And Now for Something Completely Different
Up until now, my posts about Antarctica have showcased the amazing wildlife much more than landscapes and icebergs. This post, however, will be different.
This post, about our landing at Half Moon Island, will feature beautiful landscapes including some gorgeous lenticular clouds, while only a few wildlife photos will be included.
Half Moon Island
Arrival
When we arrived at Half Moon Island, the mountains and glaciers had a beautiful blue sky about half filled with interesting elongated clouds overhead. Prior to today, the skies were filled with low clouds from horizon to horizon. So the partly blue sky and higher clouds were a welcome change.
Half Moon Island is home to Cámara Base, an Argentine base and scientific research station. In the photo below, the red buildings on the right corner are part of the base.
After setting anchor, the zodiacs took us for a landing on the island where we had a leisurely self exploration day, subject to the usual limits on where we could explore in order to protect the wildlife, including another penguin colony.
This penguin colony was up a little higher amid a bunch of rocks. To get to it would probably have involved some scrambling, so getting close to it would not be an option. When we landed, the locals gave us a big welcome with open flippers.
Rock Formations
On a path, a short climb from the shore, near the penguin colony, were some amazing rock formations in spire-like structures, covered with spectacular orange, green, and yellow lichen. The geology of the island is somewhat complicated, but it seems most of the rock is from Jurassic to early Creataceous period. The rock formations are intrusions of a type of rock called gabbro, an igneous rock formed deep beneath the earth’s surface.
Lenticular Clouds
Looking towards Cámara Base, some beautiful stacked lenticular clouds were forming in the sky. On top of the ridge of rocks in the foreground were nesting gulls with chicks.
Hiking down the other side from the penguin colony, a lone penguin was admiring the lenticular clouds. Obviously, I really have no idea what he was actually thinking. That is just me assigning my thoughts to him. But hey, maybe.
Also, note the slight tilt to the left of the large rock formation in the distance. No, it is not due to holding the camera tilted. One thing I try to do in my photography is to capture scenes as they truly are. I could have straightened it in post processing, but I feel it is much more interesting to reflect the real geology of the area.
Closer to the large rock formation in the above photo, one penguin was admiring the scenery, while its partner was busy preening.
Because those two tiny penguins compared to the massive rocks were so awesome, on my return trip I had to take another photo of them from a different angle with one of them looking up towards the clouds in the sky while the other was plopped down taking a nap.
A Wee Bit of Wildlife
This was a really nice day for relaxing and just letting down. You could even see it in the wildlife. Besides the odd penguin, there was a resting (or nesting?) Skua. I am not sure if this one is the usual Brown Skua, that we mostly saw, or perhaps the South Polar Skua. There were also several Weddell seals sleeping as well.
Reminders of the Past
Not far from the shoreline on this side of the island with the protected cove, was a whale bone. I suppose it is a reminder of past whaling days.
Back on the original side of the island where we landed was another reminder of past whaling days. The remnants of an old whaling boat sat on the shore slowly decaying.
The Excursion Ends
It was soon time to get back to the ship. Before boarding the zodiac, however, one of the penguins on the shore was quite busy moving among the rocks. He was attempting to dive into the water, but it took him quite a while to make up his mind to do so. I couldn’t resist getting one last photo of this backlit penguin standing on a rock.
I truly hope you enjoyed this post about the beautiful clouds and landscapes as I did reminiscing about it. Next up, we will encounter the pack ice in the Bransfield Strait including some amazing icebergs. Please stay tuned.
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