In the afternoon we would first make a trip to Winter Island, part of the Argentine Islands, to visit the Wordy Hut, an old research station that is preserved and now part of the Antarctica list of monuments.We climbed a small hill for views on the entire bay and generally just baked in the sun, it was a lovely day. Some Skuas enjoyed the view as well apparently and were watching us relaxing on the snow.
In the evening we would make a visit to the Ukrainian base Vernadsky. This was formerly a British base were the hole in the ozone layer was first discovered. After the British decided to reduce their stations in Antarctica they sold the base to Ukraine for 1 pound. The other option would have been to dismantle the whole station, nothing is allowed to remain when it is not used anymore.
The station is famous for having the most southern pub in the world were homebrew wodka is being served.The story concerning the pub is funny, when it was still British a load of wood had arrived to build a jetty for easier landings. However the crew decided for a better use and built a pub instead.
However when we arrived, only the third ship this year, we heard that the pub had been closed down due to government orders, probably someone at home had decided this was not good publicity?
When we went to visit Vernadsky our zodiac ran aground at a submerged rock, it took us a while to get afloat again, and only then we saw that just behind our backs some Crabeater seals had been looking at our spectacle all the time.This album here has pictures of the Argentine Islands, The Wordy Hut, Base Vernadsky, Skuas, Crabeater Seals and the Bark Europa.
It has 43 pictures.
click here for the album with thumbnails below
click here for the album with thumbnails on the right side
No comments:
Post a Comment