Lemaire Channel, Petermann Island and Vernadsky Station
It is interesting to travel to the opposite end of the world and find it a lot like the place you left. Most of Antarctica is not at all like anywhere else we live, but the summer weather here today, was a lot like the winter weather in the northern United States could be at this time of year. I wore my ski goggles to keep the blowing snow out of my eyes, but instead of being on a ski slope, we were on a snow covered island in the company of seals, penguins, and skuas. The snow came only in a few impressive squalls. This was Antarctic weather, and we were happy to see it. The shifting of the clouds and the ever changing look of the land and sea was captivating.
We spent our morning on Petermann Island where our onboard Oceanites researchers oriented us to the island and the five-year study that they had recently completed. The gentoo penguin colony on this island was the southernmost one 100 years ago when Charcot visited during the second French Antarctic Expedition. At that time, there were 50 pairs nesting on the island; now there are 3000. In the last five years Gentoo numbers on this island have increased by 35% while Adelie numbers have decreased by 26%.
This afternoon we saw a very different side of life in Antarctica. We visited Vernadsky, a Ukranian Station where they do scientific research on a variety of things including ozone. We toured the station, met several of the 13 inhabitants and tried to imagine what over-wintering there would be like. The tour conveniently concluded in the bar where we conducted some (not-so-scientific) research of our own on the quality of homemade vodka in the Antarctic.
This evening we watched from the lounge, library and decks as we traveled north through the scenic and narrow Lemaire Channel. We once again had beautiful lighting for photography and plenty of chances to try and capture the expansive scenery in the seemingly too small screens of our cameras.
It is interesting to travel to the opposite end of the world and find it a lot like the place you left. Most of Antarctica is not at all like anywhere else we live, but the summer weather here today, was a lot like the winter weather in the northern United States could be at this time of year. I wore my ski goggles to keep the blowing snow out of my eyes, but instead of being on a ski slope, we were on a snow covered island in the company of seals, penguins, and skuas. The snow came only in a few impressive squalls. This was Antarctic weather, and we were happy to see it. The shifting of the clouds and the ever changing look of the land and sea was captivating.
We spent our morning on Petermann Island where our onboard Oceanites researchers oriented us to the island and the five-year study that they had recently completed. The gentoo penguin colony on this island was the southernmost one 100 years ago when Charcot visited during the second French Antarctic Expedition. At that time, there were 50 pairs nesting on the island; now there are 3000. In the last five years Gentoo numbers on this island have increased by 35% while Adelie numbers have decreased by 26%.
This afternoon we saw a very different side of life in Antarctica. We visited Vernadsky, a Ukranian Station where they do scientific research on a variety of things including ozone. We toured the station, met several of the 13 inhabitants and tried to imagine what over-wintering there would be like. The tour conveniently concluded in the bar where we conducted some (not-so-scientific) research of our own on the quality of homemade vodka in the Antarctic.
This evening we watched from the lounge, library and decks as we traveled north through the scenic and narrow Lemaire Channel. We once again had beautiful lighting for photography and plenty of chances to try and capture the expansive scenery in the seemingly too small screens of our cameras.
