Day 6 - Paradise Bay and Lemaire Channel

We awoke around 5.00 to snow covered land.  The ship was sailing very slowly.  We went on deck where it was incredibly windy.  


We sailed along the Neumayer Channel and the ship stopped  as planned, close to Wiencke Island.  The expedition team said the winds were too strong to safely land so all activities were cancelled.  Whilst there we could see Port Lockroy, which was formerly a whaling station but claimed by the British.  It was staffed until 1962 but then fell into disrepair but has since been renovated and turned into an outdoor museum.

Port Lockroy 



We also saw Gentoo Penguins swimming near the ship and Leopard Seals basking on the ice flows.

Leopard Seal

The ship sailed onto the much calmer waters of Paradise Bay , another former whaling station called Brown Station which is Argentine owned.  The scenery was stunning and there were a lot of icebergs in the sea.



Blue icebergs - pure water without
 any air bubbles

 


We should have gone kayaking around the Bay.  We were given our kit which was a woolen body fleece, wet suit, life jacket and boots and had our kayaks set up.  We were about to leave when we were told the wind was again picking up and it was not safe to go.  So we took all the gear off and got ready to go on the land excursion.

The zodiac took us to the landing site and we were given walking poles.  We had to walk up a very steep hill where the snow was half a meter thick.  I fell over a few times as it was so slippery.  We didn't get time to climb to the viewpoint which was very high but we did see the Gentoo penguin colony.  The Penguins were not in the slightest bit bothered by us.

Penguin Colony at Brown Station.  Fram in the background behind iceberg.

Brown Station, Paradise Bay

Great Skua

Gentoo Penguin

Gentoo Penguin

 



The area we have seen today is unbelievably beautiful.   The weather conditions are changing continuously and we have had high winds, sun, rain, cloud, fog and snow .  It has been warm at 5C but when the wind blows the chill factor makes it feel sub zero.

There was an announcement at dinner saying that we would be attempting to sail through the Lemaire Channel from 9.00.  The two previous trips had attempted this but failed due to too much ice.  I went to watch this on deck where we had  snow and hail but it was spectacular.   There was a huge iceberg across the Channel with smaller ones either side.  The captain slowly sailed through, avoiding the larger icebergs but hitting the smaller ones.  Each iceberg hit sent a resounding noise and shudder through the ship.  We did eventually get through.  Photos do not do show how dramatic this region is.

Entry to Lemaire Channel


Giant iceberg


Giant iceberg partly blocking the channel

Snow covered mountains

 




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