MELCHIOR ISLANDS
NAMESAKE: vice-admiral of the French Navy
DISCOVERY: during the German expedition of 1873/4, charted by French Antarctic Expedition under Charcot
LOCATION: center of Dallmann BayToastions near the center of Dallmann Bay in the Palmer Archipelago along Gerlache Strait at
Anvers Island
• LANDSCAPE: dramatic shoreline of imposing glacier ice cliffs
• FAUNA: various marine life from krill to cetaceans
• LANDMARK: Argentinean base “not Melchior” not currently occupied
Today we enjoyed coffee in our room prior to going out on the Zodiac boat. How exciting to see our first chinstrap penguins and fur seals. And boy oh boy were there plenty of fur seals! Our Zodiac boat driver was working on The Octantis for the first time. Our guide just learned that he would be spending a couple of days in Ushuaia then has been deployed to the sister ship The Polaris traveling up to the Bahamas! He only brought clothes from his home in Argentina for Antarctica. We were all talking to him about what should be on his shopping spree list! When we got near a group of fur seals he was hesitant to go into the bay. He stated that he broke a propeller earlier during the season in this bay, and explained if you were a zodiac driver and you break a propeller, the unofficial rule is you have to buy beer for all of the expedition team. He told us it cost him nearly $300!
Upon returning to our ship, we enjoyed lunch in the world café. And today was chocolate day!! All of the different types of chocolate you could possibly imagine, along with a dark chocolate fountain for dipping fruit and marshmallows in!! We enjoyed lovely pumpkin soup!!
Following lunch we donned our gear for the last time for our last official outing. The Special Operations boat! Wouldn’t you know it, after we’ve been so good at getting dressed we head down to the area where we need to be the boat and we forgot our boxes to listen to the driver. Very nicely, Tom went back to the room. I decided that just walking around the ship in all the gear was exercise in itself!! Plus climbing stairs in the heavy boots is not easy! And I can definitely say I am very thankful that my knees are hardly hurting at all!!
Our fellow passengers are so excited to be on this cruise. It seems like for almost every shore excursion, there are people on the waiting list all geared up sitting there, hoping that somebody doesn’t show up so they can go!! Even though this was one of the last of the trips for this cruise, there were six people waiting to be on our 12 person boat!! Just to get one more ride in!!
Mind you it is snowing outside, there is wind and there’s absolutely freezing. And all these people are anxious to go again even after all these days!!
During the special operations boat ride, we saw several sea caves that we had never seen before. Interesting that there was icicles hanging down from the top of the caves, which made them very unique. We also saw two large icebergs that were that very deep blue color from having the weight of the snow press the air out. They were quite spectacular! Upon returning to our room, we took off all of our gear for the last time. Well, hopefully the last time I hope we don’t need to have the lifevests before we get back to Ushuaia!!
We decided to treat ourselves to a coffee with Baileys in the Living Room to: warm up, relax, review our pictures and write this blog this afternoon!!
We know this is a crazy idea. But at 6 PM we do have an appointment with the future cruise representative on the ship. This has been so incredible and fabulous. We figured we’re already here, we’ve already flown to the bottom of the world. And we have all our clothes. Maybe we could just stay on the boat for the next cruise!!!
As we were sitting here, writing this blog, one gentleman that we have spoken with on the trip just walked by. He’s actually wearing shorts and it is freezing! He is a little crazy and has an iced drink in his hand!!
Next we attended a lecture by the onboard historian on the travels “Belgica – Adrien de Gerlache’s Antartic Dream”. The Belgium explorer who in 1897-9,
attempted to travel to Antarctica. At one point his ship was stuck, frozen in the Antarctic ice. They were frozen in for a year- and they were the first ship frozen into Antarctica and survived! They returned to Belgium and were decorated sailors when they returned!
MAMMALS (there are only two mammals in Antarctica)
1. Seals: Seals are air-breathing and have dense fur coats. Seals have one pup per year and give birth on shore or on ice. All of their feeding takes place underwater and often at night. They are well adapted to aquatic life in polar regions, and their torpedo-shaped bodies are superbly designed for fast underwater travel. There are six species of seals in Antarctica: Weddell, Southern Elephant, Crabeater, Antarctic and sub-Antarctic fur, Leopard, and Ross. During our expedition, we saw mostly leopard, crab eater seals and one weddell on our first day. On Melchior island today we saw fur seals
2. Whales: In Antarctica if you see a dorsal fin, you know it’s a whale as there are no sharks in these waters. More than ten species live in Antarctic waters and are most commonly seen from January through March. Whales spend most of their lives underwater holding their breath, coming to the surface only to restore their oxygen stores. They are carnivorous predators. Types: Orca (killer whales), Humpback, Antarctic Minke, Blue, Fin, Sei, Southern Right, Sperm, Arnoux’s Beaked, Southern Bottlenose, and Hourglass Dolphin. We saw many humpback whales especially while out on the Special Operations Boat, as well as out the Nordic window in our stateroom in Fournier Bay.
Antarctic Botany info only two types of plants:
Enduring Antarctic Hair Grass
Resilient clusters of Antarctic hair grass sprout from the rocky landscape of Antarctica.
These vascular plants are one of only two known species of flowering plants that are native to the southernmost continent. Capable of thriving in harsh, glacial conditions, they are most commonly spotted near the Antarctic Peninsula coastline during summer months. Preferring to grow inside of protected, soil-filled crevices alongside neighboring moss, they are often found close to penguin colonies.
Flowering Antarctic Pearlwort:
During the summer months, uniquely pretty, little yellow flowers blossom from Antarctic Pearlwort (Colobanthus Quitensis). This is one of only two known flowering plants native to Antarctica. Most commonly, they are found growing in tufts along the jagged terrain of the Antarctic Peninsula’s west coast and sub-Antarctic islands where temperatures are milder compared to other parts of the southernmost continent. To help mitigate the effects of the extreme environmental conditions here, they tend to grow closely to one another and nearby other vegetation. They can grow up to 1.9 in (5 cm) in height.
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