We spend 4 nights in the pleasant anchorage of Lagoon Island in the company of our noisy and smelly neighbors; the elephant seals. We better understand the usefulness of earplugs during our visit to the small refuge on the island; an annex of the British base Rothera located 2 miles from the anchorage. We take advantage of these few days to walk around the small surrounding islands, including Anchorage Island, from the summit of which (57 meters…) the purity of the air allows us to glimpse Alexander Island 80 miles to the south! Some occupants of the Rothera base come to greet us, and upon returning from one of our little excursions ashore, friendly gifts await us on the deck of Libertaire. On Monday, January 29, we weigh anchor to reach Horseshoe Island 25 miles to the southwest; skirting the south of Pourquoi Pas Island, we cross a slightly denser ice zone, and with the residual swell from the katabatic winds of the region, a growler hits our depth sounder, damaging the transducer… The only part we don’t have a spare of; so we will continue our journey the old-fashioned way with our little manual depth sounder….
The anchorage of Sally Cove on Horseshoe Island is cluttered with icebergs, so we anchor outside. We disembark to visit the old British scientific base dating from the 1950s, which is very well preserved; we imagine the life of the early explorers!
The next day we set off for Red Rock Ridge 30 miles to the south; the anchorage is splendid, we reunite with our friends the Adélie penguins, and the view of Marguerite Bay with the lights of the great south is magnificent. In the distance, at the edge of the ice pack, we glimpse Terra Firma Island, where the only flowers of Antarctica are said to grow. Unfortunately, given the inaccuracy of the maps here and the absence of a depth sounder, we judge it safer not to go further south; so for this year we will remain at 68°17 degrees South; we are already so happy to have made it this far! Moreover, a gust of wind with 50 knots forecasted by Red Rock for the end of the week also motivates us to head north on Wednesday morning.
On the way, we stop at the Argentine base San Martin, and barely anchored, we are invited for lunch. We are royally welcomed, and the 22 military personnel are very attentive to Nina and Diane; we are their first visitors in 11 months. We spend the afternoon in their company; they make sure we lack nothing and want to give us everything (but we need nothing except a new depth transducer...). We finally leave with our arms full of cakes, candies, chocolate, and even wine; their generosity and kindness are touching!
We arrive at Lagoon Island at night; the full moon above the snowy peaks watches over Libertaire.
We have been back at Lagoon Island for 3 days now, the blue sky has returned, and our walks are even more beautiful: the little skuas have hatched, and we have been able to observe some fur seals. We also receive some occupants of the British base on board who replenish our chocolate reserves…
According to the next ice chart, which is updated every Monday; we will leave Marguerite Bay via the Gullet Passage or the west of Adelaide Island with the southwest wind forecasted for next week.