Diary of a Journey under the World – Part 7 – Kayaking along King George Ice Shelf

David travelled aboard the magnificent Le Commandant Charcot by PONANT Cruises earlier this year on a half circumnavigation trip from Ushuaia, Argentina to New Zealand and what follows are his notes and highlights of a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica in 2023.

David Heydon has been many things, nominated for Australian of the Year in 2016, the 2012 recipient of the Moore Medal, and a deep seabed mining pioneer. Most days David would be one of the expert naturalist guides aboard a ship, but today he is a guest on the Le Commandant Charcot. 

David is an expedition cruising veteran, one who is uniquely specialized in the Polar. His extensive geological knowledge provides welcome insight into these regions’ many fjords and glaciers. 

Day 10

David has arrived at the George VI Ice Shelf, an unbelievably vast span of ice. It is approximately 450km long, 20km wide, and up to 600m thick in the centre. 

Ice shelves are different from glaciers, instead of being formed in mountain valleys and therefore being restricted in size to the limited space in those valleys, they are instead formed by massive sheets of ice on land being pushed out by newly forming ice and snow. 

This leaves a huge sheet of ice on the surface of the ocean that is still connected to the mainland ice. As these ice shelves break apart they leave enormous tabular icebergs, characterised by their steep sides and flat tops. 

The Expedition team has to deploy a helicopter to scout for a location with thinner ice to land, as the ice can be far too steep to surmount.

The initial plan was to find a thin spot for the ship to push into the ice, breaking into the ice shelf until it was surrounded, making disembarking and landing easier. 

However, there was far too much wildlife using these thinner sections, as they also act as an easy way for them to haul out into the ocean.

So instead, the Expedition team decided to send out the Zodiacs, hauling them up onto the thin ice, where they could then launch kayaks out.

David and Jan spent the late evening hours (6pm – 8pm) kayaking along the shelf.

continued in Part 8 coming soon…