We landed! Antarctica is no longer a long anticipated dream. It is real, very, very real. Our first steps ashore were on Barrientos Island in the Aitcho Island group. We could hardly get our feet on the beach without chinstrap and Gentoo penguins leaping from the water and scurrying up the gravel ahead of us. The scent of penguin is now familiar to us. The sounds and business of these remarkable creatures took us by surprise. There were chinstraps bobbing their heads back and forth screeching in loud scratchy voices. There were Gentoos with beaks pointed to the sky braying like donkeys. All the while industrious others waddled to and from the chaos carrying pebbles or keeping to schedules only they comprehend. The island has a few separate colonies that we walked among. Then we went up and over the island to another beach with Southern elephant seals lounging, snorting and farting in their unself-conscious way. Some of us remembered to “just sit” and watch the goings on. These folks became the center of interest for a few penguins who looked at us, pecked our boots and seemed to be trying to categorize our orange jacketed presence.
The day was not over. Never have I seen Bransfield Strait so calm. We went to Bailey Head. This is a favorite place for all of the naturalists because of the tremendous number of chinstrap penguins that cover the hillsides here. Located on the outside of Deception Island, The land consists of black volcanic rocks. Even the ice of the glacier behind the beach was dark with ash and soot from the many eruptions that have occurred in this active caldera. The beach was akin to the busiest street at rush hour. Penguins arriving from the cold waters gleaned in their procession back to the colony, staying on the right. The guano covered penguins headed to the refreshing waters staying on the left. The effect was one of seeing white penguins and black penguins. White for the penguins coming toward you and black for the ones headed away. An estimated 60,000 or more chinstrap penguins make nests on the steep sides of this bowl-like landscape. We were the species in the minority, by a long, long margin. Our presence was noted by these small feisty birds, but what we were up to mattered little to their feathered agenda for the day.
