On the morning of the 21st we woke to find proper land in a bay at Anvers Island. For the next week we would be seeing volcanic landscapes with rocks jutting impossibly out of the cold water. Sometimes the land was a scree-laden slope with beaches but many times glaciers draped over the mountains like huge snow banks and ended abruptly at the water's edge. Never the less, there is no plant life in Antarctica with the exception of some moss and lichen.
We arrived in this bay where an Argentine naval station was perched at the foot of the black cliffs.
Here is where we would take our first zodiac tours organized by group names. Matt and I were dubbed the Skua Group and we had to wait our turn while the zodiacs were lowered from the top decks and the side access was opened so the groups could jump into the zodiacs.
While we waited, we were enveloped in a snow flurry with massive flakes which made it difficult to see.
I initially thought we were looking at our first penguins on a cliff side but they were in fact Antarctic Shag which really look identical to the Imperial Shag we had left on the Beagle Passage, at least to my untrained eye. Makes more sense too considering Penguins don't fly.
Zoomed in shot.
Finally the Skua group was called and we got into our zodiac and motored over to look at the naval station from the water and check out our first looks up close of Shags and Penguins and Skuas.
Here you can see why the Imperial/Antarctic Shag is also known as Blue-eyed Shag.
Gentoo Penguins! Sure you may have seen Penguins at the zoo but you don't fully appreciate them until you see them up close in their natural habitat. They are comical and majestic all at the same time.
The huge snow flakes were making photography really hard in several respects so I didn't take too many photos this time.
However, later that day in the afternoon we went on a second zodiac tour this time with a visit to land at Neko Harbor which is also on the continent of Antarctica on the west coast of Graham Land (Antarctic Peninsula). Here we were able to get up close and personal with the Gentoos and other birds. Here is a short video taken shortly after landing.
I still have not mastered the iPhone camera. My wife takes unbelievably good photos with it but I haven't had luck. The point is that the penguins were really close and all around us.
The view of our ship at the top of the hike overlooking Neko Harbor.
The bray of the Gentoo sounds like a donkey but apparently the name Jackass Penguin was already taken by the African Penguin.
Skuas flying in front of glaciers never got old.
These were presumably South Polar Skuas. The other possible Skua species down here are Brown Skuas but they are quite a bit beefier and we did not get confirmed looks until the next day.
Here you can see a zodiac shuttling back and forth from the ship.
Neko Harbor would be cool even if there were no penguins to look at as it hosts a huge calving glacier. A couple times during our stay massive chunks calved off the side and generated big waves which is why we were told not to hang out to close to the shore's edge.
Presumed South Polar Skua
One of the blonde individuals.
Watching the Gentoos porpoising was freaking awesome.
There was a scientific team from some university taking measurements and doing some "science" with a drone.
A Weddell Seal doing its best Elephant Seal impression.
South Polar Skua - hard to imagine that these are the same species we see in our summer out on the Gulf Stream in more tropical conditions.
At one point we heard the huge crack of the glacier calving off some huge chunks and I was able to take a pic. As with everything in Antarctica, the immense scale of the explosion is not captured well in a picture, but try and imagine each of those ice chunks were boulder-sized and detonating upon impact.
The wave generated was probably chest high but surfing it would have been a stretch as it was not well formed at the source.
The wave soon cleaned up after about 20 yards but wasn't really breaking in the deep bay. I have heard stories and seen videos of people surfing glacier waves. Here is a clip of a team of novelty surfers doing it with jet ski tow assists.
Wilson's Storm-petrel - here was another of our summer pelagic species in NC that looked out of place in Antarctica until I got used to seeing them zipping in front of ice bergs.
That first day on the peninsula set the stage for what would come over the next handful of days. Next post includes other penguin species and some other goodies.
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