After sailing the whole length of the channel, we continued
further south to the Argentine islands, which was also a very exciting journey
as the whole sea was covered with fresh sea ice which Fram slowly tore apart to
advance. In these islands, we visited the Ukranian research station Vernadsky,
where the very friendly crew welcomed us and showed us around their working and
everyday life quarters.
During our stay in Vernadsky, the weather changed
dramatically, from darkly overcast to incredibly sunny, so we enjoyed the
fabulous landscape of the mountainous Antarctic Peninsula stretching southwards
as far as the eye could see; and also the beautiful icebergs slowly parading
past it.
Our northbound journey across the Lemaire channel – which
almost seemed a different place from this morning’s!- and through the Gerlache
Strait and Wilhelmina Bay was simply spectacular: the sunny weather continued
and the whole sea was covered with bits and pieces of ice of all shapes and
sizes…
