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Day 36, Saturday, March 1 2025 - At Sea (Bellinghausen Sea)
Thanks Joanne Ruch for the text description on our 4 day Antarctica adventure!
Mar 2, 2025. Antarctica, Day 1 of 4. Here are a few fun facts about Antarctica.
There are 4 poles.
1. Geographic South Pole is the most famous. One sunrise and one sunset each year.
2. Magnetic South Pole moves around
3. Geomagnetic South Pole is relied on by navigation
4. South Pole of inaccessibility.
Vostok station. -128.6 degrees F is the coldest temperature recorded on July 21, 1983. Researchers at this station found lakes beneath 2.2 miles of ice.
Windiest continent on the planet. Very dry and cold. Highest wind speed recorded was in 1972 at 199 mph.
Antartica contains 70% of the earths fresh water. If it would all melt, the sea level would rise 200 feet around the world. That would be a good time to be on a cruise ship!!
Antarctica is surrounded by the southern ocean and is very wild. Drake passage has the largest recorded waves on the planet. 25-30 meters high. We sailed across it to get to Antarctica and were lucky with only 6 meter swells.
We will explore the area over the next 4 days. Day 1 we went to Palmer Station which is the smallest US station and has a max of 40 people during the summer and 20 people in the winter. Then we sailed into the Lemaire Channel where the captain took us up close to several icebergs and glaciers. We saw Gatoo Penguins, fur seals, and humpback whales. We only went halfway into the channel before we had to turn around due heavy ice.
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