This morning we sailed through the Neumayer Channel to Port Lockroy at 07:00.
That meant getting up early, but it was worth it. A very beautiful landscape of icebergs and the weather couldn’t have been better.
Afterwards we had a leisurely breakfast. Today was the first trip with the Zodiac. That meant putting on the red jacket, life jacket and wellies for the first time. My group, the “Humpack Whales”, was the fifth of twelve. We were ready about 30 minutes before departure because we didn’t want to miss the trip. Everyone also tested how long it would take to get everything on. Long underwear, woollen socks, woollen jumper, winter hiking trousers, rain trousers over them, thin down jacket, then a red jacket over that, wellies, life jacket and of course a woolly hat on your head. Sunglasses with polarising filters and the camera were a must, of course. I should mention that I got faster and faster as time went on. After the first trip, I bought some gloves in the on-board shop so that I could use both my mobile phone and the camera.
It was the first round trip around the ship.
We travelled to Port Lockroy and looked at everything from the water. But we weren’t allowed on land.
Two curious penguins also came to say hello.
We also saw two seals during the tour. You had to look closely at the seals because you could have mistaken them for stones.
After returning to the ship, everyone had to disinfect their wellies by going through a disinfectant bath.
My group was still lucky with the Zodiac trip. We had very nice weather with lots of sunshine, but shortly before the end clouds gathered and five minutes before we returned to the ship it started to snow and there was a lot of wind. This is normal in Antarctica, the weather can change very quickly. Now we had to take off our life jackets, jackets, wellies and rain trousers and then we went for lunch. We had a short time after lunch and I took the opportunity to relax a little. Before we went ashore, I went past the souvenir shop at the UK research station in Port Lockroy. You can adopt penguins, buy T-shirts, sweatshirts, postcards, stamps, magnets, stickers and various other things. I reserved all my purchases. After returning from the landing, I then collected and paid for everything.
Each group only had a certain amount of time to go ashore. This had to do with the fact that only a certain number of people were allowed to stay ashore. So some groups were already coming back when we arrived.
Of course, my flag, which was specially made for this trip, couldn’t be missing. But it was very windy, so I couldn’t display it properly on my own. First Krislin (nice tour guide bottom left) helped me and then my group of three (top left) also wanted a photo. The flag was a hit :-).
We saw a lot of penguins.
The weather was beautiful and of course the ship had to be photographed.
There were lots of penguins and even a bird to see. The penguin in the top left of the picture below had been watching us closely and who knows what he was thinking :-). We were allowed to approach the penguins up to the flag cross. Five metres away from the animals is the rule.
Here is a short video of the return journey to the ship.
Once we were back on board, we still had time to listen to the presentation about the Port Lockroy research station.
Then we went to the a la carte restaurant in Lindstrøm. We had reserved a table there for 18:30. A 3-course menu with a glass of wine cost €25.
At 8.30 pm, the preview of the programme for the next day was announced. The weather forecast for tomorrow was bad, so the camping trip and the second kayak trip would not take place.
The weather was nice again and the sea was calm, so after the event I decided to use the swimming pool and whirlpool and relax a little with a marvellous view.
Day 6 was already over.