Chinstrap Penguin scurries away from us...
Fur seals courting...
Huge whale bones...
Skua's fur ball remains of penguin chick...
Research Station...
Jerry, Chuck and Fran facing the snow storm...
Zodiac waits for us to return to Minerva...Well, today we really earned our stripes! Discovery Group (red dots) boarded zodiacs after Endurance (green dots) returned at 9:00 a.m. Light snow was falling, the temperature was 32 degrees, there was a light cloud cover, and the short ride to shore was quite smooth. Chinstrap penguins were watching us as we walked through ankle deep waves and strode up the rocky beach toward a fork in the penguin highway that lead to the top of a short hillside. If we travelled to the left, we could see a Chinstrap rookery; to the right about 3/4 mile were several fur seals and some whale bones. Our decision was to turn right and stop at the rookery on our way back. That was a bad decision (more about that later).
On the way down the beach, we passed a research station on the edge of a small rocky hillside, about 200-300 yards to the right of us. It had begun to snow a bit harder, so the research station was fairly difficult to photograph. When we reached the whale bones, we were met by Sean, our whale specialist, who showed us a mandible and partial skull from a blue whale, estimated to be over 100 feet long. He’d found a seal skull and skua’s fur ball from a digested chick penguin. After taking several photos of the bones and nearby fur seals, it happened! We were a full 3/4 mile from our zodiacs when the snow increased even more and the wind truly picked up. A white-out followed as we made our way back up the hill toward the waiting zodiacs. It seemed much farther than it really was. We were slowed down tremendously by the snow slashing on what was left exposed on our faces. We later learned that the wind had gusted to more than 65 mph, and was up to force 12 on the Beaufort scale. When we finally reached the top of the hillside, and could see our cleaning Guanomatics and zodiacs in the now pounding surf, we slowly began to descend the final treacherous 100 feet of rocky slope that was coated by newly fallen snow on top of penguin guano. As luck would have it…we made it to the beach without a mishap…outside of missing the Chinstrap rookery in our haste to get back to the zodiac and, more importantly, to the Minerva.
We were both bowsprits in the zodiac today. That means that we sat in the very front seats and, as luck would have it, were the recipients most waves that came spilling over the bow into the boats. Jan, in fact, wound up on the wettest side of the zodiac and was deluged by several as the craft made its way through increasingly higher waves on its way back to the Minerva. The weather is so changeable, in a short period of time, down here in Antarctica. We found that out today.
Once back on the ship, we had today’s hot drink waiting for us…hot tea. It’s a very nice touch. Soon after we weighed anchor and were once again under way, the captain announced that our afternoon’s scheduled Antarctic swim had to be cancelled due to severe winds that would prevent our ship from entering Deception Island’s caldera and Pendulum Cove with a dip in the thermal springs. We weren’t surprised.
On the way down the beach, we passed a research station on the edge of a small rocky hillside, about 200-300 yards to the right of us. It had begun to snow a bit harder, so the research station was fairly difficult to photograph. When we reached the whale bones, we were met by Sean, our whale specialist, who showed us a mandible and partial skull from a blue whale, estimated to be over 100 feet long. He’d found a seal skull and skua’s fur ball from a digested chick penguin. After taking several photos of the bones and nearby fur seals, it happened! We were a full 3/4 mile from our zodiacs when the snow increased even more and the wind truly picked up. A white-out followed as we made our way back up the hill toward the waiting zodiacs. It seemed much farther than it really was. We were slowed down tremendously by the snow slashing on what was left exposed on our faces. We later learned that the wind had gusted to more than 65 mph, and was up to force 12 on the Beaufort scale. When we finally reached the top of the hillside, and could see our cleaning Guanomatics and zodiacs in the now pounding surf, we slowly began to descend the final treacherous 100 feet of rocky slope that was coated by newly fallen snow on top of penguin guano. As luck would have it…we made it to the beach without a mishap…outside of missing the Chinstrap rookery in our haste to get back to the zodiac and, more importantly, to the Minerva.
We were both bowsprits in the zodiac today. That means that we sat in the very front seats and, as luck would have it, were the recipients most waves that came spilling over the bow into the boats. Jan, in fact, wound up on the wettest side of the zodiac and was deluged by several as the craft made its way through increasingly higher waves on its way back to the Minerva. The weather is so changeable, in a short period of time, down here in Antarctica. We found that out today.
Once back on the ship, we had today’s hot drink waiting for us…hot tea. It’s a very nice touch. Soon after we weighed anchor and were once again under way, the captain announced that our afternoon’s scheduled Antarctic swim had to be cancelled due to severe winds that would prevent our ship from entering Deception Island’s caldera and Pendulum Cove with a dip in the thermal springs. We weren’t surprised.
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