Friday, March 8, 2019 – The ship anchored south of Adelaide Island, and the passengers did a split expedition this morning. Half of the group went zodiac cruising and the other half did a wet landing at Red Rock Ridge (Morro Roca Roja). A wet landing just means you get out of the zodiac into water v. on dry land or a dock. Starting about 300 yards from shore, the smell of penguin guano wafted into my consciousness, and it was powerful. However, it doesn’t take long to get used to it unless you hit an extra strong spot. About the same distance away, we could start to make out Adelie penguins along the shoreline and in the snow above the shoreline. Lots of Adelie penguins!
After another hundred yards or so closer to the shore, the rocks at the bottom of the water became visible. Not sure how deep the water is, but its clarity is unbelievable.
There was a queue for zodiac disembarkation, so I scoped out the landing area as we waited. Hill climb with lots of snow and rocks to the left, nix that, looks too hard to climb up there in muck boots! Center to right are flatter areas where the penguins are hanging out, and there’s also some other bird activity to watch. There should be plenty to do in those areas to spend time just watching and also working on getting some good photos.
The landing went smoothly, and we were briefed by the expedition leader as to where we could/couldn’t go, species we would see, and the general rules of the road with regard to wildlife – how close to approach, stay quiet, move slowly, etc.
Today’s experience is one that I will carry with me to my grave! Tears of joy actually streamed down my face as I wandered on the edges of the penguin rookery just taking it in. The Adelie is a smallish penguin, and is one of only two that are prevalent in the more southern areas such as the one we visited today. Its late in the season, so the penguins are in various stages of molting and there are penguin feathers scattered around the landing area. YES! Penguin feathers. They are the tiniest little feathers with black at the top, providing the waterproofing, and a white woolish wisp at the bottom providing insulation. Each penguin must have millions of feathers 😊
The penguins aren’t waterproof during the molting process, so when the adults complete molting, they go to sea to feed. The juveniles, which hatched earlier in the Spring, haven’t been introduced to the ocean yet, so have been abandoned by their parents who are out getting food. There was a big line of the juveniles near the water’s edge, but they didn’t go in. They looking longingly at the sea, but they don’t go in. Not sure how long it takes for them to take the plunge, but eventually they have to. The parents don’t return, so at some point nature takes over and into the water the young ones go for the first time.
It was interesting to just sit on a rock and watch everything around me. The penguins were wary of the gold-jacketed visitors and stayed as far away from us as possible. The sky was constantly changing. So far, one of my favorite phenomena is the sun alternatively appearing and disappearing from behind the clouds. Popping out with blinding intensity, and spotlighting ice far out in the ocean.
There’s also a colony of Blue-eyed Antarctic Cormorants in this area. They are also known as Blue-eyed Swag – one of the guides told a great story about seeing his first one a few years ago. When he next spoke to his parents, he told them he’d gotten some Antarctic shag. He was referring to photos, of course, but they were a bit puzzled!
After exploring this peninsula, I jumped aboard a zodiac and went for a nice cruise to see some parts of the area that were off-limits for walking. Glaciers, more penguins, Weddell seals, bird colonies and lots of big sea ice, as well as what they call brash ice. Brash ice is ocean surface ice that has melted into small and semi-small pieces, but collecs and then freezes together. It’s not very thick, can’t even hold the weight of the seal, but really slows down the zodiacs, as the ice fouls the propeller, and makes a horrible grinding sound when the zodiacs cross it.
After an hour or so of cruising, we returned to the ship and changed locations for another shore landing, this time (and maybe the first one today) we landings on the actual continent of Antarctica, not the peninsula or surrounding islands, which is where most expeditions go. In fact, we were able to go so far south that we surpassed the southern-most point that many of the guides had ever reached!
Our afternoon landing was at an area where there were both US and British research stations in the last 1930s, Stonington Island. The American one was where the first two women to overwinter in Antarctica had stayed. One was the wife of the chief pilot and the other, the wife of the expedition leader. They were friends until they arrived at the research station to find that their husbands had had a irreparable fallout, so they unfriended each other and spent the entire winter completely ignoring each other in support of their husbands. There’s a book written by one of the women called, “My Antarctic Honeymon: A Year at the Bottom of the World”. We were able to go inside the buildings and its hard to believe that people could survive the winter under these conditions. The British station still had canned and boxed food on the shelves.
The snow was pretty deep around the encampments, and there were glaciers in almost every direction. There were more Adelie penguins around and lots of penguin feathers here, too.
The weather continues to be amazing! Yes, its cold, ~28-34 degrees Fahrenheit, with winds so it feels colder, but I think its still colder in Chicago! Early mornings and late afternoons produce the most amazing colors in the sky, reflecting in the water. The colors aren’t bright or Hawaii sunset-like, they’re soft with golden and pinkish hues, with just enough color to contrast with the monochromatic landscapes of this gorgeous place. After exploring the camps, I got on a zodiac to cruise around. It got quite cold this time, so donned two pairs of gloves, stocking cap, hood and did lots of shivering between pictures. This area was quite sheltered from the wind, so the water had an incredible reflective quality.
We returned to the ship and were treated to a pretty sunset while underway. We will be traveling northerly all night and will arrive at the Fish Islands sometime tomorrow afternoon.
I really wish I could post pictures, but the program I’m using for publishing crashes every time I try. For some reason, I can get one or two to go through on Facebook, so you can get a quick look at a little bit of what’s happening Once I get real wi-fi again, and probably even after I get home, I’ll edit my blog for accuracy of place names, etc., and add photos to enhance the story. Thanks so much for following my adventure and misadventures…
Travels with Nance 