Penguins, Seals, and crazy people

Did I mention in my previous postings that the internet on the boat was really bad???  Wow, so I am home, but the adventure was spectacular.  I have to say that I had a lot of fun at Palmer Station and on that little research vessel crossing the Drake Passage.  I owe you all some great pictures too and promise that this posting will not disappoint!  The title is self explanatory for the first two items...yes, there are lots of penguins and seals in the pictures below.  Crazy people???  :)  While leaving Palmer I was witness to a tradition that some still follow when the ship pulls away that confirms these tow individuals to be the type of crazy I love!!!  You'll have to wait for the right picture to understand that further though!

So Torgesen Island.  There is a small research island right near Palmer Station that is home to a large breeding ground for penguins.  On my last day at Palmer Station a friend of mine, Scott, and I were offered the opportunity after work to head over to Torgesen Island to take a walk around and get some pictures.  We both jumped at the chance for this adventure and quickly donned the appropriate gear and jumped in the zodiac!  This island is incredible.  There are so many penguins there and even an elephant seal hanging out.  We were there for about an hour or two before we had to get back to the station.  This place was incredible.  I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to walk around an island that most people will only be able to see on a National Geographic special.  Let's continue the story through pictures....  Oh, one item to note.  I was fortunate to get some great pictures of these incredible animals.  There is an important rule, part of the Antarctic Treaty in fact; we can't do anything that changes the behavior of the wildlife.  I was able to capture these images while adhering to these rules and hope that any of you who ever are fortunate enough to travel to Antarctica will follow the rules as strictly as my party did.  Preservation of this habitat is very important to the research being performed and the only way to better help these animals survive for future generations to enjoy.

This little guy was adorable.  The blue around his eyes is spectacular.

The cuteness factor.  Penguins have cute down, let me tell you.  They are very cute....so what is the downside you ask????  The smell!  They stink horribly!  I was shocked how bad they smell actually, we could smell them even before landing on their little island.  But worth the smell to get these great pictures!

A look back at Palmer Station from Torgesen Island.

Penguins make a great sound.  I'm going to try to put up a video I filmed so you can hear it! :)

Watching a penguin run is the funniest thing you will ever see!

One our way back to the zodiac, I found that we had a guest!  He jumped ship after a few minutes.  We waited at on the hill until he did in fact.  Again, no interfering.... :)

The penguins laying down are on top of an egg.  They build these rock nests and lay on top to keep the egg warm so that hopefully there will be more penguins!

 

Cute but big!

The lone seal on this island....must have got tired of his island a few hundred meters away.

Me!

 

 

L.M. Gould docked at Palmer Station.

 

The crazy people!!!!!!  Yes, that is two people jumping in the water right after we pulled away.  They run from here to the hot tub to warm back up.  Nothing like jumping in freezing water to let you know you're alive!  :)

Back to the ice fields......

Leopard Seal.  These are adorable, but incredible dangerous animals.  They are incredibly territorial and always aggressive.  Fortunately, on the Gould, just a great photo opportunity!

Humpback whales are amazing creatures.  This was an incredibly large pod.  I really have no idea how large.  I would catch glimpse of their backs as they would breach and blow but never a solid count.  The puffs you see are from when the whales surface to blow.  There were so many of these across almost a quarter mile.  It is amazing, there could have been a very large number of these whales in fact.

 

 

So from here we enter my Panorama pictures!  I love creating these and hope you enjoy them too! 

At the dock in Punta Arenas looking at the N.B. Palmer (the other research vessel) from the L.M. Gould.

Can't wait to print and frame this one!

 

 

 

Let me leave you with one thought.  We all have opportunities in our lives to do extraordinary things.  The trick is to not let those opportunities pass, because the might never come back around.  I learned a lot on my most recent journeys.  Mostly, I learned that I am still as amazed by the planet as I was when I was a child.  I can't wait until my next adventure.  Not sure when that is, but when the opportunity comes around, I'll be ready!  :)  

 

Why yes, this is one of my favorite pictures!



 

Palmer Station, Antarctica

 Where did I leave off....that's right!  Palmer Station!  We arrived yesterday at 0730, but that isn't really where I should begin.  While still in the southern part of the Drake Passage, we encountered a snow storm.  This was not just any snow storm, this was a high wind, blizzard!  In other words, it was too cool!  When I woke up at 0300 and looked out the porthole while grabbing some coffee, I saw nothing but white.  Heading out to the bow, it was freezing; I mean it was properly cold out and those Antarctic winds from the south were showing that the Peninsula is no slouch when it comes to delivering the bitter cold.  From the bow you couldn't see more than about 30 or 40 feet in fact.  To make matters worse, as we entered the Palmer Archipelago, we also entered an ice field filled with ice bergs ranging from the size of cars all the way up to some that looked like moving mountains larger than most shopping malls.  So what is there to do, head up to the bridge to get a better view of course.  With the weather and ice issues the Captain took the con from the mate on duty and we started dodging and weaving our way down the peninsula.  After a few hours the storm just disappeared in a few seconds revealing some of the most pretty mountains and glaciers I've seen in Antarctica to date.

With the Sun now out,  we could see the amount of ice bergs that were all around us and also the glorious scenery.  I really thought I was dreaming a few times looking at the landscape.  This place is completely stunning.  In the orientation they say that there will be times that the beauty of this continent shocks you.  They were talking about the peninsula, because even with all of the immense beauty I saw at McMurdo and Pole, this place is the ultimate postcard.  This is perhaps the one place on Earth that there is no possible way for me to properly show you what I see.  This is because it isn't just what you see, but the feeling you get being here, on a little boat floating by these titans of nature.  I must have the coolest job in the world, honestly. 

At 0730 we arrived at Palmer Station and the 2nd Mate, Pete, turned the ship and backed it into place on the down in one fluid movement from one of the fly bridges.  We arrived to a warm welcome from the people on station right now and the work day began.  Generally, I don't comment on my job or what I do at these locations; this time it is relevant.  As the Emergency Manager for the Continent and Antarctic Program, I not only toured the facility and looked over the emergency plans, I needed to tour the worksites.  This involved getting in a Zodiac 10-person boat with an outboard motor and scooting around from island to island to view the science sites.  This was incredible.  One of the Islands, that I have to go back to today in fact, had hundreds of penguins on it.  Note to all...penguins stink.  I don't mean a slight odor either, they smell really bad!  So do elephant seals!!  They are very cute though, and fun to watch.  The glacier walls that surround us are also equally incredible.  It's so hard to tell scale from pictures, but the walls around the station are in some spots taller than the Empire States building in New York City.  These glaciers walls also routinely "Cav;" which is where large sections break off and fall as the glacier moves toward this side of the continent and over water.

Okay, enough of my rambling, time for some amazing pictures!  Make sure you download the panorama pictures so you can properly see them.

 

This chunk was the size of a large office building.

 

 

 

 It was cold as the storm left!!

 I was very lucky to catch the light just right.  The world of watercolors!