Day 7 – A Belgian exploring the Antarctic

Adrien De Gerlache was a Belgian explorer, who as captain of the vessel Belgica commanded  the first international scientific expedition which discovered a large part of the Antarctic Peninsula and was the first who wintered in Antarctica. The expedition lasted from 1897 to 1899. The Belgica sailed from Ushuaia in December 1897. The Belgian Antarctic station these days still provides enormously valued contributions to science. And we as Belgians should be proud of this. Today the expedition ships and  cruise ships bound for Antarctica still leave from Ushuaia. The crossing through the Drake Passage takes two days. For those interested, please note that the Drake Passage can be very volatile. Motion sickness medication is certainly appropriate.

A statue for Adrien De Gerlache was erected in 2008 to commemorate. I visit this morning this statue during my walk through the city. Only around 1 pm,  we are picked up to go to the airport, so we need to kill some time. It also means a day that we could sleep a little longer.

The flight today with destinaton El Calafate  takes an hour. El Calafate is located in the Argentine glacier area. The city is situated on Lake Argentino, and upon landing, we  have a beautiful view of the emerald green lake and  the Andes belt surrounding it. Argentino Lake is the largest lake in the country with a surface of ​​1,415 km and a maximum width of 20 km. It has an average depth of 150 m and a maximum of 500 m.The lake is located in the Los Glaciares National Park. It is fed by melt water from the numerous glaciers that are located on the eastern side of the Andes.

I am looking forward to our trip to the glaciers tomorrow.