see the crack itself.

Cape Royds is the site where Sir Ernest Shackleton built his exploration hut around the turn of the century. It is a living museum. Many of the items the party left there are still there. Conservationists are working to keep the hut and it's contents from decaying to oblivion. They strive to conserve the artifacts without making them look too new.



A permit is required to go near and into the hut and since we didn't have one, we took our photos from a distance.



Shackleton's Hut with Mt. Erebus in the background.

Cape Royds is basically an old lava flow from Mt. Erebus. There are some unusual rock scapes here, lots of round rocks placed evenly together, which is probably why the Adelie Penguins find it such a desirable spot to nest. Plus it is close to open water, so they can go fishing.

If I didn't know better, I'd think this was the moon.



Skuas (say "Skoo-ahs) perched in and amongst the rocks. They look like a gull, but larger -- about the size of a housecat. They wait for an opportunity to steal a penguin egg for lunch.



The Adelie Penguin rookery.



The Adelies have laid their eggs and are keeping them warm. The pairs take turns protecting the egg and traveling out to the open ocean to fish. Notice the pebbles they have placed around their nests. These pebbles are in high demand and Adelies will go to great lengths to acquire them (even stealing - gasp!)



A few Adelies make their way across the ice to the ocean. They are surprisingly nimble at crossing ice, hopping over cracks and obstacles.



This photo was taken about 11pm -- still bright daylight outside as you can see. We headed back to town then and arrived back at 1:30am. By 2:30, after refueling the Pisten Bully and unloading all our gear, we were sound asleep.

Sunday we were pretty tired and didn't do much of anything.