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The Daily Bucket: Antarctica was my backyard in December! Part 2 - The Antarctic Peninsula [1]

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Date: 2023-02-27

The Scotia Sea

Those black dots are penguins taking a ride on an iceberg in the Scotia Sea

Tabular icebergs as we approach the Antarctic Peninsula. The pattern of the ice on the water made me think of waves breaking on the beach, but we were in the middle of the sea.

Our stops on the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands

The Danger Islands

Land Ho! Our first stop is Heroina Island, one of the Danger Islands. Adélie penguins were just discovered on these islands in 2018.

Not only do the Danger Islands hold the largest population of Adélie penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula, they also appear to have not suffered the population declines found along the western side of Antarctic Peninsula that are associated with recent climate change.earthsky.org/...

Adélie Penguin

Adélie Penguins on nests made of stones

Onboard the ship, we watched a video that showed male Adélies stealing stones from other males while they built the nests. Very sneaky.

There’s a zodiac boat near shore between a couple of icebergs in the center of the photo. That helps give you the scale of the landscape.

Very interesting rock formations

The Palmer Archipelago

Mikkelsen Harbour lies on the southern coast of Trinity Island at the northern end of the Palmer Archipelago. The site was discovered by Nordenskjöldon his Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901-4. The harbour was used by whalers for mooring factory ships and named for Norwegian Whaler Captain Klarius Mikkelsen. On the island there is a gentoo penguin colony, a few unoccupied huts and a radio mast.

Gentoo Penguin

Gentoo Penguins

Snowy Sheathbills

Cape Petrel

Abandoned Argentinian station outhouse

I mentioned in Part 1 that I wanted to see icebergs and glaciers. I’ve seen them in Alaska and Iceland, but remain fascinated by the shapes and colors.

Chinstrap Penguins and iceberg

We spent as much time riding around in the Zodiacs as we did on land, which sometimes allowed for better access to wildlife and landscapes.

Here’s a shaky video:

Cormorants

Nesting Cormorants

Palaver Point lies on the west side of Two Hummock Island of the Palmer Archipelago situated 5.07km northwest of Veyka Point, the south extremity of the island. Home to a small Chinstrap penguin population, it provides an opportune place to seek wildlife and glacial ice. The name arose because the feature is the site of a penguin rookery, with its attendant ceaseless noise resembling the profuse and idle discussion denoted by the word "palaver."

Cormorant in flight

Chinstrap Penguins in the Palmer Archipelago off the Antarctic Peninsula. The most amusing footage is at about 0:35 to 0:45 seconds. The pink color is due to their diet of krill.

Cierva Cove

Penguins on an iceberg

Gentoo Penguins

The Antarctic Peninsula at Punta Sucia

Very cool giant rock

South Sheltand Archipelago

Half Moon Island lies in the entrance to Moon Bay, between Livingston and Greenwich Islands. The 2 km(1.2 mi) long island is crescent-shaped and home to approximately 3,300 breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins. Antarctic terns, skuas, kelp gulls, Wilson’s storm-petrels and blue-eyed shags also breed at this site. Fur seals are often present on the beaches, along with the occasional Weddell or elephant seal. The Argentine Camara Station is located on the southwest side of the island.

Halfmoon Island

I’m a big fan of lichens.

Kelp Gulls

Chinstrap Penguin taking a rest

Deception Island

Deception Island is an island in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbor, which is occasionally troubled by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volcano, which seriously damaged local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969. en.wikipedia.org/…

Whalers’ Bay was a fascinating, spooky last stop on our trip.

The site has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 71), following a proposal by Chile and Norway to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. It comprises all pre-1970 remains on the shore of the bay. These include artefacts and structural remains from the early whaling period (1906–1912) associated with Captain Adolfus Andresen of the Chilean Sociedad Ballenera de Magallanes, the Norwegian Hektor Whaling Station (1912–1931), the period of British scientific and mapping activity (1944–1969 by Operation Tabarin, Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, British Antarctic Survey), and a cemetery containing 35 burials and a memorial to ten men lost at sea. It also commemorates and acknowledges the historic value of other events that occurred there. en.wikipedia.org/...

Ruins at Whalers’ Bay

Steam from the heat of the active caldera

You can barely see penguins on the strip of beach

Gentoo Penguins

A picture of sand for Ocean Diver, since we couldn’t bring any home

Kayakers and others

The approach to “Neptune’s Bellows” from inside the bay

A last look at the South Shetland Islands before we headed across the Drake Passage back to Ushuaia. The 2 days at sea were neither rough nor calm, to the relief of many of the passengers.

South Shetland Islands

There are huge changes in the south polar landscape due to climate change, ongoing and in the future.

THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, SOIL, PLANTS, WATERS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS. WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU IN YOUR OWN PART OF THE WORLD, YOUR TRAVELS, AND TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF THE DAILY BUCKET FEATURE, CHECK OUT THIS DIARY: DAILY BUCKET PHENOLOGY: 11 YEARS OF RECORDING EARTH'S VITAL SIGNS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS

This is an open thread, please add your nature observations from your backyard or from travels.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/27/2153507/-The-Daily-Bucket-Antarctica-was-my-backyard-in-December-Part-2-The-Antarctic-Peninsula

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