Petermann Island & Vernadsky Antarctic Station
Antarctica is unique in many ways, and every day certainly has something special to offer. Close encounters of wildlife are always, for any visitor, a highlight. The rule is not to be any closer than 5 meters but the wildlife cannot read nor write and therefore do not know these rules, and many times they will approach you very closely.
Today as we made our outing at Vernadsky station, offering a landing at the polar base as well as Zodiac cruises and kayaking, we saw many friendly south polar skuas. One even tried to land on the head of the driver in a Zodiac but found the box at the bow of the Zodiac more stable. A very close encounter indeed and sometimes you have to ask; who is watching who?
South polar skuas are one of the few bird species who see both hemispheres on a regular basis, as they migrate north during winter and some even go as far as the Arctic during our summer.
Vernadsky polar station is based on the Argentine Island below the Lemaire Channel. Its name dates back to the French explorer who did two expeditions along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. After his first voyage with the ship “Le Français” he sold it as he arrived back to Buenos Aires in 1905. The Argentine gave Charcot a lot of support on his next expedition down south, 1907 -09, with the ship “Pourquoi pas?” and he named the island to show his gratitude to them.
The British station was established much later, in 1937, as it was used for a wintering by the British Grahamland expedition. The house still stands and is named after British geologist Wordie, who was onboard with Shackleton during the Endurance expedition. Later, Wordie set up several expeditions into the Arctic and as we sail around Svalbard next summer up north we can in fact be in Wordiebukta. Many of these Antarctic explorers caught the “polar bug” and chose to optimize their time in the polar environment. Similarly, the National Geographic Endeavour always spends the summers both south and north. Much like the South polar skua!
This British base was later expanded and renamed Faraday and it was here that scientists first noticed the ozone hole, during the 1980s. The base was later sold to Ukraine and renamed Vernadsky as the British moved further south and established a new base at Adeliade Island. The name Vernadsky goes back to a very famous Ukrainian scientist, who was the founder and later president of the Academy of Science at Kiev.
In the morning we landed at Petermann Island, named after the German geographer Petermann. During the time frame 1850 – 1900 he worked behind the scenes of a lot of expeditions all over the world, as the Europeans went out to explore. The “Petermann factor” is a term well known if you read about geographical exploration.
At Petermann Island we had the opportunity to walk around penguins, skuas and blue-eyed shags and our four Oceanites research staff were able to give all the inside stories. Oceanites have over the last five years used this island for their penguin studies and now the camp is closed. They will be with us onboard to Ushuaia and share much more information along the way. Counting birds may seem to be an easy matter but there is in fact a lot of science, knowledge and skill behind it to get accurate and precise numbers that enable us to compare different counts made by different persons.
After dinner, our captain took us through one of the most scenic areas here on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Lemaire Channel. Our hotel department was out on deck and served hot wine.
Every day has new things to offer and can never be the same!
Antarctica is unique in many ways, and every day certainly has something special to offer. Close encounters of wildlife are always, for any visitor, a highlight. The rule is not to be any closer than 5 meters but the wildlife cannot read nor write and therefore do not know these rules, and many times they will approach you very closely.
Today as we made our outing at Vernadsky station, offering a landing at the polar base as well as Zodiac cruises and kayaking, we saw many friendly south polar skuas. One even tried to land on the head of the driver in a Zodiac but found the box at the bow of the Zodiac more stable. A very close encounter indeed and sometimes you have to ask; who is watching who?
South polar skuas are one of the few bird species who see both hemispheres on a regular basis, as they migrate north during winter and some even go as far as the Arctic during our summer.
Vernadsky polar station is based on the Argentine Island below the Lemaire Channel. Its name dates back to the French explorer who did two expeditions along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. After his first voyage with the ship “Le Français” he sold it as he arrived back to Buenos Aires in 1905. The Argentine gave Charcot a lot of support on his next expedition down south, 1907 -09, with the ship “Pourquoi pas?” and he named the island to show his gratitude to them.
The British station was established much later, in 1937, as it was used for a wintering by the British Grahamland expedition. The house still stands and is named after British geologist Wordie, who was onboard with Shackleton during the Endurance expedition. Later, Wordie set up several expeditions into the Arctic and as we sail around Svalbard next summer up north we can in fact be in Wordiebukta. Many of these Antarctic explorers caught the “polar bug” and chose to optimize their time in the polar environment. Similarly, the National Geographic Endeavour always spends the summers both south and north. Much like the South polar skua!
This British base was later expanded and renamed Faraday and it was here that scientists first noticed the ozone hole, during the 1980s. The base was later sold to Ukraine and renamed Vernadsky as the British moved further south and established a new base at Adeliade Island. The name Vernadsky goes back to a very famous Ukrainian scientist, who was the founder and later president of the Academy of Science at Kiev.
In the morning we landed at Petermann Island, named after the German geographer Petermann. During the time frame 1850 – 1900 he worked behind the scenes of a lot of expeditions all over the world, as the Europeans went out to explore. The “Petermann factor” is a term well known if you read about geographical exploration.
At Petermann Island we had the opportunity to walk around penguins, skuas and blue-eyed shags and our four Oceanites research staff were able to give all the inside stories. Oceanites have over the last five years used this island for their penguin studies and now the camp is closed. They will be with us onboard to Ushuaia and share much more information along the way. Counting birds may seem to be an easy matter but there is in fact a lot of science, knowledge and skill behind it to get accurate and precise numbers that enable us to compare different counts made by different persons.
After dinner, our captain took us through one of the most scenic areas here on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Lemaire Channel. Our hotel department was out on deck and served hot wine.
Every day has new things to offer and can never be the same!
