Brown Bluff: 63.3° S, 56.5° W; -3° C (27° F)
Sunrise: 03.12   Sunset:  22.38

Vistas, vistas and some penguins too!  We arrived at Brown Bluff and headed out in zodiacs for a looksee.  What we saw were primarily Adélie penguins, but what struck me was the magnificent size and beauty of this place.  

The Antarctic peninsula is a continuation of the Andes Mountains, so peaks soar out of the ocean.  Adélies leap from the water and trudge doggedly up the sides of ice floes or mountainsides for safety.

The ice at Brown Bluff is quite stunning.  If you look closely at the two photos above, you will see a zodiac packed with orange-jacketed folks.  Hint:  at the centre right of the reflections photo, centre left-ish in the photo of the ship.  We cruised by this sideways iceberg.  Our naturalist could not say why it had turned on its side, but it was interesting to see the underside of a berg.

There is a very large Adélie colony and a smaller Gentoo colony at Brown Bluff.  Some colonies run to 100,000 mating pairs but whether this one does, no one knows.  There is a joke on board that mundane tasks like counting penguins are left to grad students; I suspect all our naturalists have been in that position at some time.  The answer to how many penguins are in this colony brings forth another question:  where is a grad student when we need one?

We made a wet landing in about 4 inches of water on a pebble beach.  Adélies and Gentoos were there to greet us.  Their chicks are quite different.  The Gentoo chicks look like miniature Gentoo penguins, while the Adélie chicks are brown furry little creatures.

Some of them were quite aggressive, chasing Mom/Dad around begging for more food.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/64513024@N07/21278836565/in/datetaken/
Oft times several penguins would gather for conversational purposes – at least that’s what it looked like to us.  They would take turns vocalizing or vocalize at the same time; there appeared to be no pattern.  The three below seem to have entered dangerous conversational ground with one telling the others to cut it out!

We ended the day on board watching a killer whale laze about in front of the ship.   This mammal is of a different species than the crisp black and white variety we see in the Vancouver area, instead being a pale brown and cream in colour.  He/she did not dive or jump, just came up for a breath of air and disappeared for a while.

Tomorrow we will leave the Weddell Sea side of the Antarctic Peninsula and cruise down the west side in search of wildlife.  This is indeed a wildlife cruise.  No matter what is going on – whether there is a presentation by an expert or whether we are eating or even sleeping – wildlife sightings are loudly announced over the PA at which point we all flood to the bow or the stern of the ship to take a look.  The captain is very skilled at bringing the ship as close to the wildlife without spooking it.  It’s making for a fascinating experience.