Dernière journée en Antarctique; eh oui, c’est déjà la fin de cette merveilleuse croisière dans les mers australes! Nous avons la tête remplie de beaux souvenirs d’une région extraordinaire avec des paysages majestueux et une faune unique d’oiseaux, de manchots, d’otaries et de phoques.
Pour notre dernier débarquement, nous avons visité Port Lockroy, le site historique d’une ancienne base britannique. Le petit musée était intéressant et montrait la vie quotidienne du personnel de cette base de la fin des années 40. La petite île de Goudier est aussi envahie par quelques colonies de manchots papous; il était fascinant de les voir se déplacer sur leurs “autoroutes”. Nous étions très proches des manchots donc ce fut agréable de les observer pour une dernière fois. Cet arrêt fut assez court et les vents forts ont donné une dernière promenade en zodiac assez mouvementée.
Après cet arrêt, le capitaine s’est dirigé vers le passage Lemaire, classé comme un des plus beaux de l’Antarctique. Cependant, nous n’avons pas pu l’emprunter car il était bloqué par les glaces. En revanche, une belle éclaircie a donné un éclairage très spectaculaire à l’endroit. C’était une belle façon de terminer le séjour en Antarctique.
Last day in Antarctica; yes, it’s already the end of this wonderful cruise in the southern seas! Our heads are filled with beautiful memories of an extraordinary region with majestic landscapes and a unique fauna of birds, penguins, sea lions and seals.
For our final landing, we visited Port Lockroy, the historic site of a former British base. The small museum was interesting and showed the daily life of the personnel of this base of the late 1940s. The small island of Goudier is also invaded by a few colonies of Gentoo penguins; it was fascinating to see them moving on their “highways”. We were very close to the penguins so it was nice to watch them one last time. This stop was quite short and the strong winds made for a rather eventful last zodiac ride.
After this stop, the captain headed for the Lemaire channel, classified as one of the most beautiful in Antarctica. However, we couldn’t take it because it was blocked by ice. On the other hand, a beautiful clearing gave a very spectacular lighting to the place. It was a nice way to end our stay in Antarctica.
Autour / Around Goudier Island
Goudier Island – Port Locroy
Lemaire Channel
Goudier Island & Lemaire Channel (14 décembre / december 2022)
[Auteur/Author: Pierre & Suzanne]
Les voyages de Suzanne & Pierre 
Quel voyage !💙💜
Merci Christine. Ce fut effecitvement un voyage merveilleux et une expérience d’une vie.
Spectacular ending indeed! Love the penguins by the little red house.
Thanks Mel. It was indeed the trip of a lifetime and the penguins were very active on that small island…and they were fun to watch though, once again, the smell was quite overpowering. We aren’t sure how the small staff could deal with it on a daily basis though one of them told us that you get use to it but that they have to throw out all of their clothes once they got back to England at the end of the season.
A fantastic series, thanks for sharing your trip with us!
Thanks Eliza. Glad you enjoyed coming along with us on this cruise. It was a trip of a lifetime and, in fact, we would love to go back…
I am going to miss Antarctica! Thank you for the tour.
Thanks Jacqui. We miss it too and we would love to go back…So next is our trip through Chile. It will take a few days before we get started on that trip.
Although I am looking forward to your photos from Chile, I have a feeling that nothing will beat the scenes from Antarctica.
You are totally right. There will be a few regions with great mountains but in general it wasn’t as spectacular as the cruise.
Aw, will miss my regular fix of icebergs and penguins!
Thanks Anabel. Well, everything has to end eventually. We also are missing our regular fix of icebergs and penguins. We wish we were still there…
Spectacular!
Thanks for your note. It was indeed. The whole of Antarctica was spectacular.
What a wonder-filled trip you had! Thank you for sharing your impressions and photos, which I enjoyed a lot.
Thanks for your note and glad you enjoyed coming along with us. It was indeed the experience of a lifetime. We simply loved it.