During operation Tabarin in 1941, the British
set up a base here to keep an eye on enemy shipping and destroy old fuel dumps.
Base A on Goudier Island (maybe more known as Port Lockroy) has become on off
the most visited place in Antarctica, and today it was our turn.
Calm weather and sunny skies welcomed us to
this historical place, which took us back to the 40´s and 50´s.
Here´s also a museum, kept much as it was in
the 50´s, as well as a post office and a souvenir shop, so there was history,
shopping and mailing postcards on todays “to do list”. In addition to all this,
we had Gentoo penguins, Snowy Sheathbills and cormorants to greet us as well. After a
couple of very interesting hours, it was time to leave and we said goodbye to
the helpful and cheerful staff that stays here during the Antarctic summer.
We continued towards the strikingly beautiful
Lemaire Channel, which was first sighted by German whaler Eduard Dallman in
1873. This eleven kilometre-long and 1.6 kilometre-wide channel was full of ice
floes and burgy bits, so the traverse through went in a slow and easy pace.
Many of us went out on deck to photograph and enjoy the stunning scenery of the
steep cliffs and glaciers around us.
The second landing for today would be our last
and most southerly point of our expedition, Petermann Island at 65°10´5 S /
064°07´6 W. It is perhaps more famous for its 1909 resident Jean-Baptist
Charcot, who wintered here in a tiny cove which he named Port Circumcision.
Here we had Adélie penguins, imperial
cormorants (blue-eyed shags) and the world’s southernmost Gentoo penguin colony
and it was all there for us to enjoy. When afternoon became evening, it was
time to leave and the captain pointed his ship towards Ushuaia, Argentina.
Later in the evening we all joined in the
Panorama Lounge for the famous M/S Fram Crewshow, which was absolutely
fabulous.
