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Published: March 18th 2017
The winds pushed us faster than expected so we made it to the Southern Ocean and our first land sighting early this morning. Because of this we had a bonus landing on Penguin Island. Penguin Island is home to a volcano which we think is extinct but need to research it once I get home and on solid wi-fi. Last night we had a briefing and were sent to sign up for landing groups. Our little crew all became Adelie's so we could stick with Matt (from UK) who is doing kayaking. There are four groups and we will rotate being the first onto the zodiac's at our landings. This morning we were fitted for our water proof boots and had to go through contamination examination with our gear. My gloves, camera bag, and anything with cloth was vacuumed to eliminate the risk of taking a foreign substance onto the island. During this time a lot of us went out on the decks to look at the land masses we were approaching and to search for wildlife. First we spotted penguins swimming past us which shocked us all because we were still pretty far from land. Turns out they will be heading out to sea in the next few weeks for the winter. So much new knowledge! :-) Then right before lunch a few of us spotted a whale!! We are still debating whether it was an Orca or a Minke whale. I think it was an Orca because there was a flash of white. Either way it was an exciting sight.
After lunch we prepared to go on land and the grins on everyone's faces was priceless. You have to line up and walk through some sort of solution to kill anything that might be on your boots and then swipe your ID card to show you're ashore. Then climbed into the zodiac boats. We were the 2nd group to land on Penguin Island and were greeted by a large group of fur seals who apparently attack so we had to get as far away as we could from them. There were Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins but most were in a rocky part of the shore that we weren't allowed to disturb. They are currently molting so it's a stressful time for the little tuxedoed friends. Most of us started our time on the island but hiking up the mountain to check out the crater. It was amazing! We walked up to the highest point of the rim which was great until I sat down to take some pictures and then went into heart pounding fear of heights. Two of the guys in our group helped me up and got me down to a less tense part of the volcano. SO, I've now had panic attacks due to heights on two continents. :-( The views once I got down a little further were spectacular. We were right across from George's Island. I need to do a little more research but I vaguely remember that being where Shackleton got stranded. It's enormous and has glaciers all over it. All I can say is it was breathtaking!
After I got down from the volcano I saw a quartet of Chinstraps heading in a line across the shore. They were adorable! That was the closest we got to them today but still a great sighting. We sorta lost track of time and had to hurry back to the zodiacs and saw a huge hunk break off from the iceberg right in front of the zodiacs. All of a sudden a wave of ice hit the shore so we had to wait a few minutes before heading out. On the way back to the ship we went along the shoreline and saw a few elephant seals and then went closer to the rocky area full of penguins. And finally on our way back in were were taken to a rare iceberg that was a deep blue color. It has something to do with it being super compressed and was beautiful. Another thing I will have to research when I get home. I feel like this trip is going to be one science lesson after another and am excited to keep learning! Now I'm back in my chilly cabin hoping for good weather tomorrow because we have two landings as we head towards the Antarctic land mass.
I also found out that our crew has been doing science gathering all season which is pretty awesome. There are a variety of programs from NASA to whale tracking organizations. They are also collecting water samples along the way to record the levels of microplastics in the water. Mike Jones, I definitely will share those details with you when I get back.
So today I spotted two species of penguins, a whale, two species of seals, some Giant Petrel, and I forgot I saw an albatross fly by last evening. This is an amazing place and I am so excited for more to come tomorrow!
Oh, and BrainPOPpers...Moby hung out up on the volcano's rim today!
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Diane Summers
non-member comment
How Exciting!
Hope, I so enjoyed reading this! I can just picture you as an explorer. Looking forward to your next entry!