Polarstern / CAML expedition: the end is near
Laggard Adelie Penguin among a group disturbed by the passing by Polarstern
© S. Langner / Alfred Wegener Institut
The last reference sampling south of the Antarctic Sound which, as a typical Antarctic "station", will be compared to the impoverished fauna of Larsen A & B. But it was most of all the very last "station" of the whole expedition!
The retrieval of the last Rauschert dredge was the packing-up signal. Everywhere on the ship, scientists are filling boxes with material and samples to be analyzed in their European and American laboratories. In the meantime, the captain directed the vessel to enter the Antarctic Sound itself. On the way to Larsen we had a night crossing. This time, we are under a bright blue sky when we pass by the "castle-island" of Rosamel.
Our forgotten friends the Adelie penguins are back in the water and on the ice floes. It is only at the sound exit that a strange illuminated fog reduces our visibility. This time it's over, we shouldn't stop anymore before the Chilean town of Punta Arenas, our final destination at the edge of the Magellan Straight.
