Petermann Island & Palmer Station – February 22

Today was our last day in the Antarctic and it was a great day. We started furthest south at Petermann Island and ended at Palmer Station in Arthur Harbor. Each ship gets one visit per year to Palmer Station (a US research station), and this was our time. All of the staff got a chance to go ashore and do the tour (and shop in the gift shop!). It was very interesting and the people were really nice. There were about 60 people at the station, and about 30 of them spend the winter. The station was surrounded by glaciers and there was a lot of ice in the area with some huge icebergs. I have attached a photo of a zodiac next to a large iceberg for some perspective.

During the afternoon, because of the timing of the groups going ashore, I had about an hour to play on my own in the zodiac. It was amazing, especially because it was our last landing of the season. Being alone in the zodiac is wonderful, and I got to do a lot of exploring. I found a wallow (group) of Elephant Seals and spent some time watching a Crabeater Seal on an iceberg. I also floated around in the brash ice and wondered what it would be like to see the area in the winter frozen in. All in all, I took the opportunity to reflect on my experience here. It truly is a magical place with a pull that I can not describe. The other naturalists speak of becoming addicted to Antarctica - I now understand.


Massive Icebergs in Arthur Harbor