The winter hut of Ernest Shackleton at Cape Royds with the volcano Mt. Erebus on Ross Island in the background. The mountain is puffing steam all the time. It last erupted about 20 years ago.

Before we went to the hut, we visited a nearby rookery for the Adelie penguins.

Adelie penguins on the nest. These are all males keeping the eggs warm and protected while the females walked 35 miles (each way) to the open sea to get dinner.

It all seems so easy, except that the very large predator, the skua, is ready, eager, and willing to grab any unguarded eggs...........

................in moments the potential new Adelie penguin is no more.

The hut has been carefully restored to look like it did 100 years when Shackleton and his small group spent the winter here in 4 months of darkness and -40 degree temperatures.

no shortage of candles

The stove used coal. The insulation in the walls was powdered cork

This device uses calcium carbide and water to generate acetylene for lighting.

A sunburned Bob in the hut

a 30 minute helicopter ride past the volcano and back to the ice-bound ship in the Ross Sea.