Finally, I am able to browse through my Antarctica images. It is wonderful to relive the trips through the images, but also a daunting task to bring them in order...;-)
One by one I will introduce you to all my favorite places on the Antarctic peninsula.
This time: Wilhelmina Bay
click on the map for a better view
Wilhelmina Bay (4) is a sheltered bay, right off the Gerlache Strait and, no big surprise, named by Adrien de Gerlache, a Belgian explorer. He named the bay after Queen Wilhelmina, the 18 year old Queen of the Netherlands who just had been crowned at that time.
Thanks to it's sheltered location, the water is mostly calm and perfect for reflections!
Exactly 110 years after Ernest Shackelton and Robert Falcon Scott sailed together to Antarctica, their descendants, Jonathan Shackelton and Falcon Scott, both joined us for a trip down to the white continent. What a treat that was. Here Falcon enjoying the views of Wilhelmina Bay.
Glaciers that seem to calve any minute,
and although we never saw a calving in the bay, one morning we arrived in the bay with lots of small ice chunk floating around. A sure sign that a glacier had calved not too long ago.
A peek of the wildlife:
Crabeater Seal on a ice float
and Humpback Whales
Usually we would ship cruise through Wilhelmina Bay, but on our last trip we got the Zodiacs out to give the bay a closer look and
to explore the Governøren:
The Governøren is a wrecked factory whaling ship that originally was built as a UK cargo vessel and then refitted as a whaling ship. She only worked for a short period of time in Antarctic waters before she caught fire on January 27th, 1915. Since the ship was fully loaded with barrels of whale oil the ship burnt down very quickly. Thanks to the quick reaction of the captain who grounded the ship here, so that everybody could leave the ship, there were no fatalities.
Wilhelmina Bay, stunning in any weather!
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