Antarctica Day 4: Gentoos and Stunning Scenery

Because we had been adventuring south, the morning was spent sailing Venture north. That allowed passengers the opportunity to relax a bit.

We had a lecture called Biomimicry: Designed by Nature, Adapted by Humans.

To highlight a few:

The physiology of albatross wings, birds that fly around the world almost continuously, is being looked at by wind energy and aircraft developers for better efficiency. A few albatross were spotted on our voyage but we never saw them.

The physiology of penguin feet and flippers have impacted commercial kilns and petroleum distilleries.

Seal whisker physiology is helping scientists design underwater vehicles that won’t scatter the wildlife.

Antarctic icefish swim in near freezing water. (We saw one on our submarine ride though this picture is from the web.) They have an antifreeze protein in their blood that doesn’t freeze until -2.5 degrees centigrade. (Seawater freezes at -1.8 degrees C.) This adaption has opportunities in food storage and transport, freezing reproductive cells, and keeping ice-cream creamy instead of crystallizing.

While most of the passengers were at a “Caviar and Bubbles” event, we grabbed some prime real estate in the Constellation Lounge. Actually, prime real estate on Venture was usually available. There were lounges throughout the ship which is a feature we really enjoyed.

We also appreciated well thought out features like drink shelves in the presentation room and bottle wells in our cabin.

Another favorite was the warming cupboard in each cabin. Our waterproof pants, and various hand washables, went in there daily.

Back on our balcony, we enjoyed some really beautiful views as we sailed into our destination bay.

Photographer, Harry, had the advantage of using a drone.

We were surprised to see a red sailing boat. It sails for Moretime Expeditions and has 18 passengers.

The Antarctic Treaty limits how many visitors can be on land in any area at a given time. We learned that not all companies hold themselves to treaty standards. Passengers from this boat were on land when we began disembarking but were not nearby.

Our destination for the day was Neko bay, a place where whalers once brought their catch and left the bones.

Neko bay was named by Adrien de Gerlache. The map shows a strait named after him as well.

He headed an expedition from Belgium and this is the area where they sailed and were the first to overwinter. Tomorrow’s destination was also named by Gerlache after one of his crew that perished.

I mentioned the book earlier and recommend it if you are interested in early Antarctic exploration. It was confirming of our efforts at trip preparation that the voyage and book repeatedly came up in lectures.

Based on assignment to color groups which rotated daily, we were among the first to leave the ship. We went to the mainland of Antarctica and begin enjoying the Gentoo penguins.

Watching the Gentoo was a good time!

We walked up the hill for great views!

We could hear and see ice calving off the glaciers.

We had our picture taken with the Antarctica flag again. Some people dispute whether the Antarctic islands (or sea ice in our case) “count” as part of the continent.

In fact, there was a dispute for decades about whether Carolyn Mikkelsen was actually the first woman to step foot on Antarctica on February 20, 1935. It was eventually determined that she stepped onto an Antarctic island.

For purists, Ingrid Christensen was the first woman to step on the Antarctica mainland on January 30, 1937.

Abby Jean Morrell was the first known woman to sail in the Antarctic region, accompanying her husband as he captained an 1829-1831 voyage. She wrote an account of the voyage, the first from a woman’s perspective.