The Solid South (updated with pix and video)

From Mindy, dated 15 January:

This morning we reach our southernmost point in the cruise.  The barometer was at 989, water at 1.8 degrees C, air at 1.5 degrees C, negligible wind.

 After staying up for the sunrise at 3:23 am, it was tough to get up early, but one look outside and I couldn't miss the view.

Captain on the bridge (click to enlarge)

Mindy at Lemaire Channel
(click to enlarge)

We sailed through the Lemaire Channel, which is a very narrow and scenic channel at about 64 degrees West longitude and a little south of 65 degrees South latitude.  At the southernmost point in the channel, the captain stopped the ship and turned the boat around.  What a treat to see the channel twice!  Next we sailed through Neumayer Channel to Weinke Island.

Port Lockroy (click to enlarge)

At about 10am we made it to Port Lockroy, a former British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base in a sheltered harbor.  The port was named by the French explorer Charcot in 1904, and is named after the French politician Edward Lockroy (who founded Chacot's trip).  Cath and Ben, two of the staff from Port Lockroy, came on board to give us some background information about the base and the surrounding area before our landing.  The geography of this bay lends itself well to whaling, and whaling was common here from 1911-1931.  By 1931 the whalers could work off of ships and didn't necessarily need sheltered harbors to process the blubber.  After World War II there was a secret British Navy operation to set up the BAS base.  The sailors didn't even know where they were going when they left (Ben told us one sailor sent a letter to his mom saying that he was issued sunglasses so he must be headed somewhere warm!) (Also known as the "mushroom method of personnel assignment" - Ed.).  They meant to set up the base at Hope Bay (to monitor the naval activity around the tip of South America), but couldn't access it that year because the ice pack was too thick.  Instead they established Base A at Lockroy.  The first thing they officially established was a post office (in true British fashion) (I'm betting a tea shop was second - Ed.).  After the war there wasn't much utility to the base, so they handed it over to scientists and science was the main purpose of the base from 1945-1962.

Gentoo Family
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"The Beastie"
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One particular machine they used daily was an ionosond, which was referred to by the men as "beastie" because it was huge, heavy, regularly caught fire, and often interfered with BBC transmission signals.  Now the base is managed by the Antarctic Heritage Trust.

At the base, there are only two small buildings, one is a museum and the other is where the staff live (maybe 4 of them?).  You can mail a post card to anywhere in the world from here for $1 (the card goes to the Falkland Islands, then to the U.K., then it enters the U.K. postal system).

At Port Lockroy, some scientific experiments have been conducted for 16 years evaluating the impact of tourism on the ecosystems.  The area around the base has been split in half, with one half open the human traffic and the other an exclusion zone.  The results so far indicate no major difference in biodiversity between the two zones, which either means that people are respecting the rules about minimal impact activities or that the management plans for Antarctic tourism have been effective so far.
On the island at Port Lockroy there are sheathbills, penguins, roaming skuas, and an insect named Belgica Antarctica.

Peninsula Group Volcanics
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Jougla Point dike
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Across the bay from Port Lockroy we landed at Jougla Point in Alice Creek Cove.  There was a Wedell seal lounging on the beach, some whale bones assembled on a bluff (supposedly from a blue whale, but more than likely a mishmash of several whale types).  The geology here is a hybrid of Andean intrusion suites (igneous rocks) from the Peninsula Group Volcanics.

Weddell Seal
(click to enlarge)

Upon return to the ship, we were treated to a BBQ lunch outside on the deck. True "southern" BBQ (becaus we are so far south...) (Larry's would beg to differ - Ed.).  We took a group photo and prepared for a quick jaunt over to Neko Harbor (our last chance to actually walk on the Antarctic continent).  As we sailed we passed a harbor named Paradise Harbor, and the light and scenery really made it look like paradise!  Our little Neko Harbor is a bit more intimate though, and we had a delightful landing.

Real Southern BBQ
(click to enlarge)

Half of the ship decided to cruise in zodiacs while the other half landed for hikes and more penguins.

Humpback Whale
(click to enlarge)

 The zodiac cruisers were in for a real treat as they got up close and personal with several Humpback whales.  One zodiac was even bumped by a whale (Paul's zodiac), and another zodiac got close enough to catch a glimpse of a whale with an underwater camera (Greg's videography skills and an icy cold plunge of the hands).

Mindy at Neko Harbor
(click to enlarge)

The hikers were greeted by beautiful pink granites on the beach, a really nice dike, and gentoo penguins.  I was with the hikers, and we hiked up a rock face and snow slope to get a good view of the glaciers coming out of the mountains.  The beach here is dramatically different than it was just a couple of years ago (it has been shaped by tsunami-type waves created when the glaciers calve off the cliff face).  This landing was our last chance to set foot on the Antarctic continent.



We hiked up a snowy rock face to get a good view of the glaciers surrounding the bay, and then slid down the snow in dramatic glissade form ("Glissade" is apparently geologist-speak for "sliding on your butt like a five-year-old" - Ed.).  The glissade was quite fun!

Fun with Black Ice
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Natalie's Knit Fur Seal thru Black Ice
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On the way back in the zodiac we saw two humpback whales fairly close by, and one of our passengers (Heather) found a really cool chunk of ice that you could see through (and there was much fun taking photos of our faces in the ice like a funhouse mirror).  Upon return to the ship, the crew had hot chocolate and brownies waiting for us outside the mud room.

Paradise Bay at Sunset, Leaving Neko Harbor
(click to enlarge)

All in all it was one of the best days so far... But there is one more day of landings to go, so we'll see what it brings tomorrow!