Le Boreal -Thursday February 2nd, 2012. Antarctica – Port
Lockroy and Bryde Island
by Patty Hostiuck.
Yesterday’s picture-postcard sunny weather yielded this morning to a wintry tempest.
We saw for ourselves that even in high summer it can snow in the Antarctic Peninsula.
Anchored off Goudier Island for the morning’s activities at Port Lockroy, Le Boreal
bobbed in the wavelets kicked up by a unrelenting 30-knot wind that at times gusted to
45. The zodiac ride to the island was a wild, wet one as we sped into the wind clutching
our credit cards, salt spray pelting our faces.
While we sheltered inside Bransfield House to visit the museum and mail our postcards,
just outside, gentoos chicks simply put their backs to the storm, snow adhering to their
downy coats. Yesterday’s heat and sunshine probably caused them more distress than
today’s blizzard. Outdoor photography in these conditions was almost impossible but a
favorite subject was the horizontal snow blowing past the front door of the historic hut,
snapped safely from inside the foyer. It is often said that a day in Antarctica can display
all four seasons, but yesterday’s warm sunshine, blissful blue skies and mirror-like waters
could not have contrasted more with today’s weather. Yet our intrepid expedition staff,
many of whom have withstood 15 or more summer seasons here, took it all in stride, just
another day in paradise, their backs to the wind just like the penguins.
The wind continued unabated during lunch, adding suspense to our afternoon’s plans.
“Expedition afternoon”, Marco called it. The goal was to locate a sheltered bay out of the
wind and waves to stage a zodiac cruise. Finally a quiet little glacier cove was selected
on Bryde Island, just the other side of Paradise Bay, where ironically the day before we
had soaked up the sun, slathered on sunscreen and sledded down the steep slope.
Up ‘til now the zodiacs had only ferried us from ship to shore and back, but this was a
chance to spend more time in these sturdy rubber boats captained by expedition staff,
officers and cadets. Our zodiac tour gave us the chance to photograph brilliant blue
crevasses up close, inspect ice arches and tunnels and circumnavigate bergy bits.
Wildlife was sparse but interesting—a few Wilson’s storm-petrels, cape petrels, gentoo
penguins, skuas, cormorants and even a half-dozen crabeater seals surfacing next to a
grounded bergy bit, possibly scouting out a convenient landing ramp to haul out for an
icy nap.
The water color too was interesting—milky green inside the glacier cove due to minute
particles of rock eroded by the ice, dark blue out in Gerlache Strait. The boundary where
the two types of water met formed a strikingly crisp line and several storm-petrels
fluttered along this border, curious about its meaning and hoping for food. As the last
zodiac returned to the marina, snowfall grew heavier and visibility dimmed. Perfect
timing?