Port Lockroy and Melchior Isl, Fri. Nov. 30, 2007

Strange: there is always sadness on departure. It is as if i cannot, after all, bear to leave this bleak waste of ice, glaciers, cold and toil. Fridtjof Nansen
Gratefully, Jamie woke us from our cold restless sleep at 5:00 am. After packing up our gear, Brandon and Jill arrived with Zodiacs to return us to the ship for a few hours of comfortable warm sleep before breakfast. Port Lockroy, a museum, post office and souvenir shop, located in an old British antarctic Survey hut, was our first stop today. It was great fun chatting with the personnel that ran the site. Postcards mail from here take from 3 weeks to 3 months depending on when the next mail ship comes through. Being of British decent, I found the museum quite interesting. Many of the products on the shelves were those I had grown up with as a child. I also had a chuckle reading the instructions for bathing. Years ago, whaling was a prosperous occupation in the Antarctic. Many old whale bones can be found in this particular area.








After lunch we were encouraged to begin securing our belongings for the trip back across the Drake Passage. Being now familiar with the conditions in the Drake, I willingly followed the instructions. The evening was spent watching the movie "Shackleton". Having ventured onto the Antarctic Continent, I now have a sincere respect for the men who braved this continent with much less knowledge and fewer comforts than we had.