Lemaire Channel

Geographical location

The Lemaire Channel is a strait in Antarctica between the Antarctic Peninsula and the offshore, eight kilometers Booth Island.

The strait was discovered in 1873 by the German captain Eduard Dallmann. The Lemaire Channel in 1898 was named during the Belgica expedition of Adrien de Gerlache after Charles François Alexandre Lemaire ( 1863-1925 ), a Belgian explorer and District Commissioner in the Belgian Congo. Lemaire was also a pioneer in the spread of Esperanto in Belgium.

The length of the channel is approximately six kilometers at the narrowest point it is 720 meters wide. The surrounding mountains rise to 1,000 meters altitude. At the northern entrance of the channel is the double summit of Cape Renard. The mountain leads since 2008, officially named "Una Peaks" after he already since about 1955, the unofficial designation "Una 's Tits ( Unas tits ) " in memory of Una Spivey, a supervisor of the staff of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey ( FIDS ), the later the British Antarctic Survey, bears in the 1940s in the Falkland Islands.

The ship's passage through the channel to or from the Petermann Island is one of the highlights of an Antarctica trip with a cruise ship. The Lemaire Channel is also referred to as the " Kodak Gap " because of the variety of photo opportunities. The protected waters of the canal form a great contrast to the stormy Southern Ocean. The glaciers and cliffs are reflected in the calm water areas at the southern end of the channel. If icebergs blocking the onward journey to the south, the cruise ships are forced to turn back and go around the Booth Island to reach the Petermann Island.

Pictures

Una 's Tits, double summit of Cape Renard, also Cape Renard Towers