Penguin Island, Antarctica
There is much more to Penguin Island than chinstrap and adelie penguin colonies. Large numbers of Antarctic fur seals populate the beaches and range surprisingly far inland. Skuas, southern giant petrels, Antarctic terns and kelp gulls all nest here. Abundant lichens encrust on rock surfaces, splashing them with a wide palette of colors, and there are fields of the elegant bushy lichen, Usnea Antarctica, looking like dense, miniature forests. Moss beds are wide spread. Both species of Antarctic flowering plants, Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic pearlwort are abundantly represented.
This morning’s landing presented opportunities for both short and long hikers. Those who chose to climb to the rim of the volcanic caldera (in the photo) were rewarded with expansive panoramas, while the more leisurely walkers took time to examine the many treasures that Penguin Island revealed to those who looked closely.
Gibbs Island is a small, out of the way outcropping that is rarely visited. We spent our afternoon there. Howling winds and horizontal snow reminded us that, even though this is the middle of the Austral summer, we are visiting the continent with the most extreme climate on earth. Zodiacs were lowered. We marveled at spectacular icebergs that had been flushed out of the Weddell sea and floated along with the west wind drift until they grounded in these shallows. They followed much the same course as the Shackleton expedition which landed on nearby Elephant Island in April, 1916.
Along the shore, Antarctic fur seals played in the water and sparred on the beach. Chinstrap penguins by the thousands covered the hillsides, and sharp eyes spotted two Macaroni penguins, our first of the voyage. Researchers Steve Forrest and Chris Edlin did a “Presence / Absence” survey for nesting birds, as Oceanites had not previously visited this isolated island.
There is much more to Penguin Island than chinstrap and adelie penguin colonies. Large numbers of Antarctic fur seals populate the beaches and range surprisingly far inland. Skuas, southern giant petrels, Antarctic terns and kelp gulls all nest here. Abundant lichens encrust on rock surfaces, splashing them with a wide palette of colors, and there are fields of the elegant bushy lichen, Usnea Antarctica, looking like dense, miniature forests. Moss beds are wide spread. Both species of Antarctic flowering plants, Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic pearlwort are abundantly represented.
This morning’s landing presented opportunities for both short and long hikers. Those who chose to climb to the rim of the volcanic caldera (in the photo) were rewarded with expansive panoramas, while the more leisurely walkers took time to examine the many treasures that Penguin Island revealed to those who looked closely.
Gibbs Island is a small, out of the way outcropping that is rarely visited. We spent our afternoon there. Howling winds and horizontal snow reminded us that, even though this is the middle of the Austral summer, we are visiting the continent with the most extreme climate on earth. Zodiacs were lowered. We marveled at spectacular icebergs that had been flushed out of the Weddell sea and floated along with the west wind drift until they grounded in these shallows. They followed much the same course as the Shackleton expedition which landed on nearby Elephant Island in April, 1916.
Along the shore, Antarctic fur seals played in the water and sparred on the beach. Chinstrap penguins by the thousands covered the hillsides, and sharp eyes spotted two Macaroni penguins, our first of the voyage. Researchers Steve Forrest and Chris Edlin did a “Presence / Absence” survey for nesting birds, as Oceanites had not previously visited this isolated island.
