Chronic Negress

It’s January 3^rd 2009  and we’ve been on the Zodiacs a couple of times today. The first outing was right after breakfast and we circled our intended landing spot at Brown Bluff spotting penguins porpoising (just as it sounds) and lazing on icebergs. We also saw some pintados, my favorite of the Arctic birds, riding the currents around the island.

There were hundreds of thousands onshore, but there were too many icebergs to consider landing the Zodiacs. So we tooled around, looked at ice formations up close and returned to Ocean Nova after n hour and a half or so. We had lunch, and then set off for Paulet Island, another rookery for the Adelie penguins. The Zodiacs came ashore on a rocky beach and there were Adelies as far as the eye could see with their fuzzy gray young. Also, further up on the island were the remains of the hut occupied by a group of Swedish explorers from 1901-1904. You can’t touch it – and it was too far up the hill for the wounded foot to carry me – but stands as a testament to how determined the initial Antarctic explorers were.

Were were outnumbered by these guys

One of the best sights of this excursion was seeing members of the crew, who are mostly Filipinos, standing on land at the island. For many of them, this is their first trip and it was delightful to see them mimicking the penguin waddle.

Describing what’s around you is tricky. There is no place else on Earth like it. The Negress has been to Alaska, the Rockies, Scandinavia, New Zealand and a few other gorgeous places, but none compare to here.

Anyway, it’s tea time here on the Ocean Nova. Like we didn’t just eat. I’m sticking to hot beverages and maybe painkillers later.