King George Island and Half Moon Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
We began our day with a chance to see just how and where people live in Antarctica. Not permanent residents, since there are none here, but the stations that many countries maintain where researchers stay for the summer and often winter seasons. We landed on King George Island, the largest of the South Shetland Islands, at two side-by-side bases — the Russian Bellingshausen Base and the Chilean Frei Base. Upon landing we were first drawn to the ice along the waterfront where a crabeater seal and a leopard seal had each found their own piece of ice for a morning nap. From there we strolled through the still snowy bases getting a glimpse of what it would be like to live here for a season. The highlight of the morning was the beautiful, small, wooden Russian Orthodox Church, up on the hill with a view of the harbor as well as the two small “communities” below.
Our afternoon was spent under blue skies and sunshine at Half Moon Island. The highlights of this island were many. For starters, this was our first chinstrap penguin colony (and therefore our new favorite penguin of the day). They are slightly larger than the adelie penguins, but with a white face and a black helmet (of feathers) that is held on by a matching black chinstrap. And, like their other brushtail cousins they have a thing for rocks. Geologists they are not…instead they are trying to build a better nest, of rocks. And what better place to fine a rock than in your neighbor’s nest!
Some of us took a longer and very scenic hike along the island before arriving at the chinstrap colony and were rewarded with two Weddell seal sightings. They were not at all bothered by us, instead lying comfortably on the snow resting.
As fascinating as the penguins and their comical “poses” were, the mountains kept drawing our attention away! The backdrop of nearby Livingston Island was breathtaking — and looked even more lovely as the afternoon went on. The challenge of deciding which beautiful thing to look at was not a bad problem to have!
