Neko Harbour and the Antarctic Peninsula

As I said, today I got to go to the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.  It was chilly and snowy when I got up and looked outside.  We were in this expanse of water smooth as glass, surrounded by icy mountains and glaciers, and there was sea ice everywhere.  It felt like a winter wonderland.

We hopped into Zodiacs like yesterday, and sailed over to the Neko Harbour site on the edge of the water.  Like Port Lockroy, this one had a rocky shore and penguins everywhere.  But on our way in, we caught a bunch of seals sleeping on a large piece of ice.  They are crabeater seals, so unlike leopard seals, they don’t eat penguins, so the two generally leave each other alone.

After landing, I noticed a bunch of ripples in the water.  It took a while to realize – but they were swimming penguins!  I saw them while at Port Lockroy before, but there were tons more swimming here.  I got some great videos of them swimming, and coming in and out of the water.  They’re so clumsy on land, it’s really neat to see them zooming around underwater.  Makes you wonder if they’re part fish.

A few people hiked up to the top of the hill behind us to go sledding.  It was fun to watch, and the penguins I think enjoyed it too.

I took advantage of the view from the hill to capture some great pictures of the LMG floating out in the middle of the harbor.  Definitely a picturesque landscape.

We stayed in this area for about 2 hours, and toward the end of it I walked the shore to watch the penguins some more.  Every now and again, you could hear a strange noise coming from the mountains.  I finally realized it was an avalanche (of sorts) with snow tumbling down into the water as it melts with the sun.  There were also sounds of glaciers “calving”, which is when they break off and fall into the water.  Didn’t catch any shots of that though, but I knew it was happening because waves would begin to come up on shore.

As I walked further along the rocky shore (I think there was granite in it – the rocks were very colorful), I noticed two seals cuddling in the snow.  They were amusing to watch…they’d make snoring noises and roll over and all that.

When it was time to leave, I grabbed one picture of myself in this fantastic place, and our boat driver offered to take us “once around the pond”.  As we zoomed through the ice, disrupting the still water, I couldn’t help but just be amazed at how awesome this place is.  Words simply cannot describe, so I’ll leave you with a few more pictures.