I’ve just returned from an amazing trip to the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). I’m tired, a little sick, but extremely happy after leading a group of Duke Alumni on a cruise-ship expedition of the WAP with Ari Friedlaender. During the first half of this month we spent about 10 days aboard the Clelia II, poking in and about the South Shetlands and the Gerlache Strait, and made landings at several penguin colonies and seal haulouts. The trip went relatively smoothly, with only few hiccups early in the cruise. At right is a pic of our Duke crew, taken at Petermann Island. From left to right is yours truly, Bill and Ann Spencer, Max and Artyn Gardner, Bucky and Sally McNiell, Kate Freeman and Ari Friedlaender. These are great people, and I feel lucky to have sailed with them on this trip.
Here is a map of our voyage, provided by the Travel Dynamics International Expedition Team led by Ignacio Rojas. The TDI team was fantastic, and I hope to sail with them again in the future. We left from Ushuaia, Argentina and traversed the Drake Passage to visit the South Shetland Islands (Half-Moon Island). After that we hit Deception Island, then down to the Peninsula proper with a trip to Neko Harbour in Andvord Bay, a jaunt south through the Lemaire Channel to Petermann Island and Pleneau Island, then on to Palmer Station (the US base on the Peninsula) for brownies, reunions (yay – Lilly Glass!) and some shopping. We finished up the Peninsula portion with a visit to our late fall stomping grounds – Wilhelmina Bay. After that we hit a couple of landings in the South Shetlands (Yankee Harbour and Aitcho Island) on the way north, then back across the Drake.
The WAP in summer is definitely a different place than late fall – the constant sunshine was amazing and even after applying sunscreen 4 times a day I still got fried. But really, the biggest difference from my previous trips down here was the landings. This meant having many opportunities to see animals up close and personal – and getting to witness some extremely primordial events.
I’ve got a job, I explore, I follow every little whiff. And I want my life to smell like this.
Many penguins were busy raising their chicks during our time there, and I couldn’t help but recite the words of a Tragically Hip tune (“Looking for a Place to Happen”) quietly to myself as I picked my way carefully around the rookeries through years of accumulated guano – ” I’ve got a job, I explore, I follow every little whiff. And I want my life to smell like this.”
Penguin rookeries demand your attention, and like Jimmy Stewart in “Rear Window,” it was impossible not to become entranced by the neighborhood of penguins – animals coming and going, squabbles for pebbles erupting spontaneously and, of course, there were scary things that sometimes happened. In particular, we witnessed the demise of a chinstrap penguin chick at the beaks of two crafty South Polar Skuas. The chick had no chance, and the pictures are heartbreaking for any parent. The Skuas had there own worries of course, as a giant petrel quickly displaced them from the vicinity of the carcass and finished it off before our eyes.
It was an amazing trip, and I feel very fortunate to have seen the WAP in both the late fall and summer now. This place is getting under my skin, looking forward to going back.
A big thanks to Rachel Davies and the Duke Alumni Association for making this trip happen – it was an experience of a lifetime.
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