Shetland Islands (Iceaxe days 5 and 6)

With the next weather system on its way, our ship headed north to shelter in the South Shetland Islands. We woke bearing in to Admiralty Bay on King George Island, and got the zodiacs out to rope up on a beach that was untainted by a single piece of plastic. Whilst it was sunny, the wind soon started to pick up, which made for extremely challenging transitions up high. Marie-Laure was nearly blown to the Falklands. But the snow was terrific and we had another run before back to the boat in what were, by now, pretty challenging conditions.

Our last ski day in Half Moon Bay on Livingstone Island was cancelled as the weather had really come in, and getting the zodiacs out was impossible. We'd had such an amazing run of weather though that there were no bad feelings.

Captain Yuli also felt that if we slipped out early with the stabilisers then we could weather the last of this first storm and make it north across the Drake in time to avoid an even more ferocious system arriving from the northwest. We still managed to witness a Beaufort 9 with winds at 100 knots and 5m swell - enough to drag Andy MacLean and Ode Siivonen up top for some deck surfing.

Cape Horn itself was a bit of a disappointment after the white continent, but it was nice to be back amongst trees.

On the way home we were treated to a spectacular sunset on Aconcagua and the Andes before dropping down in to Santiago for more street fires and tear-gas.

But at least the jacarandas were out, a fitting end to an amazing adventure!

Paradise Bay and Ronge Island (Iceaxe Day 4)

We woke to yet another bluebird day in Paradise Bay and, with a slight breeze and likely heavy snowpack freeze, decided to go sea kayaking in the morning as it was our last chance. We saw a lost emperor penguin which is unusual this far south. The Ocean Adventurer then cruised during lunch up the beautiful Errera Channel through thick brash ice to spend the afternoon climbing Ronge Island, with magnificent views from the summit of Mt Tennant at nearly 700m.

Often it's more about the climb than the descent, and this was no exception - breakable crust is even more a telemarking nightmare with apartment-block-sized crevasses to fall in to if you stuff up. The suns rays are still feeble this far south despite the day, and the sweet-spot for good corn seemed to fall within a couple of hours in the late afternoon. But the penguin rookeries at the end of the run always made it worthwhile. The annual Antarctica White Night dress up party was fun, especially once out on open water with a moving dance floor. Marie-Laure's light-suit was a hit!