3 posts tagged “penguins”

The glorious weather continued and our journey through the picturesque Lemaire Channel with its high mountains, ragged peaks and lazy glaziers was a perfect start of Christmas Eve. I don’t think I’ve ever had better weather on CE than that day. The combination of sunshine, blue skies and almost still waters in which the mountains reflected made for a picturebook scenery.
We turned around at the end and sailed back the way we came, again through the Neumayer Channel and past Port Lockroy to our next destination, Cuverville Island in .
At first, the weather was hazy and cloudy but by the time my boat group was called to go out, the sunshine and blue skies had followed us.
The island is host to one of the largest Gentoo colonies and we were able to observe various behaviours from picking up and stealing stones for the nests, to swapping care of the nest (a few still had eggs while some had quite big chicks already) and general tomfoolery (like one penguin beating another one furiously with its wings for seemingly no apparent reason other than sitting in his way to the beach) and the usualy skypointing and screeching at passing Skuas. Very enjoyable indeed.
The boat ride back to the ship took a long detour among the many icebergs in this bay which was another highlight of this already fantastic day.
After everyone was back on board, the ship “set sail” for the destination of the night, Paradise Harbour, another glorious bay littered with icebergs which made for an appropriate scenery for Christmas Dinner.

Christmas Dinner started with Gloegg (a type of mulled wine which had raisins and almond slices steeped in alcohol at the bottom) served by the bridge crew, then the Christmas Tale was read in three languages (the captain in Norwegian, the ship’s doctor in English and Elke, the trip coordinator, in German) and then the buffet was opened. The choice was even more elaborate than usual with lobster, king crab and other seafood, gravadlax and other fine fish and various meat dishes and cold cuts, too. I shared two bottles of wine with my new friends Horst (a medical doctor specialising in haemorrhoids) and Jürgen (a retired primary school teacher) so the evening was rather alcoholic, too.
I spent the last hour out on deck until about 00:30 to watch the high snow-capped peaks turn pink again as the sun set.
I should have stayed up for another hour and I would have been able to see a group of Orcas but unfortunately, I was too tired.

In the morning, the original plan had been to land at Neko Harbour but the end of Andvord Bay was so clogged with ice that the ship couldn't continue so we cruised the bay and set out the little tender boats on 20 minute trips around the icebergs and ice floes. We spotted penguins playing and hunting in the water, seagulls and a crabeater seal dozing on an ice floe. This made more than up for missing Neko Harbour which might have been in clouds, anyway.
The weather is fine but cloudy, just above freezing but there's hardly any wind so it doesn't feel that cold. Just as we left, we saw a family (mother and calf) of whales. Wonderful.

The journey then continued back into Gerlach Strait where the weather brightened up already and by the time we entered Neumayer Channel, we had glorious sunshine and blue skies, really bringing out the icebergs and glaciers which were reflected in the almost still waters.

The destination for the day was Port Lockroy, one of the oldest research stations in Antarctica. It used to be run by the British Antarctic Survey but is now run by an independent fund. The weather continued to be gorgeous and I spent most of the time on deck enjoying the scenery and of course take a few photos. My group was last to land but being as far South as we are, it was still bright daylight. The Gentoo Penguins there are completely used to humans and build their nests almost on the steps of the station. Many of them had chicks and I got a lucky shot of an egg that had just began to hatch, with a little hole and the tiny beak visible in it. The main building had been rebuilt part as a museum displaying old equipment which provided a glimpse into the early scientists' lives. I bought another badge for my jacket and took various photos of Gentoo Penguins and Sheathbills which will grab very small chicks if the parents aren't careful but otherwise live off scraps and guano.

Back on the ship, there was another big buffet, this one meditterannean style so lots of yummy food. While we were eating, we spotted Santa Claus and his elfpenguin on one of the big rocks. He was then picked up by one of our boats and brought on board.

After dinner, I spent more time on deck, walking around a bit to work off the plentiful dinner. I'll be going back after writing this and wait for the sunset which promises to come but not before midnight.

What a beautiful day, the best early Christmas present I could think of.

(to be expanded tonight)

The internet cafe wasn't open last night so I couldn't update. Sorry about that.
I also can't upload photos which is a pity as I have some awesome shots already...

Brief update: Yesterday we flew to Punta Arenas and then took a bus to the Otway Sound with its colony of Magellanic Penguins. Awesome, just utterly awesome. The pengs don't really care about the humans walking around the wooden bridge/path or they actually know that they're being watched and pose for the camera. I've got a number of really cool photos. The light was OK (cloudy but not raining) so good enough to take reasonable photos. The only pity was that we only had an hour and a bit there while I could easily have spent a whole day.
Also seen: a fricking huge condor (from afar, no photo), several Karakaras, male Nandus and their offspring, Grey Eagles and various other birds big and small.
Back to Punto Arenas and check in at the ship, i.e. more queuing and waiting. Have a wonderful and comfy cabin, the food is good and plentiful (I'm not going to lose wait on this trip...) and the weather has been quiet so far.

Today, we first came up to Tucker Island where Magellanic Penguins and (King) Kormorans nest. Was very lucky to get a cool shot of a Kormoran in flight. *smug* Also seen: Dolfins, Skua and other sea birds.
Later, we went through the St. Gabriel Channel, with the Violetta Glacier (blue ice on top, rock with many many waterfalls beneath, Southern Beach woods at the bottom). It was very windy but not too cold and the sea is nice and calm. How more appropriate can you get? ;o)

After the awesomeness that was Tucker Island we cruised various fjords and "sounds" (Agostini, Serrano and Hyatt) flanked by steep mountains and glaciers. Wonderful sights and very reasonable weather to boot, we even had some sunshine.
Also managed to see a leopard seal but couldn't get a shot of it. :o(

Now we're going back the way we came and going further Northwest towards the Magellan Strait. I've taken this opportunity to update as most people seem to be at the first dinner sitting. Mine is in an hour and 15 minutes. The rest of the evening will be spent relaxing a bit more, maybe watching the film about Chile and getting a long night's sleep.

Have already a rather cool collection of photos and if the weather doesn't completely turn, the rest of the trip should be equally good or even better as things will get more exotic as we go along.