February 26th, 2020 - Damoy Point (above Gentoo penguin)
This morning we sailed into the channel of Damoy Point. The morning was a little overcast but the sun breaking through the clouds made for captivating landscapes and of course more interesting wildlife. The made landing on the rocks of Damoy Point. The thing was interesting across the pink and green snow, yep that's shat you read pink and green snow. The snow gets its colouring because of two interesting factors, algae and penguin poop! Even the cold weather of Antarctica has warm days summer is November to March, and during these times when the weather is warmer algae grows turning the snow green and pink. Now that is only one reason not to eat the pink the snow ... Penguins lot to eat krill and eat ton's of it while in Antarctic.
In the Afternoon we went out on the zodiacs and cruised around the bay. We saw a leopard seal, catch, kill and each a penguin. There are a few images in todays blog including a couple of great images captured by one of our photographer guests Frank Wong. Thanks for sharing the images Frank. We sailed by Port Lockroy station an outpost run by the British Heritage Association. They live, maintain and entertain visitors from passing ships. We had the station personnel from Port Lockroy over for a visit on our ship, they spoke on what they do here in Antarctica and what day to day life is like for 5 months of living here. Onboard they joined us for dinner and had opportunity for showers. There is no running water on the base so showers only happen when ships visit and they come onboard. What a life, what an experience. Any volunteers? Oh yes and in closing some of the guests on the ship opted to camp overnight ot Damoy Point. Wow! Burr!
Tonight we set sail for Gonzalez Videla for our first continental landing. Enjoy todays selection of images.