Position at 08.00: 64°46.6'S, 063°27.1'W. Weather: ENE 9/10; Snow; Rough sea; ‐2°C. Neumayer Channel - Gerlache Strait - Neko Harbour. Early this morning we awake in Port Lockroy. As the wind has picked up during the night, the Captain decided to manoeuvre the ship into the shelter of Port Lockroy. By dawn the weather has not improved at all: Gray skies, low clouds, hard wind and horizontal snow unfortunately make the otherwise very scenic Neumayer Channe...

Position at 08.00: 65°07.7'S, 064°03.3'W Weather: NE 4; Clear; Smooth sea; +1°C. Lemaire Channel - Vernadsky Station - Petermann Island - Pleneau Island. Pablo's music and his 'Good morning' wakeup call rouse us from our slumber for the second time this trip, and it is just in time for us to dress warmly and make our way out on deck. The reason? We are making our way down the Lemaire Channel; a narrow ice strewn channel enclosed by towering cloud draped...

Day 4 - Saturday, 23rd March 2013 Position at 08.00: 63°55.9'S, 061°09.0'W Weather: SW 7; Clear; Rough sea; 0°C. Cierva Cove - Wilhelmina Bay (story partially by Yolly) After braving the Drake Passage for two days we are finally in Antarctica and it is time to go and explore! Our first contact with the white continent is to be a zodiac cruise at Cierva Cove. This is also the location of the Argentine Base Primavera. The bright orange buildings of the bas...

Day 3 - En route to Antarctica Position at 08.00: 60°09.4'S, 062°23.4'W. Weather: NW 7; Overcast; Very rough sea; +3°C. We wake up in the morning with rocking seas… again… Fortunately the swell is on our back and is as such not slowing us down; instead it is pushing us on our way south. After breakfast we adjourn in the lounge where Pablo conducts a compulsory International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) briefing. This covers such t...

Day 2 - Thursday, 21st March 2013. Position at 8:00: 55°49.4'S, 065°48.4'W. Weather: N 7; Clear; Rough sea; +7°C. At sea - En route to Antarctica (Story by Yolly) With a rough Drake Passage forecast we all wake up tentatively, unsure of the seas that will be greeting us this morning. Fortunately we have been spared the worst, but as the day progresses there are a few lively waves keeping us on our toes - or not as the case may be. Those of us who succumb t...