Prevented from landing at Cape Evans and Cape Royds
February 12, 1994
4:30pm
The weather hasn't changed, so we're on our way
now to Cape Royds, very close by, to see if the weather improved by the time
we get there and if the iceberg that has been hanging around there has moved
enough to let us land. Shackleton had a hut at Cape Royds that we might be
able to visit.
The captain reported that the winds are from 35 to 40 knots, which is almost
as bad as they wee in the Drake Passage. Thankfully, there's not enough open
water here to generate the waves that we had then...
7:00pm
It's very frustrating that we're having this awful
weather.. We had to skip both Cape
Evans and Cape Royds, and now we're leaving the Ross Island area without
ever having a glimpse of Mt. Erebus... It's disappointing, to say the least.
I was very much looking forward to the sight of Mt. Erebus, after all of the
hype about it in the literature, books, advertising, etc. It's almost as if
nature is thumbing it's nose at us for coming in such a luxurious state,
denying us the sight of the mountain as punishment for not roughing it like
everyone else.
I'm beginning to feel that this will not be my last trip here. I've
discovered a lot of interest in this place, and there are several things that
didn't get done while I was here, like seeing Mt. Erebus or visiting the
pole, climbing Observation Hill, seeing the Ross Ice Shelf, etc. I'm not
complaining: I've had some incredible experiences on this trip, and I've seen
far more than most people in the world. Even most tourists who've been to
Antarctica before haven't reached McMurdo. But it still feels slightly
unfinished, and it may nag me over the years ahead. I've got time... Maybe
I'll come back here someday to work at McMurdo, or maybe just to visit. One
way or another, I think it's likely that this won't be the last I'll ever see
of Ross Island.
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