DAMOY POINT
This morning found us still further south, at Damoy Point on Wiencke Island. We weren't scheduled for anything until 11 so we were going to sleep in this morning, but I woke up at 6 and peeked out the curtain to see we were in a narrow channel with glaciers as far as I could see. I threw on some jeans, a jacket and sandals and headed outside to take photos. (Yes, sandals were not the best choice, but they were accessible and easy to put on in the dark.) Neumeyer Channel was like the Antarctica I'd expected, though all day today we've been seeing big icebergs and steep mountains with icefields running down to the water. Behind the mountains were even bigger mountains, with their tops catching the sunlight. Eventually my toes cried, "Enough!", and I headed back to bed.
We reached Damoy Point around 8 and had a leisurely morning until our boat number was called for cruising.
We cruised around huge icebergs and parallel to the glacier face. No luck with witnessing calving, but it was still an adventure seeing the walls up close. Greg said my lips were going to get chapped on the inside if I didn't stop smiling all the time. I guess it shows that I love being here. There is so much to take in and we're so removed from our usual environment.
MS Midnatsol in the background.
We could also see where others from our ship were trekking and the tell-tale pink snow of a penguin rookery. (All that krill has to end up somewhere!)
After a quick lunch on board, it was time to tender over to the landing site to do our own exploring. Gentoo penguins and their archenemies, skuas, are the main summer residents here. Some of the nesting sites are a good distance from the sea, but the little Gentoos have tramped down their pathways and busily go about their business.
Penguin highway, with rookery atop the hill.
We walked across the point to see the Argentine supply hut (off limits to us) and the British transit hut. The transit hut was built in 1975 at a rendezvous point where men and supplies could be delivered by aircraft, then transferred by boat to the British Antarctic Survey's bases at the southern end off the Antarctic Peninsula. By 1994, direct flights could be made to the Survey's bases from the Falklands and the transit hut was no longer needed. It was subsequently turned into a kind of museum so visitors could see how the men lived back in the day.
Argentine supply hut, and the sailboat of someone who must have taken a huge wrong turn when they left Tahiti.
We hiked up the hill behind the huts until I sat down to take a picture of a pair of skuas standing on the snow. The birds promptly flew over to me. I was a little nervous as they can be aggressive and attack people if they feel threatened. But they were far more interested in my walking pole than in me. One kept trying to fly away with it, though I don't think it would have worked well in a nest. Charley suggested they could use it to break penguin eggs, one of their dietary staples. Whatever their motivation, it was an interesting close encounter.
Halfway up (or down) the hill.
Kathy, Charley & Greg
Meanwhile, back at the rookeries, the Gentoos continued being cute.
There were lots of chicks bugging their parents for food. The adults would try to get away from the incessant poking and pecking, eventually running down the rocks while the dejected chicks, unable to keep up, hung their heads and turned back. But this mama came back and did feed its poor, malnourished baby.
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