Day 5 of our Antarctic journey took us to King George Island in the morning. The island was named about 1820 by a British expedition under Edward Bransfield. Less than 10% of the island is ice-free, yet it supports year-round stations maintained by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Korea, Poland, Russia, China, and Uruguay.
This was an unscheduled stop as it was hoped that the woman who broke her leg could be flown out to Ushuaia for additional medical attention. It was extremely foggy and windy when we arrived and did not improve. So our patient received medical treatment with the Ship’s Doctor and the Doctor from the Chilean air force base on the island where they had X-ray machines. While this was going on we had our tour of the Chilean air force and navel base called Presidente Frei. There was also a laboratory for Chilean scientists. Next to the Chile presence was the Russian Site Bellingshausen, also a research station. We were able to purchase souvenirs and send post cards from the Antarctica base.