Day 11/33: Thursday, February 6, 2020: González Videla Antarctic Base

We arrived at the González Videla Antarctic Base around 8:00 am. This is a Chilean Naval Base on the Antarctic mainland at Waterboat Point in Paradise Bay. It is named after Chilean President Gabriel González Videla, who in the 1940s became the first chief of state of any nation to visit Antarctica. The station was active from 1951–58, and was reopened in the early 1980s.

It is a cold and bleak morning with overcast and moderate winds.

We are being ferried to shore according to our groups. Today, our Group 8 is supposed to launch around 12:30 pm.

The base stinks of penguins. They have mostly hatched their chicks (although some are still sitting on their nests) and have begun molting.

The eggs this late in the season are not expected to survive.

 

We picked up some souvenirs.