Sunday, February 22, 2009

Lindblad Cove and Mikkelson Harbor - 26 January 2009

Today found us in Lindblad Cove, where we took a zodiac cruise. If you're curious, here's a picture of a zodiac:


All of the naturalists were going crazy over how much
krill was in the water. Yesterday I briefly mentioned that the penguins feed on krill, but really krill is the basis for the entire ecosystem. They're shrimp-like, but not actually related to shrimp. Here's a krill in the palm of our expedition leader's hand:


The Zodiac cruise was a lot of fun. We saw several interesting icebergs, and even saw a leopard seal:


Here's my favorite iceberg, 'cause I think it looks like a bird's head:


During the afternoon we explored Mikkelson Harbor, making our second landing. As you might expect there were more penguins and also seals. In addition to the feeding chase, penguins also have a compulsion to build nests, so we spent some time watching this Gentoo gather up rocks and stack them:


The funny part is that he'd try to steal rocks from other penguins that were already on their nests. Every time he made a move to grab some other penguin's rock he'd get snapped at.

Here's a
Wedell Seal:


Another full day...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I know what good ole Zodiac raft looks like from watching Lost. Just don't go on one to any mysterious islands.