Cuverville Island

No longer an Ice Virgin, I am still fascinated by the ice. The shapes and colors of the icebergs are so varied and so fantastic, I think I will never tire of looking at them. Or at least, you may tire of them before I do. Through the arch, you can see our ship in the background.

No longer an Ice Virgin, I am still fascinated by the ice. The shapes and colors of the icebergs are so varied and so fantastic, I think I will never tire of looking at them. Or at least, you may tire of them before I do.

In the foreground, there is a Gentoo colony. In the background glaciers do their patient work on the peaks and valleys of the island.

This is a sad photo. There is an adult Gentoo, a very young chick, and an unhatched egg. Looking at the photo above, all the chicks are nearly adult size. That is because a colony of penguins has a high degree of "synchronicity." Nearly every female will lay her egg(s) at the same time. Nearly every egg will hatch at the same time. The young chick in this photo hatched late. It will die because it won't be big enough to care for itself come winter. The egg will die for the same reason. Still the mother penguin devotes effort and energy to raising her doomed offspring. She may die in the attempt. Sad.

This is also a species of seal we haven't seen before, a fur seal. We were warned to keep our distance because these seals are more aggressive than the Wedell seals we have seen. And under no circumstances are we to get between this seal and the water.