MS National Geographic Explorer
Lemaire Channel, Booth Island, and Dallman Bay
Monday, February 14, 2011

    In light fog, the ship slowly crept toward the northern entrance to the Lemaire Channel. As we neared the mouth of the channel, the towering cliffs marking the entrance first showed themselves as faint apparitions and then became more and more distinct like the latent image of a developing photograph. Almost magically, as the ship glided into the channel, the fog lifted to the tops of the mountains on each side to reveal this special place on Earth in all its wonder and glory.

    Tall, jagged cliffs, heavily glaciated, form a stark monochromatic channel for a narrow ribbon of seawater whose color is constantly changing between blue and green and steely-gray. Small icebergs and broken fields of ice are scattered along the path of the ship. The silence is broken by the crackling, bangs, and growls of the ice as it impacts the hull of the National Geographic Explorer as its bow divides the ice and blazes it path from north to south.

    Reaching the southern end, the ship made a sharp starboard turn to come around to Booth Island that forms the western wall of the Lemaire Channel. Booth Island is home to all three of the brushtail penguin species. Like elsewhere, most of the penguins are this year's chicks that are almost ready to forge out on their own.

    Snow-covered Booth Island is very colorful at this time of the year. The white show is tinted with pink and green algae blooms. The terrain rises in several directions on the island and climbing up the snowy slopes is worthwhile in order to experience the dramatic views.

    Our time finally ran out on Booth Island, just as the weather began to deteriorate. We sailed back through the Lemaire Channel and north to Dallman Bay in hope of spotting whales. We were rewarded with views of five to seven humpback whales, including a mother and juvenile that came alongside the ship.

    We are now headed back into the Drake Passage for the two-day crossing that will take up back to the southern tip of South America.