Inshore from Cap Kidder (Kidder Cape), we clamber up endless slopes of crumbled black rock; Henry, Alistair, Leo, and David pause for a moment of rest in the foggy morning light.

Not all of the rocks are barren: in sheltered places we find vegetation such as this patch of moss bordered by lichens, Acaena, and an occasional tuft of hardy grass.

Later that morning we are given an exciting opportunity to cross from one side of a narrow peninsula to the other, which requires climbing to the central ridge and coming down the other side under the guidance of Peter Crunelle, the Frenchman known as "the Crocodile Dundee of TAAF" after 22 seasons in this remote part of the world.

This is the sort of landscape over which we make our ascent across the ridge between the two bays (Anse du Notothenia and Anse de St. Malo).

Here the group pauses during our climb. An intermittent rain and strong wind remind me of that first afternoon on Possession Island.

Any land where it rains 300 days a year is bound to be a little soggy...

At the top of the ridge, the moss grows in a swampy bog that makes for heavy slogging.

We move on through an otherworldy scene and begin our descent to the other side. The top of the ridge is at 250 meters (820 feet).

An isolated mountain lake gleams in the upper left as we descend across the boulder-strewn landscape.

French hospitality awaits us after our trek, in the form of wine and beer at this cabin near the coast where I (at left) get photographed once again by a fellow traveler (thanks, Charles!).