We were approaching the Lemaire Channel. This is arguably one of the more beautiful straits, only a few hundred metres across in places. The vertical rises of the almost straight cliffs to two thousand feet or more are breathtakingly beautiful. The peaks vanished into the misty clouds. The vastness of the region leaves one almost speechless. It is only 11 km long so we can get through it in a little more than an hour.
Our first landing today is at Vernadsky Station built by the British in 1947 and later (1996) transferred to Ukraine scientists. It was here that ozone depletion over the Antarctic was first discovered.
Ukraine scientists not only have a variety of instrumentation they keep running but they also are quite adept at the production of vodka here. They will give free vodka to any woman who leaves a bra at the station. You should see how many are there. This is the Antarctic!
On return from Vernadsky Station we cruised among many of the icebergs, some as big as a house, others much larger than our ship.
Atop some of them seals leisurely basked in the Antarctic summer. They seemed oblivious to our presence even though we were quite close.
Occasionally they would grunt, sometimes a head would come up as well, just enough to assure itself that nothing was there to threaten them.
Our day of shore excursions ends with a visit to Petermann Island. This is important because we get to see Adelie penguins here and, if we climb high enough we can look over “Iceberg Alley.”
We’ve seen the Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins before but this is our first look at the Adelie. These are real Antarctic birds. We close our day giving thanks to the Lord for making all of this possible.
Terry Flower
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