The Great Wall

The Drake continued to be calm, beautiful clear skies soon changes to fog as we approached the South Shetland Islands. Preparations for landing continued with the fitting of our muck boots and the mandatory IAATO briefings.

We first sighted land as we went through Nelson Strait and turned to the East towards King George Island, where we made our first landing of this trip at the Chinese Station Great Wall. One of our passengers has overwintered at Great Wall and was the first to land with the Expedition Team. His arrival to the station was warmly welcomed by his former colleagues. We all very much enjoyed seeing the reality of life in Great Wall Station after having seen and heard much about it at home. The cool wind and overcast skies did not dampen our spirits, and specially this, our first landing in Antarctica.

After finishing the landing the Captain turned Fram towards the south and we headed across the Bransfield Strait in preparation for our landings tomorrow. After diner the Expedition Team and Crew modeled the latest garments from the MV Fram shop in the (in)famous fashion show.