Port Lockroy, St Valentine’s Day
During this voyage along the Antarctic Peninsula we have experienced all types of conditions. Sunshine, fog, haze, clouds, rain, sleet, snow, stillness, a little wind, some wind, and today; a lot of wind! Our morning would be spent at the converted and refurbished British Base A, known as Port Lockroy. It is a protected inlet that whalers used some 100 years ago to flense their catch in relative ease. During World War II the British built the first of over 20 bases here that would be used as weather and research facilities. We had visited Detaille Island (Base W) earlier in the voyage. The British Antarctic Heritage Trust was set up to take in funds through the sale of gift shop items and postage at Port Lockroy to help fund other restoration projects along the Antarctic Peninsula. The restoration job was well done and you could almost feel what it would have been like in the 1950’s as the young British men went about their daily lives.
It was our last landing in Antarctica so we took it all in as the winds increased and began to loft the millions of shed feathers from molting penguins on shore. Once the boats were lifted the National Geographic Explorer made her way out of Port Lockroy and into the fierce teeth of the incoming gale. The captain skirted the island as long as possible before we ventured out in the Drake Passage where even given the wind and seas the ship handled it well as she was built for the wild southern seas.
