Time: 06.26, 64 degrees 49.84' South, 63 degrees 36.63' West, overcast with one light snow shower clearing to a bright calm evening. Air Temperature 3 oC, Water Temperature 1.4 oC, Wind East force 4 decreasing later, Sunrise 3.55am, Sunset 00.43am (next morning)
Just after midnight this morning in the Gerlache Strait, the peaks are over 1000 metres high.
Today we landed passengers at Jougla Point. The chicks at the colony are growing fast and and adults tending large chicks could be seen standing with their backs to the wind to give the chicks shelter. One parent penguin always stays with the young on the nest until they are very large, to avoid them dying from the cold and to defend them. Passengers witnessed two Brown Skuas attack a penguin guarding chicks and grab one bye approaching the nest from opposite sides. One skua distracts the parent and the other snatches the chick and makes off with it. The two skuas took one chick and landed within two metres (six feet) of passengers waiting to get in the Zodiacs to go back to the ship. There the skuas proceeded to rip it apart while completely ignoring the people standing nearby. Half the passengers were totally horrified while the others watching in amazement.
Four climbers from a yacht on the glacier at Port Lockroy.
Later in the day we made our third attempt to sail down the Lemaire Channel and once again too much ice prevented us. Once again I will now hand you over to the expedition Geologist Tom Sharpe for his notes on the places we visited today.
Tom - Today was another GGD (good geology day). The weather wasn’t as good as yesterday, but it was dry, although we did have some snow showers later in the morning and in the afternoon.
We were up early again, but this time for a zodiac landing at Jougla Point. Jougla Point is on the west side of Wiencke Island which is just off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
We were up early again, but this time for a zodiac landing at Jougla Point. Jougla Point is on the west side of Wiencke Island which is just off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Grey granite-like rock at Jougla Point (photo Tom Sharpe).
We saw grey granite-like rocks along the shore here. They solidified from molten rock below the Earth’s surface about 100 million years ago. The Gentoo penguins have built their rookery on outcrops of this rock, so sometimes you can’t see the rocks for penguin poop. But the Gentoos are just like geologists – they collect stones. They use them to build their nests.
Grey gneiss with wavy bands of minerals (photo Tom Sharpe).
We found lots of interesting boulders on the shore. They were all different kinds of rocks. There were pieces of lava and volcanic ash, pink granite, and a grey rock called gneiss. Gneiss (pronounced “nice”) has wavy layers in it. It’s a rock that has been changed by being heated up and squeezed. It probably formed deep below the Earth’s surface when continents crashed into each other.
All of these boulders had been brought here by glaciers. They were caught up in the glacier ice and carried along with it. Then they were dumped at Jougla Point when the glacier melted.
Rock outcrops smoothed by glaciers passing over them (photo Tom Sharpe).
The glaciers changed the shape of the rock outcrops at Jougla Point. They wore them down and made them smooth and rounded. We also saw a glacier on the other side of the bay. The glacier ice was dirty with the stones it had in it.
Tom's rock collection at Jougla Point (photo Tom Sharpe)
This afternoon we sailed south to Lemaire Channel. It’s a narrow stretch of water between the Antarctic Peninsula and Booth Island just offshore. The mountains on either side are really steep and shaped like upside-down ice cream cones. Between them there are more glaciers.
The Lemaire Channel was cut by glaciers thousands of years ago. It follows the line of a big crack in the Earth’s crust. We call this a fault. The rocks moved along this crack and were broken up and it was easy for the glaciers to wear the rocks away and form the channel. Then the sea level rose and flooded the channel.
This was our third attempt to sail through the Lemaire Channel, but again there was ice in it and the Captain decided we couldn’t go through. So we turned around and sailed north towards Paradise Harbour. We should see more volcanic rocks tomorrow if we can land there as planned.
Wildlife seen at Jougla Point, Port Lockroy and the southern end of the Gerlache Strait
Mammals
Humpback Whale 4+
Minke Whale 1
Weddell Seal 2
Elephant Seal 4+
Birds
Southern Giant Petrel 10+ (one white morph)
Cape Petrel 2
Wilson’s Storm Petrel 100+
Gentoo Penguin 1,000+
Chinstrap Penguin 2
Snowy Sheathbill 12+
Antarctic Shag 20+ (with large chicks)
Brown Skua 50+
South Polar Skua 4
Antarctic Tern 20+
Note: A + sign after the counts indicates that we saw at least that number but more may have been present.
