Britain's Most Remote Base?

British station Port Lockroy is in a protected lagoon of tiny Wiencke Island, just off Anvers Island. It's only a mealtime's cruise from Neko Harbour! The station was established during WW2 as Operation Tabarin to monitor any feared German operations in the region, but it's now a museum bearing a Post Office and souvenir shop which pays its operating costs. From what they said, they sometimes get one or two ships a day, and it is the most visited place in Antarctica.

The things you see. Maybe a Dutch training ship in the Gerlache Strait enjoying the little sunshine on this wet and windy day.

Looking at the map, there are numerous bases in the immediate vicinity of Port Lockroy, belonging to various countries, the USA, Chile, Argentina, Ukraine...

Port Lockroy is just off the Gerlache Strait.

The location is delightful, but the weather was foul, with varying heavy rain (not even snow!) and gale force winds which changed direction entirely forcing the Orion to re-anchor. The zodiac ride to (and from) the Port was memorable because of shallow waters, rough seas and us passengers were drenched with splash and spray. We had to clamber over slippery rocks to get onto the land. Zodiac visits to Goudier Island and somewhere else (penguin rookeries and whalebones) were abandoned due to the lousy conditions. Even the penguin mums guarding their chicks from snowy sheathbills (white with a pinkish discolouration around their face, making them look quite ugly) looked miserable, with their eyes firmly closed and their backs to the wind.

Zodiac pilots look for the smoothest passage to their destination.

Zodiac skippers need to be well rugged up.

On board a zodiac heading to Port Lockroy, smiling despite awful weather.

Yacht anchored at Port Lockroy probably belongs to the staff here.

Fairly treacherous arrival at Lockroy. It's not your eyes - the lens is covered in water!

The museum was quite fascinating, being no more than a restoration of the old intelligence station to its more or less original condition, complete with appropriately dated artifacts. Life must have been hard here! And the PO + store was doing a roaring trade, with everyone, including ourselves, buying something and sending postcards with Antarctic stamps and franking. The mail goes out on cruise ships such as ours anyway. We were told the cards would not arrive until March - they have to get to the UK first.

British outpost Fort Lockroy, once for military intelligence, now a post office and souvenir shop.

Restored kitchen in the WW2 British intelligence gathering station.

The PO is busy at Port Lockroy.

The 4 staff at Fort Lockroy were invited to dine with us, a break they really enjoyed from their normal fairly deprived existence. They also enjoyed hot showers on the Orion. There's no water at Lockroy, so it's severely rationed. They also took a supply of fresh vegetables back with them.