normandcindysadventures

Friday, February 10, 2006







Our first stop today is Paulet Island. The island is 63 degrees south a full degree south from Aticho Island. This is a small volcanic island which is southeast of Dundee Island. It is all rocks, both loose and solid with not much else to be seen. Not even lichen or grass. The island is home to 100,000 Adelie penguins. We saw penguins, skua birds, fur seals, weddell seals and crab eater seals. We also saw Blue Eyed Shag birds and Sheathbill birds. We saw the remains of the hut that 20 men from the Otto Nordenskjold expedition had to winter in before their rescue in 1904. What a tiny place. The people normally chipped ice and melted it for water. When there was no ice around, they could collect water from a nearby volcanic caldera that has filled with ice melt. The only problem is that the melting ice also includes melted penguin guano. It is a wonder that the people survived the winter with those accommodations. The island is known for the pink wash of guano and for the fact that the guano can be smelled for miles away. A woman slipped on the loose rocks after landing and managed to break her leg. We are now changing course to get her to land to be medi-vacced tomorrow. As a result, we will go to continental Antarctica this afternoon and land at Brown Bluff. We have seen incredible icebergs all day long. The Antarctic channel is full of them. We also saw incredible beauty from the icebergs and ice pack at Paulet Island.

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