There are few more spectacular ways to begin a Christmas Eve day than to transit Antarctica’s most breathtaking and ice filled ship passage, the Lemaire Channel! This deep but very narrow waterway has steep mountains on either side. They rise almost straight up to a height of several thousand feet and are capped with dramatic overhanging snow cornices. Skillful navigation by Captain Skog saw us through the channel and by the end of breakfast we had arrived off Petermann Island, the focus of our morning’s activities.
Petermann Island’s small harbor is the site where the French explorer Jean Baptiste Charcot and his crew, aboard his ship Francais became the first people ever to over-winter in Antarctica in 1904. Most of us went directly ashore to visit the Gentoo and Adelie penguin rookery while the rest opted to first cruise among the icebergs and drifting pack ice by Zodiac before joining the others at the rookery. By 12:30 we were all back aboard for lunch and an afternoon of pushing southward through heavy pack ice. The sunny windless conditions produced superb reflections of ice, rock, and sky! In the late afternoon our captain turned the ship back northward where we again traversed the scenic Lemaire Channel.
For our Christmas Eve dinner chef Stina Hanson and her fabulous galley staff treated us to a full traditional Swedish smorgasbord. For both young and old, with the energy to stay awake “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” was then shown in the lounge for a light-hearted end to another magnificent day.
