More and More Penguins and a Yellow Submarine

Day 6 – Paradise Harbour Base Brown (2nd Continental Landing)

Today was a busy day for us as we had been scheduled for three excursions. Viking was finally starting to understand “Casey Bootcamp”.

Our first excursion was our first time in the Special Operation Boat (SOB). Again, we were on the boat with Jorge. On this boat everyone wears a headset, so it makes it easier for Jorge to give explanations on everything.

We were checking out a penguin colony that was also a Chilean research facility.

As we were touring around Will spotted a humpback whale. The whale came really close to the boat which Jorge was also very excited about. We were delayed a little coming back because of the whale, but so worth it!

Our next excursion was the submarine! Woo Hoo!! We were so excited! It was a beautiful day, and the zodiac took us out to meet Captain Steve and submarine George. Viking owns 4 subs, and they are all yellow, which I believe requires some type Beatles reference. So, on the Polaris there are 2 subs Ringo and George. We descended down to the ocean floor about 350 feet or so. Each sub only has space for 6 guests and the captain. So, it’s a small tight space. The captain turned on the outside lights, and we were able to see some interesting looking things. He moved the sub, and we went to explore a wall that was filled with sponges. He told us that the bubble viewing of the sub makes things look about 30% smaller. So, the sponges were actually about 3-4 feet tall.

Got back from the sub and had just about an hour before our zodiac landing. We were landing on Brown Station in Paradise Harbour our 2nd continental landing. It is an Argentinian research station that also has a large Gentoo penguin colony.

This station has an interesting history in 1984, the station doctor burned down the facility. He had gone slightly crazy at the thought of spending another winter out there and set the station on fire so that he would be rescued. Needless to say, he was hospitalized when he made it back to Argentina. The station was rebuilt in the 1990’s.

And a Snowy Sheathbill amongst the penguins

Day 7 – Cuverville Islands (3rd Continental Landing)

We started the day with a weather balloon launch that didn’t exactly go to plan. The string holding the recording box got caught on a wire and fell off. They quickly filled another balloon and attached a new sensor. Luckily the second launch was successful.

Since we were again free all afternoon, we went to check out the spa area. They have a thermal pool, hot tub, steam room, sauna, snow grotto, bucket shower. Wow, and for a while we had the place to ourselves. Why hadn’t we been there before?

We had another zodiac landing scheduled. This time we stopped at Cuverville Islands. This is another large Gentoo penguin colony with an estimated population of over 9,000 pairs. Pretty smelly, but penguins are fun to watch.

The sun really never sets at this time of year.

Day 8 – Yalour Islands – (4th Continental Landing)

Another beautiful day of sun in Antarctica. Totally unexpected. The crew had prepared a BBQ lunch on the top deck. It was surreal eating outside on a beautiful sunny day in Antarctica.

We then had to get ready for our kayaking excursion. It was just amazing. The water was like glass. We really enjoyed the kayaking experience.

We came back and had just about an hour before our zodiac landing. We had traveled to 65° south and to the Yalour Islands and home to the northern most Adélie penguin colony. Again, we got to walk around and view the nesting penguins. There were a few chicks that had recently been born but very difficult to spot. We only saw eggs.