Today we got to stand on Antarctica proper. Not that it was actually a “ticklist” for me, but, this does complete being on all continents, and before Maaike, not that it’s a competition mind, but, if it was, I’d have won ;) (she was first on Antarctica though, convincing the boat driver (Marla) that she had to touch land first)
Aaaaaaaaanyway ;)
Penguins. It’s a rough life, and rocks are seriously important things. They steal rocks from eachother, and, if caught, well, the one who is being stolen from is not happy! Females (who have already hatched their chick) will have sex with males in return for stones… sneaky things. And the smell.. it’s.. a full rich aroma that’s for sure.
We also went for a cruise around (that was always the pattern, half the passengers would land while the other half cruised, then swap). You can see the chinstrap penguins are perfectly happy on the small iceberg with the leopard seal, they can move faster on the iceberg. That said, I’d have thought once in the water they’d be toast, but maybe not.
In the afternoon we went for a cruise around Kinnes Cove
Lots of Adele penguins in the water, videos will have to wait for Europe when there’ll be more time for uploading and editing! Did you know there are only two types of penguin? The white ones coming towards you, and the black ones walking away from you ;)
We also did the polar plunge. They give you a harness and tied you in too! not taking any chances with heart attacks ;) Water was a balmy 1 degree or so. I cheated and had a sauna first (yes, there was a sauna on board), so it actually wasn’t that bad at all to be honest! We did get a certificate for our troubles too!
Then we cruised on towards Trinity Island, passing many many massive tabular icebergs on route. It was utterly awe inspiring.. you have to be there…. Tabular icebergs come from the ice-shelves. Big things. We were sailing past them for at least an hour (and of course, we’d been seeing icebergs for most of the journey since the Falklands)
Myra
January 20, 2016 at 1:30 am
My colleagues have asked me to investigate this comment a bit more (it has been part of our lunchtime conversation!):
“Females (who have already hatched their chick) will have sex with males in return for stones… sneaky things”
Is the sex a diversionary tactic so that the stones can be taken back, or do the males repay them as a fee-for-service???
Patrick
January 20, 2016 at 2:31 pm
Yip, fee for service basically. The females have sex after they’ve already hooked up with another male. The lover then lets her take rocks away, but it’s not going to do anything for his genes unfortunately. Hey ho
Ian
January 20, 2016 at 8:36 am
Amazing photos!
Patrick
January 20, 2016 at 2:33 pm
Thanks! Not all have been mine, but shortly they will be. Hard not to take a decent pic. Unfortunately, have left the fast internet of our ushuaian host behind…. Remains to be seen how much data I can rsync overnight ;)
Francois
January 29, 2016 at 11:07 am
I felt cold looking at the photos of you doing the plunge into the antarctic waters. Looks like you guys are having so many amazing experiences on your trip.
Patrick
February 2, 2016 at 12:22 am
Trick is having the sauna beforehand… definitely didn’t feel the cold so much that way. And it really was in and out! Great trip though :)
Femke
June 16, 2016 at 3:40 am
Pussy. We regularly swam back in the days when I lived i Tromsø in water that was around 5 degrees.
Patrick
June 16, 2016 at 4:09 am
Oh yeah, oh yeah?!? Well ours was only one degree…. But you’re totally correct, I’m a total wuss when it comes to cold water. Your sister went in twice.