Marilyn's Odyssey: Gourdin Island & Brown Bluff

January 11th was Anderson exciting day in Antarctica. We started out at Gourdin Island where we did some zodiac touring as this is not an island where it is possible to land. There were thousands of penguins on shore in a huge colony and it was very entertaining to watch them dive into the ocean where they the porpoise swim in groups and dive down when they find krill to feed their chicks. One of the parents stays with the young chicks and they take turns hunting for food which they regurgitate to the young. They swim in groups to try and avoid prey such as leopard seals which may be waiting to feed on them. The island was surrounded by picturesque icebergs and snow covered land masses so one almost got dizzy trying to look in all directions. There is always a naturalist on board and they are a wealth of information so we are learning so much as well. After lunch we headed off to Brown Bluff for what was hoped to be a landing and hike but nature had other plans and the shoreline was totally iced in which made landing impossible so we did some zodiac cruising amongst the icebergs. Many of the penguins from the colony were on the icebergs trying to cool themselves down which made for great photo opportunities. Penguins breed on the rocky exposed land and their colonies appear quite reddy pink from a distance due to the large amount of accumulated penguin poop. In the evening we shared a celebration dinner with Amy and Andy for their 49th anniversary.

Chart showing where we have been today

Stunning ice fields. Blue and white are the dominant colours here

Part of the penguin colony high on the hill. Penguins come to land for two months in the summer to breed and they spend the next ten months out on the ocean

Penguins waiting to go for a swim. It is almost like they are say no you go first. No one wants to be the meal

These are not pink penguins. They are covered with poop from the nest and really need a bath

Penguins porpoising through the water often in really large groups

A parent and chicks. Very common for each penguin to have two chicks. They will not look after another’s chick so if something happens to the parent the chick is out of luck

These sheathbills are the only birds in Antarctica without webbed feet and are strictly shore birds. They are scavengers eating penguin eggs and small chicks as well as feces

One can see the shear size of the colony and this is just part of it. They are also quite vocal creatures

The landscape is incredible

These penguins are following the penguin highway which is a very common characteristic of penguins and from the zodiacs you can see the most frequented routes