During
the night the weather changed and we had stronger winds and a little bit of rough
sea. However, we spent the night at anchor in Port Lockroy so the ship was
stable and we had a quiet night In the early morning the lucky campers, who had gone out the night before to Dorian Bay, returned from their camp site. They had a wonderful night under the Antarctic sky with a beautiful sunset
and sunrise, like two pieces of bread in nocturnal sandwich! We suspect the excitement of it
all prevented any amount of sleep, but who cares about sleep when you are
experiencing a once in a lifetime event such as this! Even the short but very
wet Polarcircel boat ride back to the ship did not dampen their high spirits.
At
09.00am we started our landing in Port Lockroy. We visited the museum in the
buildings of the former British Antarctic Station Base A. The museum shows exactly what is was like to live in an early Antarctic station. Today you can find a
fantastic gift shop inside the main building as well as Her Majesty’s Post
Office. The girls in the shop did a brisk trade as most of us bought
remembraces of Antarctica or mailed letters and postcards. The area surrounding
Base A is home to breeding Gentoo Penguins. The snow from last winter had already melted
in many places allowing many to build their nests and lay their eggs.
Around
lunchtime everybody was back on board and we sailed north again, through the
Neumeyer Channel and Brabant Strait to the Drake Passage. And make no mistake, this was a real
Drake Passage, with very strong winds and big waves! This is all part of the Antarctic Experience!
