History and hot-tubs
Day 7 – 13th January, by Ailsa
Still in Marguerite Bay, the team had an early start to the day with the first surveyors on deck for 7am. Conditions started off relatively calm in the morning but by lunch the wind had picked up with those on effort trying hard to hold on to their hats. Strong winds were accompanied by few sightings, but this did not take away from the scenery and the view of impressive glaciers as we approached land.
The main event of the day was the landing after lunch at Stonington Island, a rocky island located in the east of Marguerite Bay. The island is home to two disused research stations, The American East Base and the British Station E, preserved as historic sites associated with the early and mid-20th Century exploration of Antarctica. Notably, the American base and associated buildings hosted Edith ‘Jackie’ Ronne and Jennie Darlington, the first two women to ever stay in Antarctica over the winter. Access to the historic buildings included a short walk from the boat up a snowy scree covered incline to the top of Anemometer Hill with a breathtaking view of a glacier at the top. Distracted by the glacier, it took us a while to notice a Weddell seal on the snow just in front of us. We were lucky to have a long time to explore the island and the base buildings and witness a small glacier calving. We also took the opportunity to collect more mmicroplastics samples from the snow fields and along the shore, the latter under the watchful eye of a curious leopard seal.
As we were the first group to land, and therefore first back to the ship, we had some time before the vessel started moving and we had to be on deck observing. We made the most of our time off by enjoying the vista from the hot tub on the top deck. We could see the other groups exploring the island and were also able to take in the views of the surrounding glacial and mountainous landscape. As things turned out, a change of plan in the evening meant that ship did not resume movement right away so were not able to survey and could instead relax and enjoy the environment as passengers instead. Before heading to bed a few of us decided to stay up for the midnight sun, a great way to end an eventful day.
