We’ve reached Paradise Bay and the Argentinian research center, Almirante Brown Station. The ship is just off our landing location and the views of the bay and the icebergs are wonderful. There are Blue-eyed Shags and Antarctica Terns nesting in the nearby cliff face and lots of Gentoo Penguins fishing just off our landing site.
Our group is called the Weddell Seals and that’s how the schedule for expeditions is organized. We heard the group in front of us called a few minutes ahead of schedule, so we headed down to the staging room. Then we waited. Unlike other days, we were off schedule by half an hour and when we entered the Zodiac we had to wait another 20 minutes to land as each passenger had to climb a steep snow stairway, using a rope as a railing, which took time.
The snow was falling pretty hard, but with no wind, the visit was pleasant and the Gentoos gave us plenty of poses to photo. Kathy stayed and photographed at the first venue while I climbed higher up the hill. We are only allowed to walk in flagged areas which the Expedition Team have mapped out to lest disturb the Penguins. They also tamp down the snow to make it easier to walk with our ski poles. We saw many Blue-eyes Shags carrying seaweed to use as nesting material to their abodes. There were the ever present Snowy Sheathbills, one Brown Skua and a few Antarctica Terns flying about. From the top of the climb one has good views of the snowy bay and the buildings and penguins down below.
The return was also slow as it just took time to do the final climb down to the zodiacs. A nice crab sandwich lunch followed by a shared chocolate milkshake. We are now off to Brown Bluffs, on the Weddell Sea, for our last and most Northern stop in Antarctica. We then turn Northwest towards the Falkland Islands.
