Back on the ship we bumped our way through the ice out of Paradise Harbour into more open water and headed west across Flandres Bay between Wiencke Island and Cape Renard. By mid-afternoon we started to enter the Lemaire Channel, a narrow passage – just 1600m wide – that runs for a dozen kilometres between the mountainous Booth Island and the Peninsula. If we thought our morning cruise along Gerlache Strait was dramatic, Lemaire Channel was set to take our breath away. The snow-capped peaks of Cape Renard mark the entry and the almost sheer mountain slopes of Booth protect the passage from the open sea. Extraordinary icy vistas unfolded, bergs glittered on the water, soft marshmallow clouds rolled over the peaks – and above it all the bluest of skies and the soft bright sunshine of the far south bathed this awesome place in a delicate light.

At the southern end of Lemaire we dropped anchor and embarked on what for me may be a highlight of our Antarctic visit – a Zodiac expedition into a spectacular area of strangely shaped bergs draped with glistening icicles, thin sea ice, and wildlife. Gentoo penguins make their nests on outcrops of bare rock – where they find the small pebbles for their nests is anyone’s guess. Another Leopard Seal posed for photos, and we managed to locate a Crabeater Seal (which eats krill, not crabs) asleep on a slab of floating ice. But for me the highlight was the myriad of weathered bergs – every shape, dimension, texture and colour – that lay strewn around the bay. Again, words fail me in describing this sight.

Reluctantly we got back onto Minerva and showered and dressed for New Year’s Eve dinner. At 8.15 p.m. the Captain hauled anchor and we gingerly felt our way back into Lemaire Channel through bergy bits, growlers and sections of broken-up sea ice. Before going down for dinner I could not resist a walk around the deserted deck with the camera; although by now I was running out of superlatives the ice-strewn water made for stunning photographs in the evening sunlight.

We ate a celebratory dinner with Graham and Sue, Bill and Fran, and Milt and Gerry as we cruised back north through Lemaire. Afterwards Peter Burkhard, the Purser, played creditable piano in the Shackleton Bar, and Kevin Fitzgerald (an interesting and eclectic vet, comedian and sometime Rolling Stones roadie, and star of Animal Planet’s “Emergency Vets”) did a stand-up comedy routine in the Darwin Lounge. Unfortunately for Kevin, he was warming up to his routine when a school of Killer Whales was spotted heading towards the Minerva and everyone rushed to the starboard side to watch about a dozen of them porpoising across the channel. Kevin gamely completed his act, the New Year was counted down, and we celebrated a fantastic end to 2008 and the start of 2009; who knew what that would bring. Shortly after midnight the sun officially set, although it never actually got dark since sunrise was at 02:39 ship’s time.