Antarctic Adventure - Day 2 Penguin Island

Antarctic Journal  Day 2  
19th January 2020


When we got up this morning we had passed the point at which the sea temperature rapidly drops to near freezing.   This meant that we found ourselves surrounded by icebergs and the wildlife on show changed.   If you look carefully at extra 1 there are a couple of penguins standing on it in the middle which gives you some idea of the scale.


After a morning of wildlife lectures and lunch we dropped anchor off Penguin Island which is one of the South Shetland Islands a few miles south of King George Island.  It is an extinct volcano.


This was our first chance to set foot on the Antarctic peninsula  (although not the continent itself - that came later).   We travelled by Zodiacs and landed on a beach which had a large colony of Chinstrap Penguins and Elephant and Fur Seals.


We were given the choice of walking along the beach to the penguin colony or walking up to the volcanic rim.  I chose the latter option where I shot the second extra of an Antarctic Tern.


There were plenty of penguins around on the beach and I thought I needed to post a penguin picture as my first truly Antarctic blip.