Booth Island and Port Lockroy
After crossing the Antarctic Circle late last night, the Endeavour turned her bow to the north and by this morning we were at anchor off Booth Island. Heavy snow was falling as we went ashore and hiked up the slopes, past fur seals and gentoo penguin colonies to view the cove where Charcot, the ‘Polar gentleman,’ overwintered with his ship the Francais during his first expedition in 1903-1905. There is little remaining of his expedition to see today, with the exception of a small rock-walled shelter which was used as the site of magnetic observations.
During lunch the ship relocated to the north, through the Lemaire Channel, into the Neumayer Channel before arriving at Port Lockroy. This is the site of a former British base, established in 1944 and occupied until 1962. In 1996 the site was established as a historic site and today the base is preserved as a museum with a gift shop and post office by the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust. In addition to the museum visit, we had the opportunity to visit a nearby gentoo penguin and blue-eyed shag colony at Jougla Point and, for the more active, kayaks were launched (pictured) for exploring the coves and sea ice.
The Port Lockroy museum is run by three volunteers, who came on board the Endeavour in the evening to explain their work on the museum and joined us for dinner. Late in the evening we slipped back into the Neumayer Channel and headed north again, with snow still falling steadily.
After crossing the Antarctic Circle late last night, the Endeavour turned her bow to the north and by this morning we were at anchor off Booth Island. Heavy snow was falling as we went ashore and hiked up the slopes, past fur seals and gentoo penguin colonies to view the cove where Charcot, the ‘Polar gentleman,’ overwintered with his ship the Francais during his first expedition in 1903-1905. There is little remaining of his expedition to see today, with the exception of a small rock-walled shelter which was used as the site of magnetic observations.
During lunch the ship relocated to the north, through the Lemaire Channel, into the Neumayer Channel before arriving at Port Lockroy. This is the site of a former British base, established in 1944 and occupied until 1962. In 1996 the site was established as a historic site and today the base is preserved as a museum with a gift shop and post office by the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust. In addition to the museum visit, we had the opportunity to visit a nearby gentoo penguin and blue-eyed shag colony at Jougla Point and, for the more active, kayaks were launched (pictured) for exploring the coves and sea ice.
The Port Lockroy museum is run by three volunteers, who came on board the Endeavour in the evening to explain their work on the museum and joined us for dinner. Late in the evening we slipped back into the Neumayer Channel and headed north again, with snow still falling steadily.
