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Spot Rarely Seen Animals In Antarctica

By RomanticHeart | June 27, 2010

The waters between Antarctica and South America are known as Drake?s Passage. They are treacherous and deadly. This is a passage with a width of 400 miles and which is home to the most unkind sea weather known, where currents crash together, and where there is no spot of land to interfere. I was only expecting to see penguins and icebergs. I hadn?t done any research on Antarctica, so I didn?t know what to expect. I didn?t know any history or geography of the continent, and I certainly couldn?t prepare myself for the land?s majesty. As a person looking for antarctica cruise you should visit that site.

We were prepared for Drake’s Passage’s fury, but our cruise was uneventful on the way there. However, it was not so on our way back up. My first morning in Antarctica was a calm one. The waters were gray when I woke up.

Hazy, brownish gray mountains ringed the distance and were capped in snow. Soon we saw the first of the ice. Itty bitty chunks of ice floated to and fro in the water like bobs on a fishing lure. I grabbed my parka, zipped into my parka – expedition red, and standard issue to all newcomers – and rushed into the freezing Antarctic day.

When we were not listening to and watching the slide lectures of the naturalists on board, we were running out to take pictures of leaping whales and dolphins, or to gaze at penguins despite the lowering skies and gun-metal sea. Passing by the huge ice blocks in our tiny inflatable raft was truly thrilling. We were finally on our way to shore. We approached a small rocky island covered in ice and saw penguins standing about on the shore, debating about getting wet. You will gain a deeper understanding about exciting antarctica cruises by checking out that resource.

At the very minimum we had penguins all around us. Gentoo penguins lived here alongside a committed group of researchers in this small outpost of land. They called this Paradise Harbor. Waddling about, they look like they are in a hurrying to accomplish a million things. Some of them stood on rocks and observed us smiling and pointing at the, occasionally snapping a photo or two. Many of the penguin parents had already left their chicks on their own – expecting that they would be able to fend for themselves. It appeared as if some of the little penguins were in denial regarding their condition. At this point in their lives they are usually provided with a down covered sack of krill – food that their parents catch and then regurgitate into their chick’s mouth until they are old enough to hunt on their own.

The penguins had also started molting. During the molting, most of the baby coat had been replaced by sleek feathers. But in some spots, the grey down remained and the birds looked like they had on earmuffs and hats. Some just looked like they?d gone to a very bad barber. As we returned to our ship, we navigated around ice drifting in the bay. A seal was gorgeously posing atop a small berg. Seeing him and his huge, pink tongued yawn [perhaps an editorial comment on how much he cared about us was the perfect ending to a really wonderful day. |He gave us a giant tongue-filled yawn; maybe he was telling us how boring we were to see. |Maybe he was commenting on how boring we were when he gave us a giant yawn. |Evidently we bored him because he gave returned our stares with a huge yawn. |He yawned, exposing his enormous pink tongue. His lack of concern for our presence belied the unspoiled characteristic of this beautiful land where we'd spend a perfect day. |He presented us with a large, pink-tongued yawn, by which he could have been indicating just how impressed he was that we were there, but which certainly was an ideal manner of concluding our day. ]

All at once the penguins started that hard to define thing which gives them such charm. I guess it is the waddle and the gawkiness. Their odd, formal black and white coloring paired with their flappy, webbed orange feet gives them a signature, and adorable look. The penguins were more clean than others because this particular area had more rocks than dirt. They appear to have chubby cheeks because of a thin black line under their chins.