South American and Antarctic Adventure! Volume II: Zaandam Cruise, Part IX: Neumayer Channel and Palmer Station

December 28th:

We spent the night out in the Bellingshausen Sea, and the next morning went to the south side of Anvers Island to pick up some scientist from Palmer Station.

The Zaandam then attempted to enter the Lemaire Channel, but there was too much ice. The Captain and our Expedition Team decided to cruise through Neumayer Channel (located between Anvers Island and Wiencke Island) instead. Safety first!

[Purple line]

Our spot in the Crows Nest was occupied so we hung out on the Lido deck, which worked out fine since that's where the buffet is :-)

Josh spent the ENTIRE day up on deck (he's one tough Wisconsin boy!) taking pictures and I would join him every so often.

[Mom and Theo taking in the view from the Lido Deck]

[The temperature was usually around freezing during the day, which wasn't too bad until the wind started blowing!]

[In the Neumayer Channel]

[Another ship! I think there was a station in that little cove.]

[Humpback whale]

We had been seeing penguins in the water since we were in Chile, but, like I said before, they are FAST, so it's hard to see them. We had our first iceberg penguin sighting in Neumayer Channel and I was freaking out!

[Gentoo penguin party!]

[Aren't they SO CUTE?!]

The Palmer Station scientist gave a presentation on their work in Antarctica. 

Palmer Station was opened in 1968 and was named for Nathaniel B. Palmer, the first American to see Antarctica. The Station is staffed year round and during the summer there are 40-46 people there, but during the winter it drops to 15-20 people. Most of the researchers at the station are there to study marine biology, but they also study the atmosphere and heliophysics. 

[Sail boat]

[Our geologist, Bryan, told us what these green rocks were, but I wrote that information on my other map that was thrown out :-( If I was to guess, I would say it was copper, right?]

[Swiss cheese iceberg]

[Right in the middle of the picture is a small penguin colony. You can spot them by looking for the pink snow surrounding the exposed rocks. Most penguins nest on rock and the snow is turned pink by the penguin poop, which is pink because they eat krill.]

[Sleeping whale]

After cruising through Neumayer Channel, we headed back towards Palmer Station so we could drop the scientist off.

That night the sun went down at 12:11 AM and came back up at 1:45 AM!