DAY THREE - 02 15 2013 - HALF MOON ISLAND (62° 34' S 59° 52' W)

We are traveling through the last leg of the Drake Passage. The trip so far has been surprisingly smooth. The Captain indicated that we were quite lucky in this regard. After breakfast, we attended a mandatory IAATO briefing held by our expedition leader, Karin Strand. "IAATO" stands for the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. The briefing is required under IAATO protocols, the Antarctic Treaty regulations and Norwegian law. Karin indicated that Antarctica is governed by a treaty that is currently signed by 40 countries. No one country can claim Antarctica as their own. We reviewed the guidelines regarding excursions ashore.

Our lunches and dinners are primarily buffet style. The food is pretty good and consists of a variety of meat, fish, poultry and vegetarian items. The chef even made Indian food for my parents at their request. Overall, the staff has been fantastic. After lunch, we reached our first landing site, HALF MOON ISLAND!
Upon entering the area around Half Moon Island, we all ran outside to take pictures of the surrounding mountains and glaciers. It was amazing how incredibly huge they were. It is quite awe inspiring.



Taking a picture of people
taking pictures

Mountains surrounding Half Moon Bay

Ice Shelf

For those of you interested in following us via coordinates, Half Moon Island is located at 62° 34' S 59° 52' W.  The island is approx. 1.2 miles long and sits in the shadows of the surrounding mountains and glaciers of nearby Livingston Island. 

The island is home to a large Chinstrap Penguin rookery (i.e. breeding grounds).  In addition,  the island houses the Teniente Camara station which is an Argentinian research facility.  It has been sporadically staffed in the last few years due to the downturn in the economy in Argentina.  After climbing a short hill, yo u have magnificent views of Livingston Island.  Humpback whales have also been reported to frequent the area.  It wouldn't be unusual to sport a humpback whale breaching in the water between the two islands.

Once the ship was anchored, we got the call to come to Deck 2 for the shore landing.  Getting ready was a bit of an ordeal as we had to put on our inner-layer of thermal underwear (tops and bottoms), fleece pants, fleece shirt, waterproof outer-layer of pants and our blue water/wind proof jackets.  In addition, we had to put on our muck boots, our life jackets, inner and outer gloves, hats and balaclava.  Finally, I packed my camera bag and placed it in the waterproof bag.  It took a good 30 minutes just to get all of our gear on.  Hopefully practice makes perfect and we can get our gear on in less time...

My mom in the water coming ashore

Once we got our gear on, we jumped into the modified Zodiacs and headed to Half Moon Island.  As we approached the shore, we jumped off the Zodiacs into the water and waded to shore (aka a "wet landing".)  Lucky for us, the muckboots and the waterproof pants were true to form and they didn't let in a single drop of water.

Ready for our hike!

As soon as we landed, we spotted our first Chinstrap Penguin.  They looked like tiny little soldiers.  The way they walked on land was so awkward as if they were constantly off balance.  It was cute. 

The most surprising thing about the penguins is how dirty they get.  It's not the nice white and black little guys we are used to seeing.  Most of the penguins were covered in a combination of mud and poop (by the smell, mostly poop), especially in the rookeries where they cared for their young.  The only time they were clean was when they popped out of the ocean after a nice swim.  As we walked around, we realized how handy the muck books were while walking through the mud and stuff. 

A flock of Chinstrap Penguins

The Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis Antarcticus) derives its name from the narrow black band under their heads which makes it appear as if they are wearing black helmets, making them one of the most recognizable types of penguin. Their diet consists of krill, shrimp & fish, for which they swim up to 50 miles offshore daily. The Chinstrap Penguin is able to withstand swimming in freezing waters due to its tightly packed feathers, which provide a waterproof coat.  Thick blubber deposits also provide insulation and blood vessels in the flippers and legs to save heat. 

Wearing a helmet

Puneet shooting a Chinstrap (with his camera)

Can I fly?

We learned that the Chinstrap Penguins are among the most numerous penguins in Antarctica.  There is an estimated 8 - 15 million located in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic Peninsula.  They can also be found on large icebergs in the open ocean.  The colony we saw had approximately 3,500 Chinstrap Penguins.

Brown Skua - predator of penguins

The natural predator of Chinstrap Penguins is the Leopard Seal and the Brown Skua (left).  We saw  a Brown Skua gnawing on a Chinstrap Penguins or at least what used to be one (below).  The brown Skua (stecorarius Antarcticus) is a large seabird that breeds in the sub-antarctic.  Generally, it is 20-25 inches in length, 50-63 inches in wingspan and has a body mass of 2.6 - 4.7 pounds.  

Brown Skua picking at the carcass of a penguin (gross!)

We also had the privilege of seeing an Elephant Seal near the landing area (left)  It was just lying around and relaxing.  Turns out there was quite a few seals that day.  We also saw some Fur Seals hanging about (right)

We were instructed to not go closer than 5 meters to the Fur Seals as they will charge you. I got a bit too close to one, he definitely noticed and reared his head.  If he was to charge, I was supposed to make loud noises, clap my hands and take a few steps forward.  I was surprised to find out that the seals can run faster than us and would likely bite if we didn't stand our ground.  Luckily, we didn't have to test out that theory...




We spent 1.5 hours at this landing site walking around and taking pictures of the penguins.  The weather was not very cooperative as it rained throughout the time we spent on Half Moon Island.  As a result, a planned hike to the Teniente Camara Station was cancelled.  After we were done, we headed back to the ship.

Yes, that's a camera on my head

The Fram

The day ended with a Fashion Show put on by the expedition team.  Although it all looked glamorous... it also was very expensive.  Luckily, we packed everything we needed.

We knew we had a LONG DAY tomorrow, so we hit the hay. Sue and I weren't sure whether the rocking of the boat or us simply being exhausted that had us sleeping in minutes. Probably both.