Wednesday, November 25 – Above the Clouds Together With Chinstraps Penguins

Three days before the end of the expedition and start of our return to Ushuaia, straight North, through Drake Passage. When something is getting to its end (and new beginning) usually feeling is like you want to catch every single breath of that day, every single moment. That’s my feeling today…

Usually we wake up every day around 6.30-7 o’clock, put our gear on and go to the deck to catch first breath of fresh morning air and feel the power of the wind, which make you awake in a second. It looks like a military life in some moments… Then nice breakfast, first morning chat with the gang where suddenly I found out that the iceberg hit the ship twice last night, iceberg half of the ship’s size… huge! But luckily everything was fine… I did not even hear it! I had nice dreams obviously

After the breakfast we got onshore to visit Argentinean base “Admiral Brown” at one of the islands in the Peninsula. This base got a name by the famous (originally Irish) Argentinean commander Mr. William Brown. The base has several small wood houses, colored in red with clear and big sign of Argentinean flag on the roof. Since the base is currently closed, we could go onshore exploring the surroundings of the island. Otherwise, if there were people in the base, we should ask for the permission to step on the island. This is one of the regulations defined by Antarctica Treaty Protocol from 1961.

Looking at the base I can’t stop asking myself how would it be to spend couple of months here, surrounded with penguins, seals, ice and sea? Having limited resources in mind, it must be very challenging from one side, but I am sure that being in Antarctica and exploring the continent, researching the species and the nature is unbelievable and worthwhile. And believe me when I say that this continent is one of the most beautiful places on the Earth.

There is big population of Gentoo penguins on the islands just near the base… Going further we climbed hill just above the island with quite steep upfront side which goes straight down to the sea. It looks very scary standing on the top while wind is blowing you towards the ocean.

In the afternoon we continue our exploration of the Antarctica by visiting the population of Chinstrap Penguins. This kind of penguins have a white throat, chest, and under parts, and black body and head. Their bill is black, and a distinctive thin black line runs from ear to ear through the white of their throat. It is this band that gives them their main common name, Chinstrap. But these penguins were frequently seen by early Antarctic explorers, and were also named for their habits –”Stone Cracker” . They make their nests quite high on the rocks and have their breeding season in the same time as Gentoo or Adelié penguins.

Visiting the Chinstrap Penguins and being exposed to the real storm up on a hill were one of memorable experiences from the Antarctica Expedition… out of many, many other amazing experiences and memories from the end of the world…

Still missing the right experience with the whales…