Lemaire Channel, Petermann and Booth Islands
Dawn lights the ice caped peaks leading into Lemaire channel with a pearly luster. Flat calm waters reflect the towering mountains as we wend our way through the narrow portal and emerge to the iceberg scenery of Pleneau Straits.
Our first stop is at Petermann Island, site of Jean Baptiste Charcot’s expedition in 1908. We land at Circumcision Cove, where Charcot anchored his ship and spent the winter conducting the first scientific studies in this area. The abundant French place names are testimony to his early presence
Perfect calm conditions prevail so kayaking becomes the focus of the morning activities. Those ashore visit the southernmost gentoo penguin colony and the numerous Adélies that also nest on the island. From the kayaks blue-eyed shags can be seen busily picking seaweed as nesting material.
We sail on to reach our furthest southerly latitude of 65º 14.6’S. The calm persists and air temperatures reach a balmy 45ºF. After lunch, on the after deck of the National Geographic Endeavour, we return to Booth Island, where Charcot spent his first Antarctic sojourn with the ship Français in 1903. The area is crowded with magnificent floating ice, lit up and coloured by the bright sun. It’s a joy to make our way through slowly in the Zodiacs, stopping frequently to marvel at the ever-changing beauty created by the complex artistic repertoire of nature. We notice that the day is warming. The icicles fringing the bergs gradually disappear as the afternoon passes and freshwater pours into the salty sea.
Seals are scarce in the area, but finally we find a lone adult crabeater seal basking on a small piece of glacier ice. A little later we find an adult female leopard seal in the water. She comes over to look at our Zodiacs, showing us the fine sleek form of the aquatic predator that she is. We estimate that she is close to 11 feet long as she banks and turns in the water under our boats.
Dawn lights the ice caped peaks leading into Lemaire channel with a pearly luster. Flat calm waters reflect the towering mountains as we wend our way through the narrow portal and emerge to the iceberg scenery of Pleneau Straits.
Our first stop is at Petermann Island, site of Jean Baptiste Charcot’s expedition in 1908. We land at Circumcision Cove, where Charcot anchored his ship and spent the winter conducting the first scientific studies in this area. The abundant French place names are testimony to his early presence
Perfect calm conditions prevail so kayaking becomes the focus of the morning activities. Those ashore visit the southernmost gentoo penguin colony and the numerous Adélies that also nest on the island. From the kayaks blue-eyed shags can be seen busily picking seaweed as nesting material.
We sail on to reach our furthest southerly latitude of 65º 14.6’S. The calm persists and air temperatures reach a balmy 45ºF. After lunch, on the after deck of the National Geographic Endeavour, we return to Booth Island, where Charcot spent his first Antarctic sojourn with the ship Français in 1903. The area is crowded with magnificent floating ice, lit up and coloured by the bright sun. It’s a joy to make our way through slowly in the Zodiacs, stopping frequently to marvel at the ever-changing beauty created by the complex artistic repertoire of nature. We notice that the day is warming. The icicles fringing the bergs gradually disappear as the afternoon passes and freshwater pours into the salty sea.
Seals are scarce in the area, but finally we find a lone adult crabeater seal basking on a small piece of glacier ice. A little later we find an adult female leopard seal in the water. She comes over to look at our Zodiacs, showing us the fine sleek form of the aquatic predator that she is. We estimate that she is close to 11 feet long as she banks and turns in the water under our boats.
