Detaille Island was the furthest south that we landed. I wrote a little about it during the teaser blogs , and I will do another post inside Base W next week. Today I wanted to focus on the wild white spaces outside. 

It was a perfect day, the skies brilliant blue and the sun blinding. We had crossed the Antarctic circle earlier that morning, and had been slowly navigating through sea ice, hearing massive crunches as the ship ploughed through stray chunks.

Detaille Island was surrounded by ice, but we managed to weave a path through to land. Dotted among the ice-floes were Adelie penguins, Crabeater seals, and every now and then a plume would jet into the sky where Minke and Humpback whales surfaced to breathe.

We rumbled over in the little zodiacs to land on the icebound rocky shore of Detaille Island, surrounded by towering icebergs. The tiny island is dwarfed by the glaciers and mountains that surround the Lallemand Fjord, and feels very exposed.

Detaille Island is home to a few colonies of Antarctic Shags and Adelie Penguins. The ever present scavengers, Skuas and Kelp Gulls, keep an eye out for unattended eggs and chicks, and swoop down them as opportunities arise. 

Base W is a long wooden shack that was the most southerly or the British scientific bases during the International Geophysical Year (IGY). It looks comfortable enough on a day like this, but I can’t even imagine how small and remote it must have felt during the long dark winters. Next week we’ll take a look inside.

Another panorama! It’s a little messy, but it gives you an idea of the space and scale. Click for a bigger size!