Day 8 of 13: Just Another Day in Paradise ... (Sunday, January 30)

The Octantis arrived at Paradise Bay (64° 53’) during my first coffee, around 5:00 am, as we started preparing for our 7:15 excursion. Today, we will be on the first zodiac boat to the landing site, the Brown Station summer research facility. Although normally an active Argentinian and Chilean research facility each summer, it is closed this year. Paradise Bay, also known as Paradise Harbor, is a recess in the Graham Land coastline between Duthiers and Leniz Points, filled with stunning icebergs and the surrounding mountains.

Brown Station

The Octantis research team launched the second NOAA weather balloon atop Octantis this morning at 8:00 am. We watched from Brown Station, but we were too far away to catch photos. The weather balloons, made of biodegradable material, are filled with an initial charge of helium to get them airborne, then they expand as the make a 2-4 hour journey to altitudes as high as 25 km and up to 150 km laterally away from the ship, before they explode and fall into the ocean. Attached to the balloon is a radiosonde, the size of a large cell phone, which records temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and wind speed/direction.

Another nice weather day (for Antarctica), with 6-7 knot winds, 34F high temp and cloudy with occasional light rain. Not as brilliant as Friday’s sunshine, but still an amazing stretch of days where we have been able to participate in off-ship landings. Paradise Bay contains more Gentoo penguin nesting areas, some nestled among the buildings of this research facility. 

Snow Skua:

We jumped the gun when we claimed to have stepped foot on our seventh continent on Thursday, 1/27. Turns out we have only landed on islands until today, when our Viking crew formally welcomed us to our first official step on the Antarctic continent.

Once on land, we climbed a steep hill to the peak overlooking Paradise Bay, with a panoramic view of the surrounding glaciers and mountains. Keith and I were the first to reach the top, one of the more strenuous excursions thus far. Surprisingly, about a quarter of our fellow passengers followed our lead (and the footsteps in the snow that we carved) to the top. The Viking guide at the top took our picture. The last two photos in this section show our climbing destination from the opposite harbor, which we took later from the boat.

At 10:00 am, we enjoyed our second excursion on the special operations boat, which is where we took the above photos of what we’ll call inspiration point. On this trip around Paradise Bay, we saw another crabeater seal, a Humpback whale and several varieties of skua, tern and petrel. Countless Gentoo penguins were also feasting on krill and dolphining around the bay (see Keith's Facebook post for cute videos of this).

And we passed another ship of unknown origin (no flag, no identifiers):

We returned, chilled from the boat tour, in time for lunch of Indian dishes with a slice of prime rib (because it looked so good). 

During lunch we found that internet service was available. So, we spent the afternoon online until it was time for the daily briefing. The team from Oceanides gave us the penguin count for today: at Brown Station, the normal nest count has been 200-250 pairs over the past two decades, but today was just 50. Oceanides also visited penguin colonies at nearby Bryde Island South and Bryde Island East, with similar low results.

This evening we will pass Wilhelmina Bay on the way north to tomorrow’s Enterprise Island destination. An area heavily used by whalers, we expect to see artifacts and whaling shipwrecks representing the history of the area. Although the forecast calls for light rain and a 35F high temperature, winds are expected to remain calm meaning we will have another good day to venture outside the ship in zodiacs. It will be interesting to hear the penguin counts as we head further north.

For dinner, we tried the grill for the first time and were pleased to find surf & turf: filet mignon with bearnaise sauce and lobster tail. We added to that a second course from the sushi bar, followed by another variety of desserts. 

Just another day in Paradise …

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Day 7 of 13: Cuverville Island (Saturday, January 29)

Cuverville Island (64°41’ S) is a dome-shaped, 800-foot-tall island that is one of the most popular stops on the Antarctic peninsula.  It was discovered during an 1897-99 expedition by Adrien de Gerlache, a Belgian Navy lieutenant, and was long used as a whaling site. We were told to look for historic whale bones on shore but saw none. The weather today is great again: calm winds, 33F high temp and cloudy. Not the brilliant sunshine of yesterday afternoon, but that was a rare treat in Antarctic summer. 

We were scheduled for a 9:30 am landing and were thrilled to be joined in our zodiac ride by Octantis godmother Liv Arnesen (see Day 4 blog re: Liv). We had a chance to chat with her while preparing to depart and she agreed to join us for a photo.

With several thousand pairs of Gentoo penguins, Cuverville Island is the largest Gentoo penguin rookery on the Antarctic peninsula. Our landing on the island did not disappoint. The landing point is covered with rounded rocks which many found difficult to walk on and required assistance; for us, it was just like walking on a Lake Michigan beach.

We hiked first to the elevated vantage point (center of top map above):

There was the obligatory M-flag raising ceremony today:

Then we hiked to two other areas with nesting penguins (upper right and lower left sides of map above). Some of the more curious penguins came over to greet us:

We were intrigued by several more penguin highways:

In addition to the Gentoo penguins, we saw many Terns and Skuas. The Skua were plentiful here, stealing Gentoo eggs for a meal. 

Comparatively speaking, this is a polar island paradise — no palm trees, but rather moss, lichen and algae. This rare abundance of Antarctic vegetation is found on the protected north-facing steep slope, where snow doesn’t accumulate, and the long days of warm summer sun promote growth. 

Our resident penguinologist explained that the Gentoo penguins lay two eggs per nest and if one is stolen, they are the only penguins that can produce another egg. There were several Gentoo chicks who peeked out of their nests to briefly show themselves to us visitors – there's a well-developed chick in the center of the first photo and I counted ten chicks in the second photo:

On the return ride to the ship, our zodiac driver gave us a front-view tour of the Octantis exterior:

Back in the warm ship, we had lunch (halibut, vegetables, mostaccioli), took a short nap and then went to the fitness center. It’s been difficult to get in my running miles this past week, but I managed run a 10k on the treadmill today. 

Dinner was sushi again: 

We attended the daily briefing, where we heard today's penguin count from Oceanides for Cuverville: the average number of breeding pairs over the past two decades has been 6-9,000 pairs; today they counted 4,461. The continued trend downward was again attributed to the heavy snowfall last winter in Antarctica. The percentage decline was not as great as the past few days -- might the numbers shift upward as we go north? Are the Gentoo penguins nesting in warmer climates, or are they foregoing this nesting season?

We also learned that tomorrow we will land at Paradise Bay, a harbor near Lemaire and Bryde Islands, home to Brown Station, a large summer research facility. 

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