Lemaire Channel, Petermann Island, Antarctic Circle
We drank our morning coffee to the beauty of the Lemaire Channel. The low swirling clouds and gray skies only added to the experience as the ship slowly made its way through this narrow channel with steep mountains and tumbling glaciers on either side. Every now and then we came across heavily stained snow, evidence of gentoo penguin colonies.
Just after breakfast we headed for a morning visit to Petermann Island, named after a German geographer in the 1870s. This location was also chosen by Jean Baptiste Charcot in 1909 as a suitable location to overwinter. During the summers of 2003 – 07 it was to be the location for the summer camp for our very own Ian Bullock and a team of scientists, where studies were carried out on the nesting Adelie and gentoo penguins; indeed the choice was made because of the work done by the Charcot expedition all those years ago.
We enjoyed new experiences with these penguins as well as some of the other residents on the island such as Antarctic shags, brown skuas, snowy sheathbills and kelp gulls. A lot of the snow and ice was bright green as a result of algal growth, which blooms in the late summer. The warm weather also caused extensive melting as evidenced by running water cutting into the ice, particularly along the edges of the dark rounded and cracked rocks that are so prevalent here.
It was also an opportunity to board the Zodiacs and head off on another of those great cruises; we were not let down as we spent time with leopard seals, Antarctic fur seals and humpback whales showing their giant flukes and pectoral flippers as they lazily logged at the surface.
The afternoon was spent sailing south and along the way we passed some waterways and islands with such marvelous names as Woolpack Island, Tadpole Island, Beer Island, Hennessy Island and Hummock Island; or Numerous Rocks and Pesky Rocks; or Mutton Cove; or the Mudge Passage – and all along the way heading closer and closer to the Antarctic Circle, this year located at 66°33.7’S.
At 17:50 hours there was an interesting coincidence, as witnessed by a small number of folk on the bridge at that time: the ship crossed 66° 01.7’ S and 66°01.7’W.
It was also to be an opportunity to learn more about photography from our team of photo experts as well as to hear our global perspectives guest speaker, Ed Larson, who gave us the first of his presentations on Scott, Amundsen & Science. It was a timely reminder of the many hardships that were endured by the men on these expeditions in their quest for science and knowledge.
To conclude another wonderful day in this most remarkable place, we successfully crossed the Antarctic Circle at 21:03 hours. The ship sounded her foghorn and there was much cheering on the bridge of the ship. On the summer solstice every point south of this invisible circle can enjoy a full day without the sun setting.
