Sunday 22 November 2015

Arctowski scientific station & Half Moon Island

This journey to and along the Antarctic Peninsula is – first and foremost – about penguins and ice, a lot of ice. Today, we made an exception and visited the Polish scientific station of Arctowski on King George Island. At the moment, 24 people are working and living in the station, which is open year round. We were welcomed in their home in the most hospitable way, with coffee, tea and cookies. The station is visited on average only once a month, so the staff was very happy to tell about their daily life. Outside the station, we could also enjoy some wildlife, with Gentoo and Adelie penguin colonies just around the corner, and elephant seals laying on the beaches.
Picture by Johannes C. Apon

Picture by Johannes C. Apon

Picture by Johannes C. Apon

In the afternoon, we steamed further south-west to Half Moon Island, to visit the Chinstrap penguin colonies. This tiny 2-kilometer-long half-moon shaped island is squeezed in between the two much larger islands of Livingston and Greenwich, which create some of the most stunning backgrounds you can imagine. It’s a perfect location for snowshoe hiking. Guides Johannes and Tessa took 20 guests to a viewpoint to enjoy the scenery, composed of ice berg filled seas, and glacier topped mountains rising straight out of the ocean.

Picture by Johannes C. Apon

Picture by Johannes C. Apon