Penguins and Nunateks

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Pulled up anchor about 5am and motored to a new spot.  We landed at Fort Point on Greenwich Island.  This is a very special stop and rarely visited by tourists.  We are incredibly fortunate!

We had a nice landing, rocks this time.  Much easier to walk in.  No mud, some patches of snow.  Just had to tread carefully over the rocks.

Imperial Shag

Note the blue ring around the eye!

Elephant seal

 We saw Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins again.  They are so funny and many are very curious!  Some follow us!  There were a couple of small groups of Elephant Seals sunning on the beach.  And there was a surprise of a pair of Macaroni Penguins!  Very unusual, but this pair comes back each year.

There were chicks on this island.  Got a few good pictures and videos of them!

That's a strange penguin!

Parent Gentoo with chick

It was very sunny and clear and amazingly warm.  Several times I wanted to remove my heavy jacket… but it would have been too bulky to carry.  Easier to keep wearing it, but I did get a bit sweaty!

Chin strap squabble!

Macaroni penguin

Cute chick!

Nunatek

This is one of the rare places that we can stand on the beach next to a glacier!  It was incredible!  Also, a structure called a Nunatek.  It is a mountain of stone within a glacier.  Only the tip sticks up.  Over the years (decades? more?)  the tip heats and melts the ice and snow around it, more and more of the rock mountain showing every year.  Finally there is a stone mountain with a “valley” around it.  Rarely can you actually get up close to one, we got to hike up part way into it!!  Words don’t describe it…

Sunbathing Antarctica style

Hiking into the Nunatek

Looking up deeper into the nunatek

After a couple of hours, we took the zodiacs back to the Europa.  While we were out this morning, the crew cleaned our rooms and even left a chocolate on our pillows!  That was sure nice! 

While we had lunch, the captain motored us a short distance into the Yankee Harbor.  The ship entered through a narrow passage and into a bay.  Then we were surrounded by glaciers, mountains, icebergs and blue skies!  It was actually very balmy!  I had to take off my outer coat and my lower hat (not my penguin hat!!).  We just spent the next 2 ½ hours casually watching penguins, skuas, elephant and fur seals, icebergs… it was amazing. 

Skua

Gentoo penguin wondering what kind of strange penguin is that?  (Rhod)

We found many bones, some I could identify, others I could not.  I will need to check for the skeleton of a penguin!  I believe many of the bones are fused, and the phalanges are one big flat bone.  We also saw some really pretty rocks.

And I saw an Adelie penguin!  They are usually found more south.  So it was neat to see this little guy!

Adelie penguin

Towards the end of our time there, it must have been the end of the work day for the penguins as well.  They were returning to the nesting area in groups.  Crossing rocky roads, and following the snow highways.  Sometimes they would waddle, other times they would drop to their tummies and push with their feet and winds and “swim” over the snow.  Very entertaining!

Heading home for the night...

There were other penguins going the other direction.  Hmmmm, maybe it was the changing of the shifts!

We had to return to the ship too soon.  I think most of us felt that way.  It was so glorious and peaceful.  We did not want to leave.

The weather these last two days has been incredible.  We are very lucky.  Not sure how long it will last… so we will enjoy it for as long as possible!

Dinner is about ready.  Smells fantastic, as always!   Later!!

After dinner we motored to an amazing Basalt rock formation.  Need to look up basalt…I believe it is from volcanoes…. It forms into giant columns that are very impressive!  To motor most of the night to get to our next destination… Deception Island.

Good night!

Stacy, Vet at Sea