Hooray – made it at last. Today we set foot (twice) on the continent of Antarctica – first at the Polish research station, Arctowski, and then in the late afternoon on Half Moon Island. And just to cap a great day, during the period we were back on the ship we saw humpback whales breeching the sea. The Captain moved the ship closer so that we had close-up views of two humpbacks.
During our morning landing we saw Gentoo penguins and our first Adelie penguins too. The Adelies were giving a great show in the water as they ‘torpedoed’ like dolphins do. There were also good views of Blue-eyed Cormorants. Elephant seals were lounging around while two young Elephant seal bulls were testing each other’s strength in the water.
On Half Moon Island we now encountered our first colony of Chinstrap penguins (sometimes known as ‘Jackass’ because of the racket they make). In amongst the Chinstraps was a lone Macaroni penguin – a bit lost and a bit mournful in his cries because no-one was answering them. Snowy Sheathbills lurked among the penguins and were not made welcome as they will take eggs at any opportunity. Wilson’s Storm Petrels were nesting in the rocks – but were difficult to photograph as they are very speedy fliers. It is unusual to see these birds in this context – in the Northern Hemisphere they are nocturnal and down here you only see them speeding across the waves – unless, like us, you are able to land on one of the islands where they breed.
The scenery is magnificent – craggy snow covered peaks, with their tops swathed in clouds, either side of the cliff-faces of huge glaciers that dip into the sea. The glaciers glint blue (even though we had very little sun) and you can see the cracks and crevasses that hint that an iceberg will soon calve into the ocean. The silence is only broken by the neighing of the penguins that make us smile with their Charlie Chaplin walks and occasional tumbles in the soft snow.
It is just about impossible to choose photographs for today – we will be filling many books when we get back.
But here is my choice:
- a Chinstrap penguin
- humpback whales (to make up for yesterday’s long distance shot)
- a landscape
Two more landings tomorrow – we can’t wait… and once again the sea has been absolutely flat calm.
No comments:
Post a Comment