The South Sandwich Islands are remote, storm-lashed islands.
Captain Cook, searching for the rumored southern continent, discovered the islands in 1775 and when facing "Thick fogs, Snow, storms, Intense Cold and every other thing that can render Navigation dangerous," left of the region for warmer and less challenging regions of the globe.

I knew how Captain Cook felt as we bounced around Montague Island in our Zodiac looking for the elusive lava flow that our tour leader was determined to find on this glacier encrusted island: Fire and Ice ... cool!! After two and a half hours it was clear that we had taken the wrong turn when we left the ship. Our trek had taken us dangerously close to towering icebergs and through choppy seas where we held tight to the Zodiac's ropes. But nowhere could we see the lava flow. We were oblivious to the stir we had caused on the ship when we had lost radio contact but eventually we returned and all was well.

Another day we landed on Candlemas and wandered around the largest Chinstrap colony in Antarctica and at Thule Island we took a multitude of photos of the island from the deck of the ship and were enchanted by the lenticular clouds that swirled around the mountains. But it was Zavadowsky that provided the ulitmate thrill: an unauthorized landing on an island that has had fewer people stand on its shores than men have walked on the moon. And we did it, but not before one of the team leaders had a challenging encounter getting back on the Zodiac. Currents can be tricky.

The South Sandwich Islands are shining jewels in the rough seas between South Georgia and Antarctica seldom visited but well worth the rocky rides.