Port Lockroy & Gerlache Strait
A sunny sky moved to a low, grey cloud cover when National Geographic Explorer anchored at Port Lockroy this morning. Snow showers could be seen falling in the distance, moving closer in the wind, eventually overtaking us just as Zodiac shuttles to shore began. Port Lockroy, a museum and shop, was restored by the U.K. Antarctic Heritage Trust and reopened for the tourists to visit and gain knowledge of the history of research and surveying in Antarctica.
Nearby, Jougla Point provided a short walk on the beach to view nesting gentoo penguins and the bones of whales leftover from the time not so long ago when whales were hunted in the Southern Ocean and flensed in convenient and sheltered harbours throughout the Antarctic Peninsula. The wind continued to blow throughout the landing, but most minds remembered that it was not nearly as strong as our previous day at Detaille Island. The chill in the air eventually drove even the heartiest persons back to the ship to seek warmth. A few braved the even chillier waters for a Polar Plunge.
This, our last afternoon in the Antarctic Peninsula it was decided that it was high time to look for whales. So the National Geographic Explorer cruised the length of the Gerlache Strait in search of what we term “charismatic mega fauna.” Find it we did. Two separate groups of killer whales were spotted over the course of the afternoon. The first group did not seem particularly interested in us and continued to move away, beautiful as they were we did not stay to long. The second group, however, moved slowly and even approached the ship, swimming directly under the bow. Cameras snapped away as this group of type B killer whales interacted with us. It was a joy to watch them in the stunning scenery. The sun emerged again and patches of bright blue sky came out. A fine farewell to this amazing place, all of Antarctica seemed to be saying ‘good-bye’ to us. We will all miss it.
