The increasing winds on the morning of the 21st meant that out first major plan change occurred when we shifted to Neko Harbour for the afternoons shore activities. Neko provides a long gentle rise to a high view point over the ocean below. Plancius started to look like a small toy ship and the passengers on the beach more like Penguins themselves as we got higher and higher.
The mountaineering team had listened to their briefings well and were moving like professionals across and up the glacier – keeping the rope just tight enough to hold a crevasse fall if one occurred. After reaching our high point some 350m above sea level and with slightly sore legs, we began to head back down to the shore. The enormous glacier to our right with wide open crevasses provided a dramatic backdrop to the images we took.
Our guides choose a safe route for us to get back to the lookout over the glacier where after a short rest we were able to take off the rope and our snowshoes and make faster time back down to the shore, where true to form the Mountaineers were the last to get back to Plancius (Mountaineers are also the first passenger team to get off Plancius )
