After
an evening spent going around Adelaide Island we crossed Marguerite Bay in the
early hours of the morning, arriving at Stonington Island at 08:00. The bright
polar sun shone down on the calm sea. The surrounding scenery of glaciers
pouring down to the sea between magnificent mountains left everyone speechless
before we even got off the ship.
Stonington
Island is home to abandoned British Base E and American East Base. Both bases
now historic Sites and Monuments protected under the Antarctic Treaty. We
enjoyed walking around the buildings and hearing stories of past endeavors of
the former inhabitants. The majority of work relied upon easy access to the
mainland, and when the ice ramp deteriorated, the British base was closed in
1976. (The American base was only opened for a very brief time in 1946-7).
We
saw at firsthand the magnificent power of nature as a large chunk of ice fell
in front of our eyes into the sea making the gap between Stonington Island and
the mainland even bigger.
The
island is now home to breeding Antarctic Terns, Skuas and some stranded
Penguins. Some of the more crazy of us tested the water temperatures for a very
quick swim.
We
reached our afternoon destination, Horseshoe Island (which actually is H-shaped
and not as its name states) is located East of Pourquoi Pas Island and is home
to British Base Y. This station was built in 1955 to replace Base E Stonington Island after the access by ship to
Stonington was found difficult. It was mainly used during the 1957-58
International Geophysical Year and abandoned afterwards. It remains a time
capsule of life on a base in the 1950s with a real sense of feeling of its
occupants not long moved out.
Many
Weddell Seals were resting on the island and on the remaining sea ice in Sally
Cove and we got the chance to see them from very close. This location was also
perfect for many activities, so we took advantage of it and some of us went
kayaking, others had a closer look at the icebergs while cruising on the Polar
Cirkle Boats, and a fortunate bunch even spent a glorious night camping on the
island. The weather was just perfect! We all left Horseshoe Island with a happy
smile.
