15th January 2024
Paradise Harbour
The ship’s alarm call was at 5.15am for an early breakfast with disembarkation starting at 6.30am.
We remember Paradise Harbour from our last visit: the steep climb up in the snow and the bride and groom, posing for pictures in their wedding outfits below. So this time we opted to kayak in Skontorp Cove.
The sky was blue and the sun shining. We paddled along the coast line of steep cliffs full of imperial shags and some arctic tern, circling high. Then we reached the cove, surrounded by mountains, glaciers and icebergs.
We all stopped paddling for a few minutes to soak up the noise of the great snow glaciers groaning and hear avalanches on land. It is such a beautiful and tranquil place in the summer…definitely Paradise.
After everyone was back aboard, the ship sailed through the Neumayer Channel before coming across a pod of orca. They swam so close to the ship we could photograph them swimming underwater! They seemed to be goading some humpbacks.
Port Lockroy
After lunch, we moored just off Port Lockroy, going ashore at Jougla Point to enjoy the Gentoos and their chicks, blue-eyed shags with their chicks, a crabeater seal, ignoring the visitors, and huge whale skeletons. It was unbelievably warm in the sun – we were definitely over-cautious in our layering!
We came back on-board to visit the Port Lockroy ‘shop’ and post box, where Lynne took the opportunity to post a card to her mum. We received a presentation from two of the seven summer inmates of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, based at Port Lockroy, which is currently unable to accept visitors. The rest of the team were occupied in taking delivery of supplies from our ship.
The team remain in primitive accommodation for five months on a tiny island, without their own dingy, relying on passing ships for household supplies and merchandise to sell to passing tourists. They work for a charity responsible for the upkeep of British historical sites across Antarctica. Their most recent endeavour is involved in determining how best to care for Shackleton’s sunken Endeavour, which was only discovered last year.
Leaving Antarctica
The sail from Port Lockroy back up the Neumayer Channel was beautiful, with the sun gleaming on the snow, ice and calm waters.
Then we finally rounded Anvers Island and headed out to sea, picking up speed as we left whale territory.
After dinner, We both went to the stern of the ship for our last views of the big White Continent. We were emotional as we saw this most precious of places disappearing behind us. We had made a commitment not to visit the Peninsular again, because we feel that renewing our footprint on such a fragile environment would be selfish of us.
