Sunday 27 January 2013

Prospect Point




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!