Day 14
For breakfast, we enjoyed a mixed fruit salad with pastries from the
L’Austral ship. Clemens flew the drone from the zodiac over the glacier.
We then left Skontorp Cove and headed for the Lemaire Channel.
It was an overcast day. There were low-hanging clouds as we went through
the Lemaire Channel. There was a lot of ice. We saw penguins and seals.
We went about three-quarters of the way around Booth Island and anchored
in Charcot Bay. It was snowing lightly. There were gentoo penguins on shore.
We traveled a total of about 45 miles.
Munira made ginger beef with vegetables for dinner. Susan made a berry
crumble for dessert. Lori learned how to make whipped cream with the
power drill.
Day 15
We hiked to the historical cairn at the top of Booth Island. Most of the
way was covered with snow. We saw many gentoo penguins along the way. It
was overcast in the morning with light snow. The sun came out in the
early afternoon.
Calypso made calamari in a tomato, olive, and eggplant sauce. It was
served with polenta. We enjoyed Lindt 70% dark chocolate afterwards.
Clemens and Mary went kayaking in the afternoon. Others went on a zodiac
ride. Saw penguins and seals. Even saw a penguin and a seal basking in
the sun together on an iceberg.
Munira and Francoise made rotilli pasta with tomato base sauce and
meatballs.
Clemens went out near midnight to photograph in the setting sun and
captured the pinkish lavender sky with moon.
Day 16
Susan made cinnamon toast to go with the mixed fruit salad for
breakfast. We left Charcot Bay afterwards. It was sunny and bright with
blue skies.
We arrived near Palmer Station about 2:00 pm. It was about 20 miles.
For lunch we had veggie cream soup with peas and parmesan cheese with
potato chips.
We hiked on Old Palmer Island in the afternoon and watched elephant
seals. There was a juvenile male who made a lot of noise causing the
other seals to give way. We watched them for hours.
Munira made stuffed roasted tomatoes with rice for dinner. Francoise
baked an apple tart for dessert which we had with vanilla and dulce de
leche ice cream. Lori finally finished the last bit of ice cream with
the encouragement of the rest of the crew who were happy to watch her
eat it.
We anchored in Arthur Harbour.
Day 17
After breakfast of toast this morning we visited Palmer Station, one of
three permanent U.S. Antarctic stations. Station Manager Bob gave us a
nice tour of the facility, including some of the living area – dining
area, kitchen, lounge, gym, bar, recreation room with billiards,
ping-pong, and movie screen. There are 41 people currently living at
Palmer. Maximum capacity is 45 people. We enjoyed fantastic white
chocolate butterscotch cookies and fresh fruit.
In the afternoon we went ashore at Torgersten Island opposite Palmer
Station. We saw lots of adelie penguins. Skies were overcast. It started
to lightly snow.
We returned to anchor in Arthur Harbor for the night.
Clemens, Munira, Susan, Mary, Phillip, Francoise, Lori