Tags
antarctic fur seals, chinstrap penguins, landscape photography, Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, travel, travelogue, Wendell seal, wildlife photography
“We must always remember with gratitude and admiration the first sailors who steered their vessels through storms and mists, and increased our knowledge of the lands of ice in the South.”
— Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer
And very sadly we come to the final expedition from the ship. An afternoon cruise around Signy Island, which if known for anything, is known for its Antarctic research station. The main subjects of research being (1) climate change on the 3 local penguin species (Gentoo, Adélie, Chinstrap), (2) the impact of an invasive flightless midge which is causing soil changes, and (3) the impact of lichens in Antarctica. Now I know what you’re thinking, someone is sitting down thousands of miles from home studying a bit of color on a rock, but lichen are actually very complex creatures, a symbiotic relationship between fungus and a combination of algae and cyanobacteria (which means bacteria that feed using photosynthesis). No one knows if this is a mutual or parasitic relationship. A lichen outcrop can be thousands of year old. (An Arctic lichen has been dated to be 8,600 years old.)
We didn’t get out of the zodiac because there really wasn’t any place to walk around, no beach. Needless to say, the research scientists were very excited to see us. They ran down to the shore and waved greetings. The ship sent over a box of fresh vegetables. We did, of course, not get out and talk to them because Covid.
If I forgot to mention it, chinstrap penguin colonies gather in rocky cliff areas. So, we only saw them on the rocks (covered with that lovely lichen) or on icebergs.
Chinstrap penguins
Weddell Seal
Antarctic Fur Seal
The first day in a place like Antarctica you take a 100 pictures an hour. You’re spray panning the landscape with the servo drive going. The penguins, the seals, the icebergs, the light. Everything is new and different and noteworthy. By the time you get three weeks in on this kind of trip, you’re just beginning to put down the camera and look. At the beginning of a trip, the gap between you and scenery is enormous, but by the end, you’re more part of the environment. It’s like, the first time you hear a song, you’re not sure if you like it, you’re not sure if it means anything to you. Repetition makes us appreciate things more. It’s like our ability to not just see, but look, is a muscle that needs a workout.