Today we walked into Antarctic history by visiting the beautifully rebuilt Base ‘A’, Port Lockroy, at Goudier Island. Experiencing the first real Antarctic weather we have had was only a better frame for such a visit. We were able to get a good glimpse at what life in the cold south was over half a century ago. Hundreds of items are on display in the museum: from utensils for the daily chores to the instruments and machines used for science and the equipment for research and exploration. Outside, gentoo penguins didn’t seem to mind the comings and goings of the visitors. They thrive next to this building, the most visited site in the whole of the continent. Right across the channel, a larger rookery and a colony of Antarctic shags also entertained some of us with their chores as they hurry to finish before the summer window closes. An eclectic collection of whalebones, including fin, blue, humpback and probably other smaller species, lies on the beach, as a mute witness of times in which we treated Antarctica’s wildlife in a very different way.
The afternoon showed us some more typical Antarctic weather, snow and wind incremented as we sailed north by the Neumayer Channel and then the Gerlache Strait, searching for whales and other wildlife. The photo team gathered in the lounge to show us a few more tricks to improve the use of our cameras and shared the results, hoping for better conditions tomorrow. But they had to be interrupted since a group of humpback whales were feeding on krill right in front of the bow of the National Geographic Orion! Our Captain skillfully maneuvered to put us in prime position to get a great view of these magnificent creatures without interfering with their behavior.
The afternoon was not over yet. We found shelter in the heavily glaciated Bul’s Bay and Zodiacs went off for a magic mystery tour among tall vertical walls and cascading glaciers. In the water, a number of leopard and weddell seals resting in ice flows let us approach with no concerns, until we started the polar plunge! Then, they probably would have been concerned about the mental health of these very strange visitors…
