South Shetlands
We found ourselves back in the sunshine today; surprising since we were to spend the day in Antarctica’s rain belt: the South Shetlands where the wind and rain coming in out of the Drake Passage generally dominates the local weather pattern. Nonetheless, there we were, under a sparkling blue sky lining up to take advantage of the “warm” 32° waters within Deception Island’s Port Foster. It was quite an alarming spectacle, really.
Have we been down here too long? What has been in those drinks at cocktail hour anyway? Obviously something must be amiss, for why else would ordinarily rational, sane people strip down to their bare essentials and merrily frolic about in freezing waters? Oh, and not only did they like it, but they PAID for this experience! It’s not as if the expedition team dragged everyone out there in some sort of forced march. No, this was entirely optional; and one that a large majority thought to be a phenomenal idea! Afterwards, the excitement over this absurd accomplishment ran rampant throughout the ship and well into the afternoon; carrying us through to our second landing of the day at Hannah Point on Livingston Island, where we found that we were not the only creatures spending the day at the beach.
Chinstrap and gentoo penguins;, fur and elephant seals; kelp gulls and giant petrels all seemed to be enjoying the unusual turn in Shetland weather and working on their tanning, beachcombing, and people-watching. In the end, we found that not only were they obviously better suited for this decidedly cooler clime, but they were rudely unimpressed with our own efforts to blend in with the locals. The seals snorted and yawned as if to say, “big deal, and no I do NOT look fat in this!” And the penguins simply stared at us with somewhat disdainful blankness, no doubt secretly mocking our garish attire and wishing we would stop blocking their light. After all was said and done, however, it was our day in the sun; we soaked it up as much as possible…at least up until the hypothermia began to set in.
We found ourselves back in the sunshine today; surprising since we were to spend the day in Antarctica’s rain belt: the South Shetlands where the wind and rain coming in out of the Drake Passage generally dominates the local weather pattern. Nonetheless, there we were, under a sparkling blue sky lining up to take advantage of the “warm” 32° waters within Deception Island’s Port Foster. It was quite an alarming spectacle, really.
Have we been down here too long? What has been in those drinks at cocktail hour anyway? Obviously something must be amiss, for why else would ordinarily rational, sane people strip down to their bare essentials and merrily frolic about in freezing waters? Oh, and not only did they like it, but they PAID for this experience! It’s not as if the expedition team dragged everyone out there in some sort of forced march. No, this was entirely optional; and one that a large majority thought to be a phenomenal idea! Afterwards, the excitement over this absurd accomplishment ran rampant throughout the ship and well into the afternoon; carrying us through to our second landing of the day at Hannah Point on Livingston Island, where we found that we were not the only creatures spending the day at the beach.
Chinstrap and gentoo penguins;, fur and elephant seals; kelp gulls and giant petrels all seemed to be enjoying the unusual turn in Shetland weather and working on their tanning, beachcombing, and people-watching. In the end, we found that not only were they obviously better suited for this decidedly cooler clime, but they were rudely unimpressed with our own efforts to blend in with the locals. The seals snorted and yawned as if to say, “big deal, and no I do NOT look fat in this!” And the penguins simply stared at us with somewhat disdainful blankness, no doubt secretly mocking our garish attire and wishing we would stop blocking their light. After all was said and done, however, it was our day in the sun; we soaked it up as much as possible…at least up until the hypothermia began to set in.
