Lemaire Channel, Booth Island
In the early morning, under a low gray sky, we transited the Lemaire Channel. Considered one of the most scenic spots on the Antarctic Peninsula, this narrow passage is our gateway to the south. We cruised past glaciers cascading down near vertical slopes to the ocean and once through the narrow southern entrance continued to our anchorage at Booth Island where we spent the morning.
Walkers went ashore while others boarded Zodiacs to explore the shallow bay between Booth and Pleaneau Islands. This is an area where large icebergs often ground and ice dominated the scene during the Zodiac cruises. Large icebergs that break off from continental ice-shelves, sometimes tens of kilometres long, can be tracked by satellite. They are given numbers and their demise is monitored as they drift around the Southern Ocean and gradually break up. But smaller icebergs are too numerous to be tracked, so there is no way of knowing how old these icebergs are or from whence they came.
Each individual piece of ice is a unique sculpture formed by wind and water. Every iceberg is continually melting and breaking up, turning and rolling as it does so. There is no symmetry in an old iceberg. As the angle of view changes so does the appearance of the iceberg. Viewed from one side it can be a sheer cliff of ice 60 feet high. Come around a corner and a previously unseen arch may appear, or a penguin or seal may be hauled out on a shelf close to the water level. Come back tomorrow and you will see a different scene as wind and currents move the ice to a fresh location or as the iceberg continues to melt and die it will roll again or break into smaller pieces.
Later in the day we continued our passage to the south. Just before ten o’clock we crossed the Antarctic Circle at 66º 33.6’S. This was the first time this Antarctic season that this ship has made it this far south. And our journey south does not end here. As darkness fell we continued to push our way south, and we went to sleep wondering where we will be when the morning comes.
In the early morning, under a low gray sky, we transited the Lemaire Channel. Considered one of the most scenic spots on the Antarctic Peninsula, this narrow passage is our gateway to the south. We cruised past glaciers cascading down near vertical slopes to the ocean and once through the narrow southern entrance continued to our anchorage at Booth Island where we spent the morning.
Walkers went ashore while others boarded Zodiacs to explore the shallow bay between Booth and Pleaneau Islands. This is an area where large icebergs often ground and ice dominated the scene during the Zodiac cruises. Large icebergs that break off from continental ice-shelves, sometimes tens of kilometres long, can be tracked by satellite. They are given numbers and their demise is monitored as they drift around the Southern Ocean and gradually break up. But smaller icebergs are too numerous to be tracked, so there is no way of knowing how old these icebergs are or from whence they came.
Each individual piece of ice is a unique sculpture formed by wind and water. Every iceberg is continually melting and breaking up, turning and rolling as it does so. There is no symmetry in an old iceberg. As the angle of view changes so does the appearance of the iceberg. Viewed from one side it can be a sheer cliff of ice 60 feet high. Come around a corner and a previously unseen arch may appear, or a penguin or seal may be hauled out on a shelf close to the water level. Come back tomorrow and you will see a different scene as wind and currents move the ice to a fresh location or as the iceberg continues to melt and die it will roll again or break into smaller pieces.
Later in the day we continued our passage to the south. Just before ten o’clock we crossed the Antarctic Circle at 66º 33.6’S. This was the first time this Antarctic season that this ship has made it this far south. And our journey south does not end here. As darkness fell we continued to push our way south, and we went to sleep wondering where we will be when the morning comes.
