Antarctica

Wow!! What a morning. As is policy on Pursuit, the landing group changes time to allow everyone to experience early/middle/late landings. As I have mentioned in earlier entries, we started in the last departure slot, but have moved up one each day. Today, we moved up to the 4th slot. So after a bit of a lay-in (7:00 a.m.), we got ready and headed to breakfast, where Arlene and Doug, our neighbours across the hall, joined us. Just a quick story on service here. I was perusing the fruit and said to Oliver, the restaurant manager, “Oh, I’ll have to try some other fresh fruit this morning”. He inquired what I had been eating. I said nectarines/peaches and commented on how fantastic they were. The next thing I knew, he was headed to the kitchen, and the chef went down to the storage area to get me a nectarine, and it was sliced and beside me in 5 minutes!!!

Our group was scheduled to embark on our zodiac at 9:00 a.m. We are really coming along on our donning and doffing process for each venture off ship. Our response time is greatly reduced since day one. We had a somewhat choppy ocean on our Uber (zodiac) transport to Cuverville Island, home to 6,000 - 10,000 Gentoo penguins.

Top 5 Facts (according to the Sea Life Sydney website)

1. Their reproduction practices are very particular:
These penguins are known for building pebble nests in breeding season. These can measure almost 8 inches high! They also tend to live in large colonies near the coast. (According to our Marine Bird specialist, Juliana, most of the penguin squabbles are over stolen stones! Penguin neighbours steal each other’s stones so they don’t have to venture too far from “home”. A ruckus ensues!)

2. They prefer to live in areas that are only partially covered by ice, or even have no ice at all!
Being an island bird, Gentoo Penguins usually dwell around lowlands of islands. (According to Juliana, they try to pick places where ice is exposed to a lot of sunlight, so they can gather stones and build nests as early as possible.)

3. They're known for their courtship
Their pebble-giving behaviour is pretty quirky and fun to watch. It's common for males to collect pebbles in their beaks to then give to females in exchange for favours. (According to Juliana, they often mate with the same partner all their lives. They evenly share egg and chick sitting duties, as well as gathering nourishment. Interestingly enough, these penguins have many types of families including same sex, male-female as well as polyamorous!)

4. They're speedy swimmers!

Gentoo Penguins are capable of reaching speeds of 36km/h - making them the fastest swimmers among the seventeen species of penguins!

5. They have many predators in the wild, unfortunately.
Gentoo penguins are exposed to dangers as they wander into the water in search of food. They stand a good risk of becoming prey when sea lions, orcas, and sea leopards cruise the waters close to the penguin-inhabited territory to snag a penguin. (We observed many Skua pairs trying to nab the chicks for food for their chicks.)

Other things we learned this: 1. If the penguin’s guano is green, it means they have bile and therefore they have empty stomachs; if it’s white, they have been eating fish, whereas a red hue indicates eating krill. 2. Under their wings is an indicator of whether they are coming from or going into the ocean. Coming out, the blood vessels open up so “skin” appears pink. 3. Gentoo’s usually have one egg at a time, but twins are not unusual. 4. Gentoo, when not near their chicks, are very calm and friendly.

This afternoon, we had an AMAZING zodiac tour! We had Demitri as the driver, and with roughish water,. We set out to see the chinstrap penguins and whatever else we came upon. I will let pictures tell the tale (tail), but we came up close and personal with a humpback whale. The penguins were wonderful, and the landscape was awe-inspiring. Also, this afternoon, while waiting to be called to zodiacs, I happened to be looking out the window of our suite and saw a large piece of glacier calving! Of course, no camera in hand, so it is a memory photo just for me.

I thought I was done writing and could start drinking, when at the end of dinner a small pod of Orcas appeared. A mad rush ensued as people scrambled to their cabin to retrieve photography equipment. I braved the elements in my dinner outfit and tried almost in vein to capture a shot. The final picture on today’s entry is the pathetic shot from my iPhone!Read more