Quark Expedition Continues- Antarctica!

Gentoo penguins on the crest of the hill

Bloody leopard seal- Law of Nature- kill or be killed!

Leopard seal on ice- whales are coming!

We watch seal for whales!

We continue to go out on the Zodiacs twice a day to discover what thee is to see on the White Contient. Theere are only 3 kind of penguins, 3 kinds of seals, several  kinds of birds and several kinds of whales who thrive down here. Nothing grows on the land of white!! Living things eat sealife- krill mostly.

Today we see gentoo penguins. With flamboyant red-orange beaks, white-feather caps, and peach-colored feet, gentoo penguins stand out against their drab, rock-strewn Antarctic habitat. These charismatic waddlers, who populate the Antarctic Peninsula and numerous islands around the frozen continent, are the penguin world’s third largest members, reaching a height of 30 inches and a weight of 12 pounds.

Gentoos are partial to ice-free areas, including coastal plains, sheltered valleys, and cliffs. They gather in colonies of breeding pairs that can number from a few dozen to many thousands. Gentoo parents, which often form long-lasting bonds, are highly nurturing. At breeding time, both parents will work to build a circular nest of stones, grass, moss, and feathers. The mother then deposits two spherical, white eggs, which both parents take turns incubating for more than a month. Hatchlings remain in the nest for up to a month, and the parents alternate foraging and brooding duties.

Like all penguins, gentoos are awkward on land. But they’re pure grace underwater. They have streamlined bodies and strong, paddle-shaped flippers that propel them up to 22 miles an hour, faster than any other diving bird.

Adults spend the entire day hunting, usually close to shore, but occasionally ranging as far as 16 miles out. When pursuing prey, which includes fish, squid, and krill, they can remain below for up to seven minutes and dive as deep as 655 feet.

Gentoo penguins are a favored menu item of the leopard seals that patrol the waters around their colonies. On land, adults have no natural predators other than humans, who harvest them for their oil and skin. Gentoo eggs and chicks, however, are vulnerable to birds of prey, like skuas and caracaras.

Gentoo numbers are increasing on the Antarctic Peninsula. They are protected by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 and received near threatened status on the IUCN Red List in 2007.

The leopard seal is named for its black-spotted coat. The pattern is similar to that of the famous big cat, though the seal's coat is gray rather than golden in color. This seal is sometimes called the sea leopard, and the resemblance is more than skin deep. Like their feline namesakes, leopard seals are fierce predators. They are the most formidable hunters of all the seals and the only ones that feed on warm-blooded prey, such as other seals. Leopard seals use their powerful jaws and long teeth to kill smaller seals, fish, and squid.

These effective predators live in frigid Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters, where they also eat penguins. They often wait underwater near an ice shelf and snare the birds just as they enter the water after jumping off the ice. They may also come up beneath seabirds resting on the water surface and snatch them in their jaws.

Shellfish are a far less dramatic prey but still an important part of the leopard seal's diet.

Leopard seals are earless seals. They have long bodies (10 to 11.5 feet) and elongated heads. Like most other seals, leopard seals are insulated from frigid waters by a thick layer of fat known as blubber. Though the leopard seal is known for its coat, it has not been commercially hunted for its skin like its fur seal relatives. Leopard seals eat the gentoos and whales eat the seals. It's a jungle out there!! ( so to speak)

Quark Expedition- The White Continent!

Iceberg sculpture with blue glacier ice

More iceberg sculpture

Water and wind make beautiful sculpture of the snow and ice

Pristine beauty!

Land ahead!

Here are two chinstrap penguins

I wonder what the penguins think of this yellow creature!

After 2 days on the Drake Passage, even though it was mild, I am ready for land! No sailor am I!! After all, I am a Taurus, earth sign through and through. We have seen great iceberg sculptures on our way and throughout the water going to the South Shetland Islands.

Our first landing, on Zodiacs in groups of 10, is to an Island on the archipelago closest to Argentina. It is not really on the mainland of Antarctica proper but is considered part of Antarctica- the South Shetland Islands.

Here we see chinstrap penguins. The chinstrap penguin is a small species of penguin which is found inhabiting the rocky land and islands of the Antarctic Ocean. The chinstrap penguins name derives from the narrow black band under their heads.

Chinstrap penguins are one of the most easily identifiable of all of the penguin species, mainly due to the marking on their chins. Chinstrap penguins are also known to congregate together in their millions on small Antarctic islands. There are believed to be more than 7 million breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins.

Chinstrap penguins spend their lives hunting for krill and small fish and crustaceans in the surrounding waters, coming onto land to breed, rest and to escape the large ocean predators. Chinstrap penguins are carnivorous birds, and catch numerous species of fish,, crabs, shrimp, squid and krill in their strong beaks. Parents hunt for food in the ocean to take back to their chicks on the land.

Due to the fact that there are few large animals inhabiting the frozen South Pole, the chinstrap penguin has few natural predators. Leopard seals, killer whales whales and the occasional passing shark are the main predators of the chinstrap penguin.

Female chinstrap penguins lay 2 eggs in a nest made out of stones on one of the rocky Antarctic islands in November or December. The male chinstrap penguin and the female chinstrap penguin both take it in turns to keep the eggs warm, with the eggs hatching after about a month. The chicks stay in the nest until they are about a month old and are fed by both the female and male penguins.
We see many rookeries on the landings, more photos later.

Quark Expedition- Day 1- Sunnies Skies & Quiet Sea

Our ship the Ocean Diamond

Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern most city in the world

Along the Beagle Channel

Iceberg in the Drake Passage

On the first two days of the trip to Antarctica, you have to cross the dreaded Drake Passage, whose rough seas are legendary. Drake Passage is the body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean. The passage receives its English language name from the 16th century English privateer Sir Francis Drake. Drake's only remaining ship, after having passed through the Strait of Magellan, was blown far South in September 1578. This incident implied an open connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The 800 kilometres (500 mi) wide passage between Cape Horn and Livingston Island is the shortest crossing from Antarctica to the rest of the world's land. The boundary between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is sometimes taken to be a line drawn from Cape Horn to Snow Island 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of mainland Antarctica). Alternatively the meridian that passes through Cape Horn may be taken as the boundary. Both boundaries lie entirely within the Drake Passage.
The other two passages around Cape Horn, Magellan Strait and Beagle Channel, are very narrow, leaving little room for a ship, particularly a sailing ship, to maneuver. They can also become icebound, and sometimes the wind blows so strongly no sailing vessel can make headway against it. Hence most sailing ships preferred the Drake Passage, which is open water for hundreds of miles, despite very rough conditions. The very small Diego Ramírez Islands lie about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Cape Horn.

There is no significant land anywhere around the world at the latitudes of the Drake Passage, which is important to the unimpeded flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which carries a huge volume of water (about 600 times the flow of the Amazon River) through the Passage and around Antarctica.
Ships in the passage are often good platforms for the sighting of whales, dolphins and plentiful seabirds including giant petrels, other petrels, albatrosses and penguins.

On the two days we crossed, we were luck to have calm seas!! I was prepared with Dramamine and other devices but had no problems! We had sunny skies and quiet waters.