Today we were awakened at 6:45 AM by the captain saying we
were in the Antarctic Sound. We then turned into Hope Bay where we saw Antarctic
Fur Seals, Adelie penguins (about 100,000 here), many ice bergs and the Argentine
Research Station. This is the first time we have seen the Adelie penguins,
which means that we have now seen four different types of penguins – Gentoo,
Megellanic, Adelie and King.
Esperanza, is the largest of Argentina’s Antarctic base. It
was established in 1951 and staffed by Argentinian army personnel and is a year
round facility. It has the unusual feature of having entire families present, instead
of just the scientific and support personnel found at most Antarctic stations.
The families are at the base for a year at a time. It is like a small village;
it even has a school and teacher. The first child to be born in Antarctica was
on January 1978. Since then at least seven more children have been born at
Esperanza. They also have a grave yard here, that was established early on.
Today, when someone dies they do not bury them here, but take them back to Antarctica.
Here they have the Adelie penguins all over the station.
We either did not see many whales or we did not take any
pictures, so no whale pictures today. But we did see a few fur seals, no leopard
seal.
And of course there were more of the Adelie penguins.
This area is known for its ice bergs and we saw many of
them. Some were very large, some had holes in the and one had a tower attached.
What you will be seeing is the tower in front of the iceberg and under the
water it is attached to the big berg. Eventually this base will weaken and the
tower will tumble. You will also see one that looks round. This is actually an
iceberg that has turned over.
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