South of the Antarctic Circle
During the evening the National Geographic Endeavour entered the Bellinghausen Sea and went far to the south to see if we could reach the Antarctic Circle. And so we did. In mid-morning we crossed the imaginary line at 66º33’ S where the sun fails to set on Midsummer Day (December 21 – only two weeks away) and fails to rise in midwinter. Since last August our ocean-wandering ship has crossed the world’s major geographic landmarks: both Polar Circles, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and the Equator. Some of the well-traveled guests now aboard our ship can claim a similar geographic grand slam … a notable achievement, indeed!
After a morning enjoying the beauty of the ice we made a landing on Detaille Island. Here, in 1956, the British Antarctic Survey established Base W to support studies on local geology and meteorology. We have visited a working research base at Palmer Station, and a former base that is now an Antarctic museum at Port Lockroy. Today we visited a time capsule of Antarctic history. Base W is left as it was when the men (for they were all men) departed in March, 1959, never to return. A pair of late-1950s long johns still hangs on a nail to dry next to a coal burning stove, and the larder is still stocked with provisions. (They seem to have had an inordinate fondness for oatmeal, pickles, and split peas.)
We left Detaille Island and headed into the ice, and National Geographic Endeavour showed us what a stout and sturdy ship she is. It is mesmerizing to hang over the bow and watch the ship push aside the floes of soft sea ice that formed last winter. Pieces of older and harder multi-year ice stand up above the first-year ice and are to be avoided, so the men on the bridge worked hard to find the safest route through the ice. Where the ice coverage was the greatest we had a wonderful encounter with a female leopard seal nursing her pup on an ice floe. Leopard seals give birth on the sea ice deep in the Antarctic. They nurse their single pup for only about four weeks, rarely if ever leaving the floe for fear of losing the pup. Judging from its size, this pup will soon be weaned and the female will mate to become pregnant again. On a nearby floe, as if for contrast, lay a Weddell seal.
And was our day over? Oh, no! Our dessert course was accelerated by a report of emperor penguins. We rushed to the deck and saw first one then another of these, the largest of all penguins and the most elusive of the Antarctic species, standing erect and looking regal on the ice. We watched three Adelie penguins interact comically with the emperor, seemingly as curious about the large bird as we were. Both species walked over the ice, and then dropped down to toboggan on their bellies. A nursing leopard seal and emperor penguins on the same day? It was truly an exceptional visit to the land and ice below the Antarctic Circle.
During the evening the National Geographic Endeavour entered the Bellinghausen Sea and went far to the south to see if we could reach the Antarctic Circle. And so we did. In mid-morning we crossed the imaginary line at 66º33’ S where the sun fails to set on Midsummer Day (December 21 – only two weeks away) and fails to rise in midwinter. Since last August our ocean-wandering ship has crossed the world’s major geographic landmarks: both Polar Circles, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and the Equator. Some of the well-traveled guests now aboard our ship can claim a similar geographic grand slam … a notable achievement, indeed!
After a morning enjoying the beauty of the ice we made a landing on Detaille Island. Here, in 1956, the British Antarctic Survey established Base W to support studies on local geology and meteorology. We have visited a working research base at Palmer Station, and a former base that is now an Antarctic museum at Port Lockroy. Today we visited a time capsule of Antarctic history. Base W is left as it was when the men (for they were all men) departed in March, 1959, never to return. A pair of late-1950s long johns still hangs on a nail to dry next to a coal burning stove, and the larder is still stocked with provisions. (They seem to have had an inordinate fondness for oatmeal, pickles, and split peas.)
We left Detaille Island and headed into the ice, and National Geographic Endeavour showed us what a stout and sturdy ship she is. It is mesmerizing to hang over the bow and watch the ship push aside the floes of soft sea ice that formed last winter. Pieces of older and harder multi-year ice stand up above the first-year ice and are to be avoided, so the men on the bridge worked hard to find the safest route through the ice. Where the ice coverage was the greatest we had a wonderful encounter with a female leopard seal nursing her pup on an ice floe. Leopard seals give birth on the sea ice deep in the Antarctic. They nurse their single pup for only about four weeks, rarely if ever leaving the floe for fear of losing the pup. Judging from its size, this pup will soon be weaned and the female will mate to become pregnant again. On a nearby floe, as if for contrast, lay a Weddell seal.
And was our day over? Oh, no! Our dessert course was accelerated by a report of emperor penguins. We rushed to the deck and saw first one then another of these, the largest of all penguins and the most elusive of the Antarctic species, standing erect and looking regal on the ice. We watched three Adelie penguins interact comically with the emperor, seemingly as curious about the large bird as we were. Both species walked over the ice, and then dropped down to toboggan on their bellies. A nursing leopard seal and emperor penguins on the same day? It was truly an exceptional visit to the land and ice below the Antarctic Circle.
