7th Continent

This morning we landed at Neko Harbor, the first landing on the
Antarctic continent (previous stops were on islands) thus making this my
7th continent (Steph has not been to Australia). We saw more penguins
and icebergs.

This afternoon we visited Port Lockroy which is a UK station devoted to
maintaining the old UK historic stations including the one at Port
Lockroy. There is a restored hut showing how people lived in the station
in the 1950's.

Steph says: There is a gift shop and museum at Port Lockroy where four
people live from November until March. They very little outside
communication apart from visiting cruise ships. The gift shop supports
the Antarctic Heritage Foundation and you can buy postcards and mail
which first go to the Fauklands and then to Britain before being sent to
their final destination. That can take anywhere from 16 days to 6 weeks
to arrive. The shop has things like T-shirts, hats, and small earrings.
After we left the gift shop we boarded a zodiac and cruised around
icebergs for 45 minutes. I have yet to see a Leopard Seal or Orca Whale
but the terrain is stunning. Tomorrow is our last day here and we have
two more excursions. I am ready for this to be over. It is a lot of work
to put on 4 layers of clothes 2 times a day and navigate slippery snowy
terrain. I think I know enough about Gentoo penguins. This is truly the
end of the earth. It is a bleak and harsh landscape. Our zodiac driver
told us that he has climbed two of the taller peaks here. Having seen an
avalanche his morning I can't imagine attempting that. He said he came
here on a private yacht and it took 7 days to cross the Drake passage.