MS National Geographic Endeavour
Weddell Sea
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

    As promised, the captain has sailed us overnight into the Weddell Sea on the eastern side of the Antarctica peninsula. We were scheduled to arrive at the Danger Island archipelago mid-morning. After another early rising, it was back out on deck to view our first major icebergs – all shades of white plus iridescent blue. The shapes, sizes, and textures are infinite. We sighted a particularly interesting iceberg with Adelie penguins riding on top, so the captain slowed, maneuvered to and around the iceberg for viewing and photography. It is amazing how closely the captain is able to approach the ice. There were a few other short detours for wildlife on our way to the islands.

    Arriving at Heroine Island, one of the Danger Islands, we stopped quite short of our destination. This area is so rarely visited that the nautical charts are incomplete. The captain sent out Zodiacs to make new soundings so that these could be used for our visit and added to the charts for the future. Zodiacs were also dispatched to scout for usable landing sights. Unfortunately for us, there are so many Adelie penguins nesting on the island that it would be unsafe for us to land there. We did land a team of Oceanites who used GPS mappers as they explored the island to determine the approximate number of breeding pairs (nests) on the island. Meanwhile, we used Zodiacs to approach the shorelines for a close look at the penguins, other birds, and Weddell seals. Absolutely astounding! As we were finishing up our visit, our Zodiac was called by the Oceanites for their pickup. They were a mess and smelled like the island – of penguin guano. The islands are a dusty rose color wherever the penguins are located. I have observed that penguins do two things really well: make noise and are expert projectile guano machines. It was a good photography opportunity at the island, but we needed to get back to the ship for lunch and our next destination – Paulet Island.

    Paulet Island is also rarely visited and there was no census of Adelie penguins there either. This excited the Oceanites no end. It excited the rest of us, too, because it was anticipated that we would actually be able to land the Zodiacs on Paulet.

    The voyage to Paulet Island was even more incredible. The captain basically hand-steered us through an iceberg alley that went on for hours. Of course we took lots of photographs, but they will never do the scene justice. Again, there were lots of birds and sea mammals in the water and on the ice.

    Landing on Paulet Island, I was able to take about a two-mile hike through the penguin colonies. We must try to say 5 meters away, but there are so many that it is impossible. Sometimes, you just have to stop and let a penguin decide where you should go next. The baby penguin chicks are starting to lose there furry natal coats, but are still being fed by the parents. Many of the nests are high up on the cliffs, the same that I climbed over on my tour of part of the island. The footing is poor. Stones and shale cover the island and it is amazing how the penguins can get up and down the mountainsides. With their short legs, it is approximately 10,000 steps for a penguin to the saddle-point of the hill I crossed. So as a penguin parent, the chick or chicks are hungry, you walk the 10,000 steps down the hill, jump into the sea trying to avoid the fur seals basking on shore and swimming just off the shoreline. Then you dive and surface and swim up to 60 miles ingesting up to a kilogram of protein in the form of krill and fish. As the parent, you will use half just to get the other 500 g back to the chick – which involves another 10,000-step march up the hill.

    The weather changes rapidly in Antarctica. Our fine weather on arrival, turned to snow flurries just two hours later. We returned to the ship with lots of photos to download to our computers. Tonight we sail back north through the Antarctic Sound on our way to Deception Island – part of the South Shetland Islands group. We should arrive just after breakfast. Time for another four or five hours sleep. Today was busy and tomorrow promises more of the same.