ANTARCTICA: Skontorp Cove in Paradise Bay

BING-BANG-Bong… “Good morning, everybody, good morning!” Our wake-up call today seemed to come a bit too early. It was dark and gray and the heavy cloud cover made the morning seem dark and muted. I braced for the cold as I went outside and was pleasantly surprised at how warm it seemed, even surrounded by ice and snow. Fine flakes were coming down as we boarded our zodiac.

A pair of seals swirled in the chunky water a hundred feet away… we motored in the other direction, where fewer icebergs lay. The small group of red buildings ahead of us belonged to Argentina. Closed for the season, Almirante Brown Station was home to only feathered residents on this day.

Antarctic Shags, or cormorants, were quite common on the drifting bergs. On an exposed cliff and adult shag fed a fully fledged young bird from the mud and rock nest.

We landed at the unoccupied station, our first landing on the actual Antarctic Continent! The snow came down in much larger flakes as we were greeted again by many Gentoo Penguins along the rocky shore. The sky became heavier as the morning wore on.

A pair of Snowy Sheathbills posed quietly for my camera. They were quite common here and definitely paid no attention to us as we explored the walkway around the buildings. The Sheathbill is the only non web-footed bird in Antarctica and is the only family to be here to be found nowhere outside the Antarctic region.

As we returned to the ship there was a large splash near our zodiac… I spun around to see a huge silhouette drift under the rubber pontoon. Moments later it surfaced on the other side. “Leopard Seal!” He swam under and around our boat, which could easily have been punctured by his huge teeth, for about 5 minutes before moving off. An exciting end to our morning!