Goodbye Antarctica

13 January 2014

When we arrived yesterday at the entrance of Neumayer Channel it was completely closed up with ice. Blue ice mountains, as big as a house, growlers (deep ice pieces as big as a car), sea ice of about 1 meter thick and all sorts of small and big lumps, as we started to call them. No way of going through that so we sailed via Gerlache Strait to the north side of Neymayer channel and there we entered. We had some ice here and there and in two spots we really had to push against some ice, but luckily we were able to reach Port Lockroy.
When we sailed out the ice was almost gone, but the watch on the lookout did spot some dangerous growlers. Our destination was the Melchior Islands. A landing there is not possible but we can make a tour with the dinghy through very narrow channels. Unfortunately the weather changed and it started to snow, not the best kind of weather for a sightseeing tour. Due to the forecast for the coming days we decided to start our voyage back to Ushuaia over the Drake Passage. We can use the extra time, because the forecast predicts strong winds from the northwest. For now it is still ok. The snow has turned into rain and we prepare the ship for the ocean.