Aitcho Island and Antarctic Sound, Antarctica
During the evening we crossed the Antarctic Convergence, where relatively warm Subantarctic water gives way to colder Antarctic water in a rather abrupt transition. Numerous speckled black and white pintado petrels circled the ship, welcoming us to the Antarctic region. Even more welcoming was the change in the sea, as the winds and swells abated and the Drake Passage assumed a more benign state. Shortly before noon the first iceberg was sighted, and soon after humpback whales visited our ship. Land was seen ahead – the South Shetland Islands. Our quick crossing of the Drake enabled us to make our first Antarctic landing on Aitcho Island in the South Shetlands. Bundled in our red parkas and our beloved boots, we boarded the Zodiacs for the short ride to shore where a committee of gentoo and chinstrap penguins waited to greet us. We shared the landing with penguins coming and going, leaving the colony to feed and returning with a load of krill for their grey, downy young. Scattered about were breeding aggregations, the gentoos in looser suburban enclaves, the chinstraps in denser, more compact neighborhoods. Each nest, a pile of small stones, was situated pecking-distance away from its nearest neighbors, and each nest had one or two small young attended by a single parent. Male and female penguins share equally in the chores of penguin parenthood, each, in turn, attending the nest while the other is away harvesting krill for the young. We watched as returning birds greeted their mates with stereotypical head bobbing and vocalization before they exchanged position on the nest. The newly returned bird promptly began feeding the young, who stuck their heads far up the open mouth of the parent for the transfer of krill. Meanwhile, the relieved bird headed for the sea and its turn to gather food. And thus it continues, adults going to and from the sea, chicks growing ever larger, to complete their breeding in the short Antarctic summer. Many heeded the advice of our expedition leader by simply sitting and watching the behavior.
But our day was far from over. We passed through the South Shetlands via English Straits and then crossed the Bransfield Straits. As the magic hour of midnight neared we entered Antarctic Sound, the body of water off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The mountains of the Antarctic Continent came into view. Antarctic Sound is nicknamed “Iceberg Alley” for the fields of large tabular icebergs, calved from the ice shelves of the Weddell Sea, that pass through. They were all about us, reflecting the warm rosy light of the slowly sinking sun. Where else but Antarctica could one take a photograph by natural light exactly at the moment when 2006 gave way to 2007, a new year filled with hope and, for us fortunate travelers in Antarctica, with wonder.
During the evening we crossed the Antarctic Convergence, where relatively warm Subantarctic water gives way to colder Antarctic water in a rather abrupt transition. Numerous speckled black and white pintado petrels circled the ship, welcoming us to the Antarctic region. Even more welcoming was the change in the sea, as the winds and swells abated and the Drake Passage assumed a more benign state. Shortly before noon the first iceberg was sighted, and soon after humpback whales visited our ship. Land was seen ahead – the South Shetland Islands. Our quick crossing of the Drake enabled us to make our first Antarctic landing on Aitcho Island in the South Shetlands. Bundled in our red parkas and our beloved boots, we boarded the Zodiacs for the short ride to shore where a committee of gentoo and chinstrap penguins waited to greet us. We shared the landing with penguins coming and going, leaving the colony to feed and returning with a load of krill for their grey, downy young. Scattered about were breeding aggregations, the gentoos in looser suburban enclaves, the chinstraps in denser, more compact neighborhoods. Each nest, a pile of small stones, was situated pecking-distance away from its nearest neighbors, and each nest had one or two small young attended by a single parent. Male and female penguins share equally in the chores of penguin parenthood, each, in turn, attending the nest while the other is away harvesting krill for the young. We watched as returning birds greeted their mates with stereotypical head bobbing and vocalization before they exchanged position on the nest. The newly returned bird promptly began feeding the young, who stuck their heads far up the open mouth of the parent for the transfer of krill. Meanwhile, the relieved bird headed for the sea and its turn to gather food. And thus it continues, adults going to and from the sea, chicks growing ever larger, to complete their breeding in the short Antarctic summer. Many heeded the advice of our expedition leader by simply sitting and watching the behavior.
But our day was far from over. We passed through the South Shetlands via English Straits and then crossed the Bransfield Straits. As the magic hour of midnight neared we entered Antarctic Sound, the body of water off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The mountains of the Antarctic Continent came into view. Antarctic Sound is nicknamed “Iceberg Alley” for the fields of large tabular icebergs, calved from the ice shelves of the Weddell Sea, that pass through. They were all about us, reflecting the warm rosy light of the slowly sinking sun. Where else but Antarctica could one take a photograph by natural light exactly at the moment when 2006 gave way to 2007, a new year filled with hope and, for us fortunate travelers in Antarctica, with wonder.
