At Prospect
Point, the Falkland Islands Dependencies Service operated its Base J in the
years 1957-1959. In this base, mostly topographic and geological research was
carried out. Since, the station building has decayed and its remnants were
finally removed in 2004 by the British Antarctic Survey. So today, only the
fundaments remain. After a visit to this historic site, we went on a glacier
walk. In rope teams lead by one guide, we ascended the glacier to a crevasse
that was safe to approach. The crevasse was glooming blue and its walls were
nicely decorated with icicles.
In the
early afternoon, the Fram was sailing past the Argentine Islands, and several
humpback whales greeted us along the way, waving with their tails.
As a special
treat in the lecturing programme on board, one of our guests, the famous
Brazilian Antarctic explorer Amyr Klink,
gave a report of his endeavors, among them rowing across the Atlantic Ocean and
sailing around Antarctica. Fascinating to listen to a man with such exciting
experiences!
As a
further highlight of the day, some of the guests went out for a long ice
cruise, both to the iceberg alley at Pléneau Island, and further through the
Lemaire Channel. In the shallow waters around Pléneau, a lot of icebergs get
stranded and stay. Their shapes and colors are just amazing. The wind picked up
as the Polar Cirkle boats entered the Lemaire Channel, and the boat ride became
a rather bumpy and very wet enterprise. Nevertheless it was an exciting and
real Antarctic experience, and we got rewarded by three humpback whales that
came really close. Seeing them from a small boat directly at the level of the
water surface gives an even better impression of the huge body size of this
majestic animals!
