December 27, 2017

   This morning the outside temperature was 2° C.  It was sunny with a few white clouds along the horizon and mountain tops, but, not too windy, although the ship’s gauge read 28 km/hour. The water had a small ripple to it. The ship was slowly circling (at 4 knots) in the bay. The ship’s position was 65°00' South latitude. The Antarctic Polar Circle is approximately 66°36' South latitude.

    The Antarctica Palmer Station scientists and support staff were aboard today. The station is located on Anvers (Amberes) Island. They rendezvoused with the ship from zodiacs around 7 a.m. for breakfast, then, their morning presentations. The group of nine team members came over to the ship in two zodiacs (open inflatable boats) and were dressed in orange survival suits.

    Before breakfast we walked on Deck 3 watching for activity in the water.  We saw two penguins moving in a way that Dr. Peter Carey described as “porpoising” through the water, a kind of small leap and glide. There were some humpback whales surfacing and blowing several times before diving. 

       Two of the Antarctica Palmer Station team gave a presentation about the work of United States Antarctic Program that is funded by the National Science Foundation. It is located on Advers (Amberes) Island. They gave their first presentation at 9 a.m. to a packed Mondriaan Lounge, then the same talk at 10:30 for those who missed the earlier time.  The United States Antarctic Program was established in 1970. There are 45 people working at the station from scientists to engineers to information technologists, to keep the data streaming to the satellites, mechanics and the most important person – the chef. There is a ten-meter telescope for astronomy projects, since the atmosphere is thinner at the South Pole. The Long Term Environmental Research (LTER) is the longest ongoing project. Twice a year the research station is supplied by ship and when a cruise ship stops, they usually get a nice supply of fresh fruit and vegetables.  There is a cruise about once a month from December to March or April.  Supplies, equipment and evacuations are also done by planes from Chile for Palmer Station and New Zealand supplies research stations on the other side of the continent. The South Pole research station and any medical emergencies are handled by a Calgary based company, Ken Borak Air. At the McMurdo Station, the landing strip is located on a two-mile thick ice shelf that rebounds gently when an airplane lands, giving a very smooth landing for the passengers. The research station at the South Pole recalculates and remarks the geographic South Pole every January first, because the marker is on a floating ice shelf. GPS is used to mark the spot.

   The ship had scheduled to cruise the Le Maire Channel in the afternoon, but it was clogged with ice, therefore not safe for this ship. The ship repositioned to see if the Neumayer Channel might be ice free. We were in the Gerlache Strait. The scenery was spectacular from the groups of penguins, Gentoo Penguins and Chinstrap Penguins, gathering on icebergs to the Crabeater Seal basking in the sun on a small iceberg all to itself.  There was a surprise in the water -  a sailboat with sails on both masts, probably about 17 meters long.

  The Antarctica Palmer Station team was picked up by their two zodiac boats shortly after 2 p.m.  We ship entered Neumayer Channel about 4 pm for cruising amongst the icebergs. Since the ship is slowly cruising in calm water, there are no passengers suffering from motion sickness today.

   We took plenty of photographs of the scenery and the whales, seals and penguins. Icebergs or their “bergie bits” and penguins, gathering on an ice flow, were the easiest subjects on which to focus your camera. The activity today was enjoying the Antarctic beauty in the brilliant sunshine.  As the Palmer Station team mentioned, you need sunscreen and sunglasses here even with temperatures hovering at the freezing point.

    Joyce and Shin did not come to dinner tonight.  The three couples decided to meet for some Canasta card games tomorrow afternoon. There were fewer people eating in the dining room tonight.  Our selections were Coconut crusted shrimp, mushroom wild rice soup, chicken & chorizo soup as appetizers; Avocado, lettuce lemon orange & grapefruit salad and Chicken Caiolla with Chorizo as entrees and Tropical Fruit Cheesecake for dessert.

    Entertainment this evening was juggler, Luke Burrage. His act started with balancing and juggling the diablo then included hackie sack juggling, as well as juggling of balls, then rings and finally knives.  He had the audience laughing and clapping at his commentary and skill.

    After the show, we changed into outdoor clothes to go out into the sunlight at 9:30 and took pictures of the lowering sun and the colours on the clouds.  The sunset here is at 12:08 a.m. and the sunrise is at 2:28 a.m. The ship has a bit of rocking to it this evening as we head out of the channel and to open water for the night where there are fewer icebergs.

Final Steps 13,251