"View from the Mast" - photo by Andy Nunn

We had an adventure the other day. We got to get off the boat and go tool around a bit and we actually stepped foot on the Antarctic Continent in Paradise Cove. Unfortunately, we happened to be at a penguin colony. Penguins had taken over a Chilean base that had been deserted for some time and boy what a mess! Several people in our party, myself included, thought they were going to vomit because of the smell. There were several inches of guano everywhere. Slimy, slippery, gooey, smelly, just plain disgusting. (Ironic that is in Paradise Harbor.) I kept thinking of Shakelton's men stranded on Elephant Island with a huge penguin colony. Those guys must have been tough as nails. I can't imagine living in a place like that. It happened to be raining during our outing which probably helped with the smell. I wonder how much worse it is on a warm sunny day. YUCK!

We couldn't get into any of the buildings besides an old barn (at least it looked like a barn) but we could see in the windows and it was a pretty bleak place. We looked around for a little while and then got back in the zodiac and headed out. We dropped a few people back at the ship and then four of us struck out again. I got a quick lesson on how to drive a Zodiac which was fun. I drove around in circles for a while before heading towards the base which was making one of the people in the boat crazy because he had to go tinkle. Anyway, this time we went to an Argentinean base that was much cooler. It was also deserted but it was in pretty good shape. There had obviously been a fire there but most of the buildings were still intact. We couldn't get inside the buildings but we peered through the windows and saw the kitchen. It was small but had a stove and shelves with a few provisions. I was eyeing an enormous bag of Hershey's cocoa that someone had foolishly left behind. Why would anyone leave chocolate behind? Were they insane?!?!?!? Sorry. That was my chocoholic self speaking. Part of the reason I liked this base better was that it wasn't a penguin colony. There were only a few chaps living there and they were pretty clean and very polite.

After we left the base, we went puttering around the cove for a little while. There was a rock overhang and we zodiaced right under it and saw a group of cormorants nesting and feeding their chicks. We turned the engine of the zodiac off and just checked out the birds in the quiet. I was amazed at how quiet it was. So, while we were checking out the rookery, we saw a whale, I don't know what kind it was - it might have been a Minke. The MT (our driver) decided that it would be a good idea for us to paddle out to the whale and keep quiet. I think he thought we could sneak up on it. Of course, we were telling tall tales and being noisy so there was no way the whale didn't know we were there. Silly. The whale lost interest in us after a little while so we decided to go check an ice berg. This thing was really cool It towered above us with its snowy ridges. Where it had cracked, some of the snow had melted and then refroze giving the gaps a blue hue. It looked a little fragile so we didn't go right under it as there had been a lot of activity in the cove. By activity I mean ice bergs calving and mini avalanches. Hence the caution.

It was getting late and we'd been in the boat for several hours when we decided to head back to the ship. We were all a little cold by this time and when we got to the ship we were told to stand off. They said something about how they had to move the ship so it wouldn't end up on the beach or something. whatever. So, we drove a little ways off and waited. and waited. and waited. We were getting pretty cold by this point, turned out there was a hole in my Mustang suit and I was a little wet, and were ready for a hot shower and a hot chocolate. I think they forgot about us because one of the other MT's on the ship asked if we had permission to come back on board. oiy vey. All in all though, a very good time.