64 degrees 50.19’ South/62 degrees 53.83’ West, air temperature 5 degrees, water temperature 0.8 degrees, wind south force 3, force 0-1 later, foggy with sunny spells and and snow later, Sunrise 2.13am, Sunset 00.07am
Iceberg in the Gerlache Strait, as big as our ship.
Chinstrap Penguin at Paradise Harbour
Marco Polo at Paradise Harbour
Leucistic Gentoo Penguin at Paradise Harbour
Adelie Penguin at Paradise Harbour
General View of Paradise Harbour
Female Elephant Seal at Paradise Harbour
Gento Penguin on nest of stones
Blue Icebergs, as much as 25,000 years old
Passangers on Zodiac Cruise around Cuverville Island
Adelie Penguin on blue iceberg at Cuverville Island.
Snowy Sheathbills at Paradise Harbour
Today we went ashore at the Chilean base at Paradise Harbour. The base is surrounded by a Gentoo Penguin colony, with nests literally all over the place. Over 1,000 pairs of Gentoo Penguins nest here. Most birds were sitting on eggs but unlike the Rockhoppers at West Point none had hatched. This is due partly to being further south and also because spring may have arrived later this year as there was more snow on the ground than in previous years. As seems to be the case with most Gentoo colonies you often get individual penguins of different species visiting the colony or rookery, as it is usually referred to. Today was no exception and we saw both Adelie and Chinstrap Penguins. The Gentoo Penguins are very funny. They build nests of small stones and neighbouring Gentoos regularly steal stones from each others nests. It looks like it’s a game to pass the time while waiting for their partner to come back from a fishing trip because they all seem to end up with the same number of stones in each nest. Again the scenery here is breathtaking. Huge snow covered peaks rising almost vertically from the sea with glaciers dropping or calving icebergs into the sea below. The weather continues to be good and it got so hot today at one point there was steam rising from the strand next to the penguin colony. When we bring passengers ashore we go ahead in the zodiacs and set up the viewing areas using traffic cones and rope. Is a military operation making sure the area is ready for the passangers and set up in such a way as not to cause too much disturbance to the penguins. Finished off the day by cruising down the Gerlache Strait towards our next stop Port Lockroy with amazing scenery on both sides of the ship and icebergs floating by, one at least as big as the ship. It was funny standing on the back deck of the Marco Polo during a spell of snowfall with the sound of Bing Crosby singing “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” coming from the ships PA system. We will definitely have a white Christmas here and I am still convinced I am dreaming. Bye for now.
22.02(pm) – en route to Port Lockroy, 64 degrees 57.27’ South/ 63 degrees 31.77’ West, Air Temperature 5 o C,Water Temperature 1.5 o C,
Wind North force 2.
Wild life seen today.
Mammals
Humpback Whale 2
Crabeater Seal 3+
Leopard Seal 3+
Southern Elephant Seal 1
Birds
Giant Petrel 1
Black-browed Albatross 2
Cape Petrel 1
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 10+
Gentoo Penguin 500+ (including at least two Leucistic Birds)
Adelie Penguin 2+
Chinstrap Penguin 3+
Snowy Sheathbill
Antarctic Shag 8+
Brown “Sub Antarctic” Skua
Antarctic Tern 20+
Note: A + sign after the counts indicates that we saw at least that number but more may have been present.
22.02(pm) – en route to Port Lockroy, 64 degrees 57.27’ South/ 63 degrees 31.77’ West, Air Temperature 5 o C,Water Temperature 1.5 o C,
Wind North force 2.
Wild life seen today.
Mammals
Humpback Whale 2
Crabeater Seal 3+
Leopard Seal 3+
Southern Elephant Seal 1
Birds
Giant Petrel 1
Black-browed Albatross 2
Cape Petrel 1
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 10+
Gentoo Penguin 500+ (including at least two Leucistic Birds)
Adelie Penguin 2+
Chinstrap Penguin 3+
Snowy Sheathbill
Antarctic Shag 8+
Brown “Sub Antarctic” Skua
Antarctic Tern 20+
Note: A + sign after the counts indicates that we saw at least that number but more may have been present.
