BROWN BLUFF

Tuesday, 19 Feb 08, MS Nordnorge, Gerlache Strait, Anatarctica

BROWN BLUFF

On the beach at Brown Bluff
We watched penguins do their stuff.
Seals we saw there too.
We’ve had landings quite a few,
But I doubt there can be enough.

GREAT FUN!

We landed and spent an hour and a half on the stony mainland beach of Brown Bluff in a snowstorm with fog obscuring the cliff and hiding the Nordnorge from view. The temperature had been announced as 34 F (1 C). Everything was white with snow.

This was our first time to see Adelie penguins. They are a little smaller than the gentoo penguins also present, and they are fun to watch. For example, we watched four of them trying to climb a small rock, slipping, and falling back – on each other. It occurred to me that this may be the first snowstorm the chicks have experienced.

I asked if crossbreeding ever occurs between the two penguin species and was told “There are no cases.”

On the boat ride to the beach we saw a seal in the water.

Just as we were waiting to get on the return boat, two seals appeared from behind the nearby rocks and scampered around while we photographed them. !!!!

We also saw some kelp gulls while ashore.

On the return ride to the ship we saw a group of penguins standing together on an ice float, but I was not able to photograph them.

When the ship pulled out at noon the fog had lifted and at least part of the cliff was visible beneath the cloud cover.

This is our sixth landing in Antarctica, our seventh landing with the Arctic Circle Boats (including Cape Horn), and our ninth landing (including docking at Puerto Natales and Puerto Williams). Weather and ice permitting, we will have one more landing, and it will be this afternoon at the Argentine Base Esperanza. We are fortunate. Weather and ice limit other cruises to a somewhat smaller number of landings.

Both Brown Bluff and Esperanza are in the very north end of the Antarctic Peninsula area.

FROM TODAY’S HANDOUT:

“0800 approx. – The descriptively named Brown Buff lies on the coast of the Antarctic Sound at the end of the Tabarin Peninsula. Curiously, the Tabarin Peninsula was named after a Paris nightclub favored by British explorers during the 1940s. Adelie penguins, gentoo penguins, kelp gulls, and Cape petrels all breed here under an ominous, 745 meter-high (2450 feet) cliff. An even, stony beach with many rocky breaks often offers easy landings. Later in the season, there are so many Adelies lounging on the beach that it may be impossible to land without disturbing them. Be aware that your landing site may change over the course of landing operations due to tides. Make sure to look for leopard seals patrolling the water off the beach. Experienced staff will tell you that the best way to experience an Adelie rookery is to sit quietly and just observe nature’s greatest comedians at work.”

“Weather and ice permitting, we will begin landing with Group #7.”

:-)

Bernie