Pleneau Island and Lemaire
Some of us wake up early, some wake up to the sound of the rumbling engine. We are relocating. We plan two landings today, the first one at Pleneau Island in the morning and Port Charcot in the afternoon. At the end of the day, we will attempt to get up north through Lemaire Channel again. That is what Terry was exploring this morning. We stopped by the entrance to check the ice situation, and it looked quite positive.
In the meantime, the crew got everything ready for the morning landing. We launched the zodiacs, and Beth with Ricky embarked on the scouting trip. This place is home to a numerous gentoo penguin population scattered all around the place in bigger or smaller rookeries, but quite a large number of them just built their nests all over the place between the rocks. This requires extra care during the landing so we do not disturb them, especially this time of the year when they are either sitting on eggs or already have chicks to look after.
The weather is glorious; the splendor surrounding the island is nothing short of breathtaking. After a short hike up the hill, we can see the rest of the island from all sides. There in the distance, we see the location of our next landing, Port Charcot. A little closer, we see EUROPA drifting in a narrow channel between the island and the continent. Here we observe a rather large number of humpbacks surfacing around the ship and the island. We are not that far from the place we spotted orcas just a couple of days ago. It seems the big mammals like this place.
Part of Pleneau Island has a snow cover, and the snowfield is rather large, giving us another opportunity for a hike. The snow surface is frozen, so we don't leave any footprints behind, and it is an easy walk. Also, despite significant algae coverage, the snow reflects back a huge amount of sunlight, so walking makes us rather warm. There, in the middle of the snowfield, we take even more photographs. The backdrop is absolutely gorgeous, and everybody is having a great time.
With lunchtime approaching, we leave the island with the last two zodiacs making a little detour and checking out some impressive glaciers trapped in the narrow channel. They look rather small from the island, but we are easily deceived. Once coming a little closer with the zodiacs, we can admire their true size. We do not linger for too long. Soon after, we are back on board with zodiacs hoisted and pushing forward to Port Charcot, which seems to be blocked by ice, but we need to get closer to make a call about approaching it.
As we are closing in on Port Charcot, our concerns about the site blockage materialize. There are in fact two icebergs blocking the approach and landing site, so there is no question about the decision to skip this landing. Instead, we are going to take advantage of the good weather and favorable ice conditions in Lemaire Channel, and we are going to cross it again, a great opportunity for more photos, rig climbing, or just resting on the deck and admiring one of Mother Nature's finest creations. Things get even better at 16:00 when hot chocolate is served on the deck.
In the meantime, Beth is getting ready with the FjordPhyto citizen science project that has been very popular amongst us a few days ago, except we have nice weather on our side today. The deck is still sunlit, and it is really enjoyable being outside today. At 5:30, the first group heads out just south of Wiencke Island to take samples and conduct other citizen science activities. Having done one round of the FjordPhyto project at Orne Harbour, we had learned the system and were much more efficient at the tasks this time. Everybody is very engaged and excited. Soon after the first group is back, the second one heads out. The weather is still nice, and everything goes smoothly. Now it is time to properly store the samples and evaluate those that can be evaluated immediately.
In the meantime, dinner is getting prepared, and with the zodiac out of the water and on the deck, Terry turns on the engine, and we head towards Port Lockroy, which is going to be our night anchorage.
Once more, everyone was out on deck and enjoying the sun as we entered into the bay at Port Lockroy. The staff of the base waved in the setting sun as we entered the silent bay, with glassy calm waters and surrounding mountains piled precariously with snow.
Then the engines went off.
