After completing the last of the scenic flights in the Northern Weddell Sea, the ship had tried to get to Brown Bluff for a zodiac landing. However, the sea ice had been too heavy to land, which in hindsight was a bit of luck for everybody. We were heading back towards the Petrel base area for a zodiac cruise. I think I was catching up with some lost sleep after lunch when there was an announcement that my third Emperor Penguin had been spotted. I was quickly heading up to the bridge. I knew the expedition staff on the bridge were able to see the Emperor Penguin and that was the obvious location to head for. There was an expanse of broken ice ahead of the ship, with an Emperor Penguin lying on one of the larger pieces of ice. It wasn't close, but the main thing was it looked unfussed about Ortelius appearing.
Emperor Penguin: It was good to finally get the chance for some photos. However, I didn't know how long the opportunity would last and as it was in front of the ship, I didn't want to waste the opportunity and lose another minute or so to get back down to the forward-facing deck 6, with the additional risk that many of the passengers would have beaten me to the best viewing positions. Therefore, I stuck to my place on the bridge, albeit it has meant the photos were all taken through the bridge window
Emperor Penguin: A closer crop of the last photo
Passengers on the front deck watching the Emperor Penguin: It's on the far ice floe in the top right hand corner of the photo
Emperor Penguin with an Adelie Penguin: This Adelie Penguin decided to photobomb the Emperor Penguin to see what all the fuss was about
Emperor Penguin with an Adelie Penguin: The Adelie Penguin was clearly nonplussed with the Emperor Penguin and just continued past
Emperor Penguin with an Adelie Penguin: This shows how large Emperor Penguins are. Adelie Penguins average about twenty-eight inches height, compared to forty-five inches for an Emperor Penguin. It's a real shame we didn't reach the Snow Hill Island colony, as it would really have shown us how tall they are
Emperor Penguin: That's another couple of inches
Emperor Penguin: They breed in scattered colonies on the Antarctic continent edge and up to one hundred and thirty miles from the open sea, with the males looking after the eggs and young chicks through the worst of the Antarctic Winter. Out of the breeding season they are often around the edge of ice pack
Emperor Penguin: Soon after this photo was taken, the Emperor Penguin decided to get into the water and we quickly lost it. Just about everybody on the ship would have slept better than evening
Finally, we reached a suitable area near the Petrel base and the Expedition staff prepared for a zodiac cruise.
The ship is very good at getting the zodiacs quickly into the water
A group ready to leave: There is no order for getting into the zodiacs, apart from the Chinese passengers had dedicated zodiacs so that they had a zodiac driver or translator with them. My preference is to stand aside on zodiac cruises if the next zodiac is driven by one of the ship's crew. While they were generally better zodiac handlers, they didn't have the same wildlife knowledge as the Expedition staff
We quickly left Ortelius in the distance
The zodiacs were strung out across the water
Adelie Penguin: I had decided against taking the proper camera, so had to make do with photos with my old IPhone
Antarctic Shag: This is now treated as a subspecies of Imperial Shag
Finally, we headed back towards the ship. It was time for a hot drink.
These newly weds kept us amused in Antarctica: Once a day they would appear in all their wedding finery for another prolonged set of cold photos. I think the bride would have gone ashore in her wedding dress, if she thought she could have got away with it. But sensible clothing and safety ashore meant that wouldn't be allowed
We had a barbeque that evening on deck, albeit I decided to grab my food and head back to the warmth of the restaurant. Just as I was planning on heading to bed about ten, we were given a shout that the wildlife gods were smiling on us again. I will cover this final treat in the next Blog Post.
