Penguins, Gift stores, and elephant seals

December 8th, 2009

Today we had two landings, one in the morning and one in the evening. The first landing was at Cuverville Island, and the second was at Port Lockeroy. The first landing was very cool…we saw one of the largest Gentoo penguin colonies…every part that was not covered in snow was covered in penguins nesting and building up their nests. The penguins make their nests out of stones, and steal stones out of each other’s nests and return them to their mates’ nest. Both the male and the female take part in sitting on the eggs and finding or stealing the stones from other nests. We watched them swim, and then climb to the top of the mountain and down again. There were probably a thousand on the island. We also saw one Adelie penguin who we think had either come up from the ocean for a rest before swimming home, or was confused and had made its way to the wrong rookery. The island itself was breath-taking…the landing spot was in a little bay, and had snow covered mountains and icebergs. The water is so incredibly clear here, you can see straight down to the bottom, and even see the undersides of some icebergs.
The next landing that we did was at Port Lockeroy. This is a British base where a few people conduct scientific research in the Austral summer (Nov-March). They have a small gift shop, and a museum about the past of the base. This building is surrounded by nesting penguins as well, although they were very used to humans and walked all around us. There was also an elephant seal, which was so well camouflaged among the rocks it was nearly impossible to see. The people who worked at the base had named him Jabba, and explained he was banished from his colony since he was a young male, and the older males in the colony did not want competition during mating season. So he is currently chilling out at the port, and molting, and will be able to return to his colony after mating season is over. We also got to walk around a peninsula where we saw old whale bones, and some big rocks covered with nesting penguins. However, we got to see the penguin eggs at this location, so that was really neat. Typically, they have and incubate 2 eggs, and one is expected to hatch.
I also got good pictures of icebergs, and the scenery today. The water here is so unbelievably, incredibly calm. No one is taking nausea medicines now, although we do have our return trip in the Drake Passage to look forward to ☹. Honestly, this environment down here feels like we are in another world, and that nothing is exactly real. Its too pristine and beautiful to be real. We have two more landings tomorrow, which should be fun…they say we will see a big colony of Adelie penguins, and then go to a Ukraine science base, where they have a pub, which is just mind boggling; I think the only one on the continent. This place is so remote that I am surprised that there are enough people to maintain a pub, but I am very excited to go to it. And we drive through the Lameire channel starting at 6:30am. This passage is supposed to be so beautiful and people take so many pictures, that people call it the Kodak Crack.

December 9th, 2009

Well the “Kodak crack” is not all its cracked up to be at the moment. Its cloudy and snowing, and it all looks very menacing out there. We waited 3 extra hours to even try the channel, and then towards the end had to turn around due to ice activity. Although the ship is advertised as an ice breaker, its more of an ice “pusher” and it apparently couldn’t push enough. So, we sailed back up the channel and will try to sail down it again. We are running super behind schedule, but have told us that there will still be a landing today.
Yesterday, I went to a program about taking pictures, which was actually really fun. I took about 75 photos yesterday alone, and am hoping to take even more today, if the weather clears. Unfortunately, at the moment we can’t see more then 15 meters in front of us. The water too has gotten a little rockier, but still nothing compared to the Drake Passage. I don’t think I will ever be on waters worse than the Drake Passage for the rest of my life. Although, I learned something very scary yesterday…the trip down in the Drake was, according to the people who work on this ship, mild, and its typically worse.
In a way I am glad we are seeing the weather like this, it gives a better impression of what Antarctica is all about; even though it is absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking, it is also inhospitable and dangerous. There is a reason no one lives here. However, I hope this nasty stuff passes soon. Its not terribly fun to be on a boat in a storm, and the nicer it gets, the quicker we will get to landing spots.