Taking The Tourist To The Un-tamed: Antarctic Cruises
Crossing the Drake Passage is one of the toughest voyages on the planet
. It stretches from the tip of South America to Antarctica. The water is not calmed by any kind of land in this 400 mile stretch of water.Several currents bump into each other here, and the weather is terrible. I was expecting see nothing more than icebergs and penguins.
Because I didn't research Antarctica, I knew nothing about its geography or its history. I didn't know what to expect, and I certainly wasn't thinking the continent would amaze me like it did.
We were prepared for Drake's Passage's fury, but our cruise was uneventful on the way there. We were thoroughly beaten by the Passage on the way home. The sea was grey and calm our first morning in Antarctica.
At first, I saw grayish mountains with some brown peeking through. However, it wasn't long before I saw the ice. Little ice chunks bobbed like crystallized marshmallows near the boat.
I threw on my parka, which had been supplied by the ship, and grabbed my camera. Then I rushed out into the frigid Antarctic air.
We were treated to lectures and slides from the ship's naturalist, when we weren't rushing outside to see dolphins, whales or penguins. We were in a great mood as we took off in our small raft from the mother ship, and began floating free amongst the icebergs.
Soon we came across a little island where penguins were pondering whether or not they ought to jump on into the water.
Penguins had completely surrounded us. Itty bitty little gentoo penguins were kind enough to share their little island in Paradise harbor with a group of researchers like us! They waddle around in a giant hurry; they look as though they have too many things to get done and not enough time to do it in.
A few of these birds stood a bit apart, watching the funny red people who invaded their land. Most of these penguins had already been left by their parents, and were expected to fend for themselves.
Some of the chicks were decidedly in denial about this. At this point in their lives they are usually provided with a down covered sack of krill - food that their parents catch and then regurgitate into their chick's mouth until they are old enough to hunt on their own.
They had also entered into molting. The majority of their baby coats had been replaced by feathers. But, some gray down still stayed on hard to reach places.
They looked like they were wearing hats and earmuffs, or had gotten a really bad hair cut. Of necessity, our trip back to the ship took us through the chunks of floating ice on the bay.
Our driver took us straight past a big jagged piece of mountainous ice on which a lone seal was majestically stretching. Evidently we bored him because he gave returned our stares with a huge yawn.
We were instantly charmed by the penguins. Who could withstand the very appealing penguin waddle? Those shockingly orange feet highly contrast the formality of their black and white feathers.
The island was really more rock than dirt, so these penguins were pretty neat and clean looking. The thin black line under their chins gave them a sporty appearance and made them look like they had fat cheeks.
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