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| Zodiac in Hope Bay |
Today is December 21, and at home it is the winter solstice and the longest night of the year. Because we're in the southern hemisphere, we are experiencing the summer solstice. For us, this means the shortest night of the year, again. While we won't have 24 hours of daylight, it will probably be at least 20-21 hours. Fortunately, we have blackout curtains in our room so it isn't impacting our sleep.
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| Tabular icebergs |
We had another fantastic weather day today with lots of sunshine and blue skies. This morning, we did a zodiac cruise of Hope Bay. The bay still had icy sections which we cruised through, and we could see the large, flat, tabular icebergs from the Weddell Sea. We saw Adelie penguins which are the third major breed of penguins found in Antarctica.
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| Adelie penguins "porpoise-ing" |
The other major highlight of our tour of Hope Bay was seeing one of the permanent research stations in Antartica. Esperanza is the largest station operated by Argentina with 50 year-round inhabitants and 100 or more in the summer. Our guide told us that it is a family station meaning researchers can live there with their children, and there is actually a school with two teachers.
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| Adelie penguins |
Before COVID, it was sometimes possible to visit a research station, but that was stopped and likely won't resume.
Another great morning in Antarctica with an additional zodiac landing scheduled for this afternoon. Not sure what we'll get to see, but we know it's going to be fantastic.
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| Esperanza Station |
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