To the bottom of the world and back (part 9)

“All the world loves a penguin. I think it is because in many respects they are like

ourselves, and in some respects what we should like to be. Had we but half

their physical courage none could stand against us . . . Their little bodies are so full

of curiosity that they have no room for fear. They like mountaineering and

joy-riding on ice-floes; they even like to drill.”

 

Apsley Cherry-Garrard, 'The Worst Journey in the World',1921

 
The last day before beginning the journey back to Argentina via Drake Passage, that notoriously unpredictable body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands. 
 
Early morning. The Lemaire Channel and a zodiac tour of the icebergs off Pleneau Island.  Later, a landing on Petermann Island, with its Gentoo residents, the southernmost colony, many of which were busy feeding their babies.  A glimpse of a darker side of nature as several adult birds repeatedly attacked one of the smaller chicks, pushing it off the rocky outcrop.  Unable to intervene, we watched as the poor creature  slowly clawed its way back up the rock, only to experience the same aggressive behaviour.

 A hike in deep snow up to a small colony of Adelie penguins, resplendent in their glossy tuxedos and with their distinctive white rimmed eyes.  A cairn and large cross commemorating three members of the British Antarctic Survey who perished in 1982 as they attempted to cross the sea ice from Faraday station to Petermann.  More penguins surrounding an Argentine emergency hut, a remnant from the 1950s.

 And, of course, a champagne toast. 

 

To the Antarctic.