MS National Geographic Explorer
The Drake Passage and Baily Head on Deception Island
Wednesday, February 9, 2011

    This morning we completed our crossing of the Drake Passage. Overnight, and as we drew closer to the Antarctic Peninsula, the seas become calmer; a relief for all on board ship including those that suffered from seasickness and those of us trying to take photographs from the pitching and rolling decks. As we approached the South Shetland Islands, fog formed and became more and more dense until visibility was less than about half a nautical mile.

    We spent the morning decontaminating all our clothing and other gear so that when we go ashore we will not introduce any foreign organic material that might invade and disrupt the fragile Antarctic environment.

    We arrived at Deception Island just about noon. Following lunch, the fog had lifted to just under the top of the island and Zodiacs were launched to determine if it would be possible to land at Baily Head - the location of a large colony of chinstrap penguins on the outer shore of Deception. Landing at Baily Head was impossible on my three previous Antarctic expeditions due to the high, rough surf and steep, pebbly beach. Joy! It was decreed that a landing was just possible.

    There are probably about 50,000 chinstrap penguins in the colony. That is certainly a big number, but it is only about half the size of the colony of just a few years ago. This late in the summer season, the chicks are very large and have begun to shed their fuzzy coats and grow their fine chinstrap plumage. Most of the chicks still have remnants of their baby fuzz and look a bit scraggly walking around with Mohawk hairstyles.

    Many of the adults have left their chicks and are in the process of molting. They, too, look scraggly and miserable. This is a time when the adults feel, and in fact are, very vulnerable. While molting, they are not as well insulated from the cold, cannot swim or feed and must stand as still as possible to conserve energy. Great care must be taken around the molting adults in an effort not to frighten them and cause them to use energy reserves that they might not have.

    The overcast skies provided a nice even lighting, which made the photography of these high contrast subjects easier. There was a lot of water from melting ice and this made for a lot of “mud”, the primary component of which is penguin guano. It was imperative to tread slowly and carefully on this slippery mixture. I was a gooey mess, as usual, by the end of the shore leave; having been lying in and crawling through the goo – but it is always worth getting down to the level of the penguins when trying to photograph them. I know the ship has great tools to hose me down when I return to the “mud room”.

    My time on shore seemed far too short, but then it usually does. I would be happy to stay at Baily Head and photograph the penguins and seals for several days. There were so many photo opportunities and not nearly enough time to take advantage of a significant fraction of them. Then, again, there is a lot more to experience along the peninsula.

    After all were back on board, we sailed through Neptune's Bellows into the sea-filled caldera of the active volcano that is Deception Island. NG Explorer completed a slow tour of Whaler's Bay before heading back out to the open sea. We are on our way south along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula.

    To sum up - it was a great day.