Tuesday Afternoon: Cuverville Island

 

Every time we "gear up" for a landing, this is what we wear:

1. We start with top and bottom basewear, (not shown) think long-legged underwear.
2. We add our normal outer layer of pants, shirt and wool socks (not shown).
3. For the outerwear, from the top of the photo:  insulated artic boots, wool stocking cap, waterproof insulated coat, warm gloves, gaiter for neck and face, life preserver, waterproof wind pants.

The gear probably weighs 20 pounds and makes us walk like a penguin. 

 

As our Zodiac approaches the shore, thousands of penguins can be seen in this colony.

After landing, we view scores of whale bones, probably more than 100 years old when whaling was legal.  The Antarctic was a prime whaling region.  Whale boats would butcher the carcasses at sea and dump the unused body parts into the ocean.  Many washed up on the beaches.

Cuverville Island has no huts or research facilities, and with few natural predators, the penguins make the island one big rookery. 

There are so many Gentoo penguins that one has to be careful walking to avoid stepping on a waddling bird.  If you stand long enough, one will walk over your feet.

Further down the beach, two fur seals were sleeping on the rocks.

Three penguins head for the water to feed.  During the summer (it's fall here now) they eat heavily and fatten up in preparation for their 6-week swim north before the ocean ice makes feeding impossible.

Jan is smiling, this is a wonderful landing:  no wind, no snow, some sun and lots of penguins!

Let's see, there are so many penguins I need my calculator to count them!

If it wasn't fall, one may think this was a mon, dad and their chick.  Penguins are monogamous during the breeding season and the parents spend equal time incubating and rearing their chicks.  By late summer, the chicks can survive on their own and are "pushed" out to sea.  A month later the mature birds depart.

As we return to the Octantis, the crew is testing the submarine.  Unfortunately, it has been plagued by technical problems. When operational, it can hold 6 passengers.

As we departed Cuverville Island, we were blessed with a beautiful sunset.