The Antarctic Continent

[Written by Elizabeth Leonardis for our old blog, So Civilized]

Tickle Passage

Following the British-American glider exchange, we continued up Marguerite Bay through a stunning section called Tickle Passage. We were traveling through a very narrow pasage between the islands and the mainland on our way to Prospect Point. At this point our work had ended and we were on our way north back home to Palmer Station. At Prospect Point we would all have a chance to officially touch the continent. At Palmer and elsewhere on the cruise we were always on islands in the Antarctic and not technically on the main continent.

The ships wake in Tickle Passage

Sunset in Tickle Passage

By the following day, we had arrived at Prospect Point to beautiful, clear, sunny skies. Sunny days were very few and far between over the course of the past month, so we were all thrilled to have our day off fall on one of these precious days. The first order of business was to take the zodiac over to the mainland and get a photo of us on the Antarctic continent.

Rick, Kristin, me and Alex on the Antarctic continent

After a quick stop on the mainland, the four of us headed over to some known Adelie penguin colonies in the vicinity. The birders had censuses from prior years of the 10 islands in the area and their individual colonies. We set out to survey and count the penguins on a few of those islands.

An Adelie penguin colony near Prospect Point

Alex & I counting penguins

"King" of the penguins

Alex & I had a great day with Rick and Kristin. It was so much fun hanging out with silly penguins all day. The counts we did of the adult penguins and chicks were significantly lower than last year. If my memory is correct, one of the islands had something like 63 chicks last year and we counted only 18 chicks this year. Other islands had similar, perhaps not as extreme, declines to previous years.

Adelie penguin chick losing his down feathers (far right)

Adelie Penguin

This guy looks pleased with the moat around his nest keeping the neighbors out

We spent the afternoon hoping from one island to the next, enjoying the bright sunny day.  It was hard to get back on the ship after a day of freedom. However, the good news for Alex & I was that in less than 24 hours, we would be back at Palmer Station and off the ship. A few more photos of our spectacular day at Prospect Point.

Alex at the motor

A beautiful icebridge

Reflections

Iceberg

The Gould in the distance