Vernadsky Panorama
That big iceberg the bow is pointing at was HUGE. It also had this amazing oval shaped hole in it.
Galindez Island
Vernadsky Station
Vernadsky is a Ukrainian research station.
Our guide was the chief mechanic for the station. The crew got there in April and are going home in April. A year in Antarctica....hmmmmm....
Peace
The peace sign is particularly interesting given what's going on back home. We were told down in Antarctica politics are ignored...good thing given our ship's crew is Russian.
This ain't no outlet mall
Shirts, patches, magnets, paintings and a whole bunch of clay penguins the crew made. They needed something to do during the long winter nights...
Za zdorovja!!
Besides making clay penguins the station has a bar to keep the cold winter nights warmer. The station was originally the British Farday station of which John on the left, a member of our expedition crew, was station chief. The station was gifted to the Ukrainians in 1996.
"Memorabilia"?
The bar has a curious collection of bras...and also a very fine pair of Vancouver 2010 mitts.
Quite the picture window
The massive iceberg we archor near was also visible from the station. We found out from the Ukrainians a day or two before it was solid and at some point the ice broke away forming the window.
Ice Taffy?
Three Penguteers
A Gentoo, an Adelie, and a Chinstrap all on the same rock. We were kidding the expedition crew they must have had the station guys place them there.
Ice Algae
Wordie House
The historic Wordie House part of the original British station is in the background.
What do you guys want? I'm trying to nap.
Uhhh...it's big...
...really big...
Ummm....that's a building...
It's huge!
It;s so hard to tell scale in Antarctica. I asked the crew how tall they thought this was and they all seemed to agree on something like 30 meters. Yep, that's a 10 story building right there.
