A world in black and white. The land, the South Shetland Islands, dark igneous cliffs with columnar fracturing, all iced in white. Black and white penguins porpoising through the midnight colored sea, tiny torpedo-shaped birds behaving like marine mammals. Pintados or Cape petrels swirl in large groups, their flashy patterning blending to make them one massive living pulse of ivory and ebony.
In the distance the pillars and shapes of icebergs become a magic city complete with straight-walled office buildings and cathedral spires. We wanted to reach out and touch this strange and mysterious world, and when we did, chinstrap penguins with their jaunty cap-straps and gentoo penguins in white earmuffs walked up to us and stared. Our flashy red jackets seemed out of place in their black-and- white world.
