Home » Antarctica » Up Close and Personal With Penguins January 9, 2004

Curverville Island is a tiny speck surrounded by ice and snow. Ships have to anchor rather far away from the steep, rocky coast. Curverville is home to several large Gentoo rookeries. Penguins nest low on the ground here, in addition to their usual high nests. This afforded very close looks at their eggs, and we could see them arranging and rearranging their nests. These penguins were very fussy about which, how many, and what type of pebbles they used for their nests.

Up Close and Personal With Penguins January 9, 2004

Ttrealtravels
2005-12-24 23:54:46

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Curverville Island is a tiny speck surrounded by ice and snow. Ships have to anchor rather far away from the steep, rocky coast. Curverville is home to several large Gentoo rookeries. Penguins nest low on the ground here, in addition to their usual high nests. This afforded very close looks at their eggs, and we could see them arranging and rearranging their nests. These penguins were very fussy about which, how many, and what type of pebbles they used for their nests.

White on White

We even saw a rare albino penguin. Not pure white and no red eyes, but it did have a pale ivory head, body, and flippers. Very unusual, and Thomas and I wondered if the other penguins regarded the albino as a freak. Nature can be unkind to those who are different (as I've always felt myself). Yet penguins are highly social animals, and they seem to get along with each other well. Even squabbles over stealing rocks for their nests don't seem to create real riffs between the birds.

Do Your Little Dance on the Catwalk

The best moment -- a major highlight for me -- was when a penguin approached within two feet! I was standing between two penguin trails and saw a bird start down at the end of one trail. I kneeled in the snow and got the camera ready. The penguin waddled along the trail closest to me, so awkwardly, I sat down to get better pictures.

The penguin paused and looked around, turning his handsome head as if to say, "This is my best side, so make sure to get a photo." He was such a vain little model, strutting his stuff on the catwalk. And he was so very close! I felt lucky to be favored with this wonderful visit. On the other side of the trail, two people were also taking pictures, and Thomas videotaped from a few paces behind me. What a great treasure!

This ranks as my best experience so far on the trip. Yesterday's trek up Neptune's Window with just Thomas and myself ranks right behind. In a trip full of highlights, these raised the bar even higher.

Mr. Shaw's Wild Ride

On the way back, we were treated to a zippy zodiac tour courtesy of staff historian and zodiac driver Ian. He zigged and zagged around icebergs and crashed the little boat right through the pancake ice.

He even stopped in a secluded spot between some bergs and let us each stand at the tiller while he took pictures with our cameras. Sssshhh, don't tell anyone -- Ian wasn't supposed to do that! (Though I suspect he often does and no-one minds ;-)

Worth a Thousand Words

By this point, I'd taken over 600 photos since we boarded the ship -- and I wasn't done yet! Surely half of these images were crap. Or just too repetitive. Penguins sitting, penguins standing, penguins walking, penguins laying down. A rookery here, a rookery there. Mountains of snow, icebergs everywhere.

How many pictures of penguins can you look at? Well, I'm ok with hundreds upon hundreds. After all, it's unlikely that I'll ever get to Antarctica a second time. I may never see penguins in the wild again. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so why not record every last second?