Day 7 - Zodiac Landing: Melchior Island

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 Melchior Island

Melchior Islands are a group of islands in Dallmann Bay between the Anvs and Brabant Islands off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.  It includes numerous small, ice-covered, uninhabited islands east and west of the Sound Strait.  They are divided into the groups of the Eastern and Western Melchior Islands.

More info:  https://www.antarctic.eu/photos-videos-panoramas/antarctic-panoramas/melchior-islands.html

More info:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melchior_Islands


This morning we took a ride in a Zodiac to witness the beauty of the area







Due to high winds blowing too many ice chunks into our potential landing area, we only rode around today viewing land and floating ice from a distance.  There were several days we were "weathered out" from landing.  Prohibitive weather conditions included winds, floating ice, rough seas, rain, reduced visibility - more on the latter later.


Our driver headed back to the expedition ship


This large doorway on the starboard side is used to unload and reload Zodiacs



Heavy duty hoists for unloading/reloading Zodiacs




There are assigned staff to maintain the 24 Zodiacs and motors





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