Antarctic VI.

1-21-17 DECEPTION ISLAND, ANTARCTICA: The ship was rolling and pitching all night and continued through breakfast. Judy has a cold and stayed in her bunk. Waves were five feet of more, the wind was up to forty knots from the northeast, it was cold and the air was full of snow and fog. When I was out outside, bits of ice were blowing off the superstructure and landing on the deck. We were occasionally escorted by chinstrap penguins and petrels, who both seemed to enjoy things just as they were.

Deception Island is a ring-shaped caldera with a narrow opening on the east side. Like Santorini in the Mediterranean, Deception Island is a massive blown out volcano, and it’s still active with smaller eruptions, most recently in 1969. We motored in and the sea conditions improved a little, but the wind was still very strong.

The plan was to land, hike and explore, but the weather and waves were so bad the zodiacs could not be safely launched, so we exited and headed for Half Moon Island, about 5 hours north in the McFarlane Strait.


The nautical chart showing Deception Island on the lower left and Halfmoon on the upper right, sheltered in a bay on the east of Livingston Island.

Inside Deception I. the waves flattened out, but the wind and snow continued.

The wind had the ship heeled to starboard, the decks were wet and icy.

Penguins can fly. Undaunted by the storm and miles from any rookery, this one comes up for a breath of air.

Cape Petrel also unimpressed by the storm.

Leaving Deception I. That's Neptune's bellows ahead, a narrow gap in the ring of the island with a sub-marine rock in the middle that has caused shipwrecks.

Deception I. land hills outlined by snow.

1-21-17 HALF MOON ISLAND: The storm blew itself out. We had a late hike on this small, half of an inactive basalt caldera. There were chinstrap penguins with one Macaroni penguin interloper, who has been there a long time, long enough for the naturalists to have named him Kenneth. Kenneth was busy grooming himself, with his distinctive head plumage bent too low to be seen, except that about every ten minutes he held up his head for three seconds.

The hike was from the beach, over a low ridge to the other beach. In addition to the penguins, there were kelp gulls, imperial shags, snowy sheathbills, Antarctic terns, and a whaleboat wreck. Those of the passengers who wanted a chance to go swimming in the ocean got it here. None of us got wet. There was no wind, no snow, lots of fog, but it wasn’t very cold.


Half Moon Island. If you look closely all those hairs on the ridge and all those white dots are penguins.

Chinstrap penguin huddled with chick.

The Vavilov in the fog at Half Moon I. The red stuff is kelp.

Whale boat wreck and penguins.

The other beach on Half Moon I. Livingston Island in the distance, penguins in the water.

Kelp Gull.

Immature kelp gulls.

Kenneth the Macaroni penguin in the middle of a Chinstrap rookery. Yellow eyebrows and a prominent beak with orange trim. The name comes from the Eighteenth Century when 'macaroni' was a term used to indicate excessive ornamentation. Think of 'Yankee Doodle Dandy with the feather in his cap...'

Less ostentatious is the Snowy Sheathbill.

Antarctic Tern, I presume.

Antarctica V.

1-20-17 DANCO ISLAND, ANTARCTICA: We had two stops after the campers came back aboard. First was to an Argentine research base, Almirante Brown, where Val and I climbed to the top of another hill, passing by several Gentoo penguin rockeries. The climb was steep in a few places, and the trail in the snow was slippery and frozen in spots and slushy in other places. Gorgeous vistas of the harbor made the slog worthwhile.

Back at the base of the hill we saw a snowy sheathbill. The weather is changing from cloudless to high, stringy cover, but it’s still sunny and there’s no wind. A Weddell seal was napping on one of the ice floes.

We did zodiac cruises along the shore to see two Blue-eyed Shag colonies on the shore-side cliffs with chicks of different ages. Further into the bay we saw a hanging glacier about the size of a city block and 50-100 feet tall. It’s floating in the bay, but still attached to the part of the glacier still on the shore, making it a small ice shelf. It is partially broken into chunks, has tunnels at the water level, caves and vertical slits all in blue. The reflections in the still water of the ice, deep blue in places, was dramatic.


A new harbor at almost 65° S. Latitude, our southern-most position, a little over 100 miles from the Antarctic Circle.

The Vavilov and Almirante Brown Argentine research station.

Gentoo rookery up the slope.

The top of the climb with people using a variety of lenses.

Snowy Sheathbill.

Blue-eyed Shag colony on the rocks.

Feeding the baby.

Trying out the new wings.

Old Blue Eyes.

Floating glacier with reflections and changing sky.

That afternoon at Danco Island, we had another climb to top of the hill for 360° views, more Gentoo penguin rookeries and penguin highways. The footing was treacherous in spots, and I saw a couple butt-plants by the red penguins. The sky was now overcast and the wind had picked up, but there was no precip as yet. Besides the penguins, I saw kelp gulls, brown skuas and a skua nest and Antarctica terns and their nests. The terns were up to their usual nest defensive behavior, diving at anything perceived as an aggressor.

After dinner, we set out for Deception Island. The ship was rolling in the waves and scopolamine patches were on for Judy and Val. We saw Humpback whales close to ship before dinner.


The weather has changed and the wind has picked up.

Did I mention that Kayaking is an option? Here they check out the seals on the floe.

Gentoo penguins with maturing chicks at their feet.

Penguins stand with their backs to the wind.

Penguin highway, uphill lane.

Antarctic Tern.

Brown Skua.

Brown Skua.

Crabeater seal gets a visit from friend.

Antarctica IV.

1-19-17 NELE HARBOR, ANTARCTICA: We motored down Gerlache Strait to Orne Harbor where we landed for a hike. It was a fairly steep climb, in spots, from a chinstrap rookery on the beach to rookeries higher up the slope. The high point was a sharp ridge over looking a lake. While we were there two skuas attacked and killed a penguin chick.

This was our first landing on the continent of Antarctica, the northern part of the peninsula, to be sure, but an actual visit to the actual continent. The weather remains warm and sunny with little wind. There was hot chocolate waiting for us when we returned to the ship, Baileys was optional.


Big ship. We occasionally saw other ships, but the tour operators try to avoid each other. A huge ship like this one with more than 500 passengers is not allowed to let people off the ship.

The chinstraps are at the base of the hill, here, halfway up and on the top. Chicks like these look like gray stuffed animals.

Chinstrap penguin.

Hiking up to the ridge, the penguins do it all day, up and down.

On the ridge, there's a lake on the other side, partly frozen.

Skuas, this one is a South Polar Skua, I think, prey on the penguin chicks.

Skua at rest after a kill.

Two researchers from Stony Brook U. are on the boat, one studying penguin populations and one doing shag diets. Both are young doctoral candidates.

After lunch, we had moved on to Nele Harbor for another climb to a rookery. These are Gentoo penguins, again there are rookeries at the beach and more scattered up the hill all the way to the top. There were Weddell seals sleeping on the beach. The penguins at the top of the hill need to get up and down to and from the sea to feed and feed the chicks. They have established penguin highways, paths worn into the snow, some for down hill traffic and some for uphill. We are not allowed to intrude on their routes, but make our own.

On the beach the water is clear enough to watch the penguins swimming and feeding. Other birds included kelp gulls and shags.

Overnighters left after dinner, they are sleeping out on the ice, in warm camping gear. They dig holes in the snow for shelter from the wind. Neither Judy, Val, nor I availed ourselves of the opportunity.


Nele Harbor from the bridge of the Vavilov.

Blue-eyed Shag, a cormorant in penguin disguise.

Gentoo penguin has red lipstick and white earmuffs. This one has a chick and an egg. Penguin species number two.

Gentoo swimming on the beach sometimes look like ducks.

Kelp Gull, another penguin chick predator.

Ice formations.

Weddell seal afternoon nap.

Crabeater seal on the left, two Weddell seals on the right.

And another sunset. That's a research station on that little island, unused at present.