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Wednesday, January 24: Antarctic Peninsula

The Hanseatic sailed out of Andvord Harbor and past the entrance to Paradise Bay. In February 1999, the Hanseatic struck its starboard propeller in Paradise Bay and had to return to Ushuaia using just one propeller.

The orange huts of an Argentine research station could be seen on Waterboat Point near the mouth of the Harbor.

We crossed the Gerlache Strait and rounded the north end of Wiencke Island.

The ship entered the Neumayer Channel, between Wiencke Island and Anvers Island.

We passed a Chilean research station, which has been reoccupied after a period of abandonment. Gentoo Penguins took over the island during the period of abandonment, and the current rules of behavior in Antarctica don't permit the Chileans to clear them out again.

We saw the last of the sun as the ship negotiated through the winding narrows of the Neumayer Channel.

A low overcast hung over the cold, bleak landscape.

We exited Neumayer Channel and entered the Bismark Strait.

After crossing the Bismark Strait near the mouth of Flandres Bay we entered the Lemaire Channel, which lies between the Antarctic Peninsula and Booth Island. We passed Hovgaard Island and dropped anchor just off the coast of Petermann Island.

Petermann Island was the farthest south that our expedition reached. The latitude was 65 degrees, 7 minutes south. The longitude was 64 degrees, 8 minutes west. We had not quite reached the Antarctic Circle.

The air temperature was about 33 degrees F. The water temperature was about 33 degrees F. It was raining. The rain was moving horizontally in the wind. The temperature of the rain was about 33 degrees F.

The rain had turned to snow. Big, fluffy snowflakes crackled as they hit the side of the antennae housing. Snow was accumulating on all the exposed surfaces. There were not so many passengers getting off the ship for this landing. Many of the Zodiacs left with just a few people on board.

Not as many of the passengers got off the ship as had during the earlier landings.

As we dined, Captain Notke steered the Hanseatic through the Peltier Channel to Port Lockroy. The channel is just a few hundred feet wide and has a very sharp turn of nearly 180 degrees. The ship moved very slowly as it slid around the tight, left-hand turn.

Port Lockroy was a British Antarctic Expedition research station that was abandoned for nearly thirty years. In 1997 it was restored as a museum of Antarctic exploration. There is a small contingent living there, and it is the most visited attraction in Antarctica. They get about 7,000 visitors a year.

The station sits on the high point of tiny Goudier Island in Peltier Channel. It is covered by Gentoo Penguins and Gentoo Penguin guano.

They have a shop set up in one room of the station where they sell books, maps, first-day postal covers, stamps, and T-shirts with penguins on the back.

The topography of the island was nearly as crowded with tourists as with Gentoo Penguins. People were wandering about the landscape taking pictures and shooting videotape of the penguins with their chicks.

The path back to the Zodiac was just wide enough for one way traffic, and there was a constant stream of new arrivals coming up from the landing.

The clouds were breaking up overhead as the sun set after 10:00 P.M. It didn't get dark all night. The ship slipped back through the Neumayer Channel and up the Gerlache Strait during the night.

Map of the West Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Next chapter: Thursday, January 25: Deception Island

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