Port Lockroy
A quintessential Antarctic day. Jagged peaks of rock and ice tear into a brilliant blue sky. An historic base echoes with the lives of the hardy men who came to the southern continent to unlock the secrets of the upper atmosphere. Penguins and seals lounge on ice floes or busily prepare for their nesting season, and a modern base is busy with the day-to-day work of men and women dedicated to learning ever more about the biological riches of the land and seas at the bottom of the world.
This morning Captain Skog made our visit to the British heritage base at Port Lockroy even more memorable by “garaging” the Endeavour into the fast ice (sea ice firmly frozen to the shore), which still filled most of the inner bay. This allowed us to disembark by the gangway and enjoy a short but very polar hike across the ice to the little base. Gentoo penguins clustered around the wooden buildings, patiently waiting for the melting snows to expose their nesting sites. While the guests were ashore I dove into the icy water among the penguins, delighted to have a chance to record, and later share, their remarkable speed and grace in the element which is their true home.
An afternoon visit to Palmer Station gave us all a look into the modern world of Antarctic science as we toured their facilities and saw for ourselves some of the weird and wonderful marine creatures in their aquaria. Gigantic tabular icebergs, fractured into fluted towers and twisting pinnacles, filled the harbor and beckoned us out for a bit of exploration by Zodiac, with a stop along the way to visit an Adelie penguin rookery in the company of the biologists who study these most comical of the penguins.
Back on board the Endeavour, we relaxed with drinks and conversation, marveling at how one day could hold so much, while our ship made way for the South Shetland Islands and further adventures on the morrow.
A quintessential Antarctic day. Jagged peaks of rock and ice tear into a brilliant blue sky. An historic base echoes with the lives of the hardy men who came to the southern continent to unlock the secrets of the upper atmosphere. Penguins and seals lounge on ice floes or busily prepare for their nesting season, and a modern base is busy with the day-to-day work of men and women dedicated to learning ever more about the biological riches of the land and seas at the bottom of the world.
This morning Captain Skog made our visit to the British heritage base at Port Lockroy even more memorable by “garaging” the Endeavour into the fast ice (sea ice firmly frozen to the shore), which still filled most of the inner bay. This allowed us to disembark by the gangway and enjoy a short but very polar hike across the ice to the little base. Gentoo penguins clustered around the wooden buildings, patiently waiting for the melting snows to expose their nesting sites. While the guests were ashore I dove into the icy water among the penguins, delighted to have a chance to record, and later share, their remarkable speed and grace in the element which is their true home.
An afternoon visit to Palmer Station gave us all a look into the modern world of Antarctic science as we toured their facilities and saw for ourselves some of the weird and wonderful marine creatures in their aquaria. Gigantic tabular icebergs, fractured into fluted towers and twisting pinnacles, filled the harbor and beckoned us out for a bit of exploration by Zodiac, with a stop along the way to visit an Adelie penguin rookery in the company of the biologists who study these most comical of the penguins.
Back on board the Endeavour, we relaxed with drinks and conversation, marveling at how one day could hold so much, while our ship made way for the South Shetland Islands and further adventures on the morrow.
