Antarctica - Intercurrence Island, Palaver Point, Drake Passage

Our last day in Antarctica started out with a cruise around Intercurrence Island, one of the largest islands in the Christiania Islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctica Peninsula.  Apparently the Expedition Team had never been able to visit the island because of weather conditions so this was a first for the ship.  It turned out to be an interesting cruise with lots of neat landforms and icebergs around the island.  The most spectacular was the dome-shaped iceberg we first encountered with penguins sitting on top.  

The zodiac took us through a narrow opening between steep rock faces and there was a more sheltered part of the island.  There were Weddell seals and some penguins.  There were giant icebergs around the island.

After lunch we made a landing at Palaver Point which has many Chinstrap penguins. Palaver Point was so named because of the ceaseless chatter from the penguin rookeries on the site.  It was fascinating watching the penguins who seem to be in conference all the time.  The Chinstrap penguin is so named because of the thin strip of black feathers under its chin from ear to ear.  They nest on rockier and steeper slopes than other penguins and are known to be the most aggressive of the penguins.  They typically lay two eggs in November and both male and female take turns incubating the eggs.  The visit to Palaver Point turned out to be a productive end to the last day with photo ops of the penguins in action.

Dome-shaped iceberg 

This opening took us to a more sheltered part of the island

Weddell seal

Curious where this tunnel leads to

Giant icebergs around the island

Such clowns!

This chick with light grey down is probably less than a couple of weeks old as a second darker grey down appears at two to three weeks.



View of the bay from Palaver Point

The first vegetation I'd seen in four days - Antarctica Pearlwort(?)

That's where all the palaver came from

Penguins in conference

So how is the water condition??

This iceberg reminded me of pigs

Last look at Antarctica before we head into the Drake Passage that evening

 The return crossing of the Drake Passage was uneventful.  We were told that a storm was approaching but we would have made it to Ushuaia before it hit in the following days.  Lucky escape!  There were lots of birds around the ship as we crossed, including the black-browed albatross, blue petrel, Southern giant petrels and blue-eyed shags - all lifers for me!

Black-browed albatross



Southern Giant Petrel

Blue petrel

Blue-eye shag

We disembarked in Ushuaia after two days on the Drake and was sent off by a beautiful rainbow at the airport.  What a great end to an amazing adventure!

This wraps up my posts on Antarctica.  Thank you for joining me on this trip of a lifetime.

Antarctica - Port Charcot Gentoo Penguins

Port Charcot is a bay on the north side of Booth Island, which is off the Kiev Peninsula to the west of the Lemaire Channel.  It was first mapped by Jean-Baptise Charcot who led the 2nd French Antarctic expedition in 1904.  He overwintered here and left a cairn which you can see at the top of the hill.  

The landing spot.  The cairn is at the top of hill.

I forgo the pleasure of the view promised at the top of the hill and took my time watching the Gentoo Penguins that were nesting here.  The Gentoos were the largest of the brushtail penguins and supposedly the fastest underwater birds. They were slightly earlier in their breeding cycles than the Adélie Penguins so they were still brooding in their roosts.  We had to wait till they decide to get up to stretch so we can see the eggs. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs.  

There were also some chinstrap and Adelie penguins here too.  The blue-eyed shags nest right in the midst of the penguins.

The Gentoo, distinguished by its red beak

Parents take turns incubating the eggs






Nests lined with pebbles



An egg!



Penguin highways - the pink is from guano , which took on the colour from the krill the penguins fed on



The gentoos took great care picking their way through the rocks, almost like humans



A hop, skip and a jump!

This one Adelie penguin tried to "swim" on its tummy over the ice.

These two chinstraps are hilarious, almost posing for the camera

The blue-eyed shags nest right in the midst of the penguins - here is a good-sized chick

One of the parents flew off maybe looking for food for these open beaks...

We walked along one of the penguin highways leading to the landing area

This is a closeup look at the layers that made up the icecap

The weather changes very quickly down here - mist would roll in unnoticed and could disappear just as fast.

We cruised among giant icebergs on the way back to the ship.

The ship provided a sense of scale for the icebergs

 Our route in Antarctica