What more excitement could there be during a single day in Antarctica?! The day began with our arrival at the mainland site of Brown Bluff at the very tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. But we really could not see much of the bluff as the clouds were low and there was a fine mist in the air. However, anticipation on the ship was high since we were visiting a large Adélie penguin colony and the seascape was littered with icebergs of various and endless shapes and sizes. A light breeze caused the morning to feel chillier with the temperature peaking a couple degrees above freezing.
On shore there were penguins galore! A constant march of penguins
going various directions and into the water greeted the first group ashore.
Staff led groups down to the top of the beach to view the edge of the main Adélie
penguin nesting areas. On the outskirts were scattered groups of gentoos with
large chicks, some already chasing their parent begging for a bundle of krill. Adélie penguin chicks were also
leaving the nesting areas and venturing down to the water’s edge. Some of these
young still had remnants of baby down stuck on various locations on their
bodies. The most comical were ones sporting a ridge of down on top of their
head like a mohawk.
While half the guests were on shore the other half joined a Zodiac
cruise around a multitude of icebergs throughout the area. On scattered bergs
the Adélie chicks found their way to clamber up the slippery ice slopes. Most
of them looked quite confused as to what they were supposed to do and how to be
a penguin since they were essentially not taught the details. One particular
hazard they were not aware of was leopard seals searching for the unsuspecting
penguin. Some of the cruising Zodiacs were witnesses to some of these unlucky
penguins becoming a morning meal for these predatory seals.
During lunch the ship moved further eastward through a passage called Fridjhoft Sound and then into the westernmost part of the Weddell Sea. Icebergs were scattered everywhere, even some were massive flat-topped tabular bergs that had come from an ice shelf deep in the Weddell Sea. It was not long into the afternoon before an announcement went out that killer whales had been spotted. With all of the ice and fast moving whales, the sightings were just fleeting so the ship continued searching.
As we cruised through scattered ice there was an exciting observation of a couple groups of snow petrels. These pure white birds with black eyes and bill are only found below the Antarctic Convergence and frequently around massive icebergs. Then again the Bridge was the first to spot the quick blows of more killer whales. We then spent about the next hour observing the pod of seven animals traveling in various directions through the open fields of ice. Then it came to a point in time when we need to break off from our observing and head back west into Antarctic Sound and then southward to tomorrow’s next destination. It had been an exciting day to say the very absolute least. Antarctica is awesome!
