Antarctica, Port Charcot
Day 6, ship cruise 1; Lemaire Channel
After breakfast on Christmas Eve we set out through the Lemaire Channel, a narrow scenic strait between Booth Island and the Antarctic peninsula. A small extra zodiac trip was also carried out by the ever-obliging Rolf. He'd already suffered through an irate radio call from another vessel which was landing its passengers on the Peninsula at the same time as Sergey's independent continental expedition (the ship's schedules are carefully planned so as to avoid multiple parties landing in the one place) - and now it turned out that the couple who'd previously been taken back to the ship complaining of the cold had missed their landing altogether. I hope they remembered to put more clothes on this time as Rolf zipped them across to the continent and back.
Passing through the Lemaire Channel, we spotted all kinds of fantastic iceberg shapes and colours from the ship's deck. The first sighting of seals lying on icebergs nearby caused much jostling for the best railside position but an hour later Roose had apparently counted 173 and no-one was taking pictures any more. Luckily two minke whales showed up to give us a new wildlife-spotting opportunity - the excitement never waned for long on this trip.
Day 6, landing 1; Port Charcot
The landing at Port Charcot on Booth Island felt for the first time like a proper Antarctic expedition, with snow and a strong cold wind. The welcoming party of blue-eyed shags at the landing point was, as promised by Rolf the night before, very friendly. I think Mark was a little disappointed by the birds though... Having giggled uncontrollably for ten minutes at the prospect of a "friendly blue-eyed shag", the reality must have been sadly lacking.
Gentoo, chinstrap and Adélie penguins all posed together for photographs but my camera battery chose this moment to succumb to the cold and Niall hadn't brought his SLR.
We climbed to the cairn on top of the hill for lovely views over the bay, stepping in one another's footprints in the soft snow and carefully avoiding penguin tracks. I found the buffeting wind exhilarating rather than cold, impervious under layers of Gore-tex and fleece. I could have looked at the view for much longer, although there was nothing particularly unusual to see; no grand buildings, deep fjords or vibrant vegetation that usually make for a great hilltop lookout, just the wild green sea and small icy islands which seemed to suit the weather and bring home the feeling of remoteness.
