This afternoon we headed for Port Lockroy for an onshore excursion. Port Lockroy has a British scientific base (Base A) and interestingly a British post office. The tiny island also has a very noisy Gentoo penguin rookery that you can smell a long time before you can actually see it. We arrived a few weeks too early for chicks to have hatched but with almost every available spot taken by nesting birds the island will soon be as crowded as London Bridge station on a Southern Rail strike day.
Gentoos welcoming us to Port Lockroy
The penguins were not bothered by our presence. I think they rather enjoyed putting on a little show while sliding down the penguin highways they have created.
Gentoo penguins keeping their eggs nice and cozy
One of the penguin “highways”
An added bonus was the two lazy Weddell seals sleeping on the ice. Strangely the one was “singing” away – a behaviour normally associated with the mating season. But he seemed happy enough to sing away almost out of merriment.
Our dinner this evening was very exciting – our very first polar BBQ! The kitchen staff had prepared ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers and some of the best pork crackling I have ever tasted. As we sat outside on deck the sun came out. Adrie exclaimed: “Well at least we know the sun is not going to go down on us.” Today is December 21st and the summer solstice – the longest day in the year. Here, just north of the Antarctic Circle, that means 24 hour sun. At 8pm the sun was still so high, this BBQ could have taken been mistaken for taking place in our back garden at lunchtime had it not been for the odd iceberg floating by.
Our very first polar BBQ – complete with gluhwein! Adrie was very happy…
Going back to the room I made the very blasé comment I am most embarrassed about. While looking at the scenery around us I said: “I want to take a photo of this but it will just look like another iceberg.” It was at that moment I realised just how spoilt we are!
As this was the longest day of the year we had to stay up to till 12 to see the midnight sun. Since it was sunny outside, I decided to venture out in my board shorts and sunglasses and hat for a bit of sun tanning. Surprisingly it wasn’t that cold. And we got to spot a few whales. You can’t do that every midnight during the week!
Midnight in Antarctica