Endless blue sky and bright sun appeared at
3AM and stayed with us throughout this perfect day.
Our morning landing was at Stonington
Island. The island sits in an awesome setting of multi-colored rocks and high
mountains and is flanked on one side by an immense active glacier front. While
we were there this glacier calved on several occasions and the sound and the
rolling waves were truly awesome. The term “awesome” is currently overused by
the younger generation but the glacial action and the sounds of the glacier
breaking apart and the power of the waves breaking as they approached the shore
were truly awesome. |
| Tudor Morgan, Antarctic Heritage Trust, putting up new signboards |
While on the Island we visited 2 abandoned
but preserved bases. UK Base E and US East Base are within sight of each other.
The US base was built and used from 1939 and closed in 1941. The UK base was
built in 1945-46 and during that period one of the US base buildings was used
to store seal carcasses that were used as dog food. Needless to say this storing
of the seals in the bunkhouse did not sit well with Finn Ronne the US base
commander when he returned to the site in 1947. Eventually the respective base
commanders resolved these “grievances and other issues” and a substantial
mapping and sampling program was carried out under the banner of civil
cooperation.
Our day continued under clear skies and
bright sun. After lunch we reached Horseshoe Island but our intended landing
there had to be cancelled as the winds were too strong and the waves were too choppy.
A benefit of this cancellation is that this
evening we are traversing the Gullet northbound under clear skies and with a
beautiful sun angle. 
