National Geographic Orion made very good speed last night as we continued sailing with amazingly nice sea conditions in the Drake Passage. We are now officially in the Antarctic environment, because we passed the Antarctic Convergence (also known as the Polar Front) late yesterday. Several people commented that they could hardly believe we were in the infamous Drake Passage, judging from all the exciting stories they had read beforehand concerning the potentially rough seas. Well, we reminded everyone there’s still plenty of sea time ahead of us, so let’s not be too smug just yet!
Our sea time this morning gave us time to continue our preparation lectures and present an important briefing about IAATO rules and regulations for proper behavior in Antarctica. IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) is a non-governmental organization established in 1991 by several Antarctic tour companies (including us, of course) that has been very successful in overseeing tourism in Antarctica and insuring that visitors have a safe and ecologically friendly experience in this wild, austere, exotic, and potentially dangerous part of the world.
It was interesting that we encountered some different species of sea birds near the ship today compared to yesterday, including penguins feeding far out to sea. Our southerly course took us through several patches of fog during the morning and early afternoon, so we did not know what to expect for a possible landing later in the day once we reached the volcanic islands of the South Shetland Archipelago. We need not have been concerned, however, because when we reached the island group and entered English Strait (between Robert and Greenwich islands), conditions were ideal for making a landing on nearby Aitcho Island. This relatively small island is an important breeding site for both gentoo and chinstrap penguins, and gave us our first chance to observe and photograph and, yes, interact with these most appealing birds. We do our best to avoid getting too close or disturbing them, but they don’t follow the same rules and many of them simply walk right up to us as though they are wondering what or who we are. This visit provided us with great opportunities to learn about animal behaviorisms regarding courtship, nesting, feeding the young, molting, nest maintenance, and other intra- and inter-specific interactions among the penguins (Photo A). This was a very satisfying first stop in Antarctica.
Another interesting aspect of Aitcho Island is it has an amazing coverage of living greenery, including green algae in the low, coastal areas and thick carpets of mosses on the interior slopes. This island has not developed an ice cap and therefore becomes cleared of most snow by this time of year. With the added enrichment from breeding birds, soil conditions are perfect for this impressive botanical growth (Photo B), which is much more luxuriant than anything we are likely to see farther south when we really get into the ice and snow conditions of the Antarctic Peninsula. Once we left Aitcho Island, National Geographic Orion sailed on through English Strait, with rugged-looking volcanic formations and ice-covered islands on either side of us as we continued toward the peninsula. But first, we made an impromptu visit to Deception Island, a bizarre active volcanic island that today is a giant flooded collapsed caldera. Our captain sailed into the inner harbor (Whalers Bay) through a break in the surrounding rim known as Neptune’s Bellows. This was accomplished with the aid of spotlights, as it was quite dark by this time, and we could make out the remains of the Norwegian whaling station and the British base that were both destroyed in the late 1960s by a series of volcanic eruptions.
