This journey to and along the Antarctic Peninsula is – first and
foremost – about penguins and ice, a lot of ice. Today, we made an exception
and visited the Polish scientific station of Arctowski on King George Island.
At the moment, 24 people are working and living in the station, which is open
year round. We were welcomed in their home in the most hospitable way, with
coffee, tea and cookies. The station is visited on average only once a month, so
the staff was very happy to tell about their daily life. Outside the station,
we could also enjoy some wildlife, with Gentoo and Adelie penguin colonies just
around the corner, and elephant seals laying on the beaches.
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| Picture by Johannes C. Apon |
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| Picture by Johannes C. Apon |
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| Picture by Johannes C. Apon |
In the afternoon, we steamed further south-west to Half Moon Island, to
visit the Chinstrap penguin colonies. This tiny 2-kilometer-long half-moon
shaped island is squeezed in between the two much larger islands of Livingston
and Greenwich, which create some of the most stunning backgrounds you can
imagine. It’s a perfect location for snowshoe hiking. Guides Johannes and Tessa
took 20 guests to a viewpoint to enjoy the scenery, composed of ice berg filled
seas, and glacier topped mountains rising straight out of the ocean.
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| Picture by Johannes C. Apon |
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| Picture by Johannes C. Apon |
