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Published: June 13th 2009
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The plan was to write just one blog on Antarctica, at least it was until I started looking at my photos. OK so there's probably only so many ice and penguin photo's you want to see, but looking at them again months after the trip has reminded me that it's still the most amazing thing I've ever done. So here goes blog 2 out of 3!
I woke up early on our second day at the peninsular - the breakfast call was yet to come and I took the opportunity to head up on deck. With everyone else still in their cabins there was barely a noise to be heard apart from the lapping of water against the boat. The sun had yet to rise over the surrounding snowy peaks and everything had this stunning blue hue to it. And a huge iceberg (well, at this point in the trip it seemed huge... I had yet to learn that it was a baby in comparison to some) lurked in the still dark inky blue waters off the bow, having appeared from somewhere overnight. It really was an amazing sight to wake up to.
Our first outing of the day
was to the nearby Argentine base. Not much more than a couple of huts it's only used in the summer months. We weren't going inside though, rather we were here for the colony of Gentoos that occupies the same patch of rock. These ones weren't as inquisitive as the ones we'd seen yesterday at Paradise Bay, infact they weren't moving around much at all. They just stood where they were, staring at us staring at them and looking as cold as we felt - the sun had yet to make any significant appearance and there was a icy cold wind blowing through. A few intrepid ones ventured down to the shoreline but even they stood on the edge, looking like they were debating whether the need for food was worth the plunge.
Back on ship we set sail heading for the Lemaire Channel. Located between the peninsular itself and Booth Island the channel is 11 km long and at its narrowest point just 1,600 meters wide. The waters were still and the views stunning but perhaps the most entertaining thing was watching the penguins who were out in force doing their swim-jumping over the water thing.
Our second
landing of the day was at Peterman island - a little way south of the Lemaire Channel its one of the many islands dotted along the Antarctic Peninsular. And its home to more penguins - Gentoos again but also the smaller Adelie Penguin. I was in one of the first zodiacs to land and as we stood waiting for the others to arrive we got to watch the funniest sight - one minute the rocky shoreline was empty, the next minute a group of 8 or so penguins stood there. They'd just appeared! Swimming underwater right up to the shore edge and then suddenly jumping out.. it was hilarious. Meanwhile a single seal circled in the cove, checking out the action but then deciding to moving on.
Once the whole group had landed we set off, heading inland and up on the ice in search of the Adelie penguins. With black faces and a distinctive white ring around their eyes these penguins seemed quite aloof in comparison to the larger Gentoos who were back on form, the more adventurous ones coming right up to us, pushing their way through the group to be the centre of attention... literally. Watching
penguins 'walk' kept me amused for ages - in the water they're graceful and streamlined (Gentoos are the fastest underwater swimming penguins, reaching speeds of up to 36 km/h), on land though they move with a somewhat ungainly waddle, arms out, rocking from side to side as they go. But that doesn´t mean they're slow, they get quite a speed up with their waddle as they chase after you, and when that doesn't work out, well they just flop onto their bellies and toboggan downhill on the ice!
Next up, the iceberg graveyard, the (almost) southernmost bar in the world and, yup, more penguins.
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