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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