Penguin Post Office

Sorry for the repeating text in the last post.

Last night we sailed to Port Lockroy and anchored there for the evening.

This morning after breakfast the postmaster from Port Lockroy came aboard to
speak to us for a few minutes, and answer questions. Port Lockroy is a UK
base/research station. The staff have been living on the island of Port
Lockroy for the past 4 months (the summer season here). There is no running
water and they share the island with many gentoo penguins. There is a
postoffice and small shop on Port Lockroy, which does most of the funding
for the base. Recently there was a documentary, The Penguin Post office,
featuring this island. Today is the last day of the season for the
staff/facilities and tomorrow the base will be closed, and the staff will go
home. We made it just in time!

Before heading in to Port Lockroy, we went to Jougla Point, another island
very nearby. More gentoo penguins, but there were also some large whale
bones on this island. Our fantastic weather from yesterday has diminished,
and today we had strong wind gusts and some blowing snow. It was about 0
degrees this morning.

From there we headed over to Port Lockroy, mailed a couple of postcards
(which will have to stay on the island for the Antarctic winter now, and
will be mailed in November/December!), and enjoyed the penguins some more.

We returned to the ship for a few minutes of relaxation before lunch.
After lunch we went out on deck to enjoy the scenery as we sailed through
the Lemaire Channel. Stunning icebergs, whales, and seals. The scenery was
epic. There was lots of brash ice that we had to break through and it made
amazing sounds as the ship crushed against the ice and compressed it.

We warmed up for a few minutes after lunch, before heading out at Petermann
Island. Again more gentoo penguin colonies, as well as a few adelie
penguins. They looked pretty similar. We sat down and enjoyed the many
penguins frolicking around, it was a beautiful spot. Kristin sat with the
penguins and made friends with one again. She is becoming quite a penguin
whisperer. We did a short walk up to some lovely view points. One viewpoint
was overlooking a stunning bay filled with beautiful icebergs. We sat and
enjoyed our time watching the penguins. We particularly enjoy the penguin
chases. The young penguins will pester their parents to feed them until
eventually the adult penguin runs away, chased by the hungry baby. They run,
and trip, and fall on their bellies all over the place. On our zodiac ride
back to the ship we saw a few crabeater seals resting on icebergs. They are
very cute.

We are back on board now, enjoying happy hour while we wait for this
evening's review and briefing for tomorrows activities.
Life onboard is very busy! Briefings and whale spottings, excursions,
meals, naps, loading photos. We havent even found time to check out the
sauna yet!



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