We were up at 6am and out on deck soon after - the snow had stopped and the fog largely lifted as the "Ocean Nova" headed down the Antarctic Peninsula and was fast approaching the entry to the Lemaire Channel. The towering ramparts guarding the entrance to this narrow waterway lay just ahead, as we took up position on the snow covered foredeck of the ship.

 

As we emerged from the channel, the sun broke through in patches to shine on the flotilla of icebergs in the broadening waterway.

A little later we reached the Argentine Islands and, after some searching, the ship found a safe anchorage amongst the large floes and bergs in the waters near the Vernadskiy Research Station.

We had arrived here to visit this Ukrainian (and ex-British) Research Station as well as Wordie House, an old British base nearby left as a museum of life in an early Antarctic station. The zodiacs dropped us off on the shore of aptly named Winter Island, a low white dome of snow. We trudged up and over the deep snow of the dome to reach the small timber buildings of Wordie House alongside a narrow, partly frozen channel on its far shore.

The setting of Wordie house on Winter Island

Wordie House is now designated Antarctic Historical Site and Monument No. 62 and it was fascinating to see the old equipment, bunks, stoves and even canned food that tided the researchers over the long Antarctic winters. At 65°15'S latitude, this was the furthest south we would reach on our Antarctic exploration.

We retraced our steps to reboard the zodiacs for a short trip over to Vernadskiy station on the neighbouring Galindez Island. Under its previous British direction as Faraday Base, this station had collected data used to discover the polar ozone hole and measure its seasonal fluctuations. The research workers were waiting to show us how the base operated and the type of research they do, as well as to sell souvenirs and vodka from the bar to those with ready cash!

After our short spell of Ukrainian hospitality, it was back to the ship for lunch as we slowly sailed a few nautical miles northwards to Petermann Island, where a small group of researchers had set up a tented camp to study the populations of gentoo and adelie penguins.

We landed at their base in Port Circoncision, where the French polar explorer, Charcot, had overwintered in 1904.

Red refuge hut and yellow tents of penguin researchers add a splash of colour

Petermann Island is home to the most southerly gentoo colony in Antarctica; one that was increasing in population at the expense of the adelies. As one researcher explained, this was probably due to the warming of the peninsula, which favoured the higher temperature-adapted gentoos.

Hovgaard Island - a night on the snow

Our day was far from over, however; once back on ship we again sailed a few kilometres northward to anchor off Hovgaard Island, a large rounded mountain rising out of the sea, with a snow-covered glacier flowing down toward the north. After dinner, a group of 15 campers and expedition staff headed out in the zodiacs to this northern end of the island to set up our tents on a flattish area of snow alongside the glacier filled channel.

Once our Antarctic home for the night was set up, we wandered up the shin-deep snow of the hill to a broad saddle overlooking the channel to the rugged mountains of the mainland to the east. To the north, behind neighbouring Pleneau Island we could see the blue outline of the "Ocean Nova". We found a rocky outcrop to sit on and enjoy the stillness and silence of this vast white land - just sitting here alone, surrounded by snow, sea, mountains and ice in a pale monochromatic light was one of the highlights of our trip.

We could have stayed until dark, but darkness would never have come! It was close to midnight and the sun was just setting behind the cloud bank when we returned to the campsite to sleep in the curious twilight of an Antarctic summer night.