The Antarctic expedition cruise adventure continues with Day 4 on the World Navigator with zodiac cruising at Eckener Point and a landing at Palaver Point. We also have an adorable penguin encounter, go to the site of a penguin rookery, watch fur seals in action and develop a newfound obsession with icebergs!
The temperature is 3°C/37.4°F and we have just arrived at Eckener Point on the west coast of Graham Land Antarctica. It is a protected area that does not offer landings but a chance to see the Antarctic in all of its glory from the view of the zodiac boat. By now getting dressed up for a zodiac ride has almost become second nature and I quickly embrace the ritual of getting in the boat and mastering the sailor's grip.
During the one and a half hour zodiac ride there’s a feast for the eyes combined with the silence of the Antarctic. Occasionally a glacier will calve, reminding us that we are at the beck and call of Mother Nature. As snow falls, the mountains are recovered with snow.
There is an abundance of sea life from skua birds to chinstrap penguins and fur seals. We watch as two fur seals battle it out lightly jostling each other - another one intervenes and is quickly told off by both of them before they all make their way into the water. High above the mountain sits a school of penguins. Penguins are skilled climbers and can be found hundreds of metres above the sea.
The zodiac boat cruises around and I am struck by the beauty of icebergs protruding from the sea. Some are white while others are blue. There are remarkable shapes with some as fluffy as clouds while others are angular and look shaved by a razor blade. Some instantly call to mind, fresh, marshmallows, dusted with icing sugar. Some icebergs are blue as it is the colour of the pristine glacier ice that is dense with less air pockets, as the pressure from the ice's weight expels the air. Ice from the Antarctic melts slower because of this. Also as light meets the dense, compacted ice, a significant portion of the light permeates through. The ice absorbs longer wavelengths of colors such as red and yellow, while shorter wavelengths, like green and blue are reflected back.
To everyone's delight, a huddle of penguins follows us as the zodiac boat putters along slowly. We are only supposed to be out an hour, but we have been out for one and a half hours. Even then it seems not long enough, especially when these playful little creatures follow us, porpoising up and down close to the boat. Our guide Sam cuts the engine and let us take in the sounds as we are the last zodiac boat out. There are just the sounds of the Antarctic doing its thing as enormous amounts of ice and snow shift. I look behind me, and I see another guest with tears in his eyes running down his cheeks.
"I am drawn back here every year," says guide Sam and I have to agree. We get back to the ship for lunch - today it's a warming soup and a plate from the buffet including roast chicken and Russian eggs for me and everyone is keen to share the animals that they saw this morning. Then as if in a dream, a seal floats by the ship on an ice floe.
The afternoon's landing at Palavar Point is a penguin paradise. Palavar Point is named after the ceaseless noise of the penguin rookery in residence. There are chinstrap penguins and we quickly get to learn the different types of penguins that we encounter. An hour passes by in no time as we watch these small birds interact and negotiate tricky, steep snow covered hills. They waddle putting one foot after the other and take brave leaps. These chinstrap penguins primarily consume krill so their guano is stained pink as you can see in the above images of the pink stained snow.
So how does the expedition leader Jonathan Zaccaria decide on where to stop? He starts by studying scientific publications and data when prior to each expedition. "I have a map where I put all the places where you have historical sites and monuments, I have all the colonies of penguins where you have interesting sightseeing and potentially interesting hikes. And so I say, 'OK, there is good weather in that area so tomorrow we'll go to that area'. For this trip we have focused first on landings to try to see the three brush-tailed penguins. I know where the penguins are nesting because they are seabirds going always to the same location. And then I try to offer maybe a hike to go to a nice viewpoint," he explains.
But these stops are not always places that Jonathan or the expedition team have been to before. "Where there is good weather I do not hesitate to go to a place where I have never been. And that's because either I study it or I just go and explore with you, with the passengers. Each expedition leader has a style and people know me for trying to explore and discover new places. If my job consisted of always going to the same place, always doing the same thing, I would become crazy," he says.
Penguins are always counted in pairs and chinstrap penguins are one of the most abundant type of penguin. They prefer medium density ice and forage for food at 10-60 metres in depth at night. A female chinstrap penguin will typically lay two eggs in a circular nest made from stones and the male and female penguins split egg-sitting duty.
Playful fur seals take lookout on top of rocks and rumble and roll with each other. We learn during one of the lectures that 95% of the Antarctic fur seal cute 95% are found in South Georgia island in the Antarctic. The males are twice size of female at 350kgs/700lbs and also live in a harem. They feed mostly on krill with occasional penguin.
Back at the ship at 6 pm, they start the stewardship program. This is part of Insider Expeditions offering where they pair a hand-picked group of people and have them give speeches about their core competency. As this cruise is about transformation, business business and entrepreneurship, a lot of the talks are about inspiring people to do more with their lives and about the services offered aka stewardship. The talks are not compulsory and you can watch them in the auditorium or outside in the lounge or from your state room as they project them on the ship's own TV channel. We watch a short film and Jonathan gives us a recap of the day's events and then captain Filipe Souza introduces the ship's officers and department heads.
Dinner this evening has a bit of a twist. We have been paired up with a group of strangers so that we can get to know other people on the cruise. The premise of this evening's entertainment is that we have to figure out what we have in common. Tables can range from 2 people to tables of 10 or 12. I am paired with a French woman and a British man and we try to get to know each other. This is somewhat stymied by the host stopping us at several points to talk.
For dinner, we start with an amuse bouche, a delicious olive molecular gastronomy ball with pico de gallo.
The entree is Quiche Lorraine soup which is actually very tasty although but not particularly like Quiche Lorraine.
I have been trying to avoid a lot of seafood now that we are technically off South America, because that is where they get the food from because South America is where I had the anaphylaxis incident. So that means that I have to bypass the lobster starter and lobster main. I go for the beef Wellington, which is served with foie gras, jus spinach, and a brioche toast and is very tasty. A lot of the food seems to be made low in sodium so I do a lot of seasoning at the table.
And for dessert, I ordered the raspberry coconut cake. And while it has been an interesting evening, and I don't think I'll keep in contact with my two fellow diners, I go back to my room and watch the videos of the penguins following our boat.
So tell me Dear Reader, which animal would you most like to see in the wild?
NQN travelled to Antarctica as a guest of Qantas and Insider Expeditions but all opinions remain her own.
Insider Expeditions
https://insiderexpeditions.com/
Qantas
https://www.qantas.com/au/
Atlas Ocean Voyages
https://atlasoceanvoyages.com/antarctica
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