During the night we continued down the Gerlache Strait, and even though the wind was travelling up to 30 knots, the ship seemed to remain stable, and most people slept well. We woke to the news that we were anchored off Port Lockroy, and there would be a morning visit and/or zodiac cruise, to account for the limited number of people that could visit Port Lockroy at one time.
Port Lockroy is a British outpost on Wiencke Island, established in 1944 with the purpose to maintain a permanent British presence in Antarctica. The catalyst for this was potential claims on the territory from Argentina and Chile. Britain has maintained permanent presence in Antarctica since then.
At Port Lockroy, you will find a museum and Post Office, where one can send a postcard to anywhere in the world from Antarctica, for the cost of US$1. You can also get your passport sta mped, to show proof that you have, indeed, stepped foot onto Antarctican soil. There is also a gift shop, which is non-profit, with all the proceeds going towards the upkeep of the historic site at Port Lockroy.
As only 50 people at a time can land at Port Lockroy, the ship was split between Port and Starboard dwellers, where one group landed and visited the historic site, and the other group cruised in the zodiacs, after which they swapped. The overall impression of Port Lockroy appeared to be the overwhelming smell of the penguin poop. The island appears to be overrun by Gentoo penguins and snowy sheathbills with chicks. Other wildlife spotted included shags, leopard seals, minke whales, other Weddell seals, and some saw an avalanche on the glacier resulting in a calving, with some big waves as a result. Others sailed around Jouglia Point to see the whale bones on the shore.
The highlight for one zodiac was an up close and personal encounter with an inquisitive leopard seal. It was of course, Hugh Rose’s zodiac! He is the leopard seal whisperer! They saw the seal first in open water, then it popped up again, about 100m away close to the shore, near a colony of Gentoos on Jouglia Point. Clearly it was hoping for penguin buffet!
The zodiac motors were switched off, and it was slowly moving towards the shore when the leopard seal popped up right at the back of the zodiac and exhaled close to the driver. Leopard seals have a known tendency to bite zodiac tubes, as they like the feel of the bubbles. They also like to hang around the propeller for the same reason! This seal moved to bite the tube but was startled off by a hand slap from Hugh. It swam over to another zodiac close-by and rolled over underneath that zodiac with its mouth open, ready to bite! Apparently, they also like the feel of the softer rubber in their mouth! Swimming back to Hugh’s zodiac, the leopard seal (apparently by its size (~600kg), probably a female, which are about one and a third times larger than a male) had another go biting the propeller, before it swam off.
Kayakers also did the split landing to visit Port Lockroy, and cruised around Jouglia Point to their waiting kayaks, a small crew of three tandems and a single today. It was a short paddle at a slow pace through serene, glassy water, where the silence was broken only by the sound of popping ice (oxygenated). Paddling towards the strait in a very protected area, they saw a couple of small carvings off the nearby glacier, and a lazy Weddell seal.
Moving on south towards the Lemaire Channel, the weather took a turn for the worse, with increasing wind, snow and rain. A short afternoon cruise off Plenier Island was very cold and wet – a few brave souls ventured out in the zodiacs to visit the Iceberg Graveyard, and saw Gentoo penguins, and one each of an Adelie and Chinstrap penguin. It was even too cold for the penguins!
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