Trip to the Antarctic

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Trip to the Antarctic

April 16, 2015 by obeseferret

Thursday 5th March 2015

Paradise Harbour Port Lockroy (Goudier Island)

Wake up to calm seas in Paradise Harbour and the now familiar voice of Christian with his wake-up call ” good morning, ladies and gentlemen, good morning “, all in his charming if heavily accented English courtesy of his French Swiss background.

First port of call is Brown Base a seasonal base where we take a short climb up the snowy slope for a great view of the bay.

Many penguins as usual and crap to match. Return to the zodiacs and enjoy a spectacular trip inside an icy amphitheatre and see at very close quarters 3 humpback whales either diving or ‘logging’ ie resting while floating flat on the water.

Also see some blue eyed shags which are the only shags in the Antarctic ( at this temperature that ‘s no surprise! ) BTW shags are also known as Antarctic cormorants.

Before lunch we see an assortment of bodies ( 26 of them) taking the Polar Plunge from the ship’s ladder with Scuba Diving Guide Martin helping all out of the water. A couple of the more daring, exhibitionist males go skinny dipping into blue acorn territory. I resisted the temptation to leave a perfectly fine, warm ship and decided that the Plunge might not be the best for a decidedly skinny member of the ‘ Zipper Club’.

After lunch we head along the Bryde Channel into Gerlache Strait where we travel north to Cape Astrup and then south- west down Neumayer Channel. Drop off kayakers opposite Channel glacier and then continue down to Goudier Island aka Port Lockroy on our left and the seven sisters peaks on Wiencke Island to the south.

Skinner , the local Post master comes aboard to tell us of the workings of this outpost of the British Royal Mail Service after which we go by zodiac to Port Lockroy to post cards, buy a couple of other things and check out the very friendly local penguins. BTW All post was to be brought on board Polar Pioneer the same day and then taken to the Falkland Isles for onward shipment to the UK and from there to be distributed to the various parts of the globe. The postage was only $1 per item. We limited ourselves to only 3 postcards but Sarah from the UK took the opportunity to send 21 cards!

Not surprisingly Skinner, British to the core, has a very different idea on the correct pronunciation of Lockroy as against Christian who insists on the French version with the ‘roy’ becoming ‘roi’ as in ‘king’. The friendly rivalry obviously stretches to this far flung outpost.

After we leave the post Peter, our friendly zodiac skipper takes us for a tour round the bay and we get another view of the surrounding waters and ice formations.

The sighting of a superb Weddell seal completes a very rewarding day.

Return to ship for an outdoor BBQ on the stern deck at 7pm when we all dress up in silly hats, forget our inhibitions and enjoy a party to remember. This goes on till 10.30 and even later for some on a truly magnificent full moon evening. Apparently at least one person didn’t make it back to their own bunk. Oh, to be young again!