I just returned from a most remarkable ocean voyage over the holidays – 15 days
to Antarctica on an Expedition cruise departing from the southern tip of South America. Eight days on the open ocean and seven days on land, including 3 on the Antarctic continent. We also visited South Georgia Island and the Falkland Islands before returning to port in Ishuaia, Argentina. I was there in what is summer, so experienced the caring for eggs and chicks by 5 species of penguins, each with distinct calls, land waddles and appearances. We also saw fur seals with their pups, Elephant seals, Humpback whales, Sei whales, Killer Whales and many species of birds including the huge Wandering Albatrosses (larger than condors), Blue-Eyed Shags (Cormorants), Terns, and others. The sheer mass of life was most apparent at South Georgia Island, where some 300,000 King Penguins and their chicks occupied a colony in extremely close quarters. In the photo you can see penguins extending far back from the beach onto the hillside, including their fluffy brown chicks. Think of it..each chick must wait for their parents to return from foraging for food and be found again in order to get fed. How do they do it? Reportably, parents recognize their chick’s unique cry, from all 100,000 of them. Same with fur seals and their pups. How many unique cries do you think you could come up with?
The sheer mass of wildlife in the region is a spectacular reason to safeguard the oceans. The far Southern Atlantic oceans are nutrient-rich, which supports algae, which is eaten by krill, who are key to the entire food chain in Antarctica. Tiny krill form the majority of food source for penguins, whales, seals and birds alike. Important as the tiny krill are, I would argue that the most important player in the world is phytoplankton – the underappreciated algae inhabiting the oceans that produce 50% of the world’s oxygen. Yes! Forget about the Amazon forests, there is an unseen army of photosynthesizing plants living in the oceans, especially in our southern seas, that produces much more oxygen and stores away a ton more carbon in the ocean deeps than the Amazon forests. And, it is actually carbon storage we should be most concerned about in our current global warming crisis. We cannot afford to mess up this pristine ecosystem.
Penguins are adorably cute on land, especially when they face plant in the snow every 10 feet or so. Humpbacks are majestic, Orcas are fearsome, Albatross endlessly soar. They have a lockable joint in their wing that allows them to soar effortlessly. They were always around, even when we passed over the Antarctic Convergence in notorious Drake’s Passage and experienced 15 foot waves. Things calmed down next to the continent, and we were able to do all of our scheduled twice a day landings from inflatable Zodiaks, stepping through small waves onto the rocky shores - icy snowy shores in Antarctica and no ice but just as cold in South Georgia. The funniest thing was watching penguins steal a pebble from their neighbor’s nest and get chased around for it. Other behaviors were lovely dances by the monogamous Gentoo penguin couples before switching places on the nest, and King penguin females choosing one male and swatting the loser away. Each landing encounter was limited to 1 ½ to 2 hours to minimize our impact on the creatures.
Penguins were certainly the stars of most encounters, but the ice was mesmerizing as well. Icebergs born of glaciers glowed from within with the most beautiful, pure blue color. They have the most interesting shapes as well, swirled from wave action. The rule for the ship was to avoid all icebergs, but ones smaller than a car were probably OK.
I took a few samples of the water near Pelican Island, and will give them to a researcher at Scripps Institute of Oceanography who is measuring amounts of microplastics in our waters. It will be interesting to see what she finds.
That’s all for now, so back to balmy San Diego. Our water suddenly does not seem cold at all!
FULL DISCLOSURE: these photos were taken on the trip by the naturalists/professional photographers. Wish my photos were this good!
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