Ghoti (Aitcho Island) - 25 January 2009

We made our first landing today. As you'd probably expect you bundle up before going ashore. There's a locker (or "mud") room on the boat where you change before loading into a zodiac.

Changing is a hassle, and I didn't really get a system figured out. Basically you put on your muck boots, waterproof pants, parka, and life vest before you get in the boat. You're supposed to do this while all the other folks in your group (we're divided into 4 equal sized groups, so there are about 40 of us) are doing likewise.

All of that was forgotten, though, once we landed. There were penguins everywhere, and they weren't afraid of us in the slightest. Some folks sat down and the little penguin chicks walked right up. One person had a penguin chick jump in her lap.

We saw two different types of penguins today. Chinstraps (which Jennifer refers to as "Mr. Chin") and Gentoos. Now I know that Linux uses a penguin as its mascot, and I know that there is a Linux distribution named Gentoo, but I didn't know there was a real Gentoo penguin.

Here's a picture of some of the Chinstraps:

And here's a good picture of a Gentoo penguin feeding its chick:

The parent penguins go out all day gathering food and then come back to feed their chicks. The chicks, though, will try to get food from any available adult, which leads to a behavior called a "feeding chase." It's not just a witty nickname, as the below shows (NOTE: I recommend watching the high-quality version in its original size):

As for the name of the Aitcho Island, well, where would you guess it came from?

Give up? It's the transliteration of H.O, which stands for Hydrographic Office. I don't know whether to laugh about that or feel ripped off...