Brown Bluff, Antarctic Continent & Paulet Islands, Weddell Sea
Our first full day in Antarctica and what a day it was! The morning brought us through the area known as ‘iceberg alley’ – huge tabular bergs were all around us. The light from the sunrise glinted off their sides and it was impressive to think that we were only seeing a small fraction of each one, with most of ice hidden below the sea surface. As we arrived into our Anchorage at Brown Bluff, the morning light turned into full-blown sunshine. For some of us this was our final ‘tick’ in the list of Seven Continents. For others the thrill of stepping on Antarctica was enough in itself. The multitudes of Gentoo and Adelíe Penguins scattered along the beach and in their rookeries added to the excitement of being here.
As we approached the beach, or from the shore, we could see two leopard seals patrolling. They were grabbing the newly fledged and naive penguin chicks who had little chance of evading these well adapted predators. Not to be outdone, a fur seal was also seen to grab an Adelíe penguin chick. It thrashed the penguin about, perhaps to tenderize it, or perhaps to knock it about enough so it couldn’t escape. Not one of the staff members had ever seen a fur seal take a penguin like this before, so it was amazing to watch the whole event; as if we were living a documentary channel.
Our afternoon stop was at Paulet Island, site of the Swedish Antarctic / Nordenskjöld tragedy. In 1903 the crew and captain of the Antarctic were heading down to Snow Hill to pick Nordenskjöld, when their ship sank, about 40 km from Paulet island. Twenty-three men ended up spending the winter in a tiny hut they had built out of rocks. This volcanic island is now home to an unseeingly endless number of Adelíe penguins. The place was literally teeming with them, and they were busy going about their lives as we walked along the beach to the remains of the hut. At the landing site some of us were able to photograph a ‘blond’ Adelíe penguin – not an albino as it still had some pigmentation, but obviously lighter colored than the other black and white penguins surrounding it. At least we could tell one of the penguins apart from the thousands of others !
Our first full day in Antarctica and what a day it was! The morning brought us through the area known as ‘iceberg alley’ – huge tabular bergs were all around us. The light from the sunrise glinted off their sides and it was impressive to think that we were only seeing a small fraction of each one, with most of ice hidden below the sea surface. As we arrived into our Anchorage at Brown Bluff, the morning light turned into full-blown sunshine. For some of us this was our final ‘tick’ in the list of Seven Continents. For others the thrill of stepping on Antarctica was enough in itself. The multitudes of Gentoo and Adelíe Penguins scattered along the beach and in their rookeries added to the excitement of being here.
As we approached the beach, or from the shore, we could see two leopard seals patrolling. They were grabbing the newly fledged and naive penguin chicks who had little chance of evading these well adapted predators. Not to be outdone, a fur seal was also seen to grab an Adelíe penguin chick. It thrashed the penguin about, perhaps to tenderize it, or perhaps to knock it about enough so it couldn’t escape. Not one of the staff members had ever seen a fur seal take a penguin like this before, so it was amazing to watch the whole event; as if we were living a documentary channel.
Our afternoon stop was at Paulet Island, site of the Swedish Antarctic / Nordenskjöld tragedy. In 1903 the crew and captain of the Antarctic were heading down to Snow Hill to pick Nordenskjöld, when their ship sank, about 40 km from Paulet island. Twenty-three men ended up spending the winter in a tiny hut they had built out of rocks. This volcanic island is now home to an unseeingly endless number of Adelíe penguins. The place was literally teeming with them, and they were busy going about their lives as we walked along the beach to the remains of the hut. At the landing site some of us were able to photograph a ‘blond’ Adelíe penguin – not an albino as it still had some pigmentation, but obviously lighter colored than the other black and white penguins surrounding it. At least we could tell one of the penguins apart from the thousands of others !
