Port Lockroy

Port Lockroy is an interesting place with an unusual history. During World War II, the British established a top secret "listening post" here to avert the (unfounded) fear that the German Navy might be basing U-Boats in the Antarctic. When the war ended, it was converted it to a research station. And when the research ended in 1962, it was restored, and converted to a museum ... complete with a gift shop and post office. We mailed post cards from there, which will take God's own time to reach their destination I think.

These photos were taken in February 2006 with a Nikon D200.

Because of distance and the harsh climate, Antarctica is largely un-fooled-around-with by people. The research stations (now) have a reverence for the environment and keep it pristine. They say "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," which I actually doubt, but what happens in Antarctica truly stays here. We were walking on the cobble beach and came across the skeleton of a huge whale about 50 feet above the tide line. How it got here is a mystery. Did the whale beach itself? Was the dead animal pushed here by the ice? Is it the remnant of previous whaling activity? We can only speculate. But it did give us some perspective about how big these animals are.
The penguin chicks (and adults for that matter) are charming. The seals are beautiful. The birds are graceful. And on land, with one exception, all seem to live in harmony. The exception we witnessed was predation in the form of birds hunting penguin chicks from the air. The Skua in this photo flew in and was chasing a crèche of penguin chicks. As long as they stick together they are safe, but inevitably the weakest chick is the slowest and fell behind. This photo to the left is the end of the dance. Score: Skua 1, Chick 0. You may not want to show this to grade schoolers.
We saw four different varieties of penguins on our trip. The least frequent was the "chinstrap" penguin. These were the loudest of the penguins we saw.
Imagine you are a adult penguin just back from the sea. Your stomach is full of food for your chick. As you approach the colony, you are confronted by about 200,000 chicks that all look alike. Which do you feed? This is a real dilemma with a real solution. The adult calls to its chick and takes off running. The chick recognizing the call takes off following the adult beating all would-be pretenders to the meal. This is great fun to watch. I was sitting quietly watching the chase, and this Gentoo chick comes up to me looking for a meal.
Imagine you are a adult penguin just back from the sea. Your stomach is full of food for your chick. As you approach the colony, you are confronted by about 200,000 chicks that all look alike. Which do you feed? This is a real dilemma with a real solution. The adult calls to its chick and takes off running. The chick recognizing the call takes off following the adult beating all would-be pretenders to the meal. This is great fun to watch. I was sitting quietly watching the chase, and this Gentoo chick comes up to me looking for a meal.

Imagine you are a adult penguin just back from the sea. Your stomach is full of food for your chick. As you approach the colony, you are confronted by about 200,000 chicks that all look alike. Which do you feed? This is a real dilemma with a real solution. The adult calls to its chick and takes off running. The chick recognizing the call takes off following the adult beating all would-be pretenders to the meal. This is great fun to watch. I was sitting quietly watching the chase, and this Gentoo chick comes up to me looking for a meal.
Imagine you are a adult penguin just back from the sea. Your stomach is full of food for your chick. As you approach the colony, you are confronted by about 200,000 chicks that all look alike. Which do you feed? This is a real dilemma with a real solution. The adult calls to its chick and takes off running. The chick recognizing the call takes off following the adult beating all would-be pretenders to the meal. This is great fun to watch. I was sitting quietly watching the chase, and this Gentoo chick comes up to me looking for a meal.