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Port Lockroy is literally just round the corner from Dorian Bay, so we would have been hard pushed to have been delayed by fog, even if there had been any. Our Port Lockroy landing is made up of two parts - Jougla Point and Port Lockroy itself.
Jougla Point
Our interest with Jougla Point is that, apart from being a Gentoo penguin rookery, there are also blue-eyed shags nesting there. The penguin nests are piles of stones and they are continually "moving house" by picking up stones from one place and putting them somewhere else.
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There were also remains of whale bones here, some laid out in general whale shape and others at random. Like all other sites we have landed at, the penguins had chicks at various stages of development. It is fascinating just watching these birds and we could do this all day, but it is time to go to the post office on the adjacent island a couple of minutes zodiac ride away.
Port Lockroy
Whilst there is still a Gentoo rookery on this island amongst the buildings, the main reason for coming to this bit is because it is the most southerly British Post Office, so we just HAVE to send our postcards from here. Around the buildings and rookery there are also plenty of Snowy Sheathbill birds, whose staple diet is the guano produced by the penguins, so you often get these birds where you get penguins - hence their nickname "snotty shitbill".
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Last zodiac back at 11.00am, but we are encouraged to get back sooner so that we are ahead of schedule, which we are reluctant to do, of course, but relent. Back on board the tables are laid for an alfresco meal as we sail to Peterman Island, except we don't sail yet, instead we invite the occupants of Port Lockroy to lunch. This result is no longer being ahead of time but about an hour or so behind!
No matter, after lunch the ship sets sail through the Lemaire Channel to Peterman Island. The route down through the channel is much less eventful than the route back so we'll save it for now.
Peterman Island
This was a nice little island and the furthest South we travelled (65 deg 10 min). The island was inhabited by Adelie penguins and Gentoo penguins. There were also some shags around but we didn't encounter them - we should have walked further round to the right! The penguins travel between rookeries by well trodden routes and in the snow these make up quite a network of "roads"
Penguin road system
The sun is shining, the sky is very clear and the cloud around the mountain summits is dispersing - what an idyllic setting. We spent a lot of time watching the penguins. We found the local swimming pool where the guano covered penguins come for a bathe and clean-up. It was great watching their antics in the water and, again, we could have spent ages just watching, but time is limited and we have to make our way back to the ship to begin our trip northwards
This is half of a 360 degree panorama (the mountainous bit) I compiled of the
Island
Lemaire Channel
So what was so good about the way back, well, three things - the weather, the scenery and the pod of 8 killer whales approaching the ship then diving broadside under it - fantastic.
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The channel had icebergs, glaciers and mountainous rock formation - notably "Una's Tits" named by the British Antarctic Survey scientists after a buxom Falkland Islands resident of the 1940s.
A great day today - does it get any better than this?
Continue to Deception Island and Hannah Point
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