Paulet Island & Brown Bluff
For this author the day began a little after 4:00am with a wakeup call from the bridge of National Geographic Explorer. Chief Officer Ben Lyons had just begun his watch on the bridge and had determined that the conditions outside merited alerting our National Geographic Photography Instructor, Eric Guth and I that we should be up and about to catch the beautiful morning light on the iceberg strewn Erebus and Terror gulf. Fortunately his assessment was wholly accurate which was evident merely upon glancing out my porthole. The low angled light glanced off the myriad shapes of ice that spanned as far as the eye could see. The calm seas combined with the dramatic landscape of this part of the Weddell Sea served as a good omen for the remainder of our day exploring the Antarctic. Well nearly the entire day that is. After having taken dozens of photographs from the various decks of the ship I was pleased to see at least a couple guests being rewarded with this same magnificent scene on the bridge. One guest was so anxious to watch the morning unfold that they forgot to don shoes upon leaving their cabin, with stocking feet seated in the bow facing bench clenching a camera and exclaiming at nearly every sunlit piece of ice and porpoising penguin. Soon after, as the clock neared 5:30am another fellow traveler stated what would ultimately end up describing the entire day by saying, “Insanely beautiful!” — a more accurate statement cold not have been brought forward.
Paulet Island is a small and steep walled disk of volcanic origin situated near Dundee Island on the far eastern reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula. As we approached it far off in the mixing currents, common in these waters, several Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) were spotted feeding. Perhaps more impressive than that were the thousands of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) breaking the surface of the water as they came and went from their breeding colony. The main attraction on Paulet Island is a rather healthy breeding population of these true Antarctic penguins. This island however has a significant grip on the human history of exploration in the Antarctic. In 1901-04 members Nordensjӧld’s Swedish Antarctic Expedition sought shelter in a primitive hut built out of the slag-like basalt that litters the island. These men spent the winter living off limited provisions from their ill-fated expedition and supplemented with seal and penguin from this rocky prison. All but one member of the party survived the ordeal and his grave is still present on the island. Now this island serves as a summer home to over 100,000 nesting pairs of Adelie’s, a healthy colony of Blue-eyed Shags, Skua’s, Kelp Gulls and other seabirds. To say the island is teaming with life would be a gross understatement. Even from afar the pulsing pace of life can be seen as these hardiest of the penguin clan go about their all-important task. Many onboard chose to set out on foot to see firsthand the extent of this Adelie colony. The rocky shoreline was hustling and bustling with penguins readying themselves for a foraging foray with equal numbers having just returned from the productive turbulent waters that surround this island. Adult penguins hurrying back to their downy clad chicks carrying up to 1000gm of partially digested krill. The chicks, growing faster by the mouthful of regurgitated food, are passing through the molting phase shedding their down that is replaced by their first set of true penguin feathers. As we wound our path carefully through the colony it was incredible to crest each subtle rise only to find thousands upon thousands of penguins from the low flat ground to the high ridgelines. Reaching the crest of the highest pass our hike would take us over, a crest that was clearly a highway for the penguins as well, a view of the sprawling beach covered with penguins below took our breath away. Descending in careful manner as to not disturb the traffic flow of Adelies we would stroll the shoreline stopping to appreciate the many Antarctic Fur (Arctocephalus gazella) and Weddell Seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) hauled out to bask on this sun soaked beach. Cruising the shoreline by Zodiac brought another perspective to our travelers of this amazing island. Icebergs large and small surrounded the near shore area with the most dramatically sculpted by wave and wind action being the main attractions. Some shown such a deep blue cast that they acted as beacons drawing one’s attention away from the action on the shore. Whether one explored on foot or from a Zodiac, or better yet, both — the uniqueness and utter splendor of this place did not go unappreciated.
After having processed all the wonders of Paulet Island and having had a hardy lunch we set out for another unique destination. Brown Bluff, named for the imposing striated geology that protrudes from the tip of the Tabarin Peninsula this volcanic exposure breaks the glaciated cap ringing this coastline. We were pleased to find the waters relatively calm around the landing site as high winds had developed as we navigated westward from Paulet. The Tabarin Peninsula’s northern shoreline had provided a modicum of protection, for the time being that is. Here we would find a much smaller, but never the less dense colony of Adelies as well as several hundred nesting Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis papua). As we had done in the morning, the compliment of guest would get a chance to explore on foot and by Zodiac. It was interesting to find the Adelie colony at more or less the same stage of chic development as on Paulet. This is likely due to this species propensity to time their breeding in a synchronous fashion. Having spent the winters in the Antarctic waters and adjacent ice shelves they arrive on the breeding grounds well before the snow melts. To the contrary, Gentoo Penguins tend to have an asynchronous habit of breeding even within the same colony spreading out the process over weeks rather than mere days. Gentoo Penguins are the third largest species of penguins and at this stage of development their chicks are nearly full grown and fuzzy outlines of their adult form. We witnessed a behavior described as “food chasing” where in the increasingly hungry chicks chase the adults around in hopes to get fed, even if it’s not one of their parents. It is now a crucial time for all the penguin young as both parents have to set out to forage in order to meet the demands of the growing young. Once again we would ply the waters around the landing site by Zodiac, examining the icebergs’ incredible diversity of shapes and sizes. Many of the ice flows served as platforms for resting Adelies taking time to preen and regroup before setting out to forage. Some were lucky enough to witness the process by which they enter the water from these often lofty perches of ice. Penguins prefer to enter the water in group fashion as a means to avoid being singled out by their predators, mainly Leopard and Fur Seals. They mass up at the edge and slowly creep to a point where jumping in is the only option. Often they peer down at the water to assess the situation and perhaps to see if a hungry seal waits below. Once one takes the plunge the others reluctantly follow.
As this sunny day wore on and our landing here at Brown Bluff was nearing an end, the pleasant day began to deteriorate. The first signs were the presence of lenticular clouds capping the nearby peaks and gusts of wind blowing over the colony from the glaciers behind us. Soon white caps developed and the call from our Expedition Leader to evacuate the beach and return to ship came over our radios. A phenomenon known as a katabatic wind was developing and the experienced officers and expedition staff snapped into action. These winds can come hurling down the icy slopes at hurricane force at times and we all knew that time was of the essence. Within less than 15 minutes every last guest and staff member were shuttled through the wind capped waves back to the ship. With the anchor up we were under way and safely away from the shore. But the winds didn’t let up and as we held our evening recap in the lounge the scene outside was intense to behold. Shards of ice, once a grand berg, were scattered by the winds and the ship listing to starboard a good 10 degrees told the story of just how mighty nature can be here in The Antarctic.
My day ended much as it had begun, but instead of discussing the wonders of early morning light on this landscape with the Chief Officer we had a recap of the day’s events sitting around the table in the officers’ mess of National Geographic Explorer.
