Wednesday 29 February 2012 - Hope Bay & Brown Bluff

An early start at 05:30 to catch the rising sun on Iceberg Alley which is on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.  Although the outside temperature is two degrees the 19 mile per hour wind chill takes the temperature down to minus seven degrees.  The sea state continuous to be amazingly calm and gentle but in the end our landing on Brown Bluff was called off because of the treacherous wind conditions at the landing site.  Further entry up Iceberg Alley was also impossible due to the large number of icebergs blocking our entry and the inherent danger of trying to proceed further.  the ship thus continued to weave its way through the many channels and between islands but the wind conditions prevail and make it impossible to attempt any further landings.  At this stage it looks as if we will not be leaving the MS Fram again until reaching the South Georgia islands.  Current wind conditions have now reached 112Kph, Beaufort scale 11, with a 12.5meter swell with very large patches of foam, driven before the wind, covering much of the sea surface.  The ship is fitted with stabilizers which did their job well although the number of passengers moving about the ship was noticeably smaller.  The remainder of the day we sat around and relaxed, chatting and wondering if Lyn had arrived in Chile yet.