Our morning at Port Lockroy dawned grey and windy, but it didn’t deter us from bundling aboard the Zodiacs to visit the most southerly post office in the world! Port Lockroy was British Base A during the International Geophysical Year, and is now a museum that is manned by volunteers for the duration of the summer season. It’s also a gift shop, so you can indulge in a little retail therapy at the ends of the earth if you’re that way inclined. It’s a splash of black and red against a glacial background, populated by Gentoos, Sheathbills, and Skuas (and people!).

We spent our time ashore wandering through the museum and being squawked at by the fluffy Gentoo chicks outside, who were keen to get underfoot and peck our boots. It was my first chance to get some photographs of Sheathbills, which are little white dumpy birds that look like pigeons with a bad case of facial eczema. They scavenge around penguin colonies and make a nuisance of themselves, but aren’t as aggressive as Skuas.

Unfortunately our second landing for the morning at Jougla Point was cancelled due to the wind picking up and making the landing risky, but it’s all part of the Antarctic experience! We enjoyed warm beverages from the chart room and napped a little as the weather turned into a howling gale.