On the morning of January 21, 2016, the members aboard National Geographic Orion woke up with navigation through the Gerlache Strait. This passage meanders through ice and islands to take us south, ultimately towards our afternoon destination, Palmer Station. Through the morning the expedition staff led with educational lectures and helpful tips on camera gear. Late morning the group aboard enjoyed a special treat from the galley: Frühschoppen! Frühschoppen is a German tradition involving copious bratwurst and libations for all.
After lunch, the ship arrived at Palmer Station, an American research station on the Antarctic Peninsula. Adjacent to the station is Torgersen Island, a low lying island with a wide variety of wildlife. Adelie penguins patrol the beach with their young, spending ever more time out at sea as the chicks age. Of course this means the greatest land predator of the brushtail penguins, the skua, is also a strong influence on this beach. Skuas are able to not only take penguins when they’re unborn, in eggs, but are also sufficient predators of young hatched chicks. This is a tough world for the young birds, and only the strongest survive.
An informative and humorous recap led to a delicious dinner, but wait, the day isn’t over yet! After dinner all the members aboard the ship bundled up once again and headed out to bear the frigid cold of the Antarctic. A Zodiac cruise through the Hidden Passage, a narrow channel which empties into the Lemaire Channel would finish out as a night cap. This channel is not well known, it idles through magnificent and stark cliff walls and over the ocean’s frozen uppermost layer. The Zodiacs slowly carved a path in the freezing seawater, following each other in a lazy snaking line that enabled everyone to experience the exceptional beauty as much as any one person could. At the end of the passage, what else but the hotel boat awaited, with mulled wine for a quick warm-up as the group was shuttled back to the ship. Another day in the Southern Ocean ended as a great success, and after a few hours in bed the next is sure to follow.
