Sun
23 Feb
2020

The Bal­le­ny Islands are a small, wild, very remo­te archi­pe­la­go direct­ly on the south polar cir­cle, to the nor­thwest of the Ross Sea. You have to be lucky to get clo­se to them.

We were lucky. Not from the begin­ning – Stur­ge Island didn’t real­ly want us – but at Sabri­na Islands, near the south end of Buck­le Island, we all got off and into the boats. A landing is hard­ly ever available here, lar­ge­ly made impos­si­ble by sea con­di­ti­ons, the steep ter­rain and legis­la­ti­on. But that doesn’t mat­ter. You get pret­ty clo­se in the Zodiacs. Stun­ning, very wild sce­n­ery and a lot of ice. And a lot of wild­life. Chin­strap pen­gu­ins, as one might suspect. And, unex­pec­ted­ly, a lonely King pen­gu­in.

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.